Experimental Investigation on the Dynamic Response of Circular Steel Tube for Offshore Wind Turbine Jacket Foundation Subjected to Impact Loadings

Abstract

Offshore wind power has experienced significant growth and has become an increasingly crucial component of the modern energy infrastructure. Due to the proximity of offshore wind farms to maritime routes, instances of collisions between cargo vessels or fishing boats and offshore wind turbine (OWT) supporting structures does happen on occasion. However, there is a scarcity of experimental data concerning the performance of offshore wind structures subjected to multiple impacts. To address the research gap in the collisions of OWT supporting structures and to determine the dynamic response characteristics of circular steel tube components subjected to impact loadings, this study designs a drop hammer impact testing apparatus and conducts impact tests on circular steel tube components. Moreover, this work investigates the influence of boundary conditions, impact angles, impact energies, and impact positions on the dynamic response of circular steel tubes. The results of this study can be used to investigate the overall impact damage of offshore wind foundations and guide structural impact research in other fields.

Keywords: offshore wind power, circular steel tube, Drop hammer impacts, Multiple impacts, Dynamic response