Analysis of support structures
In Sesam, DNV GL’s FEM software for offshore structural engineering, both ultimate strength and time domain fatigue analyses may be done for analysis of offshore wind turbine support structures.
There are two approaches:
- In the sequential approach a time series of wind turbine loads is applied at the interface point and combined with wave loads. Fatigue and ultimate strength analysis is performed using Sesam Wind Manager. The wind turbine loads may have been computed by Bladed, HawC, VTS/Flex5, etc.
- In the integrated approach the model is coupled with a wind turbine modelled in Bladed. Resulting forces and moments are extracted for every beam in the structure. These results are converted into Sesam’s results file format. Fatigue and ultimate strength analysis is performed using Sesam Wind Manager