Fatigue Reliability and Calibration of Fatigue Design Factors for Offshore Wind Turbines

Sergio Márquez-Domínguez and John D. Sørensen
Additional contact information
Sergio Márquez-Domínguez: Aalborg University, Sohngaardsholmsvej 57, DK-9000 Aalborg, Denmark
John D. Sørensen: Aalborg University, Sohngaardsholmsvej 57, DK-9000 Aalborg, Denmark

Energies, 2012, vol. 5, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Consequences of failure of offshore wind turbines (OWTs) is in general lower than consequences of failure of, e.g., oil & gas platforms. It is reasonable that lower fatigue design factors can be applied for fatigue design of OWTs when compared to other fixed offshore structures. Calibration of appropriate partial safety factors/Fatigue Design Factors ( FDF ) for steel substructures for OWTs is the scope of this paper. A reliability-based approach is used and a probabilistic model has been developed, where design and limit state equations are established for fatigue failure. The strength and load uncertainties are described by stochastic variables. SN and fracture mechanics approaches are considered for to model the fatigue life. Further, both linear and bi-linear SN-curves are formulated and various approximations are investigated. The acceptable reliability level for fatigue failure of OWTs is discussed and results are presented for calibrated optimal fatigue design factors. Further, the influence of inspections is considered in order to extend and maintain a given target safety level.

Keywords: wind turbine; fatigue design factors; calibration; reliability; inspections; stochastic models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/5/6/1816/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/5/6/1816/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:5:y:2012:i:6:p:1816-1834:d:18357

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().