Summary and conclusions
This paper presented an analytical procedure to evaluate the seismic assessment of steel monopile-supported offshore wind turbines, which is a structural typology commonly adopted in seismic-prone countries investing in offshore wind power farms. Modeling details about the structure, foundation, material, inertia, and loading are provided and a finite element model was developed through the open-source structural software OpenSees. Important aspects in the modeling, such as different soil structure interaction modeling approaches, different material behavior and the influence of door opening at the tower base, were also investigated. Models were analyzed through non-linear dynamic analyses using five record sets of input ground motions, that facilitated the comprehensive assessments of the influence of the earthquake types and the soil deformability. Two limit states were considered for the assessment: the serviceability limit state, reached when the chord rotation exceeded 0.5 degrees, and the ultimate limit state, reached when either yielding or local buckling occurs. Based on the thorough analyses of the seismic performance, represented in the paper using seismic fragility functions, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. The analyzed structural typology is particularly sensitive to extreme crustal and interface records;
2. Higher modes are not negligible, especially if the SSI is explicitly modeled;
3. Frequency content of records associated to deformable soil induces an increased seismic fragility with respect to stiffer soil;