Laboratory Experimental Investigation on the Hydrodynamic Responses of an Extra-Large Electrical Platform in Wave and Storm Conditions

Abstract

The application of electrical platform for converter station in offshore wind farm is highly forward-looking and strategic. The offshore electrical platform is complicated in structure, bulky in volume, and expensive in cost. In addition, the built-in electrical equipment is very sensitive to the acceleration response. Therefore, it is very important to study the hydrodynamic response of the electrical platform exposed in the open sea. Based on the elastic similarity, Froude similarity, as well as the flexural-stiffness similarity of the cross-section, the hydroelastic similarity was derived to guide the model test of a 10,000-ton offshore electrical platform in wind, wave, and current. The hydrodynamic responses including strain and acceleration at key positions of the structure were obtained for different incident angles of external environmental loads. The experimental results showed the increase of water depth can cause more than 10 times increase of strain and acceleration response of the platform. The attack angle of external environmental loads had no definite relationship with strain response of the structure. Therefore, the most dangerous attack angle cannot be determined. The strain of the structure under the combined action of wind, wave, and flow was significantly larger than that under wave load only.

Keywords

• electrical platform
• hydrodynamic response
• strain
• acceleration
• hydroelastic similarity
• laboratory experiment