scholarly journals Load Mitigation on Floating Offshore Wind Turbines With Advanced Controls and Tuned Mass Dampers

Author(s):  
John Cross-Whiter ◽  
Benjamin B. Ackers ◽  
Dhiraj Arora ◽  
Alan Wright ◽  
Paul Fleming ◽  
...  

General Electric, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), and Glosten have recently completed a US Department of Energy (DOE)-funded research program to study technologies for mitigating loads on floating offshore wind turbines through the use of advanced turbine controls and tuned mass dampers (TMDs). The analysis was based upon the Glosten PelaStar tension leg platform (TLP) with GE Haliade 150 turbine, a system developed in a previous front end engineering design (FEED) study funded by the Energy Technology Institute (ETI) in the UK. The platform was designed for the WaveHub wave energy research site, with a mean water depth of 59-m. Loads were analyzed by running time-domain simulations in four 50-year return period (50-YRP) ultimate load state (ULS) conditions and 77 fatigue load state (FLS) environmental conditions. In 50-YRP conditions advanced controls are not active. The influence of TMDs on ULS loads have been reported previously (Park et al. [2]). In FLS conditions advanced controls and TMDs afford dramatic reductions in fatigue damage, offering the potential of significant savings in tower structural requirements. Simulations in turbine idling conditions were run in OrcaFlex, and simulations in operating conditions were run in FAST. Simulations were run with a baseline turbine controller, representative of the current state of the art, and an advanced controller developed by NREL to use collective and individual blade pitch control to maintain rotor speed and reduce tower loads. UMass developed a number of TMD types, with varying system configurations, including passive nonlinear dampers and semi-actively controlled dampers with an inverse velocity groundhook control algorithm. Loads and accelerations in FLS conditions were evaluated on the basis of damage equivalent loads (DELs), and fatigue damage was computed by Miner’s summations of stress cycles at the tower base. To study sensitivity to water depth, loads were analyzed at both the 59-m WaveHub depth and a more commercially realistic depth of 100 m. TMDs reduce fatigue damage at the tower-column interface flange by up to 52% in 59-m water depth and up to 28% in 100 m water depth. Advanced controls reduce fatigue damage at the tower-column flange by up to 22% in 59-m water depth and up to 40% in 100 m water depth. The most effective load-mitigation strategy is combining advanced controls with TMDs. This strategy affords a 71% reduction in fatigue damage in both 59-m and 100-m water depths.

2013 ◽  
Vol 569-570 ◽  
pp. 636-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Van Nguyen Dinh ◽  
Biswajit Basu

In this paper an overview about floating offshore wind turbines (FOWT) including operating conditions, property and applicability of the barge, tension-leg, and spar floating platforms is described. The spar-floating offshore wind turbines (S-FOWT) have advantages in deepwater and their preliminary design, numerical modeling tools and integrated modeling are reviewed. Important conclusions about the nacelle and blade motions, tower response, effects of wind and wave loads, overall vibration and power production of the S-FOWT are summarized. Computationally-simplified models with acceptable accuracy are necessary for feasibility and pre-engineering studies of the FOWT. The design needs modeling and analysis of aero-hydro-servo dynamic coupling of the entire FOWT. This paper also familiarizes authors with FOWT and its configurations and modeling approaches.


Author(s):  
Shuaishuai Wang ◽  
Amir R. Nejad ◽  
Torgeir Moan

Abstract This paper presents the design of a compact gearbox for the DTU 10 MW reference offshore wind turbine. An innovative gearbox concept consisting of a fixed planetary stage with a differential compound epicyclic stage is proposed. Power splitting and compound epicyclic transmission technologies are employed, which could effectively reduce the gearbox’ size. Power transmission principle of the gearbox is described, and power distribution on two transfer paths is derived by the geometrical and mechanical relationships among the components. The gearbox is designed based on the design loads and criteria with reference to the relevant international standards, and all of the critical components, gears and bearings, are designed by performing fatigue limit state (FLS) check. A high fidelity drivetrain dynamic model, consisting of the compact gearbox and one four-point support drivetrain configuration, is established by means of multi-body system (MBS) approach. Then, validation of the power distribution is conducted by the comparison of the simulation results and design values. Resonance analysis of the drivetrain model is conducted by employing Campbell diagram, energy distribtuion of components and time domain simulation approach, and the results show that no resonance phenomenon appears in this drivetrain model during the normal operating conditions. In addition, load sharing performance of the MBS model is assessed, indicating the a favorable dynamic operating behavior of the gearbox. It is believed that such compact design could be good alternative for floating offshore wind turbines.


2014 ◽  
Vol 134 (8) ◽  
pp. 1096-1103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sho Tsujimoto ◽  
Ségolène Dessort ◽  
Naoyuki Hara ◽  
Keiji Konishi

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Jiawen Li ◽  
Jingyu Bian ◽  
Yuxiang Ma ◽  
Yichen Jiang

A typhoon is a restrictive factor in the development of floating wind power in China. However, the influences of multistage typhoon wind and waves on offshore wind turbines have not yet been studied. Based on Typhoon Mangkhut, in this study, the characteristics of the motion response and structural loads of an offshore wind turbine are investigated during the travel process. For this purpose, a framework is established and verified for investigating the typhoon-induced effects of offshore wind turbines, including a multistage typhoon wave field and a coupled dynamic model of offshore wind turbines. On this basis, the motion response and structural loads of different stages are calculated and analyzed systematically. The results show that the maximum response does not exactly correspond to the maximum wave or wind stage. Considering only the maximum wave height or wind speed may underestimate the motion response during the traveling process of the typhoon, which has problems in guiding the anti-typhoon design of offshore wind turbines. In addition, the coupling motion between the floating foundation and turbine should be considered in the safety evaluation of the floating offshore wind turbine under typhoon conditions.


Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 475
Author(s):  
Payam Aboutalebi ◽  
Fares M’zoughi ◽  
Izaskun Garrido ◽  
Aitor J. Garrido

Undesired motions in Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT) lead to reduction of system efficiency, the system’s lifespan, wind and wave energy mitigation and increment of stress on the system and maintenance costs. In this article, a new barge platform structure for a FOWT has been proposed with the objective of reducing these undesired platform motions. The newly proposed barge structure aims to reduce the tower displacements and platform’s oscillations, particularly in rotational movements. This is achieved by installing Oscillating Water Columns (OWC) within the barge to oppose the oscillatory motion of the waves. Response Amplitude Operator (RAO) is used to predict the motions of the system exposed to different wave frequencies. From the RAOs analysis, the system’s performance has been evaluated for representative regular wave periods. Simulations using numerical tools show the positive impact of the added OWCs on the system’s stability. The results prove that the proposed platform presents better performance by decreasing the oscillations for the given range of wave frequencies, compared to the traditional barge platform.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athul K. Sundarrajan ◽  
Yong Hoon Lee ◽  
James T. Allison ◽  
Daniel R. Herber

Abstract This paper discusses a framework to design elements of the plant and control systems for floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) in an integrated manner using linear parameter-varying models. Multiple linearized models derived from high-fidelity software are used to model the system in different operating regions characterized by the incoming wind speed. The combined model is then used to generate open-loop optimal control trajectories as part of a nested control co-design strategy that explores the system’s stability and power production in the context of crucial plant and control design decisions. A cost model is developed for the FOWT system, and the effect of plant decisions and subsequent power and stability response of the FOWT is quantified in terms of the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for that system. The results show that the stability constraints and the plant design decisions affect the turbine’s power and, subsequently, LCOE of the system. The results indicate that a lighter plant in terms of mass can produce the same power for a lower LCOE while still satisfying the constraints.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Chen ◽  
Changhong Hu ◽  
Zhiqiang Hu

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) brings a new solution to overcome the challenges of Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) to better predict the dynamic responses with intelligent strategies. A new AI-based software-in-the-loop method, named SADA is introduced in this paper for the prediction of dynamic responses of FOWTs, which is proposed based on an in-house programme DARwind. DARwind is a coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic in-house program for FOWTs, and a reinforcement learning method with exhaust algorithm and deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) are embedded in DARwind as an AI module. Firstly, the methodology is introduced with the selection of Key Disciplinary Parameters (KDPs). Secondly, Brute-force Method and DDPG algorithms are adopted to changes the KDPs’ values according to the feedback of 6DOF motions of Hywind Spar-type platform through comparing the DARwind simulation results and those of basin experimental data. Therefore, many other dynamic responses that cannot be measured in basin experiment can be predicted in good accuracy with SADA method. Finally, the case study of SADA method was conducted and the results demonstrated that the mean values of the platform’s motions can be predicted with higher accuracy. This proposed SADA method takes advantage of numerical-experimental method, basin experimental data and the machine learning technology, which brings a new and promising solution for overcoming the handicap impeding direct use of conventional basin experimental way to analyze FOWT’s dynamic responses during the design phase.


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