A six degree-of-freedom set-up for wind tunnel testing of floating wind turbines

Abstract

In this paper we present a six-degree-of-freedom (DoF) experimental set-up for wind tunnel testing of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs). The system is composed of a 6-DoF Stewart platform that can be used to mimic realistically the motions of a floating turbine at laboratory scale. The platform is specifically made for the Model Wind Turbine Oldenburg 0.6 (MoWiTO 0.6). First, the methodology followed to design the system as well as the scaling issues are depicted. Then, the characterisation of the platform is presented. Finally, limitations of the set-up are discussed.