Tuned liquid column dampers in offshore wind turbines for structural control

With offshore wind turbines becoming larger, being moved out further at sea and subjected to ever greater wind and wave forces, it is necessary to analyse the dynamics and minimise the responses of these structures. In this paper, the structural responses of offshore wind turbines are simulated with an attached damper (Tuned Liquid Column Damper (TLCD)) for controlling the vibrations induced within the structure. This requires a realistic simulation of the forces that these tall, flexible and slender structures are subjected to, and consequently the implementation of a damper to control the resulting undesirable vibrations that are induced within the structure. Since sea waves are caused by wind blowing for a sufficiently long time, the state of the sea is related to wind parameters and there exists the possibility of correlating wind and wave loading conditions on structures. The Kaimal spectrum for wind loading is combined with the JONSWAP wave spectrum to formulate correlated wind and wave loadings. The offshore turbine tower is modelled as a Multi-Degree-of-Freedom (MDOF) structure. Cases for flat sea conditions, with which parallels to onshore wind turbines may be drawn, are first simulated. Simulations are presented for the MDOF structure subjected to both ‘moderate’ and ‘strong’ wind and wave loadings. Cases of the blades lumped at the nacelle along with rotating blades are investigated. The reduction in bending moments and structural displacement response with TLCDs for each case are examined. A fatigue analysis is carried out and the implementation of TLCDs is seen to enhance the fatigue life of the structure. An analysis, taking into account the extended fatigue life and reduced bending moments on the structure-TLCD system, is presented.