In addition, the cost of the wind mill base constitutes a large part of the total cost of energy. So the better adapted and precise the design is the more money is saved in the end. Recently the project DeRisk – Derisking of ULS wave loads has received 20 mio DKKR from Innovationsfonden to solve the problem. DTU Mechanical Engineering has received 2.1 mio DKKR for their part of the project.
Mathematical models for the behavior of oceanwaves
At DTU Mechanical Engineering the funding will finance a post doc and a PhD position. The focus of the post doc is primarily a further development of the OceanWave3D software that describes ocean waves in near coast areas. Also a database of the kinetics of irregular waves at middle depth to shallow water areas, that is the 12 to 60 meters depth where many off shore wind mill farms are established.
The PhD project will through both numerical calculations and physical experiments give a better understanding of how steep and breaking waves behave in the near coast area. In these near coast areas variations of the seabed, conditions of currents, wave breaking and the interaction of waves with different directions, all have an influence on how the waves develop, and in that way the models must also take them into account. The experiments will be carried out at DTU Mechanical Engineering in the Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory, and at DHI.
DeRisk is headed by DTU Wind Energy, and the other collaborating partners are DTU Mechanical Engineering, DTU Compute, DHI, DONG, Statkraft AS, University of Oxford and Stavanger Universitet. Contact person at DTU Mechanical Engineering is Harry Bingham.
The design of the base of wind mills at sea is important in relation to their resistance towards the influences from extremely large waves and in relation to the overall costs of energy. Photo: Colourbox.