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Fatigue Life Comparison of Tubular Joints in Tripod and Jacket Offshore Support Substructures Using 3D Fatigue FE Analysis

  • Structural Engineering
  • Published:
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering Aims and scope

Abstract

In a wind energy system, the safety and stability of substructures plays an important role during the in service of offshore structure. Offshore structures are continuously subjected to high cyclic fatigue loads and may experience fatigue cracks due to the continuous accumulation of plastic strain and stress concentrations at welded joints. The fatigue life of welded tubular joints is one of the most important factors determining the life of offshore structures. In this study, the fatigue analysis of tubular joints of the tripod and jacket support structure was performed using 3D fatigue FEM to estimate the fatigue life and predict the positions of crack initiation. The 3D fatigue FE is based on constitutive equations and continuum damage mechanics. The welding state of tubular joints were reproduced to calculate the welding residual stresses and welding deformation. The residual stresses and weld deformation were used as input together with cyclic loading in the 3D fatigue FE to calculate the fatigue life and predict the crack initiation positions. The S-N curve calculated by the 3D fatigue FE analysis were compared with the SN curves of Eurocode 3. The results show that 3D fatigue FE analysis is an effective tool to analyze large and complex structures before installation to ensure the safety and stability of the structure.

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Abbreviations

A n :

Amplitude of octahedral shear Stress

c :

Specific heat

D :

Damage variable

D N :

Damage value at Nth cycle

k :

Thermal conductivity

N :

Number of cycles

N :

Number of cycles to failure

Q :

Rate of moving heat generation per unit volume

Q A :

Heat input from the welding arc

Q, b :

Material constants in isotropic hardening rate function

R :

Isotropic hardening rate

ro :

Arc beam radius

X Dij :

Back stress increment tensor

α, β :

Material constants of damage

∇:

Spatial gradient operator

ΔD :

Increment of damage evolution

δN :

Increment of the number of cycles

\(\overline{\sigma}\) :

effective stress tensor

dε ij :

Total strain increment

dε pij :

Elastic strain increment

dε pij :

Plastic strain increment

dε thij :

Thermal strain increment

γ k, c k :

Material constants in kinematic hardening

σ eq :

Equivalent of von Mises stress

σ ij :

Stress tensor

σ m :

Mean stress

σ max :

Maximum stress

ρ :

Density

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2021R111A204584511). This research was also supported by Chung-Ang University research grants in 2018.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Civil, Environmental & Plant Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 0697, Korea

    Shazia Muzaffer & Kyong-Ho Chang

  2. Dept. of Civil Engineering, Osaka University, 565-0871, Osaka, Japan

    Mikihito Hirohata

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  1. Shazia Muzaffer
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  2. Kyong-Ho Chang
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  3. Mikihito Hirohata
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Correspondence to Kyong-Ho Chang.

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Muzaffer, S., Chang, KH. & Hirohata, M. Fatigue Life Comparison of Tubular Joints in Tripod and Jacket Offshore Support Substructures Using 3D Fatigue FE Analysis. KSCE J Civ Eng 28, 849–859 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-023-1043-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-023-1043-7

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