• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.953-961
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• 2013

In this study, the analyzed turbine is a 5MW upwind-type wind turbine. This conceptual model was made to compare the results of the numerical analysis program in the IEA Annex23 Subtask2 OC3 project. The numerical analysis program used in this study is FAST developed by NREL and AQWA of ANSYS. Motion characteristics, such as RAO, average motion, significant motion and average amplitude of 1/10 highest motion were obtained through the numerical analysis. The results of the numerical analysis were compared with the results of other numerical analyses and the experimental results, and all the results agreed with one another. The results will help resolve the fundamental design trade-offs between basic floating system concepts.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.79-99
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• 2018

The effects of BPC (blade pitch control) on FOWT (floating offshore wind turbine) motions and generated power are investigated by using a fully-coupled turbine-floater-mooring simulation program. In this regard, two example FOWTs, OC4-5MW semi-submersible FOWT and KRISO four-3MW-units FOWT, are selected since the numerical simulations of those two FOWTs have been verified against experiments in authors' previous studies. Various simulations are performed changing BPC natural frequency (BPCNF), BPC damping ratio (BPCDR), and wind speeds. Through the numerical simulations, it was demonstrated that negative damping can happen for platform pitch motions and its influences are affected by BPCNF, BPCDR, and wind speeds. If BPCNF is significantly larger than platform-pitch natural frequency, the pitch resonance can be very serious due to the BPC-induced negative-damping effects, which should be avoided in the FOWT design. If wind speed is significantly higher than the rated wind velocity, the negative damping effects start to become reduced. Other important findings are also given through systematic sensitivity investigations.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.281-312
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• 2018

Characteristics of a turbulence wind model control the magnitude and frequency distribution of wind loading on floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), and an in-depth understanding of how wind spectral characteristics affect the responses, and ultimately the design cost of system components, is in shortage in the offshore wind industry. Wind spectrum models as well as turbulence intensity curves recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have characteristics derived from land-based sites, and have been widely adopted in offshore wind projects (in the absence of site-specific offshore data) without sufficient assessment of design implications. In this paper, effects of wind spectra and turbulence intensities on the strength or extreme responses of a 5 MW floating offshore wind turbine are investigated. The impact of different wind spectral parameters on the extreme blade loads, nacelle accelerations, towertop motions, towerbase loads, platform motions and accelerations, and mooring line tensions are presented and discussed. Results highlight the need to consider the appropriateness of a wind spectral model implemented in the strength design of FOWT structures.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.427-432
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• 2018

Tidal current power is one of the energy sources of the ocean. Electricity can be generated by converting the flow energy of the current into the rotational energy of a turbine. Unlike tidal barrage, tidal current power does not require dams, which have a severe environmental impact. A floating-type tidal current power device can reduce the expensive support and installation cost, which usually account for approximately 41% of the total cost. It can also be deployed in relatively deep water using tensioned wires. The dynamic behavior of a floater and turbine force are coupled because the thrust and moment of the turbine affect the floater excursion, and the motion of the floater can affect the incoming speed of the flow into the turbine. To maximize the power generation and stabilize the system, the coupled motion of the floater and turbine must be extensively analyzed. However, unlike pile-fixed devices, there have been few studies involving the motion analysis of a moored-type tidal current power device. In this study, the commercial program OrcaFlex 10.1a was used for a time domain motion analysis. In addition, in-house code was used for an iterative calculation to solve the coupled problems. As a result, it was found that the maximum mooring load of 200 kN and the floater excursion of 5.5 m were increased by the turbine effect. The load that occurred on the mooring system satisfied the safety factor of 1.67 suggested by API. The optimum mooring system for the floating tidal current power device was suggested to maximize the power generation and stability of the floater.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2014

In the initial design stage, the technology for estimating and managing the weight of a floating offshore structure, such as a FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage, and Off-loading unit) and an offshore wind turbine, has a close relationship with the basic performance and the price of the structure. In this study, using the genetic programming (GP), being used a lot in the approximate estimating model and etc., the weight estimation model of the floating offshore structure was studied. For this purpose, various data for estimating the weight of the floating offshore structure were collected through the literature survey, and then the genetic programming method for developing the weight estimation model was studied and implemented. Finally, to examine the applicability of the developed model, it was applied to examples of the weight estimation of a FPSO topsides and an offshore wind turbine. As a result, it was shown that the developed model can be applied the weight estimation process of the floating offshore structure at the early design stage.

• Journal of Advanced Research in Ocean Engineering
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.179-191
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• 2016

As the demand for renewable energy has increased following the worldwide agreement to act against global climate change and disaster, large-scale floating offshore wind systems have become a more viable solution. However, the cost of the whole system is still too high for practical realization. To make the cost of a floating wind system be more economical, a new concept of tension leg platform (TLP) type ocean floating wind system has been developed. To verify the performance of a 5-MW TLP type ocean floating wind power system designed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, the FAST simulation developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is used. Further, 1/50 scale model tests have been carried out in the ocean engineering tank of the Research Institute of Medium and Small Shipbuilding, Korea. This paper compares the simulation and ocean engineering tank test results on motion prediction and tension assessment of the TLP anchor.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.233-239
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• 2013

Recently, a number of wind turbines are being installed due to the increase of interest in renewable, environment-friendly energy. Especially, an offshore wind turbine is being watched with keen interest in that it has no difficulty in securing a site and can get high quality of wind, as compared with a wind turbine on land. The offshore wind turbine is transferred to and installed on the site by an offshore floating crane after it was made in a factory on land such as shipyard. At this time, it is important to secure the safety of the turbine because of its huge size and expensive cost. Thus, a dynamic analysis of the offshore wind turbine which is connedted with the offshore floating crane was performed based on the multibody systems dynamics in this study. As a result. it is shown that the analysis can be applied to verify the safety of a method for the transportation and installation of the offshore wind turbine suspended by the crane.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.785-794
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• 2017

This paper is concerned with the comparative numerical and experimental study on the natural behavior and the motion responses of a 1/75 moored scale model of a 2.5 MW spar-type floating offshore wind turbine subject to 1-D regular wave. Heave, pitch and surge motions and the mooring tensions are investigated and compared by numerical and experimental methods. The upper part of wind turbine which is composed of three rotor blades, hub and nacelle is modeled as a lumped mass and three mooring lines are pre-tensioned by means of linear springs. The numerical simulations are carried out by a coupled FEM-cable dynamics code, while the experiments are performed in a wave tank equipped with the specially-designed vision and data acquisition system. Using the both methods, the natural behavior and the motion responses in RAOs are compared and parametrically investigated to the fairlead position, the spring constant and the location of mass center of platform. It is confirmed, from the comparison, that both methods show a good agreement for all the test cases. And, it is observed that the mooring tension is influenced by all three parameters but the platform motion is dominated by the location of mass center. In addition, from the sensitivity analysis of RAOs, the coupling characteristic of platform motions and the sensitivities to the mooring parameters are investigated.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.253-265
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• 2014

The platform and floating structure of spar type offshore wind turbine systems should be designed in order for the 6-DOF motions to be minimized, considering diverse loading environments such as the ocean wave, wind, and current conditions. The objective of this study is to optimally design the platform and substructure of a 3MW spar type wind turbine system with the maximum postural stability in 6-DOF motions as well as the minimum material cost. Therefore, design variables of the platform and substructure were first determined and then optimized by a hydrodynamic analysis. For the hydrodynamic analysis, the body weight of the system was considered, and the ocean wave conditions were quantified to the wave forces using the Morison's equation. Moreover, the minimal number of computation analysis models was generated by the Design of Experiments (DOE), and the design variables of the platform and substructure were finally optimized by using a genetic algorithm with a neural network approximation.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.95-111
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• 2011

Increasing numbers of floating offshore wind turbines are planned and designed these days due to their high potential in massive generation of clean energy from water depth deeper than 50 m. In the present study, a numerical prediction tool has been developed for the fully-coupled dynamic analysis of FOWTs in time domain including aero-blade-tower dynamics and control, mooring dynamics, and platform motions. In particular, the focus of the present study is paid to the dynamic coupling between the rotor and floater and the coupled case is compared against the uncoupled case so that their dynamic coupling effects can be identified. For this purpose, a mono-column mini TLP with 1.5MW turbine for 80m water depth is selected as an example. The time histories and spectra of the FOWT motions and accelerations as well as tether top-tensions are presented for the given collinear wind-wave condition. When compared with the uncoupled analysis, both standard deviations and maximum values of the floater-responses/tower-accelerations and tether tensions are appreciably increased as a result of the rotor-floater dynamic coupling, which may influence the overall design including fatigue-life estimation especially when larger blades are to be used.