Overview
This project is led by RCAM Technologies that received an award by The National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium to develop an innovative substructure for offshore wind turbines. This project will develop and assess the feasibility of innovative concrete additive manufacturing methods, and more conventional methods for building an offshore wind turbine tower and integrated foundation on-site.
Scope of The Project
FWTC supported this project by generating an aero-hydro-servo-elastic model and performing load assessments of this innovative substructure supporting the IEA 15-MW OWT. We calculated SLS and ULS loads and performed detailed load extrapolations (probabilities of 10-2, 10-4, and 3.8e-7 per DNVGL-ST-0437) for the tower-substructure interface loads and the loads at the mudline. The two-year project scope includes the conceptual design, preliminary design, and feasibility assessment of the fixed-bottom, suction-bucket support structure, and heavy-lift-vessel alternative for a 15-MW class turbine.