Conceptual Design of a Floating Support Structure and Mooring System for a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petter Andreas Berthelsen ◽  
Ivar Fylling ◽  
Luca Vita ◽  
Uwe S. Paulsen
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Optimization Problems ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
Response Analysis ◽  
Mooring System ◽  
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine ◽  
Support Structure

This paper deals with the conceptual design of a floating support structure and mooring system for a 5MW vertical axis offshore wind turbine. The work is carried out as part of the DeepWind project, where the main objective is to investigate the feasibility of a floating vertical axis offshore wind turbine. The DeepWind concept consists of a Darrieus rotor mounted on a spar buoy support structure. The conceptual design is carried out in an iterative process, involving the different subcomponents. The present work is part of the first design iteration and the objective is to find a feasible floating support structure and mooring system for the DeepWind concept. The conceptual design is formulated as an optimization problem: Starting with an initial configuration, the optimization procedure tries to find a cheaper solution while satisfying a set of design requirements. This approach utilizes available response analysis programs for mooring system forces and vessel motions, and combines this with a gradient search method for solution of nonlinear optimization problems with arbitrary constraints. Two different mooring system configurations are considered: Chain systems with 3 and 6 lines, respectively.

scholarly journals On mooring line tension and fatigue prediction for offshore vertical axis wind turbines: A comparison of lumped mass and quasi-static approaches

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Cevasco ◽  
M Collu ◽  
CM Rizzo ◽  
M Hall
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Line Tension ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Mooring Line ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine ◽  
Lumped Mass ◽  
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Despite several potential advantages, relatively few studies and design support tools have been developed for floating vertical axis wind turbines. Due to the substantial aerodynamics differences, the analyses of vertical axis wind turbine on floating structures cannot be easily extended from what have been already done for horizontal axis wind turbines. Therefore, the main aim of the present work is to compare the dynamic response of the floating offshore wind turbine system adopting two different mooring dynamics approaches. Two versions of the in-house aero-hydro-mooring coupled model of dynamics for floating vertical axis wind turbine (FloVAWT) have been used, employing a mooring quasi-static model, which solves the equations using an energetic approach, and a modified version of floating vertical axis wind turbine, which instead couples with the lumped mass mooring line model MoorDyn. The results, in terms of mooring line tension, fatigue and response in frequency have been obtained and analysed, based on a 5 MW Darrieus type rotor supported by the OC4-DeepCwind semisubmersible.

Design and Aero-Elastic Simulation of a 5MW Floating Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Vita ◽  
Uwe S. Paulsen ◽  
Helge A. Madsen ◽  
Per H. Nielsen ◽  
Petter A. Berthelsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Waves ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine ◽  
Floating Platform ◽  
Mooring Lines ◽  
Sea Bed

This paper deals with the design of a 5MW floating offshore Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). The design is based on a new offshore wind turbine concept (DeepWind concept), consisting of a Darrieus rotor mounted on a spar buoy support structure, which is anchored to the sea bed with mooring lines [1]. The design is carried out in an iterative process, involving the different sub-components and addressing several conflicting constraints. The present design does not aim to be the final optimum solution for this concept. Instead, the goal is to have a baseline model, based on the present technology, which can be improved in the future with new dedicated technological solutions. The rotor uses curved blades, which are designed in order to minimize the gravitational loads and to be produced by the pultrusion process. The floating platform is a slender cylindrical structure rotating along with the rotor, whose stability is achieved by adding ballast at the bottom. The platform is connected to the mooring lines with some rigid arms, which are necessary to absorb the torque transmitted by the rotor. The aero-elastic simulations are carried out with Hawc2, a numerical solver developed at Risø-DTU. The numerical simulations take into account the fully coupled aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loads on the structure, due to wind, waves and currents. The turbine is tested in operative conditions, at different sea states, selected according to the international offshore standards. The research is part of the European project DeepWind (2010–2014), which has been financed by the European Union (FP7-Future Emerging Technologies).

Dynamic Response Analysis of the Offshore Wind Turbine Support Structure Under Extreme Conditions

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Chen ◽  
Shixiao Fu ◽  
Zaojian Zou
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Bending Moment ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
Response Analysis ◽  
Extreme Conditions ◽  
Wave Load ◽  
Support Structure ◽  
Environmental Loads ◽  
Vortex Induced Vibrations

Based on modal analysis, the environmental loads of an offshore wind turbine under extreme conditions are analyzed, including the static wind load on the support structure, the static current load and wave load on the foundation. The vortex-induced vibrations caused by wind and current have also been studied. The dynamic displacement and bending moment characteristics of the offshore wind turbine support structure under the extreme conditions have been analyzed.

Conceptual Design and Hydrodynamic Performance of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Cell-Spar-Buoy Support Structure

2014 ◽  
Vol 472 ◽  
pp. 291-295
Author(s):  
Hai Ying Wang ◽  
Xiao Ming Chen ◽  
Cheng Bi Zhao ◽  
You Hong Tang ◽  
Wei Lin
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Water Depth ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Hydrodynamic Performance ◽  
Mooring Line ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
Support Structure ◽  
Motion Performance

On the way to further exploit offshore wind energy, conventional fixed-bottom technology has been limited by the water depth. After the worlds first full scale floating wind turbine being installed in the North Sea in 2009, the floating support structure for offshore wind turbines is most likely becoming not only a technically feasible but also an economically viable solution, especially for regions of water depth over 50 meters. However, less attentions have been paid on floating support strucure, which is a very important part. Derived from commercialized offshore oil and gas platform of cell spar, a conceptual design of a cell-spar-buoy support structure for NREL 5 MW offshore wind turbine is proposed. In this system, structural type of cells is absorbed for cost reduction while damping configurations are used to optimize the stability of wind turbine. For further hydrodynamic performance estimations, numerical simulations have been performed to compute the response amplitude operators (RAOs) and the wave response motions, which are the key factors of the preliminary design. Meanwhile, the motion performance of the platform with mooring system in operating conditions and mooring line tensions under the 50 years return period storm survival condition in the South China Sea was calculated in time domain. The results showing excellent motion performance of cell-spar-buoy.

Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic analysis of a large-scale vertical axis wind turbine

2021 ◽  
pp. 0309524X2110379
Author(s):  
Brian Hand
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Speed Ratio ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis ◽  
Torque Coefficient

The vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) configuration has many advantages for an offshore wind turbine Installation. In this paper, the three dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics analysis of a large-scale 5 MW VAWT is conducted. At the optimum tip-speed ratio (TSR), the VAWT maximum inline force was 75% larger than the maximum lateral force. It was found the dynamic stall effects cause the VAWT flow field to become increasingly asymmetrical at the mid-span plane, when the TSR is reduced. The attachment of end plates to the blade tips, resulted in a performance improvement during the upwind phase with the average blade torque coefficient in this range being increased by 4.71%. Conversely, during the blade downwind phase a reduction in performance was found due to the increase in drag from the end plates and the average blade torque coefficient in this phase was reduced by 23.1%.

Static and Dynamic Characteristic Analysis of the Tower for Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Based on Finite Element Method

2012 ◽  
Vol 229-231 ◽  
pp. 613-616
Author(s):  
Yan Jue Gong ◽  
Yuan Yuan Zhang ◽  
Fu Zhao ◽  
Hui Yu Xiang ◽  
Chun Ling Meng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element Method ◽  
Finite Element ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Dynamic Characteristic ◽  
Optimization Design ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine ◽  
Characteristic Analysis ◽  
Support Structure ◽  
Element Method

As an important part of the vertical axis wind turbine, the support structure should have high strength and stiffness. This article adopts finite element method to model a kind of tower structure of the vertical axis wind turbine and carry out static and modal analysis. The static and dynamic characteristic results of tower in this paper provide reference for optimization design the support structure of wind turbine further.

Monitoring Changes in the Soil and Foundation Characteristics of an Offshore Wind Turbine Using Automated Operational Modal Analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 569-570 ◽  
pp. 652-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gert de Sitter ◽  
Wout Weitjens ◽  
Mahmoud El-Kafafy ◽  
Christof Devriendt
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Modal Analysis ◽  
Continuous Monitoring ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Operational Modal Analysis ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
Support Structure ◽  
Lower Natural Frequency

This paper will show the first results of a long term monitoring campaign on an offshore wind turbine in the Belgian North Sea. It will focus on the vibration levels and resonant frequencies of the fundamental modes of the support structure. These parameters will be crucial to minimize O&M costs and to extend the lifetime of offshore wind turbine structures. For monopile foundations for example, scouring and reduction in foundation integrity over time are especially problematic because they reduce the fundamental structural resonance of the support structure, aligning that resonance frequency more closely to the lower frequencies. Since both the broadband wave energy and the rotating frequency of the turbine are contained in this low frequency band, the lower natural frequency can create resonant behavior increasing fatigue damage. Continuous monitoring of the effect of scour on the dynamics of the wind turbine will help to optimize the maintenance activities on the scour protection system. To allow a proper continuous monitoring during operation, reliable state-of-the-art operational modal analysis techniques should be used and these are presented in this paper. The methods are also automated, so that no human-interaction is required and the system can track the natural frequencies and damping ratios in a reliable manner.

Mean Wave Drift Force on a Barge-Type Floating Wind Turbine With Moonpools

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Tan ◽  
Tomoki Ikoma ◽  
Yasuhiro Aida ◽  
Koichi Masuda
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Hydrodynamic Performance ◽  
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine ◽  
Rotating Speed ◽  
Wave Drift ◽  
Floating Offshore Wind Turbines ◽  
Drift Force ◽  
Gyroscopic Effects

Abstract The barge-type foundation with moonpool(s) is a promising type of platform for floating offshore wind turbines, since the moonpool(s) could improve the hydrodynamic performance at particular frequencies and reduce the costs of construction. In this paper, the horizontal mean drift force and yaw drift moment of a barge-type platform with four moonpools are numerically and experimentally investigated. Physical model tests are carried out in a wave tank, where a 2MW vertical-axis wind turbine is modelled in the 1:100 scale. By varying the rotating speed of the turbine and the mass of the blades, the gyroscopic effects due to turbine rotations on the mean drift forces are experimentally examined. The wave diffraction and radiation code WAMIT is used to carry out numerical analysis of wave drift force and moment. The experimental results indicate that the influence of the rotations of a vertical-axis wind turbine on the sway drift force is generally not very significant. The predictions by WAMIT are in reasonable agreement with the measured data. Numerical results demonstrate that the horizontal mean drift force and yaw drift moment at certain frequencies could be reduced by moonpool(s).

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