A CFD Study of Vortex-Induced Motions of a Semi-Submersible Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

Yuanchuan Liu, Dunjie Ge, Xinglan Bai and Liang Li ()
Additional contact information
Yuanchuan Liu: College of Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266400, China
Dunjie Ge: College of Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266400, China
Xinglan Bai: School of Naval Architecture and Maritime, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China
Liang Li: College of Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266400, China

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-27

Abstract: Vortex-induced motion (VIM) is a critical issue for floating structures made of one or more columns, due to its significant impacts on their operational stability. Supported by column-type floating platforms, floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) may also experience large-amplitude VIM responses in current flow. Existing research on FOWTs has mostly focused on their wind/wave induced responses, yet less attention has been paid to their responses in current flow. In this paper, the VIM of the OC4 semi-submersible FOWT platform is studied numerically over a wide range of flow velocity. Three incidence angles, i.e., 0°, 90°, and 180°, are considered and the effect of current incidence on platform VIM is analysed. Results show that the so-called lock-in phenomenon is present and that a large transverse response amplitude of more than 0.3 D persists until V r = 30, with its maximum reaching over 0.8 D at V r = 8. Meanwhile, the transverse response amplitude for cases with the incidence angle of 180° is generally smaller, with a narrower lock-in regime, than those under the other two incidence scenarios. Flow field visualisation reveals that upstream vortices continuously interact with the downstream side column when the incidence angle turns to 180°, impacting the vortex shedding process and consequently fluid forces of the downstream column.

Keywords: vortex-induced motion; current incidence; vortex interaction; floating offshore wind turbine; semi-submersible (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/2/698/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/2/698/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:2:p:698-:d:1028003

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().