Offshore Wind Energy: Design and installation of support structures in the North Sea in The Windfair Newsletter

Why you should attend this event?

The two-day seminar, conducted by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Schaumann (ForWind), aims to provide participants with well-founded, up-to-date knowledge on drafting and calculating the design of offshore wind energy converters‘ (OWEC) support structures.

This will mainly involve the stresses arising from wave loads, fatigue verification using local concepts and design details of joints. Recent research findings on grouted joints will be presented. Basic principles of designing and dimensioning OWEC support structures using various substructures like monopoles, jackets, tripods, tripiles or gravity foundations supplement the discussion on relevant topics. A field trip to several foundation types for offshore use will pick up on the focus of the seminar.

On the second day of the seminar, industry experts will demonstrate solutions and concepts required for OWEC manufacturing and installation. Looking ahead to the next innovative steps, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Schaumann will discuss current issues and future stages in the development of the offshore wind energy industry in Germany. A field trip to a regional manufacturer’s foundation structures will provide a hands-on demonstration of the seminar focus.

• Load assumptions, modeling and determining structural loads
• Design and dimensioning of steel and massive support structures
• Verification methods for offshore specific joints
• Latestresearchfindingsongroutedconnections
• Design, manufacturing and assembly
• Quality management
• Soil investigation
• OWEC foundations
• Reports from practice on offshore wind farm projects
• Future stages in the development of offshore wind energy in Germany

Dimensioning of wind energy converters for offshore use in water depths of up to 45 meters poses a major challenge to engineers, especially when it comes to designing and instal- ling support structures.