• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.382-392
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• 2021

In recent years, floating offshore wind turbines have attracted more attention as a new renewable energy resource while bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines reach their limit of water depth. Various projects have been proposed with the rapid increase in installed floating wind power capacity, but the economic aspect remains as a biggest issue. To figure out sensible approaches for saving costs, a comparison analysis of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) between floating and bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines was carried out. The LCOE was reviewed from a social perspective and a cost breakdown and a literature review analysis were used to itemize the costs into its various components in each level of power plant and system integration. The results show that the highest proportion in capital expenditure of a floating offshore wind turbine results in the substructure part, which is the main difference from a bottom-fixed wind turbine. A floating offshore wind turbine was found to have several advantages over a bottom-fixed wind turbine. Although a similarity in operation and maintenance cost structure is revealed, a floating wind turbine still has the benefit of being able to be maintained at a seaport. After emphasizing the cost-reduction advantages of a floating wind turbine, its LCOE outlook is provided to give a brief overview in the following years. Finally, some estimated cost drivers, such as economics of scale, wind turbine rating, a floater with mooring system, and grid connection cost, are outlined as proposals for floating wind LCOE reduction.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.333-350
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• 2017

Differing from the fixed-type, the dynamic motion of floating-type offshore wind turbines is very sensitive to wind and wave excitations. Thus, the sensing and monitoring of its motion is important to evaluate the dynamic responses to the external excitation. In this context, a monitoring system for sensing and processing the wind-induced dynamic motion of spar-type floating offshore wind turbine is developed in this study. It is developed by integrating a 1/00 scale model of 2.5MW spar-type floating offshore wind turbine, water basin equipped with the wind generator, sensing and data acquisition systems, real-time CompactRIO controller and monitoring program. The scale model with the upper rotatable blades is installed within the basin by means of three mooring lines, and its translational and rotational motions are detected by 3-axis inclinometer and accelerometers and gyroscope. The detected motion signals are processed using a real-time controller CompactRIO to calculate the acceleration and tilting angle of nacelle and the attitude of floating platform. The developed monitoring system is demonstrated and validated by measuring and evaluating the time histories and trajectories of nacelle and platform motions for three different wind velocities and for eight different fairlead positions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.614-622
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• 2011

In this study, the computational structural dynamic modeling of floating offshore wind turbine system is presented using efficient equivalent modeling technique. Structural dynamic behaviors of the offshore floating platform with 5MW wind turbine system have been analyzed using computational multi-body dynamics based on the finite element method. The considered platform configuration of the present offshore wind turbine model is the typical spar-buoy type. Equivalent stiffness and damping properties of the floating platform were extracted from the results of the baseline model. Dynamic responses for the floating wind turbine models are presented and compared to investigate its structural dynamic characteristics. It is important shown that the results of the present equivalent modeling technique show good and reasonable agreements with those by the fully coupled analysis considering complex floating body dynamics.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.466-472
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• 2009

Offshore wind energy is gaining more and more attention during this decade. For the countries with coast sites, the water depth is significantly large. This causes attention to the floating wind turbine. Offshore wind turbines are designed and analyzed using comprehensive simulation codes that account for the coupled dynamics of the wind inflow, aerodynamics, elasticity and controls of the wind turbine, along with the incident waves, sea current, hydrodynamics, and foundation dynamics of the support structures. In this work, a three-bladed 5MW upwind wind turbine installed on a floating spar buoy in 320m of water is studied by using of fully coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulation tool. Specifications of the structures are chosen from the OC3 (Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration) under "IEA Wind Annex XXIII-subtask2". The primary external conditions due to wind and waves are simulated. Certain design load case is investigated.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.980-992
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• 2019

This paper describes a model test and numerical simulation of a 750-kW-semi-submersible platform wind turbine under several wind and wave conditions for validation of the numerical simulation model. The semi-submersible platform was designed to support the 750-kW-wind turbine class and operate at a water depth of 50 m. The model tests were performed to estimate the performance characteristics of the wind turbine system in the wide tank of the University of Ulsan. Motions and loads of the wind turbine system under the wind and wave conditions were measured and analyzed. The NREL-FAST code was used to simulate the wind turbine system, and the results were compared with those of the test model. The results demonstrate that the numerical simulation captures noticeably the fully coupled floating wind turbine dynamic responses. Also, the model shows a good stability and small responses during waves, wind, and operation of the 750-kW-floating offshore wind turbine.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.559-579
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• 2015

An experimental study of the effect of mooring systems on the dynamics of a SPAR buoy-type floating offshore wind turbine is presented. The effects of the Center of Gravity (COG), mooring line spring constant, and fairlead location on the turbine's motion in response to regular waves are investigated. Experimental results show that for a typical mooring system of a SPAR buoy-type Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT), the effect of mooring systems on the dynamics of the turbine can be considered negligible. However, the pitch decreases notably as the COG increases. The COG and spring constant of the mooring line have a negligible effect on the fairlead displacement. Numerical simulation and sensitivity analysis show that the wind turbine motion and its sensitivity to changes in the mooring system and COG are very large near resonant frequencies. The test results can be used to validate numerical simulation tools for FOWTs.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.77-83
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• 2011

In this study, the dynamic modeling of floating offshore wind turbine system is reported and the dynamic behavior of the platform for the offshore wind turbine system is analyzed. The modeling of the wind load for a floating offshore wind turbine tower is based on the vertical profile of wind speed. The relative Morison equation is employed to obtain the wave load. ADAMS is used to carry out the dynamic analysis of the floating system that should withstand waves and the wind load. Computer simulations for four types of tension leg platforms are performed, and the simulation results for the platforms are compared with each other.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.525-541
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• 2016

An offshore wind turbine supported by a spar buoy floating platform is the subject of this study on tower and rotor extreme loads. The platform, with a 120-meter draft and assumed to be sited in 320 meters of water, supports a 5 MW wind turbine. A baseline model for this turbine developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is employed in stochastic response simulations. The support platform, along with the mooring system consisting of three catenary lines, chosen for loads modeling, is based on the "Hywind" floating wind turbine concept. Our interest lies in gaining an understanding of the dynamic coupling between the support platform motion and the turbine loads. We first investigate short-term response statistics using stochastic simulation for a range of different environmental wind and wave conditions. From this study, we identify a few "controlling" environmental conditions for which long-term turbine load statistics and probability distributions are established.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.407-413
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• 2013

This paper deals with the analysis of dynamic characteristics of mooring system of floating-type offshore wind turbine. A spar-type floating structure which consists of a nacelle, a tower and the platform excepting blades, is used to model the floating wind turbine and connect three catenary cables to substructure. The motion of floating structure is simulated when the mooring system is attached using irregular wave Pierson-Moskowitz model. The mooring system is analyzed by changing cable position of floating structure. The dynamic behavior characteristics of mooring system are investigated comparing with cable tension and 6-dof motion of floating structure. These characteristics are much useful to initial design of floating-type structure. From the simulation results, the optimized design parameter that is cable position of connect point of mooring cable can be obtained.