Fatigue analysis of offshore wind turbines on fixed support structures

A stochastic time domain fatigue analysis is pursued on steel tripod and jacket support structures for offshore wind turbines, based on the concepts of recently validated simplified linear analyses where aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loadings are separately generated and then superposed. Environmental load cases with corresponding probabilities are considered. Results are compared in terms of a lifetime damage equivalent load. Higher values are found in the tripod.