Enhanced recovery and non-linear dynamics in the wake of a model floating offshore wind turbine submitted to side-to-side and fore-aft motion

TL;DR

This experimental study investigates how harmonic side-to-side and fore-aft motions of a floating wind turbine influence wake recovery and non-linear dynamics, revealing faster recovery linked to specific motion frequencies and complex wake behaviors.

Contribution

The paper provides new experimental evidence on the effects of turbine motions on wake recovery and uncovers nonlinear dynamical phenomena in the wake under different motion conditions.

Findings

Both motions accelerate wake recovery compared to fixed turbines.

Sideways motions lead to faster recovery for St in [0.3, 0.6].

Fore-aft motions improve recovery for St in [0.3, 0.9].

Abstract

An experimental study in a wind tunnel is presented to explore the wake of a floating wind turbine subjected to harmonic side-to-side and fore-aft motions under laminar inflow conditions. The wake recovery is analysed as a function of the frequency of motion, measured by the Strouhal number, St. Our findings indicate that both directions of motion accelerate the transition to the far-wake compared to the fixed turbine. The experimental outcomes confirm the CFD results of Li et al. (2022) showing that sideways motions lead to faster wake recovery, especially for St in [0.3, 0.6]. Additionally, we find that fore-aft motions also lead to better recovery for St in [0.3, 0.9]. Moreover, we see that the recovery is closely linked to non-linear spatio-temporal dynamics. Special nonlinear dynamical effects are found in the shear layer region of the wake (y = R). For both directions of motion and St in [0.25, 0.55], the noisy wake dynamics synchronise to the frequency of the motion. For fore-aft motions and St in [0.55, 0.9], the wake shows more complex quasi-periodic phenomena. In fact, the driven frequency and a selfgenerated meandering mode emerge and interact non-linearly, as proved by occurring mixing components. Sideways motions result in large spatial structures of meandering. Fore-aft motions induce pulsing of the wake. Both modes are linked to the synchronisation effect. The quasi-periodic phenomena of fore-aft motions are connected to meandering mode. Overall, the spatio-temporal phenomena lead to faster recovery likely due to an increase of momentum transport towards wake centre.