Abstract : In this work a methodology for service life monitoring of mooring lines of floating wind turbines is proposed. First, an empirical expression of dynamic stiffness of a nylon rope is obtained from the testing data in the literature. A practical modeling procedure is proposed which allows accounting for the non-linear dynamic axial stiffness of nylon mooring ropes. The second part is devoted to the prediction of fatigue life of mooring lines. Cutting-edge methods for fatigue analysis in frequency domain and for simulation of nonlinear mooring response (e.g. Artificial Neural Network) are investigated in order to perform quick fatigue estimate in a reliability framework. The present methodology aims to support making decisions regarding maintenance or replacement of lines based on the level of reliability estimated during the expected service life.

Le jury est composé de :

  •     Lars JOHANNING – Professor, College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences  – University of Exeter: Reviewer
  •     Guillaume PUEL – Professor, MSSMAT – Centrale Supelec: Reviewer
  •     Emmanuelle VIDAL-SALLE – Professor, LAMCOS – INSA Lyon: Examiner
  •     Peter Davies – Researcher, STRUCTURES MARINE – IFREMER: Examiner
  •     Thomas SOULARD – Engineer, SEM-REV – Centrale Nantes: Invited member
  •     Patrice CARTRAUD – Professor, GEM – Centrale Nantes: Supervisor
  •     Franck SCHOEFS – Professor, GEM – University of Nantes: Co-Supervisor
  •    Christian BERHAULT – RESEARCHER, Centrale Nantes: Co-supervisor