Evaluation of influence on shape design of floating offshore wind turbine substructures

Abstract

The increase of demand and the depletion of energy resources have led to a rising demand of renewable energy. Among them, wind turbine has been researched because of wide generality with high resource potential. Despite these advantages, onshore wind turbine has a spatial constraint. To solve these problems, offshore wind turbine has been researched and the installation area of onshore structures has been expanded to offshore field. The design of the substructure is one of the most important issues in case of motion characteristics in the ocean rather than on the coast. Tri-pod type is attracting attention because it is easy to manufacture and efficient to reduce environmental load. However, the motion characteristics of these types of structures have not been clarified yet and are currently studied. In order to improve the float performance, it is necessary to apply the optimal float design such as size, weight, water plane area, and mooring to each design. In this study, we have described tri-pod type model and evaluated the model test to find the effects of the ratio of the diameter to draft in dynamic motions of the structures on the basis of the floating column design. Since each design variables are determined, experimental RAO results have analysed through motion analysis of 6 degrees of freedom.