Offshore Wind Turbine (OWT) is a relatively complex structural and mechanical
system located in a highly demanding environment. In this study the fundamental
aspects and the major issues related to the design of such structures are inquired. The
System Approach is proposed to carry out the design of the structural parts: in
accordance with this philosophy, decomposition of the system (environment,
structure, actions/loads) and of the structural performance is carried out in order to
organize the qualitative and quantitative assessments in various sub-problems. These
aspects can be faced by sub-models of different involvedness both for the structural
behavior and for the load models. Numerical models are developed accordingly to
assess safety, performance and robustness under aerodynamic and hydrodynamic
actions.