Optimization design of the jacket support structure for offshore wind turbine using topology optimization method

Jacket support structure is the main support form in medium water depth for bottom fixed offshore wind turbine. Topology optimization is presented in this paper for an efficient method to optimize the jacket structure by altering the structural layout to improve its design, minimize weight and ultimately reduce the cost. Together with size and shape optimization, an innovative jacket structure is obtained with constraints on strength, stiffness, stability, ultimate strength, and natural frequency. The optimization has been solved and the overall mass of the optimized structure decreases by 38.24% compared with the primary structure. Moreover, ultimate limit state analysis, eigenanalysis and buckling are used to evaluate the optimized structure. The results indicate that the proposed optimized method is an effective way to reduce the weight and stress concentration. It also shows that topology optimization provides useful insights for the conceptual design phase and provides a better starting point for the further size and shape optimization.