SPECIALIST ENGINEERING FEATURE
WIND TURBINE COMPONENT TRANSPORT NO EASY MATTER
For over 14 years, Collett & Sons Ltd have specialised in transporting, shipping and handling wind turbines throughout the UK and EU and with the more recent advent of components being sourced on a global basis, they have added a marine division to deal with the growth of their clients requirements.
INVESTMENT
In 2008 they invested heavily in a purpose designed depot at the Port of Goole, to receive, handle and store turbine components. With additional investment in heavy lifting equipment with a capacity of 110 tonnes, this facility now acts as a stockpile and storage facility for the import of wind turbine components which allows ‘just in time’ delivery of the turbines to sites throughout the UK.
Although Collett is known as a vehicle operator the company is so diverse in the nature of the services that it offers and trades as three integrated divisions…
DIVISIONS • Transport & Projects – undertaking the transport, storage, heavy lifting and
project management from door to door on a worldwide basis
• Marine – undertaking ship chartering operations, port handling and ships
agency services providing port and ship expertise throughout the UK
• Consulting – applying unique knowledge and expertise, from transport and marine divisions, undertaking route surveying and site access studies and reporting. Providing ‘swept path analysis’ on CAD format with specialist vehicles and components
RECENTLY COMPLETED PROJECTS INCLUDE… • 10 Turbines to Earls Hall, Essex • 12 Turbines to Tickton, East yorkshire • 8 Turbines to
St.Neots, Cambridge • 6 Turbines to Kendal, Cumbria • 8 Turbines to Crick, Northampton
Collett & Sons Ltd
www.collett.co.uk
NEW METHODOLOGY TO ASSESS FATIGUE IN FREE HANGING POWER CABLES IN MONOPILES
BPP-Cables have recently developed a methodology to quantify the damage to free-hanging inter-array cables within monopiles. Removing the J-tube, an external steel conduit for the power cable, from monopile foundation designs yields attractive reductions in capital expenditure.
“J-TUBELESS” DESIGNS “J-tubeless” designs typically feature a hole in the monopile for power cable entry near the seabed and a hang-off platform inside the foundation structure.
This solution allows a power cable, protected at the entry location to be freely suspended from above the mean sea level within the turbine tower.
KEY RISK
A key risk of this configuration is the potential fatigue failure of the cable. Vibrations caused by wind and wave loading on the structure will drive an excitation of the suspended cable length. This oscillatory response will inflict fatigue damage on the metallic components of the power cable. To quantify the damage the analysis must consider factors as diverse as: hydrodynamic damping, mechanical properties of the cable, installation method and
protection system geometry.
SOLUTION Using OrcaFlex™, a time-domain
marine finite-element package, BPP-
Cables can model the
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk 93
response of the power cable to excitation at various points in the foundation.
Thousands of computer simulations are generated to describe the expected motions of the cable over its operational life. These simulations are processed, using software developed by BPP-Cables, to produce stress time histories for the most vulnerable power cable components.
Additional processing, using specialised efficient algorithms in the BPP-Cables software, translates these simulated stress traces into predicted fatigue damage. The entire process from receipt of data to submission of an analysis report can be completed in a little as three weeks.
BENEFITS
Quantitative methodologies are a valuable tool used in assessing the overall project risk. In addition, knowledgeable engineers can use them to assess the benefits of any proposed mitigation techniques.
BPP Cables
www.bpp-cables.com
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