Decision support for offshore wind turbine installation

Offshore operations like the installation of equipment, maintenance and repairs are complex and to a high degree weather sensitive. The operations are often carried out by specialized ships which are hired for a given time period. The cost of such operati ons is to a large extent driven by waiting for weather windows for weather-sensitive phases (transportation, mooring, crane operations, etc.). The criteria used to commence a weather sensitive operation are today related to simple parameters such as signi ficant wave height and average wind velocity at a reference height. The physical limitations are however related to response parameters, e.g. motions, accelerations and forces. The project will close this gap by developing methods for decision support whi ch are based on real physical limitations of the equipment being used. A second gap will be closed by taking uncertainties into account in the decision making. Uncertainties constitute an important aspect of weather-dependent data, and in this project the uncertainties will be transformed to uncertainties in equipment response, and be utilized in a decision support system where the risks and consequences of failed operations are taken into account, enabling a risk based decision support.