A Comparative Study on Load Assessment Methods for Offshore Wind Turbines Using a Simplified Method and OpenFAST Simulations

Simplified methods are often used for load estimations during the initial design of the foundations of offshore wind turbines (OWTs). However, the reliability of simplified methods for designing different OWTs needs to be studied. This paper provides a comparative study to evaluate the reliability of simplified approaches. The foundation loads are calculated for OWTs at the mudline level using a simplified approach and OpenFAST simulations and compared. Three OWTs, NREL 5 MW, DTU 10 MW, and IEA 15 MW, are used as reference models. An Extreme Turbulence Model wind load at a rated wind speed, combined with a 50-year Extreme Wave Height (EWH) and Extreme Operating Gust (EOG) wind load and a 1-year maximum wave height are used as the load combinations in this study. In addition, the extreme loads are calculated using both approaches for various metocean data from five different wind farms. Further, the pile penetration lengths calculated using the mudline loads via two methods are compared. The results show that the simplified method provides conservative results for the estimated loads compared to the OpenFAST results, where the extent of conservativism is studied. For example, the bending moment and shear force at the mudline using the simplified approach are 23% to 69% and 32% to 53% higher compared to the OpenFAST results, respectively. In addition, the results show that the simplified approach can be effectively used during the initial phases of monopile foundation design by using factors such as 1.5 and 2 for the shear force and bending moment, respectively.