Sensitivity Analysis of Structural Behaviors on Key Design Parameters of Tripod for Offshore Wind Farm

摘要

The tripod foundation has been used as a popular support structure forrnoffshore wind turbine (OWT). Typically, only deterministicrncomputational model is considered by applying relevant standards andrncodes during the preliminary design of the foundations of OWT.rnHowever, uncertain parameters should also be considered inrnpreliminary design due to complex configuration of tripod structure. Inrnorder to balance conflicting design parameters against designrnrequirements, uncertainties from both design loads and geometricrndimensions of structural components were considered to identify therndominant loads and key structural design parameters for tripodrnfoundation. Nonlinear finite element methods were utilized torninvestigate the mechanical behaviors of tripod foundation and MonternCarlo simulations (MCS) were conducted to obtain sensitive designrnparameters of tripod foundation of OWTs. Based on the results, it isrnhighlighted that which design parameters should be consideredrncarefully and which design parameters can be selected relying onrnengineering judgment during the preliminary structural design stage ofrntripod foundation.