Extreme dynamic structural response analysis of catenary moored spar wind turbine in harsh environmental conditions

Proper performance of structures requires among other things that their failure probability is sufficiently small. This would imply design for survival in extreme conditions. The failure of a system can occur when the ultimate strength is exceeded (ultimate limit state (ULS)) or fatigue limit (fatigue limit state) is exhausted. The focus in this paper is on the determination of extreme responses for ULS design checks, considering coupled wave and wind induced motion and structural response in harsh condition up to 14.4 m significant wave height and 49 m/s 10 min average wind speed (at the top of the tower, 90 m) for a parked floating wind turbine of a spar type concept. In the survival condition, the wind induced resonant responses (mainly platform pitch resonance) are dominant. Due to the platform resonant motion responses, the structural responses are close to Gaussian, but wide banded. The critical structural responses are determined by coupled aerohydro-elastic time domain simulation. Based on different simulations (20 1 h, 20 2 h, 20 3 h, and 20 5 h), the mean up-crossing rate has been found in order to predict the extreme structural responses. The most probable maximum of the bending moment and the bending moment having an up-crossing rate of 10^-4 are found to be close in the present research. The minimum total simulation time in order to get accurate results is highly correlated with the needed up-crossing rate. The 1 h and 2 h raw data cannot provide any information for 10^-4 up-crossing rate. Comparison of different simulation periods shows that the 20 1 h simulations can be used in order to investigate the 3 h extreme bending moment if the proper extrapolation of up-crossing rate is used.