Seismic Vulnerability of 10 MW TLP Floating Wind Turbines in Intermediate Water Depth

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4. Seismic Vulnerability of 10 MW TLP Floating Wind Turbines in Intermediate Water Depth

The expansion of offshore wind farms into earthquake-prone regions necessitates careful consideration of their seismic performance. Previous studies have focused on the seismic design of fixed wind turbines, whereas studies on floating wind turbines are limited. This research focus on the seismic vulnerability assessment of a 10 MW Tension Leg Platform Wind Turbine (TLP) developed by the Korean Institute of Energy Research (KIER). The fully coupled three-dimensional model of the Soil-Pile-Tension Leg Platform system is developed in Abaqus, accounting for both kinematic and inertial interactions. The soil is modelled as a 3D continuum with the Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model. Seismic demand is estimated for both serviceability and ultimate limit states using Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) as the intensity measure. The study observed that TLP floating wind turbines are more vulnerable to near field seismic records as compared to far field earthquake. The critical mode of failure for TLPs are observed to be amplification of acceleration at nacelle primarily due to the vertical earthquake shaking. The variability of response at a particular intensity measure is observed to be higher due to the inherent uncertainty of seismic records and therefore it is recommended to consider a confidence interval for the design of TLP floating wind turbines. This study aims to identify potential seismic risks and provide guidelines for designing seismically resilient floating offshore wind structures.

5th International Symposium on Frontiers in Offshore Geotechnics (ISFOG2025)

13 - Developmental foundation and anchoring concepts: hybrid foundations, ring anchors, helical piles, torpedo, shared anchoring