Objective
Deployment of offshore wind turbines is listed as one of the most important actions to realize national goals of fossil fuels independence by 2050. ABYSS targets several priorities for this goal in the Danish MegaVind and the European TPWind research strategies. Offshore wind turbines are mounted on costly bottom-fixed support structures such as monopiles and jackets. ABYSS develops novel mathematical models, reliable numerical optimization techniques and software for optimal design of cost effective bottom-fixed offshore wind turbine support structures for all relevant water depths including deep waters in excess of 50m. Deeper water deployment expands the area for erecting wind turbine farms at locations with superior wind conditions.
The ABYSS techniques take dynamic wind and wave loads, cost, life expectancy, manufacturing, and functional requirements accurately into account. Available design tools are far from capable of performing industrial structural optimization with this complex combination of requirements and large number of dynamic loads.
Expected outcome
The results of ABYSS will lead to a faster and more automated design process, with capabilities to design mass-producible and reliable support structures for deep waters and large wind turbines. The optimized designs have longer life expectancy and provide a decrease of cost of energy, contributing to achieving the national energy goals. The developed methods and tools are also immediately applicable to other industrial design in e.g. aerospace. The ABYSS consortium consists of eight partners uniquely combining expertise from offshore wind energy industry, foundation designers, design system developers, and universities ensuring success of the project.
The project started on January 1, 2014 and will run over a period of 4 years.