Corrosion Protection Assessment of Offshore Wind Turbine Substructures Using BEASY CP Simulation Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the corrosion protection assessment of offshore wind turbine substructures established in the waters off Keelung, Taiwan. First, a cathodic protection system for the monopile foundation is designed and established. The Boundary Element Method (BEM) is applied using the BEASY simulation software to develop a 3D geometric model for cathodic protection. In the steel monopile simulation analysis, the exposed marine environment is set based on the sea conditions of the Keelung small boat marina, including parameters such as salinity, resistance, and polarization curves, to establish an effective cathodic protection system for underwater structures. By simulating these parameters, a better understanding of the corrosion protection performance of the monopile under different environmental conditions can be achieved. Additionally, the polarization curve of the monopile is set to evaluate the variation in corrosion protection potential. The analysis examines the effects of different corrosion polarization potentials of bare steel monopiles, the distance between anodes and cathodes, and the influence of varying numbers of anode. The BEASY simulation results indicate that under different parameter settings, the corrosion protection potential of the bare steel monopile exhibits varying trends. The simulation analysis of the potential distribution for the bare steel monopile ranges from-998 mV to-1056 mV, meeting DNV-RP-B401 criteria for effective protection, confirming the optimal corrosion protection effectiveness.