The anticipated impact of support structures on offshore wind turbine expenses is expected to be more pronounced, particularly in deep waters and for larger turbines where jacket-type support structures are considered suitable for OWT support (Fig. 1). Within jacket structures, tubular joints (i.e., nodes) serve as critical details susceptible to fatigue, which significantly influence the overall lifetime of the jacket structure. Therefore, the approaches aiming to enhance the fatigue life of the jacket nodes are of paramount importance and considerable interest.
Welds and their associated heat-affected zone (HAZ), known as the weakest and most fatigue-sensitive part of a welded connection, take place at the juncture of brace to chord in a jacket node where the most pronounced stress concentration exists. This leads always to the high fatigue sensitivity of nodes. Therefore, within jacket structures, nodes serve as critical details susceptible to fatigue, significantly influencing the overall fatigue life of the jacket structure. Consequently, the primary objective of this project is to leverage wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), along with numerical analysis and optimization framework, to design, optimize, and produce optimized. This can lead to improved fatigue performance but also provides more flexibility in global design and optimisation of the jacket structure. To maintain productivity and reduce fabrication costs, a hybrid manufacturing approach is explored. Ultimately, a modular concept for the optimized nodes will be designed in cooperation with B8, and the numerical models of the nodes will be incorporated into the Digital Twin.
Subprojekt Management
30419 Hannover
30167 Hannover
