A Bayesian network based approach for integration of condition-based maintenance in strategic offshore wind farm O&M simulation models

In the overall decision problem regarding optimization of operation and maintenance (O&M) for offshore wind farms, there are many approaches for solving parts of the overall decision problem. Simulation-based strategy models accurately capture system effects related to logistics, but model condition-based maintenance (CBM) in a simplified manner. The influence of the CBM strategy on the failure rate can be directly considered using a risk-based approach, but here logistics is modelled in a simplified manner. This paper presents an efficient approach for accurate integration of CBM in simulation-based strategy models. Using Bayesian networks, the probability distribution for the time of failure and the conditional probability distribution for the time of CBM given the time of failure is estimated accounting for the CBM strategy, and are used by the simulation-based strategy model to generate failures and CBM tasks. An example considering CBM for wind turbine blades demonstrates the feasibility of the approach.