Fuzzy FMEA of Floating Wind Turbine Based on Related Weights and TOPSIS Theory

The failure of floating wind turbine can suspend the operation of the offshore wind turbine generator, which will severely affect the generated energy and cause huge economic loss. Hence, the reliability evaluation of floating wind turbine is of vital importance. RPN calculation which adopts the traditional FMEA method carries significant limitations and cannot solve failure sequence in case RPN is the same. Therefore, the paper makes use of fuzzy FMEA method based on Related Weights and TOPSIS Theory to make fuzzy evaluation on each failure mode of floating wind turbine as well as construct a failure matrix which adopts triangular fuzzy number. This paper utilizes Related Weights that come from different experts to different failure modes and TOPSIS Theory to calculate similarity algorithm to replace RPN value to sequence the risks. Results show that fuzzy FMEA method that applies Related Weights and TOPSIS Theory can more accurately judge the degree of risks of floating wind turbine system's failure mode to avoid the effect of subjectivity on evaluation results to the extreme extent. In this way, the more effective maintenance strategy can be formulated so as to improve the system's reliability.