Influence of Turbulence Length Scale and Platform Surge Motion on Wake Dynamics in Tandem Floating Wind Turbines

TL;DR

This study investigates how turbulence length scale and platform surge motion influence wake behavior and power performance in floating offshore wind turbines using high-fidelity CFD simulations.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the combined effects of inflow turbulence structure and platform motion on wake dynamics in floating wind farms.

Findings

Larger turbulence integral scales enhance wake mixing and recovery.

Increased turbulence length scale leads to higher power output downstream.

Wake destabilization is driven by energetic, low-frequency eddies.

Abstract

Wake interaction is a key factor limiting the performance of floating offshore wind turbine arrays, yet the combined influence of inflow turbulence structure and platform motion on wake dynamics remains poorly understood. This study examines how the integral length scale of inflow turbulence and platform surge motion shapes wake development and power performance in a tandem configuration of two aligned floating offshore wind turbines separated by five rotor diameters. High-fidelity computational fluid dynamics simulations are performed using OpenFOAM, based on Large-Eddy Simulation with an Actuator-Line Model and the Wall-Adapting Local Eddy-Viscosity subgrid-scale closure. Synthetic turbulent inflows are generated using the Divergence-Free Synthetic Eddy Method, with prescribed integral length scales spanning 0.25-1.25 times the rotor radius. Over this range, increasing the integral length scale naturally leads to higher freestream turbulence intensity, which increases from approximately 1.9% to 7.2%. The corresponding dominant inflow frequencies are extracted from time-resolved velocity signals, yielding Strouhal numbers in the range St approx 0.71 to 0.12. Wake evolution is analyzed through disk-averaged velocity deficits, turbulent kinetic energy distributions, spectral characteristics, vortex topology, and time-averaged power coefficients. The results show that the inflow turbulence integral length scale is the primary parameter controlling wake recovery. Larger integral scales introduce energetic, low-frequency eddies that destabilize the tip-vortex system, enhance lateral and vertical entrainment, and accelerate wake mixing. These mechanisms lead to substantial reductions in the inter-turbine velocity deficit and translate directly into increased downstream power output...