ADVANCED FLOATER ANALYSIS - WP5

High-fidelity numerical analysis tools can reduce uncertainties, which can lead to more cost-effective designs.

To date, significant research efforts have improved efficient global analysis tools – building on skills from both the oil and gas industry and the onshore wind industry.

While today’s tools give efficient design answers, recent studies question the accuracy of existing models applied to operational conditions (such as viscous low-frequency wave excitation), in addition to their known limitations with respect to severe wave conditions and local flows.

WP5 investigates these shortcomings in greater depth, both experimentally and numerically.

The experimental campaigns will include both standard hydrodynamic tests as well as wind-wave tests allowing a better understanding of how wind-induced loads and mean position affect hydrodynamic loads and platform responses.

Prototypes under consideration for testing include the test specimens from the transnational facility access program MARINET2 and other national projects.

The numerical and experimental approaches are complementary, with experimental data giving an opportunity for validation, while numerical approaches provide details of the flow field (also validated through stereoscopic PIV instrumentation in the experiments), extrapolation of the results to different situations, input to structural solvers, and physical understanding needed for the development of simplified methods for early design.
 

WP5 also examines the adaptation and optimization of mooring system technology to new challenges: water depths of 50-150m, novel technological options such as synthetic fibre ropes, coupled multi-floater mooring systems and multi-segment moorings, and reliability.

The partners (AERODYN, ECN, IDEOL, NTNU, UCC, UROS, VICINAY) have long track-records in floater design.

They will jointly address the following objectives:

• Improve the design of WT floaters through advanced modelling of heave-plates,
• Develop methods for assessing highly nonlinear wave loads/load effects on floaters.
• Improve the design and reliability of mooring systems
• Quantify how modelling improvements can reduce the LCOE