Buckling stability assessment of a 15 MW offshore floating wind turbine substructure with a fully coupled approach

초록

Large floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) are vulnerable to local buckling failure under sub-yield stresses during extreme loading scenarios. This study investigates panel buckling in a 15 MW FOWT substructure under an IEC-defined extreme load, introducing a validated nodal load procedure to efficiently compute stress histories at potential buckling locations. The key novelty lies in systematically identifying the most vulnerable regions by focusing on areas with the highest buckling utilization factors across various environmental headings, investigating the influence of environmental headings on the distribution of potential buckling regions, and evaluating the buckling stability of these identified high-risk locations to quantify the potential collapse risk. The results demonstrate that wind loading, rather than wave loading, is the dominant driver of panel buckling failure. Moreover, the side columns exhibit substantially higher buckling susceptibility than the central column. This study provides a data-based foundation for incorporating auxiliary stiffeners for side columns to mitigate buckling risks, providing actionable guidance for the structural optimization of ultra-large FOWTs.

키워드