Inerter-based technology for mitigating

offshore wind turbine vibrations

Yi-Yuan Lia, Semyung Parkb, Jason Zheng Jianga, Matthew

Lacknerb, Simon Neilda, Ian Wardc

Speaker: Dr Jason Zheng Jiang

Yi-Yuan Li

a Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol, Queen’s Building, Bristol, BS1

1TR, UK
b Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst,

Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

c SNC-Lavalin Atkins, Epsom, Surrey, UK
Content

1. Inerter concept and network-synthesis-based vibration suppression

2. Implementation of inerter-based absorbers into FAST

3. Inerter-based absorber case studies on offshore wind turbines

• Fixed-bottom: Monopile

• Floating platform: Spar-buoy

Content

1. Inerter concept and network-synthesis-based vibration suppression

2. Implementation of inerter-based absorbers into FAST

3. Inerter-based absorber case studies on offshore wind turbines

• Fixed-bottom: Monopile

• Floating platform: Spar-buoy

The Inerter: origin of the idea

𝐹 = 𝑘(𝑥2 − 𝑥1 ሻ spring
𝑥2 𝑥1

𝐹 = 𝑐(𝑣2 − 𝑣1 ሻ damper

𝐹 = 𝑚(𝑎2 − 0ሻ mass
𝑎2 𝑎1 = 0

𝐹 = 𝑏(𝑎2 − 𝑎1 ሻ ?

4 31 July 2019
The Inerter: origin of the idea

𝐹 = 𝑘(𝑥2 − 𝑥1 ሻ spring
𝑥2 𝑥1

𝐹 = 𝑐(𝑣2 − 𝑣1 ሻ damper

𝐹 = 𝑚(𝑎2 − 0ሻ mass
𝑎2 𝑎1 = 0

𝐹 = 𝑏(𝑎2 − 𝑎1 ሻ inerter
𝑎2 𝑎1

*Smith, M.C., 2002. Synthesis of mechanical networks: The inerter. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 47(10), pp.1648-1662.

5 31 July 2019
Ball-screw realisation of inerter

where is the lead of a ball screw device.

6 31 July 2019
Ball-screw inerter made at the University of Bristol

7 31 July 2019
First Formula 1 Grand Prix for the inerter 2005

8 31 July 2019
First Formula 1 Grand Prix for the inerter 2005

“ A new, innovative component

that has been missing from
suspension technology until
now. ” – Racecar Engineering,
Nov. 2011.

9
31 July 2019
 Countless absorber design possibilities: how to
identify the optimum

…
k1
k1
k1

c1 c1
K K b1 K K
c1 c1
b1

The number of possible networks

S1
goes up exponentially
S2 with theS3increase of S

element number. F i g. 2 Passive suspension layout s S1—S4 of t heoret ical int erest .

Riordan, J., & Shannon, C. E. (1942). The number of two‐terminal series‐parallel networks. Journal of
k cMathematics and Physics,
kb 21(1-4),
cb83-93.

c
b
 Network-synthesis-based approach: enabling
systematic investigations

Linear Passive
Black-Box Positive-real immittance
Mechanism functions Y(𝑠ሻ

Step 1: Identify positive-real functions,

Step 2: Synthesis the functions by network structures

• Applicable to vibration problems in nacelle, drivetrain, tower and platform;

• A preliminary study with two stiffnesses, one damping and one inertance in
nacelle is now presented.

Jiang, J. Z., & Smith, M. C. (2011). Regular positive-real functions and five-element network synthesis for electrical and mechanical networks. IEEE
Transactions on Automatic Control, 56(6), 1275-1290.
Zhang, S. Y., Jiang, J. Z., & Neild, S. A. (2017). Passive vibration control: a structure–immittance approach. Proc. R. Soc. A, 473(2201), 20170011.
Zhang, S. Y., Li Y-Y, Jiang, J. Z., & Neild, S. A., Macdonald, J. Mass-included vibration absorber design methodology. Proc. R. Soc. A, Under Review.
Content

1. Inerter concept and network-synthesis-based vibration suppression

2. Implementation of inerter-based absorbers into FAST

3. Inerter-based absorber case studies on offshore wind turbines

• Fixed-bottom: Monopile

• Floating platform: Spar-buoy

Structural control module coupled with FAST modules

Inerter-Based
Absorber Module
Structural Control

1. Allowing high-fidelity analysis;

2. Potential to utilize various functions;
3. Turbine models already embedded in FASTv8
 Implementation of inerter-based absorbers into FAST
w x
Main
system
Y(s) m IBA module (2k1c1b)

Y(s) represents transfer function of different combinations of stiffnesses-dampings-inertances.

0 1 𝟎 𝑥
0
𝑥ሶ 𝑚(∅ሶ 2 + 𝜑ሶ 2 ሻ 𝑪𝑌 𝑩𝑌 𝑪𝑌 𝑨𝑌 𝑥ሶ 𝑩𝑢
𝑥ሷ = − − +
𝑚 + 𝑫𝑌 𝑚 + 𝑫𝑌 𝑚 + 𝑫𝑌 න 𝒘 𝑚 + 𝑫𝑌
𝒘
0 𝑩𝑌 𝑨𝑌 𝟎

𝐹 = 𝑪𝑌 𝑨𝑌 ‫𝒘׬‬+ 𝑪𝑌 𝑩𝑌 𝑥+
ሶ 𝑫𝑌 𝑥ሷ

where w is the states vector of Y(s).

Allow different absorber layouts to be included and simulated in FAST.

Content

1. Inerter concept and network-synthesis-based vibration suppression

2. Implementation of inerter-based absorbers into FAST

3. Inerter-based absorber case studies on offshore wind turbines

• Fixed-bottom: Monopile

• Floating platform: Spar-buoy

Compared with the tuned mass damper (TMD)

 Limited monopile MATLAB model

Tower top displacement (m)

θt

mt
R

Rt

ktθt
ct𝜃𝑡ሶ
Time (s)

Limited-DOF linear monopile model kt = 1.32×1010 kNm/rad;

ct = 2.64×107 kNms/rad;
ω = 0.28 Hz
ζ = 0.175%

G. Stewart, M. Lackner. Offshore wind turbine load reduction employing optimal passive tuned mass damping systems. IEEE Trans. Contr. Syst. Tech., 2013.
 Monopile model frequency-domain analysis
𝑀0 𝑠 2 + 𝐶0 𝑠 + 𝐾0 𝑥 𝑠 =
0 Cost function: J= Trθt−Mwind 2
𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑
𝑥𝐼𝐵𝐴 Absorbers TMD IBA 1
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑥 𝑠 = 𝜃
𝑡 c k1
b
Y(s) layouts k1 k2
c
2
Trθt−Mwind

k1 (kN/m) 28.1 27.7

k2 (kN/m) / 1.60
Magnitude of

c (kNs/m) 2.81 0.261

b (kg) / 517
J 0.439 0.4102
Frequency (Hz)
Improvements / 6.56%
 Simulation conditions in FAST
Wind and Wave load condition
Blade
Turbulence Wave Peak Peak
Wind Speed (m/s) Pitch
Intensity Height (m) Period (s) Shape
Angle (º)
8 17.9% 0.48 4.01 1.00 0
12 14.4% 0.61 4.26 1.00 3.83
18 11.6% 0.84 4.68 1.00 14.92
24 10.5% 1.12 5.16 1.15 22.35
41.5 11.0% 4.7 9.2 2.386 90

• Operational condition: 6 different wind/wave random seeds and 660s simulation

length with the first 60s omitted for analysis;

• Extreme load condition: 5 different wind/wave random seeds and 1hour simulation
length.
Semyung Park, et al. An investigation on the impacts of passive and semi-active structural control on a fixed bottom and a floating offshore wind turbine.
Wind Energy, Accepted.
Monopile FAST operational condition simulation

Damage Equivalent Load (DEL) analysis of Monopile

TMD IBA 1 IBA improvement

Wind Speed (m/s)

DEL DEL DEL DEL
TwrBsMyt TwrBsMxt TwrBsMyt TwrBsMxt Fore-aft Side-side
(kNm) (kNm) (kNm) (kNm)

8 8380.4 729.9 8272.5 699.3 1.29% 4.19%

12 12770 759.3 12685 717.3 0.67% 5.53%

18 12893 1665.4 12722 1569.9 1.33% 5.72%

24 15389 3325.8 15125 3152.7 1.72% 5.20%

 Monopile FAST simulation analysis
PSD of TTDFA

TTDFA
Frequency (Hz) Time (s) Time (s)
PSD of TTDSS

TTDSS

Frequency (Hz) Time (s) Time (s)

 Monopile extreme load simulation in FAST
• Peak amplitude of tower top displacement PSD is reduced 14.2% in fore-aft
direction and 3.03% in side-side direction compared to the TMD.

• The rotor is shut down and the blades are all feathered.

PSD of TTDSS
PSD of TTDFA

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Content

1. Inerter concept and network-synthesis-based vibration suppression

2. Implementation of inerter-based absorbers into FAST

3. Inerter-based absorber case studies on offshore wind turbines

• Fixed-bottom: Monopile

• Floating platform: Spar-buoy

 Limited spar-buoy MATLAB model

Tower top displacement (m)

Platform pitch angle (º)

θt

mt

ktθt Time (s) Time (s)

ct𝜃𝑡ሶ
PSD of Tower top displacement

PSD of Platform pitch angle

mp
θp

kpθp
cp𝜃𝑝ሶ

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

G. Stewart, M. Lackner. Offshore wind turbine load reduction employing optimal passive tuned mass damping systems. IEEE Trans. Contr. Syst. Tech., 2013.
Spar-buoy limited-model frequency-domain analysis
𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑡 −𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑝 −𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑟(𝜃𝑡 −𝜃𝑝 ሻ−𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑡 −𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑝 −𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑇𝑟(𝜃𝑡 −𝜃𝑝 ሻ−𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Spar-buoy optimisation frequency-domain analysis
𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑡 −𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑝−𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑟(𝜃𝑡 −𝜃𝑝 ሻ−𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑡 −𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑝 −𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑇𝑟(𝜃𝑡 −𝜃𝑝 ሻ−𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒

Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)
Spar-buoy optimisation results
Cost function: J= 𝑇𝑟(𝜃𝑡 −𝜃𝑝 ሻ−𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 + 𝑇𝑟(𝜃𝑡 −𝜃𝑝 ሻ−𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒
2 2

Absorbers TMD IBA 2

c k1

Layouts k1 k2 b c

k1 (kN/m) 86.1 86.6

k2 (kN/m) / 3.96
c (kNs/m) 4.35 5.10
b (kg) / 447
J 0.3059 0.2878
Improvements / 5.92%
Spar-buoy FAST operational condition simulation

Damage Equivalent Load (DEL) analysis of Spar-buoy

TMD IBA 2 IBA improvement

Wind Speed (m/s)

DEL DEL DEL DEL
TwrBsMyt TwrBsMxt TwrBsMyt TwrBsMxt Fore-aft Side-side
(kNm) (kNm) (kNm) (kNm)

8 8167.0 741.6 8130.2 725.5 0.45% 2.2%

12 11195.2 815.4 11136.8 800.8 0.52% 1.8%

18 10540.9 1733.3 10442.0 1678.5 0.94% 3.2%

24 11917.5 3140.8 11775.9 304.2 1.2% 3.1%

 Spar-buoy FAST simulation analysis

TTDFA displacement
TTDFA PSD

Frequency (Hz) Time (s) Time (s)

TTDSS displacement
TTDSS PSD

Frequency (Hz) Time (s) Time (s)

Ability of IBA to tune to different peaks
Cost function: J= 𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑡 −𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑
𝑖𝑛𝑓

Absorbers TMD IBA 1

c k1
b
Layouts k1 k2
c

k1 (kN/m) 86.1 0.51

k2 (kN/m) / 13.7
c (kNs/m) 4.35 0.28
b (kg) / 1775

-0.0678 ± 3.0134i (0.480 Hz)

Poles of absorber -0.2173 ± 2.9263i (0.466 Hz)
-0.0122 ± 0.2067i (0.033 Hz)
Ability of IBA to tune to different peaks
𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑡 −𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑝 −𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑟(𝜃𝑡 −𝜃𝑝 ሻ−𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑡 −𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑝 −𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑇𝑟(𝜃𝑡 −𝜃𝑝 ሻ−𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Ability of IBA to tune to different peaks
𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑡 −𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑝 −𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑟(𝜃𝑡 −𝜃𝑝 ሻ−𝑀𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑

k2
c
k1 b

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑡 −𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝜃𝑝 −𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑇𝑟(𝜃𝑡 −𝜃𝑝 ሻ−𝑀𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Conclusion and future work

1. Inerter-based technology has fundamentally enhanced the passive vibration

suppression capabilities.

2. Performance benefits for both monopile and spar-buoy wind turbines have been
demonstrated via feasibility studies.

3. Thorough investigation on a wide range of inerter-based designs is needed to

identify the optimum performance to offshore wind turbines.
Thank you for your attention!

Q&A