Dynamic Analysis of Blade Mating Process Using Jack-Up Crane Vessel: A Code-to-Code Comparison

Abstract Offshore wind turbine blade installation is a challenging task. Jack-up crane vessels are commonly used for blade installation in shallow waters. The motion of the blade root is mainly due to wind loads on the lifting arrangement and wave loads on the jack-up legs. The relative motion between the blade and the hub should be minimal during the blade mating process to avoid structural damage. Thus, it becomes crucial to reliably estimate the motion of the blade installation system. Currently, there are several software and tools that are used to perform such an analysis, however there are no experiment results available for validation. Hence, a comparison exercise of their results is necessary for a reliable prediction of dynamic responses. This study aims to numerically model the blade mating process using a jack-up crane vessel in Orcaflex, and perform a code-to-code comparison with SIMA using the published results. The comparison was performed at different levels — (1) modal analyses of the jack-up vessel and the blade lifting arrangement, and (2) time-domain analysis for fully coupled model of installation system. The results of the study show that there is good agreement between the results from SIMA and OrcaFlex.