Oscillations of offshore wind turbines during installations | Aljoscha Sander

Field | Discipline

• Engineering
• Ocean Engineering

Expertise

• Computational Fluid Mechanics
• Transient Flow
• (offfshore) Wind engineering
• Systems engineering

Summary

Offshore wind energy will - together with solar energy - burden the brunt of future green energy demand and are hence a core technology in the fight against climate change. Today's offshore turbines are already impressive machines with rotor diameters and rated powers in excess of 160 m and 8 MW respectively. However, the enormous size comes at a cost: installation and maintenance of these machines is a monumental task, requiring specialized equipment, vessels, and personnel. Installation costs alone contribute 6% to the overall capital expenditure necessary for installing an offshore wind farm. Furthermore, because of the sheer size of the wind turbine's blades, they are installed successively, a process referred to as single blade installation.

During single blade installation, relative motions between the blade and the rotor hub occur, induced by aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loading on both the blade dangling from the crane and the partially installed turbine. Wind and waves thus effectively limit the installation process to a few days a month. Moreover, with future turbines, installations will become even more difficult as turbine component size is ever increasing.

This PhD-Thesis aims at understanding the physics of the relative motions that inhibit single blade installation. Based on measurement data obtained during the installation of an offshore wind farm and computational fluid dynamics, the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic aspects of single blade installation are investigated, paving the way for mitigation measures to improve future installations.

Supervision by

• Dr. E.J. (Eize) Stamhuis, Associate Professor and Chair Biomimetics group, ESRIG University of Groningen.
• Prof. dr. A.J. (Albert) Baars, Department of Biomimetics at City University of Applied Sciences Bremen.

More information and contact details can be found on the Personal Profile of Aljoscha Sander.