Safety assessment of moray base floating wind turbine foundation with steel–UHPC material through CFD–FEA method

In this study, a floating offshore wind turbine with a foundation constructed from steel–UHPC (ultrahigh performance concrete) is investigated. The structural design and strength performance of the floating foundation are evaluated through a combination of numerical simulation and wave tank experiments. Load assessment and feasibility analyses, which reveal that the proposed steel–UHPC foundation satisfies structural safety requirements while exhibiting significant potential for material cost reduction, are conducted. With respect to the numerical simulation, a coupling of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) solvers is employed to address the fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problem. External hydrodynamic pressure obtained from the CFD solver is used to derive the structural response in the FEA solver. Given that the deformation of the steel–UHPC structure has a negligible effect on the surrounding flow field, one-way CFD–FEA coupling, in which fluid loads are transferred to the structural model without feedback of structural deformation to the fluid solver, is used. Wave tank experiments are conducted to validate the accuracy and reliability of the proposed one-way coupling methodology. Furthermore, an equivalent constitutive model for steel–UHPC is implemented within the FEA solver. The corresponding physical and mechanical properties are derived, and key structural design parameters of the floating foundation are determined accordingly.