Design of a robotic platform for hybrid wind tunnel experiments of floating wind farms

Abstract

Wind tunnel experiments incorporating factors like realistic ambient wind conditions, merging of multiple wakes, and active wake controls are needed to understand and improve modeling of floating wind farms. A key technology for this kind of experiments is the robotic system emulating the wind turbine motion. This article addresses the design of a robotic platform with three degrees-of-freedom (surge, pitch, and yaw) specifically tailored for wind tunnel experiments on floating wind farms. This robotic system aims to accurately reproduce the motion spectrum of floating wind turbines of 10-22MW and to simulate rotor-atmospheric wind interactions. The robotic platform has a compact design to be positioned in multiple units inside the wind tunnel and avoid disturbing the wake of the wind turbine on top of it. To achieve these goals, the wind turbine is partially integrated in the robotic platform that employs a parallel kinematic scheme and has all actuators close to the wind tunnel floor.