Strongly-coupled aeroelastic free-vortex wake framework for floating offshore wind turbine rotors. Part 2: Application

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel integrated aeroelastic framework combining free-vortex wake methods for floating offshore wind turbines, effectively capturing rotor-wake interactions and operational fluctuations with high fidelity.

Contribution

It presents the first FVM-based aeroelastic model capable of simulating rotor-wake interactions and aeroelastic phenomena in floating offshore wind turbines.

Findings

Accurately predicts rotor power, thrust, and torque under wave-induced conditions.

Captures fluctuations due to blade passing frequency and blade deflections.

Demonstrates high fidelity in modeling FOWT aeroelastic behavior.

Abstract

This two-part paper presents the integration of the free-vortex wake method (FVM) with an aeroelastic framework suitable to model the rotor-wake interactions engendered by floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) rotors in operation. Part 1 of this paper introduces the numerical development and validation of an aeroelastic framework. Due to a lack of experimental aeroelastic benchmarks for FOWTs, a series of validation studies are conducted against the rotor aerodynamic and structural performance of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 5-MW reference wind turbine. Part 2 of this paper focuses on the modeling and simulating different aeroelastic operational conditions of FOWTs. Numerical results of the current framework capture consistently the aerodynamic rotor performance, such as power, thrust, and torque of wave-induced pitching FOWTs. In addition, the presented aeroelastic framework yields additional information about the power, thrust, and torque fluctuations due to the out-of-phase blade passing frequency and corresponding blade deflections. The fidelity of the presented framework demonstrates, for the first time, an FVM-based aeroelastic method capable of carrying out investigations on rotor-wake interactions and relevant aeroelastic phenomena of FOWTs.