Design considerations for tension leg platform wind turbines

Abstract Tension leg platform wind turbines (TLPWTs) represent one potential method for accessing offshore wind resources in moderately deep water. Although numerous TLPWT designs have been studied and presented in the literature, there is little consensus regarding optimal design, and little information about the effect of various design variables on structural response. In this study, a wide range of parametric single-column TLPWT designs are analyzed in four different wind-wave conditions using the Simo, Riflex, and AeroDyn tools in a coupled analysis to evaluate platform motions and structural loads on the turbine components and tendons. The results indicate that there is a trade-off between performance in storm conditions, which improves with larger displacement, and cost, which increases approximately linearly with displacement. Motions perpendicular to the incoming wind and waves, especially in the parked configuration, may be critical for TLPWT designs with small displacement. Careful choice of natural period, diameter at the water line, ballast, pretension, and pontoon radius can be used to improve the TLPWT performance in different environmental conditions and water depths.

[1]  Sungho Lee,et al.  Floating Offshore Wind Turbines: Responses in a Seastate Pareto Optimal Designs and Economic Assessment , 2008 .

[2]  Jason Jonkman,et al.  Calibration and Validation of a Fast Floating Wind Turbine Model of the Deepcwind Scaled Tension-Leg Platform , 2012 .

[3]  William L. Moon,et al.  Tension Leg Platform Turbine: A Unique Integration of Mature Technologies , 2010 .

[4]  Hiroyuki Fujioka,et al.  An Approach for the Optimum Design of TLP Type Offshore Wind Turbines , 2011 .

[5]  J. Jonkman.  Influence of Control on the Pitch Damping of a Floating Wind Turbine , 2008 .

[6]  Jason Jonkman,et al.  Model Development and Loads Analysis of a Wind Turbine on a Floating Offshore Tension Leg Platform , 2010 .

[7]  J. Jonkman,et al.  Definition of a 5-MW Reference Wind Turbine for Offshore System Development , 2009 .

[8]  S. Viani,et al.  Preliminary Design of a Floating Wind Turbine Support Structure and Relevant System Cost Assessment , 2010 .

[9]  Anshul Jain,et al.  Nonlinear coupled response of offshore tension leg platforms to regular wave forces , 1997 .

[10]  Aina Crozier,et al.  Design and Dynamic Modeling of the Support Structure for a 10 MW Offshore Wind Turbine , 2011 .

[11]  Jason Jonkman,et al.  FAST User's Guide , 2005 .

[12]  Jason Jonkman,et al.  Definition of the Floating System for Phase IV of OC3 , 2010 .

[13]  Hugo Bachmann,et al.  Vibration problems in structures , 1995 .

[14]  B. Jonkman.  Turbsim User's Guide: Version 1.50 , 2009 .

[15]  Subrata K. Chakrabarti,et al.  Handbook of Offshore Engineering , 2005 .

[16]  Elizabeth Passano,et al.  Global Analysis of a Floating Wind Turbine Using an Aero-Hydro-Elastic Model: Part 1—Code Development and Case Study , 2011 .

[17]  Erin Elizabeth Bachynski,et al.  Global Analysis of Floating Wind Turbines: Code Development, Model Sensitivity And Benchmark Study , 2012 .

[18]  Torgeir Moan,et al.  Linear And Nonlinear Analysis of Tension Leg Platform Wind Turbines , 2012 .

[19]  S. K. Chakrabarti,et al.  Added Mass and Damping of a TLP Column Model , 1990 .

[20]  Patrick Moriarty,et al.  AeroDyn Theory Manual , 2005 .

[21]  S. Haver,et al.  Joint Distribution For Wind And Waves In the Northern North Sea , 2002 .

[22]  Steven R. Winterstein,et al.  SPRINGING AND SLOW-DRIFT RESPONSES: PREDICTED EXTREMES AND FATIGUE VS. SIMULATION , 1994 .

[23]  Jason Jonkman,et al.  Loads Analysis of Several Offshore Floating Wind Turbine Concepts , 2011 .

[24]  Odd M. Faltinsen,et al.  Sea loads on ships and offshore structures , 1990 .

[25]  Christopher Tracy.  Parametric design of floating wind turbines , 2007 .

[26]  Moo-Hyun Kim,et al.  Rotor-Floater-Mooring Coupled Dynamic Analysis of Mini TLP-Type Offshore Floating Wind Turbines , 2010 .

[27]  Kent B. Davies,et al.  Morpeth SeaStar Mini-TLP , 1999 .

[28]  Jason Jonkman,et al.  Engineering Challenges for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines , 2007 .

[29]  D. Matha,et al.  Model Development and Loads Analysis of an Offshore Wind Turbine on a Tension Leg Platform with a Comparison to Other Floating Turbine Concepts: April 2009 , 2010 .

[30]  Torben J. Larsen,et al.  A method to avoid negative damped low frequent tower vibrations for a floating, pitch controlled wind turbine , 2007 .

[31]  Cuneyt Capanoglu,et al.  Tension Leg Wind Turbine (TLWT) Conceptual Design Suitable For a Wide Range of Water Depths , 2012 .