Floating Offshore Wind Modelling Cooperation

Summary

This Bilateral Initiative (BI), funded by the Fund of Bilateral Relation of the EEAGrants, aims at performing high-fidelity CFD simulations of wind turbines under imposed motions, including validation against experimental data. It is expected that this BI will bring better insights into the complex aerodynamic phenomena behind Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT), contributing to improved and more cost-efficient designs in the future.

Introduction

Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT) integrate the turbine knowledge from onshore wind industry and the floater knowledge from the offshore oil and gas (O&G) sector. This combination leads to new challenges and opportunities in the design of FOWT. An optimization within this new set of constraints is necessary to adequately reduce safety margins, improve FOWT competitiveness, and ultimately contribute to the UN net zero goals.

The focus of this bilateral initiative (BI) is the numerical modelling of FOWT, which is a key enabler for FOWT optimization. However, FOWT are complex nonlinear systems, with coupled hydro-aero-structural response, which is challenging to model in a cost-efficient optimization process.

The objectives of this BI are to:

1. increase the knowledge on numerical simulations of FOWT;
2. disseminate that knowledge; and
3. engage additional partners to pre-form a consortium on this topic.

Funded by

EEA Iceland Lichtenstein Norway grants