End-to-end wind turbine design under uncertainties: a practical example

Abstract

This paper illustrates the process of design under uncertainty on a practical case study of an offshore wind farm. We document the entire process through selection and quantification of relevant uncertainties, definition of probabilistic limit states, reliability computation algorithms, as well as illustrating the impacts of the analysis through a design utilization study. The brief introduction in this study draws information and summarizes outcomes from the extensive works that took part within the EU H2020 HIPERWIND project. The results from the study show that significant material savings can be achieved by introducing probabilistic design methodologies, and particularly with the help of an integrated modelling approach where the entire structure (turbine, tower & foundation) is considered as a whole.