The design of a self-propelled wind turbine installation jack-up requires the prediction of the loads generated by wind on the topside structures. When high accuracy is required in the design process, wind tunnel measurements are usually carried out. However, the ability to predict the loads using CFD at the early design stage is of interest. At GustoMSC a state of the art CFD tool is used to predict the wind loads and get insight into the flow behavior around the topside structures.&nbsp;This paper presents the results from wind load CFD calculations performed on a typical GustoMSC designed self‑propelled wind turbine installation jack-up unit. The CFD model is constructed using the RANSE solver STAR-CCM+ from Siemens. The detailed topside structures of the jack-up is modeled. In order to evaluate the contribution of the wind turbine components to the total wind loads acting on the self-propelled jack‑up, the computations are carried out for two configurations (i.e. with and without the wind turbine components on the deck).&nbsp;The CFD calculations are performed at model scale and by applying an atmospheric boundary layer profile. A number of wind directions are considered. In order to validate the CFD model for wind loads acting on the topside structures of the jack-up unit, the CFD results are compared with the wind tunnel measurements which are carried out at German-Dutch Wind Tunnels (DNW), for the same model and configurations. The velocity and turbulence intensity profiles throughout the CFD computational domain are verified by performing CFD calculations without the jack-up topside structures present in the computational domain. Subsequently, the computed velocity and turbulence intensity profiles at several different locations in the domain are compared with those profiles measured in the wind tunnel.&nbsp;It was found that the CFD results are in good agreements with the wind tunnel measurements and provide valuable insights into the physics of wind loads acting on the topside structures of a jack-up unit. Based on the results of the CFD calculations, this paper will discuss the wind loads acting on a self-propelled wind turbine installation jack-up and highlights the uncertainties and advantages of the applied approach.&nbsp;

Predicting Wind Loads on the Topside of a Self-Propelled Wind Turbine Installation Jack-Up Using Cfd

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/OMAE/OMAE2021/volume/85116

OMAE 2021

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