Model Test of a TLP Type of Floating Offshore Wind Turbine, Part II

A large number of offshore wind turbines with fixed foundations have been installed in water depths up to 30 meters supporting 3-5MW wind turbines. Some floating platform concepts of offshore wind turbines were designed to be suitable for deployment in water depths greater than 60 meters. However the optimal design of this system in water depth 50 meters remains unknown. In this paper, a 5-MW wind turbine located on a TLP type platform was suggested for installation in this water depth. It is moored by a taut mooring line. For controlling the wind turbine always be operated at the upwind direction, one yaw controlling was attached at the tower. To study motion characteristics of this platform, a model was built with a 1/128 scale ratio. The model test was carried out in various conditions, including waves, winds and rotating rotor effect in the Ocean Engineering Wide Tank of the University Of Ulsan (UOU). The characteristic motions of the TLP platform were captured and the effective RAOs were obtained.