Comparative Study of Structural Reliability Assessment Methods for Offshore Wind Turbine Jacket Support Structures
Offshore wind turbines (OWTs) are deployed in harsh environments often characterized by highly stochastic loads and resistance properties, thus necessitating the need for structural reliability assessment (SRA) to account for such uncertainties systematically. In this work, the SRA of an OWT jacket-...
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MDPI AG
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/3/860 |
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| author | Abdulhakim Adeoye Shittu Ali Mehmanparast Lin Wang Konstantinos Salonitis Athanasios Kolios |
| author_facet | Abdulhakim Adeoye Shittu Ali Mehmanparast Lin Wang Konstantinos Salonitis Athanasios Kolios |
| author_sort | Abdulhakim Adeoye Shittu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Offshore wind turbines (OWTs) are deployed in harsh environments often characterized by highly stochastic loads and resistance properties, thus necessitating the need for structural reliability assessment (SRA) to account for such uncertainties systematically. In this work, the SRA of an OWT jacket-type support structure is conducted, applying two stochastic methods to predict the safety level of the structure considering various design constraints. The first method refers to a commercial finite element analysis (FEA) package (DesignXplorer© from ANSYS) which employs direct simulations and the six sigma analysis function applying Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) to predict the probability of failure. The second method develops a non-intrusive formulation which maps the response of the structure through a finite number of simulations to develop a response surface, and then employs first-order reliability methods (FORM) to evaluate the reliability index and, subsequently, the probability of failure. In this analysis, five design constraints were considered: stress, fatigue, deformation, buckling, and vibration. The two methods were applied to a baseline 10-MW OWT jacket-type support structure to identify critical components. The results revealed that, for the inherent stochastic conditions, the structural components can safely withstand such conditions, as the reliability index values were found acceptable when compared with allowable values from design standards. The reliability assessment results revealed that the fatigue performance is the design-driving criterion for structural components of OWT support structures. While there was good agreement in the safety index values predicted by both methods, a limitation of the direct simulation method is in its requirement for a prohibitively large number of simulations to estimate the very low probabilities of failure in the deformation and buckling constraint cases. This limitation can be overcome through the non-intrusive formulation presented in this work. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T21:13:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a129706c8c194ef4ad5efefe9c39c617 |
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| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T21:13:09Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-a129706c8c194ef4ad5efefe9c39c6172022-12-22T00:11:50ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172020-01-0110386010.3390/app10030860app10030860Comparative Study of Structural Reliability Assessment Methods for Offshore Wind Turbine Jacket Support StructuresAbdulhakim Adeoye Shittu0Ali Mehmanparast1Lin Wang2Konstantinos Salonitis3Athanasios Kolios4Offshore Energy Engineering Center, School of Water Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UKOffshore Energy Engineering Center, School of Water Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UKSchool of Mechanical, Aerospace and Automotive Engineering, Coventry University, Coventry CV1 5FB, UKSustainable Manufacturing Systems Centre, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UKDepartment of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UKOffshore wind turbines (OWTs) are deployed in harsh environments often characterized by highly stochastic loads and resistance properties, thus necessitating the need for structural reliability assessment (SRA) to account for such uncertainties systematically. In this work, the SRA of an OWT jacket-type support structure is conducted, applying two stochastic methods to predict the safety level of the structure considering various design constraints. The first method refers to a commercial finite element analysis (FEA) package (DesignXplorer© from ANSYS) which employs direct simulations and the six sigma analysis function applying Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) to predict the probability of failure. The second method develops a non-intrusive formulation which maps the response of the structure through a finite number of simulations to develop a response surface, and then employs first-order reliability methods (FORM) to evaluate the reliability index and, subsequently, the probability of failure. In this analysis, five design constraints were considered: stress, fatigue, deformation, buckling, and vibration. The two methods were applied to a baseline 10-MW OWT jacket-type support structure to identify critical components. The results revealed that, for the inherent stochastic conditions, the structural components can safely withstand such conditions, as the reliability index values were found acceptable when compared with allowable values from design standards. The reliability assessment results revealed that the fatigue performance is the design-driving criterion for structural components of OWT support structures. While there was good agreement in the safety index values predicted by both methods, a limitation of the direct simulation method is in its requirement for a prohibitively large number of simulations to estimate the very low probabilities of failure in the deformation and buckling constraint cases. This limitation can be overcome through the non-intrusive formulation presented in this work.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/3/860stochastic modelingreliability indexnon-intrusive formulationsstructural reliability analysisoffshore wind structures |
| spellingShingle | Abdulhakim Adeoye Shittu Ali Mehmanparast Lin Wang Konstantinos Salonitis Athanasios Kolios Comparative Study of Structural Reliability Assessment Methods for Offshore Wind Turbine Jacket Support Structures Applied Sciences stochastic modeling reliability index non-intrusive formulations structural reliability analysis offshore wind structures |
| title | Comparative Study of Structural Reliability Assessment Methods for Offshore Wind Turbine Jacket Support Structures |
| title_full | Comparative Study of Structural Reliability Assessment Methods for Offshore Wind Turbine Jacket Support Structures |
| title_fullStr | Comparative Study of Structural Reliability Assessment Methods for Offshore Wind Turbine Jacket Support Structures |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparative Study of Structural Reliability Assessment Methods for Offshore Wind Turbine Jacket Support Structures |
| title_short | Comparative Study of Structural Reliability Assessment Methods for Offshore Wind Turbine Jacket Support Structures |
| title_sort | comparative study of structural reliability assessment methods for offshore wind turbine jacket support structures |
| topic | stochastic modeling reliability index non-intrusive formulations structural reliability analysis offshore wind structures |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/3/860 |
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