Comparative analysis of fatigue life of a wind turbine yaw bearing with different support foundations

OCEAN ENGINEERING

卷:235

Article

Xu, Jianwen¹  Benson, Simon¹  Wetenhall, Ben¹ 

[1] Newcastle Univ, Sch Engn, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU, Tyne & Wear, England

关键词: Fatigue life;    Yaw bearing;    Wind turbine;    Dynamic load;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.109293

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The yaw bearing is a connection component which is located on the tower top of a wind turbine. The yaw bearing may be subjected to environmental dynamic loads and wave forces which contribute to the fatigue life of the yaw bearing. The fatigue life of a yaw bearing used in onshore wind turbines is well established, but less so for offshore wind turbines. In this work, fatigue life assessments of yaw bearings are compared in 5 MW wind turbines with six different support foundations: onshore, monopile, ITI barge, Tension Leg Platform (TLP), spar and semi-submersible. A time-domain method is applied to predict the wind and hydrodynamic loads on the yaw bearings using three wind velocities. A Gumbel distribution, rain flow counting algorithm, linear cumulative damage law and S-N curve theory are used to generate the life-time damage equivalent loads. The fatigue life of the yaw bearing is then calculated using a finite element method and a code-based approach. The results show the dynamics of the floating wind turbine concept are directly linked to the fatigue life of the yaw bearing and that the major components of the yaw bearing should be considered separately.

【 授权许可】

Free