Offshore Renewable Energy Structural Engineering, Design and Analysis

Structural Engineering, Design and Analysis

In developing and validating a marine renewable energy design concept, an early understanding of an asset’s structural integrity and survivability is crucial to defining future CAPEX and OPEX costs and determining that asset’s feasibility. INNOSEA provides a range of structural engineering, design and analysis services to support marine renewable energy markets in delivering cost-effective and optimised design solutions.

Innosea’s structural engineering services offer value at different phases of the development cycle of a project, supporting feasibility studies, cost analysis, concept and detailed design phases, as well as at project development phase.

The services can be rendered as part of an integrated package of engineering services with integrated loads analysis and cost engineering, or on their own.

We have both internal fast design tools for concept design and scenario analysis of different structures, as well as large experience in foundation structural analysis and optimisation through finite element analysis.

The following process is typically performed:

Definition of design load cases

Innosea has significant expertise in the definition of design load cases and has a comprehensive knowledge of related standards. These design load cases are typically defined by a combination of meteocean data and operational states of the asset in question (power production, protection position, idling, fault).

Loads Assessment

Design loads are typically complex to evaluate, as they depend on sea conditions and behavior of the asset in water. We use multibody dynamics modelling coupled with hydrodynamics modelling to determine design loads such as those applied by environment, wave and current, and interactions between asset components out at sea.

Structural Analysis

Innosea performs the modelling of asset components and related loads in a finite element analysis software. Stresses or forces in the components’ structures are evaluated and checked with reference to offshore structural design standards.

Design Iterations

Design iteration is one of the main tasks usually performed by Innosea after the structural analysis, in order to ensure full compliance with design standards and optimization in use of materials to achieve cost reductions, as well as design optimisation to achieve any operational efficiencies identified.

Cost Estimation

We can also perform CAPEX cost assessment can based on material quantities, material costs, and manufacturing costs.

OPEX cost assessment is also performed based on analysis of an asset’s structural integrity and durability at sea, as well as the structural integration of operational efficiencies to mitigate future risk at O&M stages.