Reliability-based inspection planning of wind turbine concrete structures subjected to fatigue

Inspection of structures for assessing the level of fatigue damage in concrete is very challenging and available techniques are in nascent stage and needs more research. This paper presents a reliability-based approach for updating the information about fatigue of concrete structures through inspections. Four techniques are here introduced: Ultrasonic (US), Acoustic Emission (AE), Coda Wave Interferometry (CWI) and Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing (DFOS). They are looked at from the viewpoint of using the information they provide for updating the reliability of the structures. Then, a Gravity Based Foundation of an Offshore Wind Turbine is considered as case study. The ultrasonic method is chosen to estimate the level of fatigue damage in concrete that is used to update the fatigue reliability of a concrete component.
Finally, the current work provides a framework for reliability-based inspection planning based on available techniques for updating the information of the structures in terms of fatigue damage of concrete with the decision-making process.