Parc éolien

Acciona wind farms seismic resistance

Missions

setec drew on its experience and technical expertise in industrial civil engineering to:

  • Interpret geotechnical reports
  • Comply with national regulation, mainly focused on reinforcing turbine towers
  • Advise Acciona Windpower on the options for optimizing earthquake resistance

The most revelant norms and standards were cross-referenced, including EN 1998 part 6, DNV/Riso and GL, and the CICIND code of conduct.

Increasingly, wind farms are being installed in regions with high seismic acivity, where the force applied to turbine towers can be stronger than the wind.

Particular attention must be paid to evaluating seismic spectra to ensure safety without being overly cautious.

Acciona Windpower asked setec to provide technical assistance on several wind farm projects to evaluate the seismic design response spectra in line with local regulation.

These projects were located around the world (in Italy, Peru, Morocco, Poland and Croatia) with a generation capacity of up to 1,000 MW.

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Challenges

Working in partnership with a reputable international earthquake-resistant design expert, setec suggested ductility parameters, taking into account the materials used in the turbines (concrete or steel) and the type of structure.

These behavioral coefficients represent the dissipation of energy in the structure due to inelasticity, influencing the seismic impact.

 

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