Modeling aspects of a floating wind turbine for coupled wave–wind-induced dynamic analyses

This paper deals with the numerical modeling of a catenary moored spar-type wind turbine in the integrated coupled analyses. The current spar-type wind turbine is inspired by the Hywind concept. In this paper, different hydrodynamic models based on the Morison formula, Pressure integration method and Panel method considering the mean drift, first and second order forces are studied. A floating wind turbine in deep water depth supporting a 5-MW turbine system is considered. Simo-Riflex (DeepC), HAWC2 and FAST codes are used to carry out the coupled wave–wind-induced analyses. The results show that the damping and inertia forces of the mooring lines are important for the tension responses; especially, the damping of the mooring lines can help to damp-out the high-frequency elastic-deformations of the mooring system. However, the motion responses are not significantly affected by the mooring line damping-effects. The drift and second order forces do not significantly affect the motion and tension responses. However, the heave motion is more affected by the drift and second order forces. The results indicate that either the Morison formula considering the instantaneous position of the structure or first order hydrodynamic forces based on the Panel method and considering the quadratic viscous forces can provide accurate results for the slender spar-type wind turbines. Considering the second order forces is found to be 10–15 times more time consuming while the responses are not significantly affected for the present floating wind turbine. The coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic code-to-code comparison of HAWC2 and FAST codes shows that the dynamic motion responses, structural responses at the tower–spar interface and at the blade root as well as the power production are in good agreement.