NEESR-CR: Capacity and Performance of Foundations for Offshore Wind Towers

NEESR-CR：海上风塔基础的能力和性能

• 批准号: 1041604
• 负责人: Giovanna Biscontin
• 金额: $ 54.28万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-01-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1041604&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NEESR; CR; Capacity; Performance; Foundations

This award is an outcome of the NSF 09-524 program solicitation "George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) Research (NEESR)" competition and includes Texas A&M University (lead institution), the University of Connecticut and Prairie View A&M University (subawards). This project will utilize the NEES equipment site at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.In the last few years, interest has been increasingly focused on alternative and renewable sources of energy. Wind energy as an alternative to fossil fuels is receiving close attention while the number megawatts produced has been rapidly increasing. In many locations in the United States and internationally, construction of onshore wind farms has raised environmental and aesthetic concerns. In addition, the terrestrial wind cycle and the daily energy use cycle are not well matched, with peak winds occurring when the energy demand is at its lowest, requiring the development of energy storage strategies and devices. On the other hand, offshore wind farm development can avoid most of the aesthetic issues, with the added benefit of stronger and sustained winds at lower heights and more aligned wind and usage cycles. The goal of this proposal is to evaluate the most effective foundation system for offshore wind towers by examining the performance of different systems when the structure is subjected to both wind and wave loading. Intellectual meritThe project will carry out centrifuge testing in the NEES@Rensselaer facility. The testing program will focus on monopiles and suction caissons. Preliminary testing will be conducted using testbeds at Texas A&M University to evaluate the design of the tools and the models, as well as the sensors. The testing will be used to characterize the response of the foundations systems under a comprehensive range of loading conditions similar to those an offshore wind tower would be subjected to. Numerical analysis will be used to simulate the response of the tower-foundation-soil system with realistic soil models. The numerical and soil models will be validated against the testing. Broader impact The foundations currently used for offshore wind towers may not be the most effective solution for this application, especially in weaker soils. Foundation designs which evolved in the offshore oil and gas industry are not readily applicable to wind tower foundations offshore and design codes are not providing sufficient guidance for designers. Since foundations account for a significant part of the cost of offshore wind towers, choosing the most effective and most economical system will improve the viability of offshore wind energy generation.Undergraduate students from Prairie View A&M University, a Historically Black University, will work with the researchers at their campus, TAMU and UConn throughout the project. Additional undergraduate involvement will be promoted through summer REU experiences. Outreach efforts will be directed towards K-12 students, through demonstrations and teacher involvement in the research activities. The educational and outreach plan addresses diversity by promoting hand-on activities, increased interaction and integration of research and education, which have been effective in improving the retention of underrepresented groups in engineering. Data from this project will be archived and made available to the public through the NEES data repository. This award is part of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).

这个奖项是一个结果的NSF 09-524计划征求“乔治E。小布朗地震工程模拟网络（NEES）研究（NEESR）”的竞争，包括得克萨斯州A M大学（牵头机构），康涅狄格大学和草原视图A M大学（子奖项）。该项目将利用伦斯勒理工学院的NEES设备场地。在过去几年中，人们越来越关注替代能源和可再生能源。风能作为化石燃料的替代品正在受到密切关注，而产生的兆瓦数正在迅速增加。在美国和国际上的许多地方，陆上风电场的建设引起了环境和美学问题。此外，陆地风循环和每日能源使用周期并不匹配，当能源需求处于最低水平时会出现峰值风，这需要开发能源储存战略和装置。另一方面，海上风电场的开发可以避免大多数美学问题，并在较低的高度获得更强和持续的风以及更一致的风和使用周期。本提案的目标是通过检查结构承受风和波浪载荷时不同系统的性能来评估海上风塔最有效的基础系统。 该项目将在NEES@Rensselaer设施进行离心机测试。测试计划将集中在沉箱和吸力沉箱上。初步测试将在德克萨斯A M大学的试验台上进行，以评估工具和模型以及传感器的设计。该测试将用于表征基础系统在类似于海上风塔将受到的各种载荷条件下的响应。数值分析将被用来模拟塔-基础-土壤系统的响应与现实的土壤模型。数值和土壤模型将根据试验进行验证。目前用于海上风塔的基础可能不是该应用的最有效解决方案，特别是在较软的土壤中。在海上石油和天然气工业中发展起来的基础设计并不容易适用于海上风塔基础，设计规范也没有为设计人员提供足够的指导。由于基础占海上风塔成本的很大一部分，因此选择最有效和最经济的系统将提高海上风能发电的可行性。Prairie View AM University是一所历史悠久的黑人大学，其本科生将在整个项目中与其校园，TAMU和UConn的研究人员合作。额外的本科生参与将通过夏季REU经验促进。将通过示范和教师参与研究活动，向K-12学生开展外联工作。教育和外联计划通过促进实践活动、增加互动以及研究和教育的结合来解决多样性问题，这有效地改善了工程学中代表性不足群体的保留情况。该项目的数据将通过NEES数据库存档并向公众提供。 该奖项是国家减少地震灾害计划（NEHRP）的一部分。