Abstract
In recent years, the exploitation of offshore wind resources has been attached with greater importance. As a result, semi-submersible floating wind turbines (FWTs) have gradually become a popular research topic, with the structural strength being a research hotspot as it can ensure the safe operation of FWTs. The severe sea conditions of freak waves result in enormous wave heights, extremely fast wave speeds, and concentrated energy. Thus, it is difficult to accurately simulate these effects on the loads of floating wind turbines using the potential flow theory and other theories. In this paper, the structural strength of a floating wind turbine under the action of freak waves is analyzed based on the CFD-FEA coupled method. The effects of the mooring system and the wind load are considered in the time domain, and the CFD method is applied to analyze the wave load of the floating wind turbine under the extreme sea state of freak waves. The strength and motion of the floating wind turbine float structure are analyzed by combining the CFD method and the FEA method, and the analytical results of the mutual transfer of these two methods are taken as the initial quantities for further analysis. The accuracy of the analytical model of the CFD-FEA method is verified by the results of the tank test analysis, and the structural strength analysis under freak wave conditions is carried out for a new type of floating wind turbine. The results of this research provide useful guidance and references for the design and engineering applications of offshore floating wind turbines.
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Foundation item: This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52071161 and 52301322), and the Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. BK20220653).
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Huo, Fl., Luo, P., Nie, Y. et al. Structural Strength Study of A Floating Wind Turbine Under Freak Waves Through the CFD-FEA Method. China Ocean Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13344-024-0073-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13344-024-0073-3