Wave loads on multi-member offshore wind turbine sub-structures
Date
2012
Authors
Sewell, DeAnna
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The purpose of the present study is to accurately model hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads on two multi-member offshore wind turbine substructures, a jacket
and a tripod, and compare the results to common modeling methods of predicting
wave loads based on Morison's equation. Finite volume based computational
fluid
dynamics was chosen for this analysis due to its ability to capture complex
flows
and geometries. CFD also has the advantage of producing detailed solutions of
the governing equations for cases where the Morison's equation may not provide
accurate solutions. CD-adapco's STAR-CCM+ computational
fluid dynamics soft-
ware was employed [CD-adapco, 2011]. Each simulation in STAR-CCM+ is fully
three-dimensional, and relies on the volume-of-fluid (VOF) type interface capturing
technique to solve the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for the
air and water. Specific wave load were analyzed. The results presented here are
compared against the Morison loads calculated in FAST's HydroDyn, which are
provided by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.