Coupled Dynamic Analysis of a Tension Leg Platform Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

The dynamic response of a tension leg platform (TLP) floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) was analyzed with considering the aero-hydro characteristic of the whole floating wind turbine system including the wind turbine, TLP platform, and tethers. The “aero-hydro” coupled dynamic analysis was conducted in ansys-aqwa with a dynamic link library (DLL) calculating the aerodynamics loading at every steptime based on the blade element momentum theory. Results from the coupled dynamic analysis of TLP FOWT under the condition of turbulent wind and regular wave show that the wind loads influence mainly the low-frequency response of the TLP FOWT. The wind loads have a large impact on the offsets of the TLP away from the initial position while the wave loads influence mainly the fluctuation amplitude of the TLP FOWT. The average TLP pitch response under the wind load is significantly larger due to the large wind-induced heeling moment on the wind turbine. In addition, the tension of tethers at the upwind end is greater than that at the downwind end. The wind loads could reduce effectively the average tension of the tethers, and the tension of tethers is significantly affected by the pitch motion. Results from the coupled dynamic analysis of TLP FOWT under the condition of turbulent wind and irregular wave show that the surge and pitch of TLP result in an obvious increase of thrust of the turbine and the amplitude of torque fluctuation, more attention should be paid to the pitch and surge motion of TLP FOWT.