• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.57-64
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• 2018

To maximize power generation and reduce the construction cost of a commercial utility-grade wind turbine, the size of the wind turbine should be large. The initial design of the 12 MW University of Ulsan(UOU) Floating Offshore Wind Turbine(FOWT) was carried out based on the 5 MW National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL) offshore wind turbine model. The existing 5 MW NREL offshore wind turbines have been expanded to 12 MW UOU FOWT using the geometric law of similarity and then redesigned for each factor. The resonance of the tower is the most important dynamic responses of a wind turbine, and it should be designed by avoiding resonance due to cyclic load during turbine operations. The natural frequency of the tower needs to avoid being within the frequency range corresponding to the rotational speed of the blades, 1P, and the blade passing frequency, 3P. To avoid resonance, vibration can be reduced by modifying the stiffness or mass. The direct expansion of the 5 MW wind turbine support structure caused a resonance problem with the tower of the 12 MW FOWT and the tower length and diameter was adjusted to avoid a match of the first natural frequency and 3P excitation of the tower.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.79-99
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• 2018

The effects of BPC (blade pitch control) on FOWT (floating offshore wind turbine) motions and generated power are investigated by using a fully-coupled turbine-floater-mooring simulation program. In this regard, two example FOWTs, OC4-5MW semi-submersible FOWT and KRISO four-3MW-units FOWT, are selected since the numerical simulations of those two FOWTs have been verified against experiments in authors' previous studies. Various simulations are performed changing BPC natural frequency (BPCNF), BPC damping ratio (BPCDR), and wind speeds. Through the numerical simulations, it was demonstrated that negative damping can happen for platform pitch motions and its influences are affected by BPCNF, BPCDR, and wind speeds. If BPCNF is significantly larger than platform-pitch natural frequency, the pitch resonance can be very serious due to the BPC-induced negative-damping effects, which should be avoided in the FOWT design. If wind speed is significantly higher than the rated wind velocity, the negative damping effects start to become reduced. Other important findings are also given through systematic sensitivity investigations.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.213-225
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• 2020

Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT) installed in the deep sea regions where stable and strong wind flows are abundant would have significantly improved energy production capacity. When designing FOWT, it is essential to understand the stability and motion performance of the floater. Water tank model tests are required to evaluate these aspects of performance. This paper describes a model test and numerical simulation for a 750-kW semi-submersible platform wind turbine model-II. In the previous model test, the 750-kW FOWT model-I suffered slamming phenomena from extreme wave conditions. Because of that, the platform freeboard of model-II was increased to mitigate the slamming load on the platform deck structure in extreme conditions. Also, the model-I pitch Response Amplitude Operators (RAO) of simulation had strong responses to the natural frequency region. Thus, the hub height of model-II was decreased to reduce the pitch resonance responses from the low-frequency response of the system. Like the model-I, 750-kW FOWT model-II was built with a 1/40 scale ratio. Furthermore, the experiments to evaluate the performance characteristics of the model-II wind turbine were executed at the same location and in the same environment conditions as were those of model-I. These tests included a free decay test, and tests of regular and irregular wave conditions. Both the experimental and simulation conditions considered the blade rotating effect due to the wind. The results of the model tests were compared with the numerical simulations of the FOWT using FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence) code from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.111-121
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• 2023

This paper intends to introduce the applicability of HydroQus to a problem of a tanker collision against a semi-submersible type floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT). HydroQus is a plug-in based on potential flow theory that generates interactive hydroforces in a commercial Finite element analysis (FEA) code Abaqus/Explicit. Frequency response analyses were conducted for a 10MW capacity FOWT to obtain hydrostatic and hydrodynamic constants. The tanker was modeled with rigid elements, while elastic-plastic elements were used for the FOWT. Mooring chains were modeled to implement station keeping ability of the FOWT. Two types of fracture models were considered: constant failure strain model and combined failure strain model HC-LN model composed of Hosford-Coulomb (HC) model & localized necking (LN) model. The damage extents were evaluated by hydroforces and failure strain models. The largest equivalent plastic strain observed in the cases where both restoring force and radiation force were considered. Stress triaxiality and damage indicator analysis showed that the application of HC-LN model was suitable. It could be stated that applications of suitable failure strain model and hydrodynamics into the collision simulations were of importance.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.95-111
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• 2011

Increasing numbers of floating offshore wind turbines are planned and designed these days due to their high potential in massive generation of clean energy from water depth deeper than 50 m. In the present study, a numerical prediction tool has been developed for the fully-coupled dynamic analysis of FOWTs in time domain including aero-blade-tower dynamics and control, mooring dynamics, and platform motions. In particular, the focus of the present study is paid to the dynamic coupling between the rotor and floater and the coupled case is compared against the uncoupled case so that their dynamic coupling effects can be identified. For this purpose, a mono-column mini TLP with 1.5MW turbine for 80m water depth is selected as an example. The time histories and spectra of the FOWT motions and accelerations as well as tether top-tensions are presented for the given collinear wind-wave condition. When compared with the uncoupled analysis, both standard deviations and maximum values of the floater-responses/tower-accelerations and tether tensions are appreciably increased as a result of the rotor-floater dynamic coupling, which may influence the overall design including fatigue-life estimation especially when larger blades are to be used.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2014

A new 5-MW floating offshore wind turbine moored by a spring-tensioned-leg was proposed for installation in about 50m water depth. Its substructure is a platform of the inverted conical cylinder type with massive ballast weight plate at the bottom. A 1:128 scale model was built for the preliminary engineering development. The model tests in waves and wind were carried out to estimate motion characteristics of this platform in the Ocean Engineering Wide Tank of the University of Ulsan. Its motions were measured and the RAOs were compared. The proposed floating offshore wind turbine showed a good stability and decent responses in waves, wind and operation of the wind turbine.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.281-312
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• 2018

Characteristics of a turbulence wind model control the magnitude and frequency distribution of wind loading on floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), and an in-depth understanding of how wind spectral characteristics affect the responses, and ultimately the design cost of system components, is in shortage in the offshore wind industry. Wind spectrum models as well as turbulence intensity curves recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have characteristics derived from land-based sites, and have been widely adopted in offshore wind projects (in the absence of site-specific offshore data) without sufficient assessment of design implications. In this paper, effects of wind spectra and turbulence intensities on the strength or extreme responses of a 5 MW floating offshore wind turbine are investigated. The impact of different wind spectral parameters on the extreme blade loads, nacelle accelerations, towertop motions, towerbase loads, platform motions and accelerations, and mooring line tensions are presented and discussed. Results highlight the need to consider the appropriateness of a wind spectral model implemented in the strength design of FOWT structures.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.17-25
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• 2024

In this study, the effect of the time step specified in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation on load response is analyzed and the drag coefficients of the floating body of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) are estimated. By evaluating the error in the FOWT load response and the change in the drag-coefficient values based on the density of the time intervals, this study aims to establish a time-interval setting that minimizes the time and cost of CFD simulations for selecting drag-coefficient values. Practical CFD utilization strategies necessary for the calibration of medium-to high-fidelity analysis tools are presented. Based on a comparative analysis of CFD simulations conducted at various time intervals, the results confirmed that under a certain time interval that sufficiently considers various factors, the accuracy of the FOWT response with respect to density shows minimal differences, thereby providing an efficient utilization method for CFD simulations in FOWT design and analysis.

• 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.38 no.3
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• pp.137-147
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• 2024

Green hydrogen presents a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution for clean energy production and transportation. This study aims to identify the optimal profile of green hydrogen transportation risers originating from a floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) integrated with a hydrogen production facility. Employing the Cummins equation, a fully coupled dynamic analysis for FOWT with a flexible riser was conducted, with the tower, mooring lines, and risers described using a lumped mass line model. Initially, motion response amplitude operators (RAOs) were compared with openly published results to validate the numerical model for the FOWT. Subsequently, a parametric study was conducted on the length of the buoyancy module section and the upper bare section of the riser by comparing the riser's tension and bending moment. The results indicated that as the length of the buoyancy module increases, the maximum tension of the riser decreases, while it increases with the lengthening of the bare section. Furthermore, shorter buoyancy modules are expected to experience less fatigue damage, with the length of the bare section having a relatively minor impact on this phenomenon. Consequently, to ensure safety under extreme environmental conditions, both the upper bare section and the buoyancy module section should be relatively short.