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Sector
Renewables
Location
United Kingdom
Services
Offshore Monitoring
Our partnership with Offshore Wind farms
Overview
In April 2010 a fundamental flaw in the design of offshore wind turbine foundation structures was publicised.
This concerned the grouted connection between turbine structures and their monopile foundations. Grout adhesive is an integral part of the foundation structure, fitted within the annular gap between the monopile and a transition piece. This arrangement enables the transition piece to be installed completely level, ready to accept the main turbine on top of it.
The challenge
The problem was identified on certain structures, where the grout failure’s consequential slippage of the transition piece was discovered.
This had caused the turbine tower structure to slip downwards by up to 25mm, until jacking brackets used during construction came into contract with the top of the monopile. Whilst no immediate safety issues were identified, several wind farm developments embarked upon a program of monitoring to investigate the displacement and potential fatigue problems arising from this arrangement.
The solution
By January 2010, we had worked for 6 different organisations at 8 separate offshore wind farms and had fitted monitoring systems to 13 turbine foundations, with a further 22 ordered and to be installed.
Using a team of specially trained staff, we installed an array of strain gauges, displacement sensors and accelerometers, along with bespoke PC monitoring equipment.
The Result
Each wind farm had a different requirement for data collection and transfer, with some facilitating a communications connection to land via the existing networks.
Others relied upon local collection using removable hard drives. We have also set up an office-based server to receive and process data collected by these monitoring systems and to automatically send it on to the client and their engineers.
The following key information was provided:
- The stresses present at the specified strain gauge/sensor positions
- A record the variation in stress peaks
- A record of the cumulative fatigue damage
- Data stored and reported in pre-defined customised format
Key outcomes
Monitored 13 turbine foundations, with a further 22 to be installed.
Installed an array of strain gauges, displacement sensors, and accelerometers, along with bespoke PC monitoring equipment.
Provided the customer with key data and information.
Contact us to find out more about our Offshore Monitoring systems.
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