Accuracy assessment of real-time hybrid testing for seismic control of an offshore wind turbine supporting structure with a TMD

In this study, the accuracy of a real-time hybrid test (RTHT) employed for a performance test of a tuned mass damper (TMD) on an offshore wind turbine (OWT) with a complicated jacket-type supporting structure is quantified and evaluated by comparing the RTHT results with the experimental data obtained from a shaking table test (STT), in which a 1/25-scale model for a typical 5-MW OWT controlled by a TMD was tested. In the RTHT, the jacket-type OWT structure was modelled using both multiple-DOF (MDOF) and single-DOF (SDOF) numerical models. When compared with the STT test data, the test results of the RTHT show that while the SDOF model, which requires less control computational time, is able to well predict the peak responses of the nacelle and TMD only, the MDOF model is able to effectively predict both the peak and over-all time-history responses at multiple critical locations of an OWT structure. This also indicates that, depending on the type of structural responses considered, an RTHT with either an SDOF or a MDOF model may be a promising alternative to the STT to assess the effectiveness of a TMD for seismic mitigation in an OWT context.