Do cyclone impacts really matter for the long-term performance of an offshore wind turbine?

Abstract With the transition on planning and construction of offshore wind turbine (OWT) from North Europe to other regions like America and East Asia, challenges are proposed for the direct application of international OWT experience to these territories due to disparate natural condition like cyclones. This article is intended to evaluate the impact of cyclone on the long-term performance of an OWT to be installed in cyclone-prone regions. To have a comprehensive consideration on the aero-hydro-structural-soil interaction, an improved decoupled method is proposed and validated for an onshore wind turbine before its application to an OWT. Two cyclone models combined with two wave theories are considered in the fatigue evaluation of an OWT under different working status, and their implications on the final estimation of fatigue damage are compared and discussed. The results obtained from this study indicate that the fatigue life reduction which is caused by cyclone, for an OWT can be conspicuous for a reasonable cyclone strength and average recurrence interval. This implies that potential premature failure of an OWT tower and relevant economic losses can be encountered during its service life if the cyclone contribution to fatigue damage is ignored in the initial conceptual design.