• Wind and Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.267-279
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• 2014

Hydrodynamic analyses of classic and truss spar platforms for floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) were performed in the frequency domain, by considering coupling effects of the structure and its mooring system. Based on the Morison equation and Diffraction theory, different wave loads over various frequency ranges and underlying hydrodynamic equations were calculated. Then, Response Amplitude Operators (RAOs) of 6 DOF motions were obtained through the coupled hydrodynamic frequency domain analysis of classic and truss spar-type FOWTs. Truss spar platform had better heave motion performance and less weight than classic spar, while the hydrostatic stability did not show much difference between the two spar platforms.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.461-471
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• 2023

The main objective of this study was to establish design guidelines for three key design variables (spar thickness, spar diameter, and total draft) by examining their impact on the stress distribution and resonant frequency of a 2.5-MW spar-type floating offshore wind turbine substructure under extreme marine conditions, such as during Typhoon Bolaven. The current findings revealed that the substructure experienced maximum stress at wave frequencies of either 0.199 Hz or 0.294 Hz, consistent with previously reported experimental findings. These results indicated that the novel simulation method proposed in this study, which simultaneously combines hydrodynamic diffraction analysis, computational dynamics analysis, and structural analysis, was successfully validated. It also demonstrated that our proposed simulation method precisely quantified the stress distribution of the substructure. The novel findings, which reveal that the maximum stress of the substructure increases with an increase in total draft and a decrease in spar thickness and spar diameter, offer valuable insights for optimizing the design of spar-type floating offshore wind turbine substructures operating in various harsh marine environments.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.252-261
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• 2016

A spar-type floating substructure that is being widely used for offshore wind power generation is vulnerable to resonance in the heave direction because of its small water plane area. For this reason, the stable dynamic response of this floating structure should be ensured by accurately identifying the resonance characteristics. The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of the combination resonance between the excitation frequency of a regular wave and natural frequencies of the floating substructure. First, the nonlinear equations of motion with two degrees of freedom are derived by assuming that the floating substructure is a rigid body, where the heaving motion and pitching motions are coupled. Moreover, to identify the characteristics of the combination resonance, the nonlinear term in the nonlinear equations is approximated up to the second order using the Taylor series expansion. Furthermore, the validity of the approximate model is confirmed through a comparison with the results of a numerical analysis which is made by applying the commercial software ANSYS AQWA to the full model. The result indicates that the combination resonance occurs at the frequencies of ${\omega}{\pm}{\omega}_5$ and $2{\omega}_{n5}$ between the excitation frequency (${\omega}$) of a regular wave and the natural frequency of the pitching motion (${\omega}_{n5}$) of the floating substructure.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.253-265
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• 2014

The platform and floating structure of spar type offshore wind turbine systems should be designed in order for the 6-DOF motions to be minimized, considering diverse loading environments such as the ocean wave, wind, and current conditions. The objective of this study is to optimally design the platform and substructure of a 3MW spar type wind turbine system with the maximum postural stability in 6-DOF motions as well as the minimum material cost. Therefore, design variables of the platform and substructure were first determined and then optimized by a hydrodynamic analysis. For the hydrodynamic analysis, the body weight of the system was considered, and the ocean wave conditions were quantified to the wave forces using the Morison's equation. Moreover, the minimal number of computation analysis models was generated by the Design of Experiments (DOE), and the design variables of the platform and substructure were finally optimized by using a genetic algorithm with a neural network approximation.