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Latest Issue
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- Category: Articles
Mooring System Damage Detection in Floating Wind Turbines Through Satellite PositioningA structural health monitoring system has been developed to detect damage in the mooring system of floating wind turbines by analysing the movement of the platform. A cost-effective smart sensor that combines a global navigation satellite system and an inertial navigation unit is used. The collected data is used to create mathematical models when the system is healthy. After the so-called learning period, new incoming data feeds the models, which in turn evaluate the behaviour of the platform compared with the reference situation. If the difference exceeds a threshold, damage in the mooring system is assumed.
By Jon Basurko, Researcher, IKERLAN BRTA, Spain
- Category: Articles
The Aerosense Data Gateway – An Open-Source Turbine-To-Cloud Data Engineering Example
Getting data from wind turbines cleaned, sorted and into the hands of engineers is a common but overwhelming task. Security, reliability, edge/cloud engineering particulars and the FAIR digitalisation principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability) must all be considered, requiring a large investment of time and a rare combination of skills.By Marcus Lugg, Senior Software Engineer, Octue, UK
- Category: Articles
Tower Stiffness Influence on the Response of Rock Adapter FoundationsCTE Wind acted as an independent reviewer of an onshore rock adapter wind turbine foundation design for a wind farm in a Scandinavian country. During the analysis it was observed that including the tower stiffness in the numerical models was critical to accurately capture the structure’s behaviour. The tower stiffness was taken into account by modelling a segment of its actual geometry. The simulations showed that the rock anchors in the original design did not meet the safety requirements in terms of tensile strength. The reasons for the divergence in results are explored in this article.
By David Alegre Gimeno, Senior Engineer, CTE Wind Civil Engineering, France
- Category: Articles
A Minimum Structure Tension Leg Platform SolutionFloating wind farms will be an important contributor to the growth of renewable energy production, giving access to new areas in deep water with high mean wind speeds. To date, floating offshore wind farms have progressed from individual test turbines to small groups of individual turbines near to shore. The next significant advance in floating wind will be pilot projects, expected to be of around 250MW. These will be in deeper water located further from land and will therefore require a substation to step up the voltage for transmission to shore. The challenges of designing a structurally efficient low-motion vessel are greater for the small topside weight and footprint of the electrical equipment for 250MW than they are for a commercial-scale floating substation of 1GW. Different options for the floater design are discussed and compared. A minimum structure tension leg platform was found to provide low motion combined with minimum structural weight.
By Justin Jones, Civil and Structural Group Manager, Petrofac, UK
- Category: Articles
Technologies, Modelling and CostsWind turbines are subject to high mechanical and environmental loads, including extreme winds, storms, rain, gravitational load on rotating blades, and temperature and humidity variations. These loads lead to the degradation of wind turbine parts, in particular wind turbine blades. Repair of wind turbine blades can cost many thousands of dollars. Such high costs can influence the wind energy costs in general. Thus, efficient repair of wind turbines is an important element of the renewable energy transition, making wind energy more competitive. In this article, mechanisms of wind turbine blade degradation, repair technologies and possibilities to reduce the repair costs are reviewed.
By Leon Mishnaevsky Jr, Senior Scientist, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
- Category: Articles
A Remote Condition Monitoring Strategy Can Avoid Uneconomical Operations
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By Mike Hastings, Senior Application Engineer, Brüel & Kjær Vibro, Denmark
- Category: Articles
Modelling of Wind, Wave and Wakes for Offshore Wind EnergySixteen offshore wind energy lease areas are currently under active development along the US east coast and six more in the New York Bight were recently auctioned for bids of nearly $ 4.4 billion. Observational data is sparse in this region so analyses of numerical simulations pertinent to operating conditions, power and wake production are summarised and used to highlight processes that are worthy of further investigation.
By Rebecca J. Barthelmie, Jeanie A. Aird, Frederick Letson and Sara C. Pryor, Cornell University, USA
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