Wind energy is one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy in the world. There has been a lot of research, development, and investment in wind energy in recent years. Offshore sites offer stronger winds and low turbulence, along with fewer noise and visual impacts. Establishing large turbines at deepwater sites offers promising opportunities for generating high power output while utilizing the favorable environmental conditions. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) have developed a very large wind turbine model with a 13.2 MW rating that has 100-meter long blades; this turbine is designated as the SNL100 13.2 MW wind turbine. With a hub height of 146 meters and a rotor diameter of 205 meters, such a large turbine is best suited for offshore sites. Developing a wind turbine model for an offshore site requires that a platform model be developed first. Of the various kinds of floating platforms, a moored semi-submersible platform supporting the wind turbine, which offers stability by virtue of the intercepted water-plane area, is an appropriate choice. The goal of this study is to develop a semi-submersible platform model to support the 13.2 MW wind turbine, while keeping loads and deflections within safe limits. The platform is developed based on work completed as part of the Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration Continuation (OC4) Phase II project, which involved a 5 MW wind turbine supported by a semi-submersible platform. The present study focuses on three important topics: (i) development of the combined offshore wind turbine system model with the 13.2 MW wind turbine, a floating semi-submersible platform, and a mooring system; (ii) the entire procedure involved in modeling and analyzing first-order hydrodynamics using two codes, MultiSurf and WAMIT; and (iii) assembling of the integrated aero-hydro-servo-elastic model considering hydrodynamics in order to verify the steady-state and stochastic response of the integrated wind turbine system. / text

This research study developed basic dynamic models that can be used to accurately predict the response behavior of a near-shore wind turbine structure with monopile, suction caisson, or gravity-based foundation systems. The marine soil conditions were modeled using apparent fixity level, Randolph elastic continuum, and modified cone models. The offshore wind turbine structures were developed using a finite element formulation. A two-bladed 3.0 megawatt (MW) and a three-bladed 1.5 MW capacity wind turbine were studied using a variety of design load, and soil conditions scenarios. Aerodynamic thrust loads were estimated using the FAST Software developed by the U.S Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Hydrodynamic loads were estimated using Morison’s equation and the more recent Faltinsen Newman Vinje (FNV) theory. This research study addressed two of the important design constraints, specifically, the angle of the support structure at seafloor and the horizontal displacement at the hub elevation during dynamic loading. The simulation results show that the modified cone model is stiffer than the apparent fixity level and Randolph elastic continuum models. The effect of the blade pitch failure on the offshore wind turbine structure decreases with increasing water depth, but increases with increasing hub height of the offshore wind turbine structure.

A literature review of current design and analysis methods for offshore wind turbine (OWT) foundations is presented, focusing primarily on the monopile foundation. Laterally loaded monopile foundations are typically designed using the American Petroleum Institute (API) p-y method for offshore oil platforms, which presents several issues when extended to OWTs, mostly with respect to the large pile diameters required and the effect of cyclic loading from wind and waves. Although remedies have been proposed, none have been incorporated into current design standards. Foundations must be uniquely designed for each wind farm due to extreme dependence on site characteristics. The uncertainty in soil conditions as well as wind and wave loading is currently treated with a deterministic design procedure, though standards leave the door open for engineers to use a probability-based approach. This thesis uses probabilistic methods to examine the reliability of OWT pile foundations. A static two-dimensional analysis in MATLAB includes the nonlinearity of p-y soil spring stiffness, variation in soil properties, sensitivity to pile design parameters and loading conditions. Results are concluded with a natural frequency analysis.

In the present study, a numerical simulation tool has been developed for the rotor-floater-tether coupled dynamic analysis of Multiple Unit Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (MUFOWT) in the time domain including aero-blade-tower dynamics and control, mooring dynamics and platform motion. In particular, the numerical tool developed in this study is based on the single turbine analysis tool FAST, which was developed by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). For linear or nonlinear hydrodynamics of floating platform and generalized-coordinate-based FEM mooring line dynamics, CHARM3D program, hull-riser-mooring coupled dynamics program developed by Prof. M.H. Kim’s research group during the past two decades, is incorporated. So, the entire dynamic behavior of floating offshore wind turbine can be obtained by coupled FAST-CHARM3D in the time domain. During the coupling procedure, FAST calculates all the dynamics and control of tower and wind turbine including the platform itself, and CHARM3D feeds all the relevant forces on the platform into FAST. Then FAST computes the whole dynamics of wind turbine using the forces from CHARM3D and return the updated displacements and velocities of the platform to CHARM3D. To analyze the dynamics of MUFOWT, the coupled FAST-CHARM3D is expanded more and re-designed. The global matrix that includes one floating platform and a number of turbines is built at each time step of the simulation, and solved to obtain the entire degrees of freedom of the system. The developed MUFOWT analysis tool is able to compute any type of floating platform with various kinds of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT). Individual control of each turbine is also available and the different structural properties of tower and blades can be applied. The coupled dynamic analysis for the three-turbine MUFOWT and five-turbine MUFOWT are carried out and the performances of each turbine and floating platform in normal operational condition are assessed. To investigate the coupling effect between platform and each turbine, one turbine failure event is simulated and checked. The analysis shows that some of the mal-function of one turbine in MUFOWT may induce significant changes in the performance of other turbines or floating platform. The present approach can directly be applied to the development of the remote structural health monitoring system of MUFOWT in detecting partial turbine failure by measuring tower or platform responses in the future.

The increased interest in the offshore wind resource in both industry and academic and the extension of the wind field where offshore wind turbine can be deployed has stimulated quite a number of offshore wind turbines concepts. This thesis presents a design of mono-column platform supported for 5 MW baseline wind turbine developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with a single tether anchored to the seabed. The design, based on the pioneer concept SWAY, results from parametric optimized design processes which account for important design considerations in the static and dynamic view, such as the stability, natural frequency, performance requirements as well as the economic feasibility. Fully coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic model is established in the time-domain simulation tool FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence) with the hydrodynamic coefficients from HydroGen, an indoor program providing same outputs as the commercial software WAMIT. The optimized model is verified by imitating the frequency-domain approach in FAST and thus comparing the results with the frequency-domain calculations. A number of simulations with various wind and wave conditions are run to explore the effect of wind speed and wave significant height in various water depths. By modifying the optimized model to a downwind turbine with the nacelle rigidly mounted on the tower and the single tether connected to the platform by a subsea swivel, the modified models are more closed to the original SWAY-concept wind turbine. These models are compared based on the platform motion, tether tension, displacement, nacelle velocity and acceleration, resonant behavior as well as the damping of the coupled systems. The results of these comparisons prove the advantage of the modified model in performance. The modified model has also clarified itself a good candidate for deep water deployment.

The installed capacity of offshore wind turbines in Europe is increasing with the monopile being the most common type of foundation. During its lifetime an offshore wind turbine is exposed to high dynamic loads which eventually can result in the fatigue of the substructure. This thesis will show how the linear damage accumulation approach based on the Miner’s rule can be used to estimate the damage induced on the substructure of an offshore wind turbine using measurements from strain gauges. Furthermore, the most important environmental influences will be illustrated and the different stress concentration factors and the size effect introduced in the industry guideline DNVGL-RP-C203 will be analysed towards their effect on the calculated lifetime.

No description available.

Given the bleak current and projected global climate trends, society is transitioning the energy systems that we rely upon away from fossil fuel based systems to reduce global CO2 emissions. There are now well-established technologies for providing renewable electricity at utility scales, such as wind turbines and solar panels, being deployed at an ever increasing pace. However, solutions for decarbonizing other sectors where fossil fuels are harder to replace are still needed. Current strategies for reducing fossil fuel use in these sectors rely on replacing them with synthetic fuels instead are produced using renewable electricity, and can therefore be part of a net-zero emissions cycle. The focus of this thesis is to examine a novel class of wind energy systems suitable for powering these fuel synthesis processes. Alternative applications of the proposed systems include powering direct air CO2 capture systems to support negative emissions technology efforts. This work develops and presents numerical models for concepts hereafter referred to as mobile offshore wind energy systems (MOWESs). A MOWES is a wind energy system that operates offshore and is not intended to remain stationary during operation. MOWESs would operate far from shore, harnessing a part of the wind resource that would not otherwise be usable. No full- or large-scale MOWES has yet been developed, and there is little work on developing these concepts, even within academia. Steady-state power performance models of two MOWES concepts, namely unmoored floating offshore wind turbines and energy ships, are developed to support further research in this field. Model results suggest that each concept has unique pros and cons and no conclusion can be drawn as to which technology is more effiient overall. A key conclusion of this work is that unmoored floating wind turbines can generate more power by sailing at a constant speed rather than holding station. We also conclude that unmoored floating wind turbines designed for downwind operation can produce as much power as conventional stationary wind turbines given sufficiently high wind speeds. Further work must examine whether the advantages of these technologies are exploitable given realistic wind conditions and when considering the complicated dynamics of the system. / Graduate / 2023-08-09

Increasing energy demand and carbon emissions have driven the development of alternative energy solutions. One promising technology is wind energy. Wind energy technology developments has advanced substantially since the 1980s. Offshore wind turbines have become a major research focus, due to the promising offshore wind resource. However, challenges in offshore wind energy have arisen due to the additional wave loading and strong wind loads. Structural control systems have been implemented and researched in order to decrease dynamic response of these systems. The previous studies were successful at decreasing fatigue loads in the tower and support structure of offshore wind turbines. Giving these results, it is still unknown if the reduced loading enabled by structural control systems can allow for reduced material costs in the major structural components. This research examines on an offshore wind turbine's tower-monopile structure by adding several configurations of passive tuned mass dampers, while simultaneously reducing the thickness of the structure in order to reduce costs. A range of candidate tower-monopile systems are created, and simulated in FAST-SC with and without passive tuned mass dampers. Fatigue and ultimate loads are calculated and analyzed. A variety of design criteria are considered including fatigue and ultimate loads, as well as local and global buckling. The results demonstrate that the tower-monopile thickness may be reduced up to 6.2% and still satisfy all design criteria.

The paper compares electricity production between the semi-submersible and the spar-buoy floating wind turbine systems under normal, stochastic and extreme wind conditions at Utsira Nord site located on the Norwegian continental shelf in the North Sea. The analysis of complex behavior of the floating wind turbine system and the fluid-structure interaction is performed in aero-servo-hydro-elastic code ASHES. The results indicate a slightly better energy performance of the semi-submersible than the spar in all load cases but one. The pitch and heave degrees of freedom are evaluated as the most relevant for the power output. It is shown that pitch and heave platform motions have smaller displacement in the semi-submersible floater than in the spar under average environmental conditions and at the rated wind speed operating range. The simulation also confirmed that the energy yield is very sensitive to the magnitude of the loads: the spar performed best under mild environmental conditions, while the semi-submersible was better under medium environmental conditions. Small difference in energy yield is attributed to the same baseline blade and external controller properties used for both floaters where generator torque was kept constant to limit the power excursions above the rated power. The method proposed under this paper has demonstrated that a good approximation of the energy performance of the floating wind turbine system can be performed in a fast and effective manner.