Effect of Mooring Parameters on Dynamic Responses of a Semi-Submersible Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

Abstract

Based on a new semi-submersible floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT), a coupling aero-hydro-flexible model was established to study its dynamic behaviors, as well as the corresponding mooring system, under complicated sea scenarios. The aerodynamic load, the wave load, the current load, and the mooring load were taken into consideration. To further investigate the influence of the mooring parameters on the floating system, the diameter and the total length of mooring lines, which are the most critical parameters in mooring line design, were chosen to be analyzed. Particularly, five diameters and seven lengths were adopted to establish the FOWT mooring system, and a time-domain simulation was carried out for each cases. Based on the numerical simulations, their influences on the mooring system stiffness and the dynamic responses of FOWT were studied. The results show that the diameter has little influence on the static shape of the mooring line. The mooring system stiffness can be effectively increased by reducing the length and increasing the diameter of mooring lines. Moreover, the surge motion of floating foundation can be effectively controlled by increasing the mooring line diameter and decreasing mooring line length under the rated sea scenario. From this aspect, the dynamic response features of the FOWTs could be improved.