End-of-life cycle effects on offshore wind turbines are to be studied to help maximise lifespan of the key infrastructure leading the green recovery and renewables revolution.
University of Hull has secured £100,000 to take on the task, with machine learning’s role in monitoring and predicting fatigue levels at the heart of the work. It brings industry and academia together under computer science lecturer Dr Nina Dethlefs.
A specific focus will be the monopile of the turbine – the huge steel structure piled into the seabed, lifting the balance of the plant well above the water.
It is described as one of the most at-risk components, due to stresses and strains caused by the impact of waves, tides and weather over and above the operations.
The cash has come from the Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy Hub.
Dr Dethlefs, principal investigator of the new project, said: “Accurate estimation of monopile fatigue is essential to help inform decisions which are made into the potential decommissioning and replacement of offshore wind turbines, as well as optimising future design and maintenance.
“Due to the challenging and unpredictable environments these turbines are located in, accurate predictions on the fatigue and wear are often subject to significant error.
“Using machine learning, we hope to be able to more accurately predict the end-of-life stage of a turbine. A huge thank you must go to the Supergen ORE Hub for its support in this vital research.”
Offshore wind energy is key in the Ƶ’s plan to deliver the legally binding Net Zero 2050 targets, with an aim to quadruple the capacity by 2030.
The Humber is at the fore of the deployment, and the oldest offshore wind turbines are rapidly approaching their end of designed life. Off the Lincolnshire coast the first installations, Lynn and Inner Dowsing, are now closer to decommissioning than construction.
The next-generation of wind turbines being deployed from Hull are significantly larger, yet still monopile support structures dominate.
Dr Dethlefs has been supported in the research by a team comprising of Professor Lizzy Cross from the University of Sheffield, Hull post-doctoral researcher Dr Agota Mockute, and project partners Atkins, Eleven-I, Tecosim, Jesmond Engineering and ORE Catapult.
Dr Mockute said: “This project has brought together a strong, interdisciplinary team from both industry and academia to explore a very real challenge facing the offshore wind industry.
“By furthering our understanding of monopile fatigue accumulation and hence the end-of-life state of a wind turbine, we can massively increase the efficiency at which these machines are either decommissioned, repaired or replaced, or have their lifetime extended.
“The first offshore wind turbines to be installed in the Ƶ are now only several years away from the end of their estimated lifespan. This research will therefore play a critical role in the next stage of their lives.”
