Optimization of offshore wind turbine support structures using an analytical gradient-based method

Design optimization of offshore wind turbine support structures is an expensive task; due to the highly-constrained, non-convex and non-linear nature of the design problem. This paper presents an analytical gradient-based method to solve this problem in an efficient and effective way. The design sensitivities of the objective and constraint functions are evaluated analytically while the optimization of the structure is performed, subject to sizing, eigenfrequency, extreme load and fatigue load constraints. A case study was carried out for the OC4 jacket substructure to evaluate the method. Results show that an optimal jacket design with 52 percent structural mass reduction was attained in 27 iterations, while satisfying all design constraints under the simplified load cases used. Besides, it is shown that the analytical sensitivity analysis was more accurate and efficient than the often used finite difference approximations. It could avoid numerical artifacts that typically occur in the analysis of extreme load constraint sensitivities.