Conference Deeper Water Offshore Wind Pros & Cons of various foundation design & installation methodologies Dr.-Ing.

Marc Seidel Leading Expert REpower Systems SE

Introduction and overview

Topics for this conference Conference Programme:

Is there an optimum type of foundation for deeper, more hostile waters? Which are the best technologies and is standardisation possible?
Investigating the most cost-effective foundation installation methodologies available and being developed today new technologies, speed installation, project optimisation, cost reductions Analysing the design and installation constraints and structural integrity issues related to foundation loads, dynamic loads and the increased weights of larger turbines in deeper waters

Substructures for deeper waters

Substructures Some options Currently employed substructure types:

Jackets
Gravity Base Structures (GBS) (Tripods, Tri-Piles)

Promising novel types: Keystone Twisted jacket

Universal foundation suction bucket

Project experience with jackets

Beatrice Windfarm Demonstrator (2)

6 Projects with jackets: - 63 jackets installed - additional 72 in fabrication

Ormonde (30)

Nordsee Ost (48) alpha ventus (6) Bremerhaven (1)

Thorntonbank Phase 1, 2 & 3 (48 jackets)

Advantages of jacket substructures

Advantages of jacket substructures for offshore wind turbines High structural stiffness: The turbine behaves nearly like an onshore turbine, virtually no wave-induced vibrations. Light-weight: Compared to other structures, jackets are the lightest. This is beneficial for material cost and installation. Potential for large supplier base: Jackets are not complicated and dont need large wall thicknesses. Potentially many suppliers (with sufficient space) can build them. Water depth: Jackets can be used for a large range of water depths from about 20m to (at least) 60m.

Site conditions: Jackets can be used in nearly all conditions. Waves can be very high and soil conditions are much less relevant as for a monopile.

Project experience with jackets

Ormonde Pre-piling

Methodology significantly improved compared to alpha ventus

Time required for prepiling: 1,67 day per location, ex weather Maximum speed: One location in 24h

In practice all piles were driven during 2,5 months

Further improvements for Thorntonbank
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Source: http://www.gaga1.be/EN/Projects_post.html?postId=61

Project experience with jackets

Ormonde Jacket installation Jacket installation: Less than one day per jacket lifting operation for HLV Rambiz!

Nr. of days jacket lifting

Nr. of days topside lifting Nr. of days additional work Nr. of days wait for others Nr. of days WOW Nr. of days total

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2 11 20 26 90 7

Photo: http://www.foundocean.com/webpac_content/global/documents/more/Case%20Studies/Case%20Study%20-%20Ormonde%20Offshore%20Wind%20Farm.pdf

Bremerhaven prototype
Bremerhaven Prototype REpower-owned design All structural calculations performed in-house no external consultants Newly developed Transition Node Very light and slender construction: Transition node: Jacket tubulars: Castings: Total: 48t 206t 61t 315t

(Weights are without internals, secondary items, etc.; weights for tubulars will increase for offshore applications)

Bremerhaven prototype
Advantages of cast design Only simple circumferential welds Quality control can be automated and is more reliable Cast elements have a high fatigue and ultimate capacity Nodal angles can be varied on a broader scale

Gravity Base Structures

Pro Concrete is cheap No noise emission Offered by a number of experienced European construction companies Well known proven concrete technology Highly resistant to damage by salt water Maintenance costs are low Fully removable Contra New approach for deep water Complex permission - legal issues Applicable to limited water depth depending on location Detailed soil investigation is required Applicability depending on sea bed / soil conditions; suitable for soils with high bearing capacity only (dredging to some extent possible) Seabed preparation normally required Scour protection is normally needed
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Gravity Base Structures

Thorntonbank Phase 1

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Gravity Base Structures

Strabag Serial System

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Gravity Base Structures

Strabag Serial System

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Gravity Base Structures

Gifford/BMT/Freyssinet concept (http://gbf.eu.com/) Installation of pre-assembled, pre-commissioned WT with foundation: - Lower weather risk? - Early revenue? What about cable installation?? Purpose-built transport and installation barge Seabed preparation?

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Gravity Base Structures

Seatower design (http://www.seatower.com) Combined steel / concrete solution Steel parts prefabricated and transported to construction site Lower part consists of steel skirt and concrete body constructed and casted at the construction site Installation up to HS = 2.0m with standard tugs Concrete injected in void below bottom slab and structure ballasted with sand

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Gravity Base Structures

Gravitas (Arup, Hochtief, Costain) design (http://www.gravitasoffshore.com) Claims to minimise seabed preparation by accommodating existing seabed slopes and surface sediments

Skirt variants to suit seabed soil conditions Self-buoyant, installed with standard tugs

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Gravity Base Structures

Where are the limits? Main influencing factors: Soil conditions Wave climate (heights, periods, directionality) Allowable weight & size for chosen installation method Logistics and capability to produce, store and install Guesstimates: North Sea, typical soil with dense sands: - app. 45-55m

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Promising novel concepts

Keystone Twisted jacket Advantages: Few members, few welds Small guide structure

No under-water pile driving Low weight Most of the weight is in the cheap piles

Disadvantages: Pile splices required Several grouted connections Two different pile sizes Inclined pile driving Noise mitigation difficult due to complex structure
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Promising novel concepts

Keystone Twisted jacket Design exercise for a German North Sea project: REpower 6M turbine, 126m rotor diameter 40m water depth

Extreme wave 20.8m Sandy soils Model built in ANSYS ASAS(NL), based on Keystone SACS model

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Promising novel concepts

Keystone Twisted jacket Met mast under tow on Kiel channel

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Promising novel concepts

Keystone Twisted jacket Met mast under tow on Kiel channel

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Promising novel concepts

Universal foundation Advantages: No piling noise issues Leveling can be achieved during installation process Quick installation process Simple decommissioning

Disadvantages: Relatively complex steel structure at seabed (difficult to inspect) Fabrication cost and weight? Large wave loading due to large diameter structure

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Standardisation
Is standardisation possible? Jackets: Standardisation only possible for construction principles Difficulties for more general standardisation are variations in water depths, differences in loading and pile capacities (footprint) GBS: Standardisation of bottom part possible if ground conditions sufficiently homogenous Variation in water depth can be easily accommodated Universal foundation / Twisted jacket: Standardisation probably similarly difficult as for standard jacket

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Critical points in the design and design process

Load simulations wind turbine and substructure REpowers tool for aeroelastic simulation 28 Degrees of Freedom, 6 for the substructure Turbulent wind field Controller behaviour, electrical system Very fast and efficient tool Responsibility of the external designer FE model of the jacket can contain wide range of standard finite elements

ANSYS ASAS(NL)

Flex 5

Input format is precisely defined by REpower, such that external models can be directly used within our environment without any further modification This has worked very well for four projects already

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Critical points in the design and design process

GBS / Keystone / Universal Excitation of global vibrations by waves in fundamental mode significant Misaligned waves may cause large fatigue loads in support structure Detailed consideration of wind-wavemisalignment is required Soil data most important parameter for load simulations (stiffness and damping contribution)

Conventional jacket Stiff jacket structure prevents global vibrations to be excited Wind-wave-misalignment completely meaningless! Only local (quasi-static) wave loads on jacket and appurtenances must be considered Soil properties do not have significant influence on the design

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Summary

Summary Currently jackets are the most mature option for deeper water Several GBS options are offered to the market all of them are specific to one supplier Key factors are fabrication and logistics may be attractive depending on the project specific conditions Promising new concepts are the Keystone jacket and the Universal foundation

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REpower Offshore Engineering

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