The Impact of Unsteadiness on the Aerodynamic Loads of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

Abstract

Abstract The role of unsteadiness in the aerodynamics of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT) remains a subject of discussion among the research community. Therefore, it must be investigated whether and to what extent transient aerodynamic phenomena impact the loads of a wind turbine rotor undergoing motions in unsteady winds. The study of transient aerodynamic phenomena is closely linked to the question of whether the modern Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) methods can be considered reliable for the simulation of FOWTs. In this work, investigations are carried out to identify the relevant transient aerodynamic phenomena and quantify their effects on the torque and thrust of the Floatgen wind turbine. A free-wake panel method is utilised to identify and quantify transient parts of the load response to a set of simplified unsteady scenarios: a wind gust, a harmonic surge motion and a rotor speed oscillation. Transient contributions to the load behaviour of the wind turbine can be identified in all scenarios under consideration. In addition, the ability of a state-of-the-art BEMT method to model the identified transient contributions is evaluated. While an agreement of the qualitative impact of the transient aerodynamic phenomena at moderate motion frequencies is found, a contradicting behaviour of the simulation models becomes apparent at high motion frequencies. This indicates the presence of a transient, three-dimensional wake effect that cannot be reproduced by the common unsteady corrections for BEMT methods.