7.2 Ingenieurbau
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Remediation of Cracks Formed in Grouted Connections of Offshore Energy Structures under Static Loads
(2018)
The future energy demand necessitates the exploration of all potential energy sources both onshore and offshore. Global trend has shifted towards offshore energy, which can be obtained from either carbon intensive or renewable options, hence requiring structures such as rigs, platforms, and monopiles. Most of these structures adopt easily installable construction techniques, where lower foundation need to be connected with the super structure by mean of grouted composite joints. Generally, these composite connections have exterior sleeve, interior pile and infill grout. Being located in remote offshore conditions, connections can experience considerable adverse loading during their lifetimes. Degradations were reported inside similar connections, which were installed in last three decades. Besides, grouting in the offshore sites may often be proven difficult, which eventually leads to reduced capacity of connections in the long run. Thus, repair and rehabilitation of such connections should be planned ahead to minimize operational delays and costs in the future. This study aims at characterizing the nature of crack generation in grouted connections and thereby identifying the potential of repair using suitable repair material. Scaled grouted joints were manufactured using a novel mold, and connections were loaded under static load to visualize the main failure pattern. The failure mechanism and loading capacity are found compatible to previous results from earlier literature. Grouted connection was then repaired using cementitious injectable grout. The effectiveness of the repair system is also discussed.
Safety evaluation of truss structures depends upon the determination of the axial forces and corresponding stresses in axially loaded members. Due to presence of damages, change in intended use, increase in service loads or accidental actions, structural assessment of existing truss structures is necessary. This applies particularly to iron and steel trusses that are still in use, including historic and heritage monuments. Precise identification of the stresses plays a crucial role for the preservation of historic trusses. The assessment measures require non–destructiveness, minimum intervention and practical applicability.
The axial forces in truss structures can be estimated by static calculations using the method of joints, method of sections or finite element method, if accurate information about parameters such as external loads, geometrical characteristics, mechanical properties, boundary conditions and joint connections are known. However, precise information about these parameters is difficult to be obtained in practice. Especially in the cases of historic constructions, reasonable assumptions about the uncertain parameters may not be acquired.
Motivated by the preservation of existing truss−type constructions composed of axially loaded slender members, the present work aims to develop a non–destructive methodology to identify the axial forces or corresponding stress states in iron and steel truss structures. The approach is based on vibration measurements and the finite element method combined with optimization techniques.
After a state of the art review, numerical and experimental studies were carried out on three partial systems of truss–type structures. The investigated systems included single bars, a two–bar truss−like system and a five–bar truss. They were developed step–by–step as built–up truss−type constructions that are constituted of individual members connecting at joints. The examined aspects included the effects of structural loading on the dynamic performance of truss structures, modelling of joint connections, mode pairing criteria, selection of updating parameters and definition of an objective function, as well as the use of different optimization techniques.
Concerning the axial force effects on the structural dynamic responses, the effects of the stress stiffening become more complicated for multiple–member truss systems with increasing complexity. The coexistence of both compressive and tensile forces in trusses has counteracting effects on the modal parameters. These effects cause variation of natural frequencies and interchange of modes when the loads or corresponding member forces are changed. To examine the axial force effects on the structures at different stress states, in the numerical study and laboratory experiments, loads were applied progressively to the investigated truss−like systems.
Regarding the modelling of joints for truss–type structures, the joint flexibility affects the structural dynamic responses. Therefore, the numerical models of truss−type structures include joint models with variable rotational springs to represent semi–rigid connections.
Considering the mode pairing criterion, the mode pairing is performed by adapting an enhanced modal assurance criterion with the calculation of the modal strain energy. The criterion allows the selection of desired clusters of degrees of freedom related to specific modes. With respect to the model updating strategies, the selection of updating parameters and the choice of an appropriate objective function are identified to be significantly important. In addition, three different optimization techniques were applied to compare their suitability for the inverse axial force identification and estimation of joint flexibility of truss structures. The results of the numerical study and laboratory tests show that nature–inspired optimization methods are considered as promising techniques.
A methodology consisted of a two–stage model updating procedure using optimization techniques was proposed for the determination of multiple member axial forces and estimation of the joint flexibility of truss–type structures. In the first stage optimization, the validation criterion is based on the experimentally identified global natural frequencies and mode shapes of the truss. Additionally, the axial forces in selected individual members of the truss are used. They are estimated from the natural frequencies and five amplitudes of the corresponding local mode shapes of the members using an analytically−based algorithm. Based on the results of the identified axial forces in the first stage, a second optimization procedure for the joint stiffnesses is performed. In this stage, the modal parameters of the global natural frequencies and mode shapes are used as validation criterion.
From the results of the laboratory experiments, the identified axial forces by the proposed methodology agree well with the experimentally measured axial forces of the investigated systems at different stress states. Moreover, based on the numerical verification, the identified joint stiffnesses indicate reasonably the joint flexibility in relation to the pinned or rigid conditions.
To assess the relevance of the proposed methodology on existing structures in real−life conditions, an in–situ experiment was carried out on a historic Wiegmann–Polonceau truss in the city of Potsdam. The in–situ experiment shows that uncertainties relating the mechanical and geometrical properties of historic trusses as well as the experimental sensor setup can influence the accuracy of the axial force identification. In the present work, recommendations are given for the development of a guideline of measuring concepts and assessment strategies applied to existing truss structures. The intention is to integrate the proposed methodology as part of the Structural Health Monitoring for historic truss–type constructions.
This presentation deals with the phenomenology and design of pile foundations for offshore wind turbines, and is divided in two lectures.
The first lecture presents a brief introduction to the context and peculiarities of such foundations, and then focuses on the particular case of axially loaded piles. This part is most relevant for the relatively slender piles of the multi-pile substructures (i.e. jackets and tripods). A clear distinction between physical phenomenology and practical design is drawn here.
The second lecture continues with the case of lateraly loaded offshore piles, which bears most relevance for the case of the monopile foundations. Here again, a clear separation between physical reality and design methods is intended.
Finally, the last part of the second lecture introduces several advanced topics which lie outside the classical design approaches, namely the cyclic pile fatigue and the so-called pile setup (i.e. the time effects on the axial pile capacity). The relevance of these two topics is illustrated with experimental results from a field testing campaign on real large-scale piles.
In structural parts under vibrational loading fatigue cracks can initiate and grow, which can lead to structural failure. Conventional non-destructive testing methods for crack detection provide just a snapshot of fatigue crack evolution, whereas crack luminescence coating realizes clear visibility of the entire crack formation. Fatigue causing cyclic tensile tests and examinations on special test bodies allowing control of the crack opening width demonstrate a high sensitivity of the coating.
Design challenges for offshore wind-farms. From foundation mechanics to wind-farm aerodynamics
(2018)
This talk provides a brief introduction on general engineering aspects of offshore wind energy production. Then some geomechanical issues for the foundation of OWTs into the seabed are introduced, while the results from experimental investigations and coupled computational analysis are discussed.
In the second part of the seminar, the hydromechanical Wave–Tower interaction is firstly discussed. Then, some general aspects of the windfarm aerodynamics are introduced. On the one hand, some modelling possibilities for the wake analysis of single turbines and turbine groups are discussed. And on the other hand the relevance of such analyses for a proper windfarm layout optimization is pointed out.
Concerning the geomechanical issues the talk shows that: i) The pile’s bearing capacity can degrade under cyclic loading (waves, wind, …). ii) The time effects can be relevant: Capacity improvement can be substantial, but also fragile. iii) There are cyclic PWP effects: Cyclic interaction with pore water may lead to soil softening and an uncoupled analysis (current design practice) is potentially unsafe.
And concerning the hydromechanical and aerodynamical design considerations, this seminar shows that: i) Numerical analysis of turbine’s interaction with wind/waves is useful and affordable. ii) Simplified models can provide insight into windfarm aerodynamics. iii) Turbulent wake analysis is very relevant for the windfarm layout.