• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.599-624
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• 2010

Offshore wind turbines are relatively complex structural and mechanical systems located in a highly demanding environment. In the present paper the fundamental aspects and the major issues related to the design of these special structures are outlined. Particularly, a systemic approach is proposed for a global design of such structures, in order to handle coherently their different parts: the decomposition of these structural systems, the required performance and the acting loads are all considered under this philosophy. According to this strategy, a proper numerical modeling requires the adoption of a suitable technique in order to organize the qualitative and quantitative assessments in various sub-problems, which can be solved by means of sub-models at different levels of detail, for both structural behavior and loads simulation. Specifically, numerical models are developed to assess the safety performances under aerodynamic and hydrodynamic actions. In order to face the problems of the actual design of a wind farm in the Mediterranean Sea, in this paper, three schemes of turbines support structures have been considered and compared: the mono pile, the tripod and the jacket support structure typologies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.57-66
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• 2023

In order to understand the economic feasibility of an offshore wind farm, this paper analyzed the differences in LCOE (levelized cost of energy) according to the support type and construction method of the substructure in terms of LCOE and sensitivity analysis was conducted according to the main components of LCOE. As for the site to be studied, the Southwest Offshore Wind Farm was selected, and the capital expenditures were calculated according to the size of the offshore wind farm and the installation unit. As a result of the sensitivity analysis, major components showed high sensitivity to availability, turbine related cost, weighted average cost of capital and balance of system related cost. Moreover, the post-piling jacket method, which was representatively applied to the substructure of the offshore wind farm in Korea, was selected as a basic plan to calculate the capital expenditures, and then the capital expenditures of the pre-piling jacket method and the tripod method were calculated and compared. As a result of analyzing the LCOE, it was confirmed that the pre-piling jacket method of the supporting structure lowers the LCOE and improves economic feasibility as the installation number of turbines increases.