Given the harsh environment of offshore wind turbines, a major design and O&M challenge is the corrosion and fatigue of the structure. This webinar is designed to give attendees a more rounded appreciation of the unique considerations that should be given to the structural integrity assessment of offshore wind turbine foundations.

The course will be split up into 6 lectures, each with a 5min Q&A section at the end of each part. The agenda for the day will be:

1. Fatigue crack initiation and growth in offshore structures + tutorial (70 mins)
A brief introduction to S-N curves, Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics, Stress intensity factor

2. Fracture toughness testing and analysis of materials in offshore structures + tutorial (70 mins)
An introduction to Elastic-Plastic Fracture Mechanics, JIC fracture toughness testing and analysis for life prediction of ductile material

3. Fracture mechanics based inspection + tutorial (60 mins)
Paris law, Fatigue crack length estimation and inspection using the Paris law

4.Defect assessment using failure assessment diagrams + tutorial (40 mins)
Life prediction of cracked components and structures using level I, II and III FADs

5. Corrosion-fatigue testing and analysis of offshore monopile weldments + case study (30 mins)
An introduction to corrosion-fatigue testing and analysis, Environmental Reduction Factor, Estimation of crack growth acceleration in free-corrosion environment, Demonstration of a case study: SLIC Joint Industry Project

6. Welding residual stresses in offshore wind monopiles + case study (30 mins)
Residual stress measurement using destructive and non-destructive techniques, residual stress effects on fatigue crack initiation and propagation, demonstration of a case study: residual stress measurements in monopile weldments using neutron diffraction and contour techniques