Coupled Hydrodynamic and Aerodynamic Response Analysis of a Tension-Leg Platform Floating Wind Turbine

A fully coupled time-domain aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulation of a tension-leg-platform (TLP) floating wind turbine is conducted. 3-D potential theory and Morison equation are applied to calculate the hydrodynamic loads. Blade element momentum theory and generalized dynamic wake theory are applied to calculate the aerodynamic loads. Time series results are obtained and analyzed to study the coupled dynamic responses of the TLP floating wind turbine. An analytic equation governing the surge motion was formulated and solved based on perturbation method. This equation can explain the high frequency response in surge motion induced by the nonlinearity of viscosity. From the analysis results, the dynamic responses of the TLP floating wind turbine are obtained and analyzed, and it is found that the high frequency component of the response has significant impact on the platform's dynamic performance. © 2017, Editorial Board of Journal of Ship Mechanics. All right reserved.