Offshore Wind Energy – Design of Substructures – course

This course will introduce the participant to offshore wind energy and the engineering methods specific to this field of wind energy.

The participant will go through subjects such as offshore design codes, calculation of wake loads in linear regular and irregular waves, engineering methods for rotor loads as well as substructure types and their relative strength and floating wind turbines.

Learning objectives

After completing this course, the participant is able to:

• Describe the main elements of offshore wind turbine systems and the differences to land-based turbines.
• Summarize the content of the offshore turbine design standard IEC 61400-3.
• Calculate a force time series from linear irregular waves.
• Derive simplistic rotor load time series from wind turbine parameters and understand the concept of aerodynamic damping.
• Explain the basics of wake effects inside offshore wind farms.
• Describe the typical foundation types for bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines and decide on foundation types (floating, jacket, monopile).
• Explain the basic dynamics of bottom fixed offshore wind turbines and the method for fatigue calculations.
• Apply the elements of a design basis together with simplified models for the conceptual design of a substructure. Write up simplified equations of motion for a floating wind turbine configuration and determine the natural frequencies.
• Comprehend the economics of levelised cost of energy.