Hydrodynamic Responses of a Barge-Type Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Integrated with an Aquaculture Cage

Abstract

The dynamic responses of a new structure combining a barge-type floating offshore wind turbine and an aquaculture cage is investigated numerically. First, a 5 MW barge-type floating offshore wind turbine with an aquaculture cage (FOWT-AC) is designed and the numerical model is established in ANSYS-AQWA. The numerical model of the barge-type FOWT-AC is then checked, and the natural periods of the six degrees of freedom motion satisfy the recommendations of the DNV specification. Based on the reasonable model, the comparison study of dynamic responses between the barge-type FOWT-AC and FOWT under the environmental conditions of the South China Sea is carried out, and it is observed that the FOWT-AC produces a basically lower standard deviation of the motion responses. To investigate the new structure of the barge-type FOWT-AC deeply, the analyses of second-order hydrodynamic response, typical environmental conditions and the mooring line breaking scenario are carried out. The simulation results show that the second-order wave loads increase the dynamic response of the barge-type FOWT-AC slightly unless it causes resonance for the structure. In addition, the motion responses of the floating structures increase significantly when the currents are applied, especially when the aquaculture cage is integrated into the barge-type FOWT. When one of the mooring lines connected to the offshore or onshore side of the platform breaks, the presence of the aquaculture cage results in a smaller standard deviation in the motion responses of the coupled structure, which means that the barge-type FOWT-AC structure is more stable.