• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.295-307
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• 2013

More FOWTs (floating offshore wind turbines) will be installed as relevant regulations and technological hurdles are removed in the coming years. In the present study, a numerical prediction tool has been developed for the fully coupled dynamic analysis of FOWTs in time domain including aero-loading, tower elasticity, blade-rotor dynamics and control, mooring dynamics, and platform motions so that the influence of rotor-control dynamics on the hull-mooring performance and vice versa can be assessed. The developed coupled analysis program is applied to Hywind spar design with 5 MW turbine. In case of spar-type floaters, the control strategy significantly influences the hull and mooring dynamics. If one of the control systems fails, the entire dynamic responses of FOWT can be significantly different. Therefore, it is important to maintain various control systems in a good operational condition. In this regard, the effects of failed blade pitch control system on FOWT performance including structural and dynamic responses of blades, tower, and floater are systematically investigated. Through this study, it is seen that the failure of one of the blade pitch control system can induce significant dynamic loadings on the other blades and the entire FOWT system. The developed technology and numerical tool are readily applicable to any types of floating wind farms in any combinations of irregular waves, dynamic winds, and steady currents.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.255-262
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• 2015

The present study developed a numerical simulation tool for the coupled dynamic analysis of multiple turbines on a single floater (or Multiple Unit Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (MUFOWT)) in the time domain, considering the multiple-turbine aero-blade-tower dynamics and control, mooring dynamics, and platform motions. The numerical tool developed in this study was designed based on and extended from the single-turbine analysis tool FAST to make it suitable for multiple turbines. For the hydrodynamic loadings of floating platform and mooring-line dynamics, the CHARM3D program developed by the authors was incorporated. Thus, the coupled dynamic behavior of a floating base with multiple turbines and mooring lines can be simulated in the time domain. To investigate the effect of asymmetric aerodynamic loading on the global performance and mooring line tensions of the MUFOWT, one turbine failure case with a fully feathered blade pitch angle was simulated and checked. The aerodynamic interference between adjacent turbines, including the wake effect, was not considered in this study to more clearly demonstrate the influence of the asymmetric aerodynamic loading on the MUFOWT. The analysis shows that the unbalanced aerodynamic loading from one turbine in MUFOWT may induce appreciable changes in the performance of the floating platform and mooring system.