The Use Numerical Modelling to Assist and Improve Industrial Understanding of Underwater Noise and Relevant Mitigation Measures
Invited paper
DONG Energy Wind Power A/S
Monday 1 june, 2015, 18:20 - 18:40
0.2 Berlin (90)
Abstract:
Every year DONG Energy installs a large number of foundations for offshore wind turbines. For that reason DONG Energy has an interest in understanding the details of how underwater sound is generated and propagates. For some years an internal R&D project has been running, including the aim to develop accurate means for modelling underwater sound emissions. Focus is primarily on impact driven piles.
The main activities of the project in terms of noise modelling are:
&_bullet; To drive and conduct research into how underwater sound is generated – what is the influence of pile geometry and impact hammer – what is the influence of the soil – which wave types are generated and how do they propagate in the near-field.
&_bullet; To quantify far-field propagation efficiently – which parameters are governing and which methods are needed to describe the far-field propagation at a sufficiently detailed level.
&_bullet; To establish validation cases where parameters are well-known, actual sound emissions are carefully measured and where modelling results can thus be validated.
&_bullet; To support and influence the development of methods for efficient and optimized sound damping.
Research activities have been conducted in cooperation with universities and leading consultants and comprise FE modelling of near field sound propagation as well as a novel integration of WEAP for quantifying the soil-pile interaction.
The presentation will demonstrate results of near-field modelling and validation including outline of important conclusions. An outlook will be given on the influence of near-field propagation through the soil and how this impacts the planning and optimization of noise mitigation systems.