• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2016

The global performance of the 5 MW OC4 semisubmersible floating wind turbine in random waves with or without steady/dynamic winds is numerically simulated by using the turbine-floater-mooring fully coupled dynamic analysis program FAST-CHARM3D in time domain. The numerical simulations are based on the complete second-order diffraction/radiation potential formulations along with nonlinear viscous-drag force estimations at the body's instantaneous position. The sensitivity of hull motions and mooring dynamics with varying wave-kinematics extrapolation methods above MWL(mean-water level) and column drag coefficients is investigated. The effects of steady and dynamic winds are also illustrated. When dynamic wind is added to the irregular waves, it additionally introduces low-frequency wind loading and aerodynamic damping. The numerically simulated results for the 5 MW OC4 semisubmersible floating wind turbine by FAST-CHARM3D are also extensively compared with the DeepCWind model-test results by Technip/NREL/UMaine. Those numerical-simulation results have good correlation with experimental results for all the cases considered.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.139-160
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• 2015

The global performance of the 5MW OC4 semisubmersible floating wind turbine in random waves was numerically simulated by using the turbine-floater-mooring fully coupled and time-domain dynamic analysis program FAST-CHARM3D. There have been many papers regarding floating offshore wind turbines but the effects of second-order wave-body interactions on their global performance have rarely been studied. The second-order wave forces are actually small compared to the first-order wave forces, but its effect cannot be ignored when the natural frequencies of a floating system are outside the wave-frequency range. In the case of semi-submersible platform, second-order difference-frequency wave-diffraction forces and moments become important since surge/sway and pitch/roll natural frequencies are lower than those of typical incident waves. The computational effort related to the full second-order diffraction calculation is typically very heavy, so in many cases, the simplified approach called Newman's approximation or first-order-wave-force-only are used. However, it needs to be justified against more complete solutions with full QTF (quadratic transfer function), which is a main subject of the present study. The numerically simulated results for the 5MW OC4 semisubmersible floating wind turbine by FAST-CHARM3D are also extensively compared with the DeepCWind model test results by Technip/NREL/UMaine. The predicted motions and mooring tensions for two white-noise input-wave spectra agree well against the measure values. In this paper, the numerical static-offset and free-decay tests are also conducted to verify the system stiffness, damping, and natural frequencies against the experimental results. They also agree well to verify that the dynamic system modeling is correct to the details. The performance of the simplified approaches instead of using the full QTF are also tested.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.173-193
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• 2023

Reliable prediction of the motion of FOWT (floating offshore wind turbine) and associated mooring line tension is important in both design and operation/monitoring processes. In the present study, a 5MW OC4 semisubmersible wind turbine is numerically modeled, simulated, and analyzed by the open-source numerical tool, OpenFAST and in-house numerical tool, Charm3D-FAST. Another commercial-level program FASTv8-OrcaFlex is also introduced for comparison for selected cases. The three simulation programs solve the same turbine-floater-mooring coupled dynamics in time domain while there exist minor differences in the details of the program. Both the motions and mooring-line tensions are calculated and compared with the DeepCWind 1/50 scale model-testing results. The system identification between the numerical and physical models is checked through the static-offset test and free-decay test. Then the system motions and mooring tensions are systematically compared among the simulated results and measured values. Reasonably good agreements between the simulation and measurement are demonstrated for (i) white-noise random waves, (ii) typical random waves, and (iii) typical random waves with steady wind. Based on the comparison between numerical results and experimental data, the relative importance and role of the differences in the numerical methodologies of those three programs can be observed and interpreted. These comparative-study results may provide a certain confidence level and some insight of potential variability in motion and tension predictions for future FOWT designs and applications.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.287-312
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• 2023

The global performance of a 15 MW floating offshore wind turbine, a newly designed semisubmersible floating foundation with multiple heave plates by CNOOC, is investigated with two independent turbine-floater-mooring coupled dynamic analysis programs CHARM3D-FAST and OrcaFlex. The semisubmersible platform hosts IEA 15 MW reference wind turbine modulated for VolturnUS-S and hybrid type (chain-wire-chain with clumps) 3×2 mooring lines targeting the water depth of 100 m. The numerical free-decay simulation results are compared with physical experiments with 1:64 scaled model in 3D wave basin, from which appropriate drag coefficients for heave plates were estimated. The tuned numerical simulation tools were then used for the feasibility and global performance analysis of the FOWT considering the 50-yr-storm condition and maximum operational condition. The effect of tower flexibility was investigated by comparing tower-base fore-aft bending moment and nacelle translational accelerations. It is found that the tower-base bending moment and nacelle accelerations can be appreciably increased due to the tower flexibility.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.255-262
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• 2015

The present study developed a numerical simulation tool for the coupled dynamic analysis of multiple turbines on a single floater (or Multiple Unit Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (MUFOWT)) in the time domain, considering the multiple-turbine aero-blade-tower dynamics and control, mooring dynamics, and platform motions. The numerical tool developed in this study was designed based on and extended from the single-turbine analysis tool FAST to make it suitable for multiple turbines. For the hydrodynamic loadings of floating platform and mooring-line dynamics, the CHARM3D program developed by the authors was incorporated. Thus, the coupled dynamic behavior of a floating base with multiple turbines and mooring lines can be simulated in the time domain. To investigate the effect of asymmetric aerodynamic loading on the global performance and mooring line tensions of the MUFOWT, one turbine failure case with a fully feathered blade pitch angle was simulated and checked. The aerodynamic interference between adjacent turbines, including the wake effect, was not considered in this study to more clearly demonstrate the influence of the asymmetric aerodynamic loading on the MUFOWT. The analysis shows that the unbalanced aerodynamic loading from one turbine in MUFOWT may induce appreciable changes in the performance of the floating platform and mooring system.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.84-90
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• 2016

In this study, a six degree-of-freedom motion analysis of a wind-wave hybrid platform equipped with numerous wave energy converters (WECs) was carried out. To examine the effect of the WECs on the platform, an analysis of one-way coupling was carried out, which only considered the power take-off (PTO) damping of the static WECs on the platform. The equation of motion of a floating platform with mooring lines in the time domain was established, and the responses of the one-way coupled platform were then compared with the case of a platform without any coupling effects from the WECs. The hydrodynamic coefficients and wave exciting forces were obtained from the 3D diffraction/radiation pre-processor code WAMIT based on the boundary element method. Then, an analysis of the dynamic responses of the floating platform with or without the WEC effect in the time domain was carried out. All of the dynamics of a floating platform with multiple wind turbines were obtained by coupling FAST and CHARM3D in the time domain, which was further extended to include additional coupled dynamics for multiple turbines. The analysis showed that the PTO damping effect on platform motions was negligible, but coupled effects between multiple WECs and the platform may differentiate the heave, roll, and pitch platform motions from the one without any effects induced by WECs.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2015

The water jetting system for a jack-up spudcan requires the suitable design considering the platform/spudcan particulars, environments, and soil conditions, either the surficial clay or surficial sand. The usage of water jetting depends critically on soil conditions. The water jetting is usually used for the smooth and fast extraction of the spudcan in the surficial clay condition. It is also required for inserting spudcan up to the required depth in the surficial sand condition, which is investigated in this paper. Especially, it should be very careful to use the water jetting during an installation of spudcan in the surficial sand condition, because there is a risk of overturning accident related to the punch-through. Therefore, in this study, the effect of water jetting flow rate and time on the change of soil properties and penetration resistance is analyzed to better understand their interactions and correlations when inserting the spudcan with water jetting in surficial sand condition. For the investigation, a wind turbine installation jack-up rig (WTIJ) is selected as the target platform and the multi layered soil (surficial sand overlaying clays) is considered as the soil condition. The environmental loading and soil-structure interaction (SSI) analysis are performed by using CHARM3D and ANSYS. This kind of investigation and simulation is needed to decide the proper water jetting flow rate and time of spudcan for the given design condition.