DYNAMIC CATASTROPHE AND CONTROL OF OFFSHORE WIND POWER STRUCTURES IN TYPHOON ENVIRONMENT

The development of offshore wind energy has been playing an important role in contributing to the goal of "3060" of carbon peak and carbon neutralization in China. Upsizing of offshore wind turbine is the main approach for cost reduction and efficiency improvement, which has become an important trend in recent years. At present, the design standard of offshore wind structure and foundation is led by Europe. Differing from the favorable offshore environment and ground conditions in the North Sea in Europe, the offshore wind power structures in China has been facing two major challenges: strong typhoon and soft soil, and are thus prone to dynamic catastrophes. The trend of upsizing offshore wind turbines is likely to further aggravate the risk. The key to disaster mitigation lies in the in-depth understanding of the integrated coupling and intelligent control of aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, structural dynamics and soil dynamics related to offshore wind turbine structures. In this paper, the latest research progresses concerning inter-disciplinary studies on catastrophe and control of offshore wind turbines in typhoon environment (including the advances made by the writer’s research group), have been reviewed. The technical contents mainly include: engineering-scaled characteristics of typhoon and its resulting wave field, aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loads with intelligent control strategies for wind turbines in typhoon environment, the failure mechanism of foundations and turbine structures under the combined multi-directional actions from wind, wave and current, and the integrated analysis and design method considering the coupling between wind-wave-current-structure-foundation-intelligent control. On this basis, the key research areas that need to be addressed are suggested, including but not limited to: deeper insights into the engineering-scaled characteristics of typhoon and typhoon wave, research of control strategy for wind turbine in typhoon environment, development of integrated design theory and industrial software for large-scale offshore wind turbine in typhoon environment. Breakthroughs in the above related fields have both scientific value and practical significance for China to achieve a global leading position in the offshore wind and energy industry. © 2023 Chinese Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Press. All rights reserved.