On the estimation of foundation damping of mono pile-

supported offshore wind turbines

Abdollah Malekjafarian1, Soroosh Jalilvand2, David Igoe3, Paul Doherty4
1School of Civil Engineering, University College Dublin and Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions,

Dublin, Ireland
2, 4Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions, Dublin, Ireland
3Department of Civil Structural and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
1Corresponding author

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Received 11 March 2019; accepted 21 March 2019
DOI https://doi.org/10.21595/vp.2019.20648
Copyright © 2019 Abdollah Malekjafarian, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract. This paper investigates the estimation of foundation damping in a monopile supported
offshore wind turbine. The soil-structure interaction is modelled using the commercial
geotechnical Finite Element (FE) software, Plaxis 3D. This allows for a more rigorous
consideration of the soil response and its effect on the overall dynamic behaviour of the system.
A free vibration test is simulated by applying and removing a constant horizontal static load at the
top of the tower. The structure starts free vibration when the load is removed. The free decay
displacement response is measured at the point of loading. The well-known logarithmic decrement
method is used for the estimation of overall damping from the free decay response. The damping
is estimated at different time steps along the signal to provide an instantaneous damping. It is
shown that the damping varies with the amplitude of the decaying displacement response.
Keywords: offshore, wind turbine, damping, logarithmic decrement.

1. Introduction

Development of renewable energy technologies has increased significantly over the last
decade, driven by a need to prevent the effects of climate change from greenhouse gas emissions.
The European Union which has set a goal of reaching at least 27 % of its total energy consumption
from the renewable energy sources by the year of 2030. Offshore wind energy has played a key
role in this sector as a viable clean energy source. Up until recently, the cost of offshore wind has
been the main barrier for its development, however, this cost has been significantly reduced in
recent years as a result of technological developments. As offshore wind moves into deeper waters,
additional cost reductions are needed in terms of the economic efficiency of offshore wind
structures.
As foundation for offshore wind turbines (OWTs) contribute up to 30 % of the overall cost,
efficient and reliable design of these substructures can significantly reduce the cost. Monopile
structures are the most common foundation type for OWTs as they are relatively easy to design,
construct and install. A monopile foundation is a very large steel tube that is driven into seabed to
support all the loads (weight, wind, etc.) of a large above-surface structure.
OWTs are slender structures with low natural frequencies and subjected to wind and wave
loading [1]. While there is a good understanding of driving frequencies of a wind turbines dynamic
response, there is limited understanding regarding the damping of these structures. Sufficient
damping is critical for offshore turbines as it can limit the dynamic response and reduce the
development of fatigue damage over the lifetime of the structure. Proper estimation of the damping
from different sources is essential for predicting the fatigue life and optimizing the OWT design.
OWTs are subjected to a combination of damping originated from various sources. According
to the literature, there are five main sources of damping in OWTs [1]:
• Aerodynamic damping.
• Hydrodynamic damping.

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 ON THE ESTIMATION OF FOUNDATION DAMPING OF MONO PILE-SUPPORTED OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES.
ABDOLLAH MALEKJAFARIAN, SOROOSH JALILVAND, DAVID IGOE, PAUL DOHERTY

• Structural damping.
• Foundation (soil) damping.
• Supplemental damping provided by mechanical dissipating devices.
The total damping of the whole system is estimated as the sum of the damping from different
sources. OWTs are lightly damped structures and their total damping depends on many factors
and varies in a quite wide range. According to the literature, the total damping ratio is reported in
a range of 1-3 % of critical damping for the turbines in the parked condition and 7-10 % for the
operational condition. Among all these damping sources, soil damping is still the most uncertain
damping source in OWTs.
Versteijlen et al. [2] measure vibration signals from twelve “rotor stop” – test on an OWT at
Dong Energy owned – Burbo Banks wind farm. They installed an accelerometer and strain gauges
along the tower to measure free decay responses. Devriendt et al. [3, 4] implemented a long-term
monitoring of an OWT in Belgian North Sea. The total damping in the parked condition is
estimated under various wind speed condition. They estimate that damping changes between
1.1-2.1 % when the wind speed is in a low range of 0-5 m/s, while it varies in a range of 1.5-2.6 %
for wind speeds of 10-15 m/s. For higher wind speed, which create larger deflection at mudline
level, higher damping values were estimated. Bajric et al. [5] employ three modal identification
techniques, Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA), covariance driven Stochastic Subspace
Identification (COV-SSI) and the Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition (EFDD) for the
estimation of OWT damping. They use a numerical model of an OWT in non-operation condition,
where they assume the total damping is governed by structural and foundation damping. They also
estimate damping from accelerations measured on a real wind turbine. The average damping is
estimated about 0.7 % for the fore-aft mode and 1.2 % for the side-side mode.
Lombardi et al. [6] performed a series of laboratory tests using a scaled model wind turbine
supported on a monopile in kaolin clay. They applied between 32,000 and 172,000 cycles of
horizontal loading to the turbine and monitored the changes in natural frequency and damping of
the model. They evaluate damping in time domain using the logarithmic decrement method. They
showed that damping of the model increased with the number of cycles and higher damping
variations are recorded for larger strain amplitudes in the soil. Carswell et al. [7] presents a method
for finding an equivalent lumped parameter model to represent OWT foundation damping due to
hysteretic energy loss. The lumped model represents the foundation damping as a viscous
rotational dashpot at mudline level. They use free vibration and stochastic time history analysis
using a two-dimensional finite element model. OWT foundation damping is estimated as 0.17 %
to 0.28 % of critical damping to total damping using logarithmic decrement method. They also
show that when OWT foundation damping is included in the model, maximum mudline moment
is 7-9 % less than the case damping is not considered. The shear at mudline level also reduced by
approximately 2 %.
In this paper, a 3D finite element (FE) model of an OWT is created using Plaxis 3D which is
a commercial geotechnical engineering FE software. The turbine is loaded by applying a static
load to create initial static deformation. The load is then released to allow the structure for free
vibration using dynamic analysis. The free vibration responses are measured at several points on
the structure for a relatively long time. The natural frequency of the system is estimated using fast
Fourier transform (FFT) of the measured signal. The damping of the system is estimated using
logarithmic decrement method from amplitudes of any two successive peaks.

2. Numerical modelling in Plaxis

The soil-structure interaction for a wind turbine is numerically modelled using Plaxis 3D 2018
software. The wind turbine is modelled at full scale in half-space as shown in Fig. 1.

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 ON THE ESTIMATION OF FOUNDATION DAMPING OF MONO PILE-SUPPORTED OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES.
ABDOLLAH MALEKJAFARIAN, SOROOSH JALILVAND, DAVID IGOE, PAUL DOHERTY

Fig. 1. 3D FE model

2.1. Wind turbine structure

The pile below the mudline level is modelled using linear elastic plate elements with Young’s
Modulus, 𝐸 = 210 GPa, Poisson’s ratio, 𝜐 = 0.3 and a unit weight of 𝛾 = 77 kN/m3. Table 1
gives the overall dimension of the monopile. Interface elements were also added to the pile shaft
plate. The tower is modelled using the DTU 10-MW reference wind turbine [8]. The tower and
monopile above the mudline level are modelled using linear elastic beam elements. The tower
properties are given in Table 2. In order to only estimate the foundation damping, the structural
damping of the system is considered to be zero.

Table 1. Monopile properties

Property Value
Interface height above mudline (m) 45
Tapered length (m) 15
MP diameter at toe (m) 8
MP diameter at top (m) 6
MP thickness (mm) 80

Table 2. Tower properties

Property Value
Hub height (m) 119
RNA mass (tons) 675
Cross section area at top (m2) 0.34432
Cross section area at bottom (m2) 0.98632

2.2. Soil model

Four soil layers are modelled using the methodology explained in [9]. The soil elements are
modelled as ten-node tetrahedral elements. The effective soil weight, 𝛾 is kN/m3 and the interface
stiffness, 𝑅 is 0.7. The layers’ elevations are listed in Table 3. The mesh is then generated
using Plaxis 3D’s inbuilt meshing procedure. The mesh is checked to ensure it was of sufficient
quality to prevent convergence issues due to poorly constructed elements. Manual refinement of
the mesh is often required to facilitate optimum numerical analysis and convergence.

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 ON THE ESTIMATION OF FOUNDATION DAMPING OF MONO PILE-SUPPORTED OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES.
ABDOLLAH MALEKJAFARIAN, SOROOSH JALILVAND, DAVID IGOE, PAUL DOHERTY

Table 3. Soil properties

Layer Depth (m) To (m) Small strain stiffness (MPa)
1 0 5 91106
2 5 15 98599
3 15 30 99405
4 30 45 99389

3. Damping estimation

3.1. Logarithmic decrement method

Logarithmic decrement is a method for estimating damping from free vibration time history.
The logarithmic decrement of a signal is defined as the natural logarithm of the ratio of the
amplitudes of any two successive peaks:

1 𝐴
𝛿= ln , (1)
𝑛 𝐴

where 𝐴 is the amplitude of the first peak and 𝐴 is the amplitude of the peak 𝑛 periods away,
where 𝑛 is any integer number of successive, positive peaks. The global damping ratio 𝜉 can then
be calculated as a function of 𝛿 by:

1
𝜉= ,
2𝜋 (2)
1
𝛿

which here estimates the global damping associated with the dominant mode in the signal.

3.2. Results

In order to create a free decay response, a point load is applied to the tower at Rotor Nacelle
Assembly (RNA) level to create an initial static deflection. The load is then removed in the
following phase to allow the structure to freely vibrates. Fig. 2 shows the dynamic response of the
turbine measured at RNA level. Fig. 3 shows the frequency spectrum of the signal obtained from
FFT. It shows a peak at 0.177 Hz corresponding to the first natural frequency of the structure. It
can be seen that this mode is dominant in the signal.

Fig. 2. The free decay Fig. 3. The FFT spectrum of

response at RNA level the free decay response at RNA level

There are 28 peaks detected in the response for damping estimation. It can be seen that the
amplitude of the vibration is decreasing through time. The damping values are estimated using
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 ON THE ESTIMATION OF FOUNDATION DAMPING OF MONO PILE-SUPPORTED OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES.
ABDOLLAH MALEKJAFARIAN, SOROOSH JALILVAND, DAVID IGOE, PAUL DOHERTY

two successive peaks in the response using the first 27 peaks as the starting points in logarithmic
decrement method. The damping values are plotted versus the time instant of the first employed
peak in Fig. 4. It shows that as the time passes and the amplitude of the response decreases, the
overall damping of the system decreases from about 7 % to 2.5 %.

Fig. 4. Logarithmic damping at different time steps

4. Conclusions

The foundation damping of an OWT on a monopile foundation is estimated using logarithmic

decrement method. The free decay response of the system is measured using a numerical
simulation in an FE software. The damping is calculated using different successive peaks along
the signal to provide the instantaneous damping. It is concluded that the system overall damping
is highly variable. It is shown that the foundation damping decreases when the structure vibrates
with smaller amplitudes. This is important as damping is the only factor would limit the amplitude
of the dynamic vibrations at the resonance. Therefore, accurate estimation of OWT damping plays
an important role in the true estimation of its fatigue life. However, further experimental work is
needed to validate the results in field tests. This can be done by installing sensors at different levels
along the monopile and tower and measuring the responses.

Acknowledgements

This publication has emanated from research conducted with the financial support of Science
Foundation Ireland under Grant Number 17/IFB/5403.

References

[1] Versteijlen W. G., Renting F. W., Van Der Valk P. L. C., Bongers J., Van Dalen K. N.,
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foundation. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 102, 2017, p. 241-262.
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 ON THE ESTIMATION OF FOUNDATION DAMPING OF MONO PILE-SUPPORTED OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES.
ABDOLLAH MALEKJAFARIAN, SOROOSH JALILVAND, DAVID IGOE, PAUL DOHERTY

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