STRUCTURAL LIFE-CYCLE ENHANCEMENT OF NEXT-GENERATION ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE WIND FARMS

下一代陆上和海上风电场的结构生命周期增强

• 批准号: EP/W001071/2
• 负责人: Alessandro Tombari
• 金额: $ 11.66万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FW001071%2F2
• 关键词: STRUCTURAL; LIFE; CYCLE; ENHANCEMENT; NEXT

The proposed research aims to develop an innovative mitigation device to protect the next-generation onshore and offshore wind farms from dynamic loading caused by extreme natural events.In 2020, 20% of the UK's electricity was obtained from wind using both onshore and offshore windfarms. In order to increase this percentage and help the UK address its climate change target, new wind farms, with taller and larger wind turbines, and situated in more extreme locations are planned. Projections of growth also indicate the expansion into emerging markets and construction of new wind farms in developing countries. Therefore, these next-generation wind turbines will have to cope with harsher climate conditions induced by stronger storms and taller sea waves, and extreme events such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Several simplifying assumptions used for the design of previous generations of wind turbines can no longer be applied and new critical factors and uncertainties linked to power-generation efficiency and structural safety will emerge, affecting their resilience and life-cycle. The particular area of focus of this research is the traditional transition piece of a wind turbine, which is a structural element that connects the tower with its foundation and will have to tolerate extreme stresses induced by dynamic loading during extreme natural events. The aim is to replace the traditional connector with a novel mechanical joint of hourglass shape, termed an Hourglass Lattice Structure (HLS). This innovation will combine the unique features of two proven technologies extremely effective in seismic engineering, namely the "reduced beam section" approach and the "rocking foundation" design. In particular, the proposed HLS device, because of its hourglass shape, will facilitate the rocking behaviour in order to create a highly dissipating "fuse" which will protect the wind tower and foundation.Performance of the novel proposed device on the structural life-cycle risk will be assessed through analytical, numerical, and experimental investigation by using, as a measure of efficiency, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), namely the cost per unit of energy based on amortized capital cost over the project life.In addition, experimental testing of offshore small-scale wind turbines will be carried out by means of an innovative test rig, the first-ever underwater shake-table hosted in a hydraulic flume that will be deployed, calibrated, and used to simulate multi-hazard scenarios such as those recently discovered and dubbed "stormquakes".The successful outcome of this timely project will allow next-generation wind turbines to be more resilient and cost effective so that wind energy can develop as a competitive renewable energy resource with less need for government subsidy. The inclusion of industrial partners in all stages of the project ensures that the technical developments will be included in commercial devices for a medium-long term impact.

拟议的研究旨在开发一种创新的缓解装置，以保护下一代陆上和海上风电场免受极端自然事件引起的动态负载的影响。2020年，英国20%的电力来自陆上和海上风电场的风能。为了提高这一百分比并帮助英国解决其气候变化目标，计划在更极端的地点建造配备更高更大风力涡轮机的新风电场。增长预测还表明了向新兴市场的扩张以及在发展中国家建设新风电场。因此，这些下一代风力涡轮机将不得不应对更强的风暴和更高的海浪以及地震和海啸等极端事件引起的更恶劣的气候条件。用于前几代风力涡轮机设计的几个简化假设不再适用，与发电效率和结构安全相关的新的关键因素和不确定性将会出现，影响其弹性和生命周期。这项研究的重点领域是风力涡轮机的传统过渡件，它是连接塔架与其基础的结构元件，必须承受极端自然事件期间动态载荷引起的极端应力。其目的是用一种新颖的沙漏形状机械接头（称为沙漏晶格结构（HLS））取代传统连接器。这项创新将结合两种在地震工程中极其有效的成熟技术的独特特征，即“减少梁截面”方法和“摇摆基础”设计。特别是，所提出的 HLS 装置，由于其沙漏形状，将促进摇摆行为，以创建一个高耗散的“保险丝”，保护风塔和地基。所提出的新颖装置在结构生命周期风险方面的性能将通过分析、数值和实验研究进行评估，使用平准化能源成本（LCOE）作为效率的衡量标准，即基于 此外，海上小型风力涡轮机的实验测试将通过创新的试验台进行，这是第一个安装在液压槽中的水下振动台，将被部署、校准并用于模拟多种灾害场景，例如最近发现的并被称为“风暴地震”的场景。这个及时项目的成功成果将使下一代风力发电机成为可能 风力涡轮机更具弹性和成本效益，使风能能够发展成为一种有竞争力的可再生能源，而不需要政府补贴。工业合作伙伴参与项目的各个阶段，确保了技术开发将被纳入商业设备中，产生中长期影响。