Offshore substations are subjected to a wide range of both environmental and operational loads. To ensure their cost effective design many OHVS structures are getting realised with monopile foundations. These slender structures are subjected to wind and wave loads that can significantly affect the lifetime of both the primary and secondary steel structures. These loads can also result in a dynamic amplification of the responses of the many components present on the OHVS such as the transformer, the reactors, the GIS and the coolers.
These components are also subjected to electrical loads which contain both 50Hz and 100Hz components. These harmonic components cannot be neglected when evaluating the overall response of the components. OWI-lab provides several services to characterise the dynamic behaviour of the OHVS structure, its components and their interaction. Both short-term and long-term monitoring campaigns can be initiated.
The outcomes of these campaigns can be among others:
- Identification of the overall dynamics of the OHVS structure: resonance frequencies, damping values,...
- Vibration levels at different locations.
- Dynamics (operational deflection shapes, displacements, accelerations, frequencies) of the different components installed on the OHVS.
- Spectral characterisation of the measured vibrations signals.
The measured data and obtained dynamic parameters can also be cross-correlated with other operational and ambient data available from the OHVS and its components. All outcomes and data can be shared with the client in easy accessible data formats and detailed reports.
The above information can be a valuable input for design validation and optimisation, installation and tuning of the tuned mass dampers, periodic inspection, failure investigation and long term conditions monitoring.
Upon request additional analyses can be performed.
