Abstract
Numerical models have been used extensively in the design process of the TetraSpar floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) foundation to optimize and investigate the influence from a number of structural and environmental conditions. In traditional offshore design, either the Morison approach or a linear boundary element method (BEM) is applied to investigate the hydrodynamic loads on a structure. The present study investigated and compared these two methods and evaluated their applicability on the TetraSpar FOWT concept. Furthermore, a hybrid model containing load contributions from both approaches was evaluated. This study focuses on motion response. In the evaluation, hydrodynamic data from BEM codes are applied, while the commercial software package OrcaFlex is utilized for time series simulations of the coupled structure. The investigation highlights the difference between the modelling approaches and the importance of particularly drag and inertia contributions. By optimizing the input coefficients, reasonable agreement between the models can be achieved.
Highlights
Recent years have seen an extensive focus on the development of floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) technologies
E.g., Norway, where most offshore wind sites are limited by deep water depths, the floating technology currently forms a paramount potential for expanding the renewable energy sector and tap further into the wind energy potential
In order to evaluate the response in each sea state for the three models, the most probable maximum (MPM) is considered
Summary
The wind energy sector is in continuous development and today, both offshore and onshore wind have become commercially viable alternatives to conventional power generation. More wind energy farms need to be developed, many of the offshore sites with the highest available wind energy resource and the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCoE), are inaccessible to the conventional bottomfixed turbines, as the economical feasibility becomes undesirably low when reaching water depths of ~50 m [5,6]. Water depths no longer form a limiting factor in selecting feasible wind energy sites. E.g., Norway, where most offshore wind sites are limited by deep water depths, the floating technology currently forms a paramount potential for expanding the renewable energy sector and tap further into the wind energy potential
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