Detecting wake performance of floating offshore wind turbine

Abstract

Floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) is always in a more complex environmental condition than onshore horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT). The platform motions, especially pitch and surge motions, increase aerodynamic unsteadiness, wake interactions and other complex flow phenomena. These conditions influence the velocities and accelerations at the rotor sections along the blade. In the recent material, most reaches are studying aerodynamic performance of FOWT in a simple motion, for example, pitch or surge motion. However, in this paper, the aerodynamic characteristics are presented in a system pitch and surge motions. Moreover, the applying and validation of CFD method will be outlined in this paper. It can be shown from the results that the aerodynamics of floating offshore wind turbines is sufficiently distinct from conventional offshore and onshore wind turbines. It is obvious that the platform motions will have a profound effect on unsteady aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine rotor. Due to the motions, the wake will be asymmetric and more complicated. The wake appears to generate an over-predicted power and thrust. This paper will study and explain the rules and reasons of this phenomenon in detail.