Reproduction of Monopile Ringing Events in Reduced-Duration Model Tests

Abstract

Monopile support structures for offshore wind turbines may experience ringing-type responses in steep wave conditions. In order to experimentally capture the statistical distribution of the hydrodynamic loads and structural responses, traditional practice is to generate many 3-hour (full scale) realizations of the relevant sea states. An experimental campaign at 1:48 scale was carried out in the Lilletanken wave tank at NTNU/MARINTEK in order to examine the possibility of using shorter time windows to recreate irregular wave ringing events. Wave elevations and hydrodynamic loads on a rigid vertical circular cylinder in 27 m water depth were measured for a variety of 3-hour, 450 s (7.5-minute), 800 s (13.3-minute), 1150 s (19.2-minute), and 1500 s (25-minute) wave realizations, where all durations are listed in full scale. Wavelet transformations and a single degree-of-freedom oscillator were used to investigate the magnitude and repeatability of the high-frequency content of the wave loads. Large variations in the repeatability were seen among events. On average, the repeatability in the ringing response was 4.2 % for 3-hour tests, while 13.3-minute tests reproduced the same events within 9.1 %. The maximum deviation was, nonetheless, much higher when only 13.3 minutes were used.