2016 International Conference on Power, Energy Engineering and Management (PEEM 2016)

ISBN: 978-1-60595-324-3

Structural Analysis of Substructure with Jacket Type and Its

Application for 5MW Offshore Wind Power Generation
Byung Young MOON1*, Kuk Hwan SHIN2 and Ki Yeol LEE2
1
Department of Naval Architecture, Kunsan National University, Kunsan, Korea
2,
Shipbuilding & Ocean Technical Manpower Agency, Kunsan National University, Kunsan, Korea
*Corresponding author

Keywords: Substructure, Jacket type, Offshore wind turbine, CFD analysis, Structural analysis,
Ocean environment.

Abstract. The currently applied structure and fatigue assessment of support structure for offshore
wind energy converter was based on common design rules. The accurate evaluation for environments
of sea floor as to installation of support structure, loads of generator, dynamic loads in operation, and
offshore environmental loads might be an essential requirement to acquire a safety design for the
substructure. This study aims at dedicating to offshore-relevant technology fields by suggesting
design methods of structures and estimating their safety in relation to the structural analysis of the
substructure requiring high safety to various environment conditions. Especially, with respect to
5MW Offshore Wind Power System, this study will provide information about major wind
directions and duration in combination with the developing wave climate at the test field. In this
study in the dynamic analysis for 5MW offshore wind power substructure which is considered to be
proper in Korea, it is expected that reliability of domestic technology is confirmed with respect to its
structural stability.

Introduction
Compared to status of the advanced technology countries, the domestic ‘wind power generation’
in Korea belongs to 1% of total electric powers in capacity, showing quite a lower level. To acquire
an ultimately economic, effective power, it is considered to derive the wind power from onshore
and offshore. Actually, the wind power that attracted an attention in the field of a renewable energy
has been rapidly transformed with ‘offshore wind power’ all over the world. In Japan and the USA
as well as in Europe, the offshore wind power has been positively developed as a main renewable
energy. Mostly, Korea has a potential wind power in the aspect that there are abundant wind
resources in offshore and the enterprises of offshore plants are propelling relevant pojects positively.
Korean government also has announced [the southwest coast 2.5GW offshore synthesis
promotion plan] to reinforce the competitiveness of domestic firms and support an export
industrialization of domestic technology (refer to Fig. 1).
Currently, the global installation capacity of offshore wind power belongs to 3.55GW level, but
mainly in Europe, and 4.0GW is under construction. It is expected that the approved plans come to
reach 15.9GW and the construction scale of 2030 reach a total 239GW [1],[2]. Thus, the reason why
many countries are active in offshore wind power is because the large-scaled configuration of
offshore wind power is easier than that of onshore wind power and the wind quality is excellent,
and there are no transportation constraints as to wind turbine components, which means that it has
many advantages.
The substructure of offshore wind power that sustains wind turbine and relevant components can
be generally divided into 4 types, depending on the depth of water and soil conditions as shown in
Fig. 1: Gravity, Mono pile, Tripod, and Jacket type [3].
Gravity type is not necessary with piles and has advantage of excellent stiffness, but on the
disadvantage, the ground making is necessary and installation of huge equipments is required.
Mono pile type is manufactured and installed with ease and the most economical basis, but
environmental problems(vibration and noise as perforating the sea floor) caused by large caliber
pile would take place. Tripod type is an expanded-form of mono pile type, using small caliber pile,
but on the disadvantage, manufacturing costs are increased and anchor pile is needed for installation.

Figure 1. Substructure type.

Figure 2. Examples of Jacket type substructure for offshore wind power.

Figure 3. Schematic diagram of stabilization system for offshore wind power system(Jacket type).
Jacket type is the form of installing turbine and its relevants on jacket structure by fixing jacket
on the sea floor using the post or pile. The water depth for installation is 20 to 80m, which is
suitable for the wind power site in Korea. However, the shape is complicated and there is a risk of
fatigue failure due to repeated loading in relation to its peculiar characteristics. Therefore, it's
needed to verify the complex load (dynamic load of the upper structure, such as the effects of waves
and wind) that is variable.
In comparison to onshore wind power, offshore wind power system is supposed to be opperated
under much severer environments. Therefore, for the case of substructure (here, Jacket type) that
supports mainly wind turbine and relevants, high stability and durability might be required in the
process of being designed. In addition, other environmental issues such as ground subsidence, side
direction displacement, and inclination occurrence etc. should be in consideration. This means that
stabilization system is necessary inside the substructures and this type of stable system is normally
composed of vibration observing pad around hydraulic cylinders, as shown in Figure 3. Here, in
order to prevent the above mentioned environmental isses, a pad materials is frequently used for
vibration damping, namely impact absorber.
Compared to onshore wind power foundation, the substructure of the offshore wind power is
under various loading, and then insurance of a high reliability might be required for the supporting
structure for a variety of conditions in the marine environment, as well as wave power, tidal power,
tidal currents power generation [4]. In this study, the design method for the 5MW-class offshore
wind power substructure will be suggested and its safety might be considered to dedicate to related
technologies, considering marine environmental condition in the establishment area.
The purpose of this study is to suggest design methods of ‘Jacket type-substructure’ and
estimating its stability in relation to the structural analysis of the substructure requiring high safety
to various environment conditions. This study will also provide the related information about wind
directions and duration in combination with the developing wave climate at the test field with
respect to 5MW Offshore Wind Power System. Design condition of Jacket type substructure that is
suitable for offshore wind power site in Korea was set up, and then substructure modelling and
structural analysis about marine environmental load were performed. Actually, the results of
combined loading were analyzed considering the offshore conditions in Workbench produced by
ANSYS and the maximum load of the substructure was carried out for safety assessment.

Design Conditions of the Substructure for Offshore Wind Power

Offshore Data Research and Investigation

The installation area of offshore substructure applied in this study is located in the middle point of
demonstration area, No.7 and No.8 in the southwest coast 2.5GW offshore wind park. It is 35km
away from Gyeok Po Harbor, and external environment conditions were reviewed through the
relevant, estimated data of numerical simulation, and the drilling investigation data on the basis of
Haemosu (Marine Meteorological Mast) observation.
Table 1 shows the analyses of measurement data and the results of water level as per Haemosu,
Korea Hydrographic and Oceangraphic Administraion (KHOA), Young-Kwang Tide Station in the
aspect that variation of water level is to be considered in order to calculate marine environment
loads [5]. In this study, In-situ test and laboratory test data for No.7 were applied to the offshore sea
floor ground condition by past feasibility studies of [Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy] of
2011 where 8 drilling holes were performed. It was estimated that layer of sand(0~27m),
clay(27~46m), weathered soil(46~57m), weathered rock(57~59m), and soft rock (59~64m) might
exist, if the sea floor is to ‘zero’ and water depth as to drilling hole is 8.8m.
Considering the frequency of 100-year period, marine researches to collect offshore data such as
wind velocity, offshore ground, depth of water, wave, marine tides were conducted and the analysis
of substructure affected by entire marine environments was realized by using the analysis report and
the recorded data from Korea Electric Power Research Institute (KEPRI). According to Korea
Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST), since the water depth in this research area was
around 10m exceeding 1.28 times of 7m, it was too hard to consider as wave breaking. In the point
that tide-driven currents were more dominant than wind-driven currents, the velocity of tidal
currents to be assumed on mean sea level of 327.6cm was about 0.88m/s [5].
As presented by IEC 61400-3, the relationship between the flow rate on the sea surface and the
wind velocity is as follows.

Uw(0) = 0.01 V1-hour (z = 10m) (1)

Above the expression, V1-hour (z = 10m) means the 1-hour mean wind velocity at 10m height of
sea level, respectively. Annual maximum wind velocity in each direction was obtained and extreme
analysis was performed, assuming a Weibull distribution, and finally the wind velocity by the
frequency of 50-year return period was determined.
 Table 1. Tidal harmonic constant and nonharmonic constant.
Item Wi-do in Buan Young-kwang Meteorological Mast

Observation 35 ﾟ 37' 5" N 35 ﾟ 25' 34" N 35 ﾟ 27' 55" N

position 126 ﾟ 18' 7" E 126 ﾟ 25' 14" E 126 ﾟ 07' 45" E
Observation
2011.02.01. ~ 07.31 2011.01.01. ~ 01.31 2011.04.12. ~ 06.17
period
Tidal half tidal half tidal half tidal
degree(ﾟ) degree(ﾟ) degree(ﾟ)
item variation(cm) variation(cm) variation(cm)

M2 195.1 75.14 200.98 70.55 187.7 50.09

*1
S2 74.72 127.46 76.88 122.51 71.29 103.15
K1 32.91 275.13 33.18 271.88 31.24 252.16
O1 24.85 238.05 25.25 235.67 25.86 213.52
Mean
high-tide 2h 35min 2h 26min 1h 44min
interval
Mean
low-tide 8h 47min 8h 38min 7h 56min
Interval
*2 Highest
tide 655.16cm 672.58cm 632.18cm
level
Average
327.585cm 336.29cm 316.09cm
sea level
Lowest
0.00cm 0.00cm 0.00cm
tide level
Tidal form
0.21 0.21 0.22
number
*1) harmonic constant, *2) nonharmonic constant

With respect to wind velocity of 1-year return period, annual maximum wind velocity in all
directions was obtained from estimated 24 years of wave action data - Korea Ocean Research &
Development Institute (KORDI, 2005), 1979~2003 and the mean values for each main direction
were determined as wind velocity of 1-year return period. Calculated results are shown in Table 2
[5].
Table 2. Wind velocity(m/s) on sea level in accordance with 1-year and 50-year return period and wind direction.
Return Period N NNE NE E E ESE SE SSE
1-year 12.77 11.06 10.4 9.565 9.723 10.72 10.72 11.17
50-year 16.85 16.31 15.81 14.26 14.10 15.08 14.51 14.65
Return Period S SSW SW WSW W WNW NW NNW
1-year 11.6 11.46 10.74 10.2 10.87 12.19 13.87 14.41
50-year 15.01 14.91 13.68 14.18 13.94 14.83 16.22 17.61

The wave spectrum was used for a method for analyzing an irregular wave, and the spectrum
model for significant wave of 50-year return period with level of H1/2 = 7.0m and period of T1/3 =
11.8s was presented by Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute as shown in Table 3 [5].
Table 3. The Peak Spectral period according to spectal models.
No. Hs Ts spectrum Peak spectral Period, Tp
1 B-M 12.3457s
7.0m 11.8s
2 JONSWAP 12.6582s
Load Analysis On The Substructure
In order to estimate a load by wave action, Morison Formular was used. A load by wave action per
unit length is shown below as the formular (2).

F = ½ ρ CD A u2 + ρ Cm V (du/dt) (2)
Here, Cm is the drag coefficient and CD the coefficient of inertia, while A is the unit area and u the
velocity of water particle, respectively.
Actually, the tidal loads consist of the various types of algebra at any point. In order to determine
design variables, actual measurements or usage of previous data might be applied. Therefore, the
tidal velocity is determined by water depth in the field data on Owner's Design Specification.
However, if not, it is calculated by using the formula (3) [4].

V(z) = Vtide (z) + Vwind(z) (3)

V(z) is a total current velocity at the site in the distance z away from sea floor and Vtide is a tidal
current velocity at the sea level, and Vwind means wind-generated current velocity at the sea level.
Wind loads (Fwind-t) acting on the tower substructure can be obtained by the following equation

Fwind-t = A CD ρa Vω2 (4)

Here, A means the tower area affected by wind and CD the thrust coefficient, while ρa means the
air density and Vω the wind speed, respectively. Others were affected by glaciers, earthquakes and
impact loads, and so on.

Offshore Support Structure Design and Analysis

The supporting structure for offshore wind power generator should maintain a sufficient structural
strength since it is under various environmental loads during the generator life [6]. After applying
the load case obtained through assessments to the supporting structure, the evaluations for critical
parts such as displacement, stress, strain, and fatigue life were carried out by using FEM(Finite
Element Method) through application of a commercial program(ANSYS) [7], [8].
Design of the Support Structures: Jacket Type
Substructure design of the transition piece for 5MW-substructure class was conducted on the basis
of the initial value of t=80mm by considering cold working, but re-design of t=100mm was
conducted because severe deformation occurred. Span was designed for two steps considering water
depth and each step could be assembled on the basis of water depth of 25m in the socket method. It
was designed to ensure that installation as to water depth of 50m was available as assembling two
steps(refer to Figure 4).

Figure 4. Jacket type substructure.

 Figure 5. (a) structure model (b) 3D beam model.

Analysis of Support Structures for Offshore Wind Power

Analysis procedures. Commercial finite element analysis program, ANSYS was used for the
supporting structure for offshore wind power. After modeling 3D beam structure by using ANSYS
Design Modeler, structural analysis for the given load was performed by ANSYS Design
Simulation. And then the unity check as "AISC WSD Edition 9" was carried out by using
BEAMCHECK of ANSYS Workbench (refer to Figure 5.).

Figure 6. Direction of load application.

Division Fx Fy Fz

Load(KN) -6760.4 1796.7 1741.6

Table 4. Load imposed by each direction.

*For the case of the above imposed load, (+)
direction means a tensile stress and (-) direction compressive stress
Fx : -6760.4kN,
Fy : 1796.7kN,
Fz : 1741.6kN
 Boundary condition and load imposed by direction. As the boundary condition for analysis
progress, a freedom was restricted by ‘completely’ fixing the four legs to the ocean floor. Since the
load derivation is a very significant process, load analysis was then realized by imposing to the x, y,
z direction the largest load among combinations of several loads calculated in the GH-BLADE. The
applied load value and load direction are shown in Table 4 and Figure 6, which means that the
derived load value(kN) in Fx, Fy and Fz is (compression), 1796.7kN(tension) and
1741.6kN(tension), respectively. [9], [10].
The weight and properties of the structures for offshore wind power applied in this study are
shown in Table 5. Actually, 770 ton of design load was applied to the upper structure and as much
as the same, 660-ton of design load was to the substructure of the Jacket type.
Table 5. Weight and Properties of Structure.
Wind Turbine
Item Specification Weight
20.0⨯6.0⨯6.0m
Nacelle+Hub 334.4 ton
(L⨯B⨯H)
Blade (67.0+1.0m/H)x3Pcs 92.4 ton
Tower 71.8m (3Pcs) 340.2 ton
Total Weight - 770.0 ton
Hub Ht. 100.0m above M.W.L
Rotor Dia 140.0 m
Substructure
Item Specification Weight
Transition Piece 6.0⨯9.9m 231.0 ton
Jacket 10.0⨯28.0m 429.0 ton
Jacket material properties applied to analysis
modulus of elasticity 200000 Mpa
Poisson's ratio 0.3
density 7.80E-06 kg/mm3
Structural Analysis and Results

Structural Analysis Result by Structure Displacement. The results from repeated procedure
showed structurally no significant changes for the applied load case by section on Axial-Fx, Shear-
Fy, Shear-Fz, Torque-Mx, Moment-My, Moment-Mz. And it was stable on the combined case
(Axial-x, Shear-y, Shear-z, Torsion, Bendind, Max Shear) as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Total displacement(m). Figure 8. Stress distribution : axial stress(Pa, Left), combined stress (Pa, Light).
Stress Distribution Analysis. As a result of the safety analysis for the maximum load applied to
the supporting structure for offshore wind power, the applied stress distribution to the substructure
was stable within the allowable stress in terms of axial and combined stress (refer to Figure 8).
 (a) Axial (b) Y-bending

(c) Z-bending (d) Buckling (e) Yield

Figure 9. Unity check results.

Analysis result by Code Check. Figure 9 is the result of performing the member unity check
according to the “AISC WSD Edition 9”. This shows the check results for Axial stress, Y-Bending
stress, Z-Bending stress, and Yield stress by applying to the ocean environment in Table 6 [11~13].
Table 6. Ocean environment.
Mean Water Level 6.73 m
Water Density 1025 kg/m3
Tide Height 3.36 m
Surge Height 4.42 m
Wave Height 13.76 m
Wave Period 13.15 s

The structural analysis was applied to the additional loads shown in Figure 9 and in Table 6
according to the unity check results for (a) Axial stress, (b) Y-Bending stress, (c) Z-Bending stress,
(d) Buckling, (e) Yield stress. The bending stress applied to the supporting structure showed a value
of 1 or less to ensure the structural stability. However, it was revealed that additional reinforcement
was needed for some member (acting orientation of marine waves) as shown in Figure 9. (b).

Conclusions
With respect to the structural analysis of substructure for 5MW Offshore Wind Power System, the
conclusions obtained in this study are as followes:
1. Structural analysis for the case of extreme loads resulted in the strain less than 1 by using
ANSYS Workbench for Jacket type substructuer equipped with 5MW offshore wind power system.
As a result of the structural analysis performance by using design method of allowable stress, it was
confirmed that safety was secured.
2. Member unity checks for the offshore wind power system was carried out according to API
WSD Edition 21 and the results for all structures showed the value less than 1, which means that the
loading conditions for the offshore structues are safe.
3. During this structural analysis, since wave energy that is within range of inherent frequency for
the structure was sufficient to appear, it was revealed that Dynamic Analysis for 5MW offshore
wind power system was to be considered.
4. For the case of gust which showed large changes in loads, the structural analysis was
performed by varying the phases of the loads, and then structural stability for the supporting
structure was secured as a result of member unity checks for each member.
5. The structural analysis was applied to the additional loads according to the unity check results
for axial stress, Y-bending stress, Z-bending stress, buckling, yield stress. The bending stress
applied to the supporting structure showed a value of 1 or less to ensure the structural stability, even
though additional reinforcement was needed for some member.
6. For this study in the dynamic analysis for 5MW offshore wind power substructure which is
considered to be proper in Korea, it is expected that reliability of domestic technology with respect
to its structural stability is confirmed.

Acknowledgements
This research was carried out by the assistance of Regional Innovation Human resources Promotion
Project, 2013(development of solar leasure boat with remote controlled wind power sail).

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