Project Application Details

Mr. Ahmad Al Mansour
ahmad.al-mansour@strathclyde.ac.uk
University of Strathclyde
07463864440
EngD Student

As offshore wind turbines (OWT) increase in size, larger support structures are required to ensure the reliability of the asset. This ultimately introduces new engineering challenges, from the design stage through to manufacturing and installation. Despite being an essential joining technique for OWT, welding degrades structural properties and reduces fatigue resistance. The aim of this project is to expand the knowledge of the welding impact on the reliability of offshore structures and optimise welding processes to extend fatigue life. Therefore, further investigation on the effects of welding techniques in thick plates (thickness ≥ 50 mm) using numerical and experimental methods will be carried out in order to understand the development of residual stresses, behaviour of cracks and fatigue performance.
Finite Element Modelling:
FEM will be performed using Abaqus oftware to simulate the welding of offshore wind turbine foundations. The simulations will be carried out for different steel plate thicknesses (> 50 mm).
For each plate thickness, a separate model should be created. The computational welding mechanics is simulated by creating two different models. First model is solving a non-linear heat transfer problem. The second model is a thermal stresses problem. The output results of the heat transfer model as a temperature history will be the input to the thermal stresses model. During the project, three to four models will be developed ( for example, 60 mm, 80 mm, 100 mm & 120 mm ) with different thicknesses. Experiments will be performed for the same thicknesses and the results of the experiments will be used to calibrate and validate the FE models. After the completion of modelling validation, further studies will be carried out to investigate the effect of different input parameters on the output residual stresses