semifloatingspar final

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1 Feasibility study of a semi floating spar buoy wind turbine anchored with a spherical joint to the sea floor María Sanz Martínez DTU Wind Energy DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark [email protected] Anand Natarajan DTU Wind Energy DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark [email protected] Lars Christian Henriksen DTU Wind Energy DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark [email protected] Abstract: The feasibility of a semi floating platform offshore wind turbine system is investigated at 120m water depth. The semi floating system consists of a 5MW wind turbine on a floater with mooring lines similar to a spar buoy and strongly anchored with a spherical joint to the sea soil. The stability of the newly designed floater and mooring assembly are analyzed from static and dynamic simulations. The design loads on the universal joint on the sea floor are tuned with the needs for a ballast chamber. Using load simulation in the HAWC2 software, ultimate and equivalent fatigue loads are obtained and compared with the loads from the same wind turbine mounted on a spar buoy system and a land based wind turbine at the same points. The results show a decrement in the ultimate and equivalent fatigue loads for the new system. Keywords: Design loads, spherical joint, semi floating platform, mooring system 1. Introduction Fixed offshore wind turbine structures may be cost effective till 60 metres water depth. Monopile fixed sub structures are usually used in wind turbine installations till 30m water depths and frame structures till 60m. Floating wind turbine prototypes are designed for water depths near 150m-200m. Therefore, the wind industry may require other designs of cost effective sub structures in the range of 60 - 120 metres. A floating spar-buoy substructure which is anchored with a universal spherical joint to the sea soil is analyzed at 120m water depth as potential solution for moderate water depths (60m to120m). Oil industry has used similar substructures [1]. However, the wind loads experienced by the oil rig structures are negligible compared to the rotor generated dynamic loads experienced by wind turbines so a further study is required. In this study, the wind turbine used is the NREL 5 MW [2]. The simulations were performed in the aero-hydro-servo-elastic code HAWC2 [3]. For a better analogy, the new system was compared with the NREL spar buoy [4] and a land based wind turbine. Hence, the same simulations were run for all systems. 2. Design of the platform and static analysis of the system The new sub structure configuration should achieve static and dynamic stability. Therefore the submerged volume needs to be large enough to equilibrate the system with its restoring force (the higher the angle of tilt, the bigger the submerged volume). To match these requirements, the final geometry was chosen as two cylinders of different radii linked by an interface with the shape of a truncated cone (see Figure 1). The design of the new platform was obtained through an iterative optimization process between the total weight of the system and the submerged volume under normal conditions. In each iteration, the weight of the system was determined and then, the submerged volume needed to stabilize that weight was computed. We considered the weight for the initial iteration as the weight of the spar buoy system. The final mass of the platform was seven times lower than the mass of the spar buoy floater because there is no

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Page 1: SemiFloatingSpar Final

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Feasibility study of a semi floating spar buoy wind turbine anchored with

a spherical joint to the sea floor

María Sanz Martínez

DTU Wind Energy

DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

[email protected]

Anand Natarajan

DTU Wind Energy

DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

[email protected]

Lars Christian Henriksen

DTU Wind Energy

DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

[email protected]

Abstract:

The feasibility of a semi floating platform

offshore wind turbine system is investigated at

120m water depth. The semi floating system

consists of a 5MW wind turbine on a floater

with mooring lines similar to a spar buoy and

strongly anchored with a spherical joint to the

sea soil.

The stability of the newly designed floater and

mooring assembly are analyzed from static

and dynamic simulations. The design loads on

the universal joint on the sea floor are tuned

with the needs for a ballast chamber. Using

load simulation in the HAWC2 software,

ultimate and equivalent fatigue loads are

obtained and compared with the loads from

the same wind turbine mounted on a spar

buoy system and a land based wind turbine at

the same points. The results show a

decrement in the ultimate and equivalent

fatigue loads for the new system.

Keywords: Design loads, spherical joint, semi

floating platform, mooring system

1. Introduction

Fixed offshore wind turbine structures may be

cost effective till 60 metres water depth.

Monopile fixed sub structures are usually

used in wind turbine installations till 30m

water depths and frame structures till 60m.

Floating wind turbine prototypes are designed

for water depths near 150m-200m. Therefore,

the wind industry may require other designs of

cost effective sub structures in the range of 60

- 120 metres. A floating spar-buoy

substructure which is anchored with a

universal spherical joint to the sea soil is

analyzed at 120m water depth as potential

solution for moderate water depths (60m

to120m). Oil industry has used similar

substructures [1]. However, the wind loads

experienced by the oil rig structures are

negligible compared to the rotor generated

dynamic loads experienced by wind turbines

so a further study is required.

In this study, the wind turbine used is the

NREL 5 MW [2]. The simulations were

performed in the aero-hydro-servo-elastic

code HAWC2 [3]. For a better analogy, the

new system was compared with the NREL

spar buoy [4] and a land based wind turbine.

Hence, the same simulations were run for all

systems.

2. Design of the platform and static

analysis of the system

The new sub structure configuration should

achieve static and dynamic stability. Therefore

the submerged volume needs to be large

enough to equilibrate the system with its

restoring force (the higher the angle of tilt, the

bigger the submerged volume). To match

these requirements, the final geometry was

chosen as two cylinders of different radii

linked by an interface with the shape of a

truncated cone (see Figure 1).

The design of the new platform was obtained

through an iterative optimization process

between the total weight of the system and

the submerged volume under normal

conditions. In each iteration, the weight of the

system was determined and then, the

submerged volume needed to stabilize that

weight was computed. We considered the

weight for the initial iteration as the weight of

the spar buoy system. The final mass of the

platform was seven times lower than the mass

of the spar buoy floater because there is no

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ballast requirement in the semi floating

system.

The final geometry of the floater consists in: a

bottom cylindrical part of 80 m length and 2 m

radius, a transition conical part of 40 m length,

and a top cylindrical part of 10 m length and 3

m radius. The total draft of the platform is 130

m; the floater is designed for a water depth of

120 m.

As the floater was redesigned, the Morison

equation applicability was verified with 8

different significant wave heights. A stability

analysis using two tools was performed: an

approximate Matlab script that considers the

weight, buoyancy and thrust loads and

calculates the pitch angle of equilibrium of the

platform; and detailed HAWC2 simulations

that includes also the mooring line dynamics

and hydrodynamics. The results of both

analyses are listed in Table 1.

Table 1 – Platform equilibrium angle of both systems depending on wind speed

Mean Wind speed [m/s]

Pitch angle (Matlab)

[deg]

Pitch angle (HAWC2)

[deg]

5 +21.3 +1.2

8 +23.5 +2.8

11 +25.9 +5.2

13 +24.6 +3.9

16 +23.7 +2.9

20 +23.0 +2.3

24 +22.6 +2.0

The largest pitch angle is obtained for mean

wind speeds close to the rated wind speed

because the thrust force is the main input of

the system. The mooring line forces cause the

different equilibrium angles of both analyses.

This shows the system is statically stable

without mooring system, but the resultant

equilibrium angle is too high to be operative.

Mooring lines should be considered, and

designed for improved performance.

A modal analysis was then performed to

obtain the lowest modes of the static system.

The results are listed in Table 2:

Table 2 – Natural frequencies of the semi

floating system

Frequency [Hz]

Description

0.02977 Platform roll

0.03004 Platform pitch

0.03518 Platform yaw

These results are within the same range of

the natural frequencies calculated for the spar

buoy system in other studies as [5].

The floater is depicted in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – Sketch of the floater with a universal joint at the soil

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3. Specification of new mooring

system

We defined a new mooring system based on

[6]. Each mooring line is divided into a number

of elements or Timoshenko bodies that are

analyzed individually together with the rest of

the system in HAWC2. The equation of

motion for each of the mooring bodies is:

( ) ( ) ( )

( )

The main parameters of the mooring system

are presented in Table 3. The mooring system

uses catenary lines because it has simple and

cheap anchors, it is easy to install and it is

suitable for shallower waters. Its sketch can

be seen in Figure 2.

Table 3 – Summary of properties of the mooring system

Number of mooring lines 3

Depth to fairleads, anchors 30, 120 m

Radius to fairleads, anchors 9.4, 850 m

Un stretched line length 853 m

Line diameter 0.1 m

Line mass density (in air) 113.09 kg/m

Line mass density (in water) 86.19 kg/m

Line extensional stiffness 381700 kN

Figure 2 – Mooring system scheme.

4. Wind Turbine System and

Environment

Environment definition

The wave conditions for the aeroelastic

simulations were defined following the

JONSWAP (Joint North Sea Wave Project)

Spectrum [7] with an irregular airy pattern.

The peak enhancement factor, γ was

assumed to have a constant value of 3.3. The

significant height and the period of the waves

are defined in Figure 3.

Figure 3 – Wave parameters depending on the mean wind speed.

We define ‘semi floating system’ as the 5 MW

NREL wind turbine defined in [2], mounted on

the platform described in section 2 and the

mooring system defined in section 3.

To confirm the good operation of the semi

floating system the mean power and thrust

are compared with the corresponding figures

for the floating spar buoy mounted wind

turbine in Figure 4 to Figure 7.

Figure 4 – Power curve comparison.

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Figure 5 – Thrust curve comparison.

Figure 6 – Pitch curve comparison.

Figure 7 – Rotational speed curve comparison.

The differences are minimal.

Estimated damping for the pitch of the

platform

We consider the semi floating system as a

second order system to estimate its damping.

In the steady state, the response of the

system to a step force was simulated. The

same test was completed for the spar buoy

wind turbine and for a land based wind

turbine. The response at the tower top for a

single degree of freedom system is

( ) {

( )

√ ( ) ( ( )

)

The tower top displacement was fitted to the

previous equation and the system parameters

were calculated:

The mass used in each case was the whole

system mass (tower, nacelle, rotor and

floater). The obtained results were:

Table 4 – Comparison of damping values

Semi

floating system

Spar buoy

system

Land based system

ξ 0.214 0.147 0.578

c [kNs/m] 7.955∙102 1.756∙10

3 1.063∙10

3

k [kN/m] 3.265∙103 4.748∙10

3 1.210∙10

3

The design load cases 1.1 (NTM, normal

turbulence model) and 1.3 (ETM, extreme

turbulence model) from the standard IEC

64100:3 [8] are simulated. Both design load

cases use 6 different wind turbulence seeds

for each mean wind speed.

5. Fatigue analysis

For the site we assumed the mean wind

speed has a Rayleigh distribution with a scale

parameter σ = 6.80 (data from [9]). A yaw

misalignment angle of ± 10 degrees is

included 50% of the simulated time (25%

each) in the normal turbulence model

simulations.

In this study, the fatigue analysis was used as

a methodology to compare the dynamic loads

on both systems (spar buoy and semi floating)

in the bottom of the tower. For a better

comparison, a third system, a land based

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wind turbine, was simulated and compared

together with the semi floating and the spar

buoy system.

In the analysis of the semi floating system, the

joint was also studied as a point of interest,

whose lifetime loads should be used as

guidelines in the design of the joint.

Figure 8 shows the fatigue damage equivalent

loads for the fore-aft bending moment (Mx) at

the bottom of the tower (lowest node of the

tower). The semi floating system obtained

results within the same range of the land

based wind turbine, while the spar buoy

reached higher equivalent loads. These

results were due to higher platform pitch

oscillations for the spar buoy system

compared with the oscillations of the semi

floating system for the same angle. The

reason for the high differences is the semi

floating system has only positive bending fore-

aft moments and this has a lower contribution

on the fatigue loads (see Figure 9). At high

wind speeds, the semi floating system

reached lower negative moments in

comparison to the land turbine.

Figure 10 shows the fatigue loads for the side

to side bending moment (My) in the bottom of

the tower. The semi floating system obtained

lower loads for high wind speeds than both

the land based and the spar buoy systems

due to the lower variations in the amplitude of

the loads than for the other systems (in Figure

11 it is noticeable the lower values of the

standard deviation for the semi floating and

land based systems). For low wind speeds the

spar buoy system reaches high equivalent

fatigue loads while the semi floating and the

land based systems have loads in the same

range.

For the torsional moment at the bottom of the

tower (Mz), the semi floating system achieved

lower equivalent loads compared with the

other two systems, which was again due to

the lower standard deviation of loads on the

semi floating system (Figure 12 and Figure

13).

The equivalent lifetime loads for the three

systems are listed in Table 5 (the lifetime of

the turbine is assumed as 20 years of

operation ≈ 107 cycles).

Table 5 – Equivalent fatigue loads in the tower bottom

[kNm] Semi Float

Spar Buoy

Land Based

Mx 57360 137720 46110

My 22950 50970 21920

Mz 6210 11210 11330

The ratios between the results obtained for

the sea turbines and the land turbine have

been compared with previous studies in this

field ( [10] and [11]) obtaining similar results to

previous publications.

Figure 8 – Equivalent for aft fatigue loads Mx at the tower bottom (continuous line: no yaw

misalignment; dotted line: -10⁰ yaw

misalignment; dashed line: +10⁰ yaw

misalignment).

Figure 9 – Statistical data of the NTM simulations for the Mx loads at the tower

bottom (Max – maximum value; Min - minimum value; Mean - averaged value; SF –

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semi floating system, SB – spar buoy system, Land- land based system).

Figure 10 – Equivalent side to side fatigue loads My at the tower bottom (continuous line:

no yaw misalignment; dotted line: -10⁰ yaw

misalignment; dashed line: +10⁰ yaw

misalignment).

Figure 11 - Statistical data of the NTM simulations for the My loads at the tower

bottom (Max – maximum value; Min - minimum value; Mean - averaged value; SF – semi floating system, SB – spar buoy system,

Land- land based system).

Figure 12 – Equivalent torsional fatigue loads Mz at the tower bottom (continuous line: no

yaw misalignment; dotted line: -10⁰ yaw

misalignment; dashed line: +10⁰ yaw

misalignment).

Figure 13 – Statistical data of the NTM simulations for the Mz loads at the tower

bottom (Max – maximum value; Min - minimum value; Mean - averaged value; SF – semi floating system, SB – spar buoy system,

Land- land based system).

At the joint (Figure 14 to Figure 16), the

maximum equivalent loads were obtained in

the wind and waves direction (y). In the other

axis, the changes in the forces were minor, so

the equivalent fatigue loads were smaller. The

equivalent fatigue loads at the joint for the

semi floating system are listed in Table 6:

Table 6 – Equivalent fatigue lifetime loads in

the joint (semi floating system)

Load Direction

Equivalent fatigue lifetime load (kN)

Fx 664

Fy 1128

Fz 665

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Figure 14 – Equivalent lateral fatigue loads at the joint (Fx).

Figure 15 – Equivalent longitudinal fatigue loads at the joint (Fy).

Figure 16 – Equivalent vertical fatigue loads at the joint (Fz).

6. Ultimate load analysis

The ultimate loads analysis is done according

to two different methods described in the IEC

standards [8] and [12]. The first method used

was simply extracting the maximum values

from the ETM simulations (DLC 1.3). For the

second method utilized, the NTM simulations

were used. The threshold was defined as

Where µ and σ are the mean and the

standard deviation of the NTM simulations. All

the peaks above the threshold were

considered. Their average value was

calculated and multiplied by 1.35 to obtain the

ultimate load expected for each wind speed.

Again, for a better analysis, the three systems

-semi floating, spar buoy and land based-

were compared.

Figure 17 shows the ultimate loads at the

tower bottom fore aft bending moment (Mx) for

the semi floating system. They reached their

maximum around rated wind speed (due to

the maximum thrust). The spar buoy system

obtained higher ultimate loads than the other

systems because of isolated extremes. Even

though the mean values obtained for the three

systems were quite similar, their standard

deviations differed for high wind speeds (see

Figure 18).

Figure 19 shows the ultimate loads of the

three systems for the case of the side to side

tower bottom side to side moment (My). The

semi floating system obtained lower loads

than the other two systems.

For the case of the torsional bending moment

at the bottom of the tower (Mz), the semi

floating system obtained the lowest ultimate

loads (see Figure 20).

Figure 17 – Ultimate loads for fore aft bending moment (Mx) at the tower bottom (SF – semi

floating system, SB – spar buoy system, Land- land based system).

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Figure 18 – Standard deviation of the fore aft bending moment (Mx) at the tower bottom (SF

– semi floating system, SB – spar buoy system, Land- land based system).

Figure 19 – Ultimate loads for side to side bending moment (My) at the tower bottom (SF

– semi floating system, SB – spar buoy system, Land- land based system).

Figure 20 – Ultimate loads for torsional bending moment (Mz) at the tower bottom (SF

– semi floating system, SB – spar buoy system, Land- land based system).

At the joint of the semi floating system (Figure

21 to Figure 23) the maximum loads were

reached around rated wind speed. This is due

to the high thrust force obtained at rated wind

speed. To decrease the values achieved in

Figure 23 (vertical force at the joint), ballast

could be added to the floater.

Figure 21 – Ultimate lateral loads at the joint (Fx).

Figure 22 – Ultimate longitudinal loads at the joint (Fy).

Figure 23 – Ultimate vertical loads at the joint

(Fz).

7. Conclusions

The semi floating system is a promising

solution for moderate water depths. The

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oscillations of the semi floating system under

turbulent wind excitation are much lower than

the spar buoy. The pitch angle of the platform

is steadier and has lower oscillations against

possible excitations and that reduces the

fatigue loads considerably.

According to the results of the fatigue analysis

(Table 5) the semi floating system expects

significantly lower damage equivalent loads

than the spar buoy system. This means that

the structural requirements are less

demanding and, more likely, cheaper than for

the spar buoy system. The design of the joint

should be carefully evaluated and consider

the impact of the fatigue loads depicted in

Table 6 and the ultimate loads displayed in

Figure 21 to Figure 23.

The ultimate loads analysis shows that at the

tower bottom, the maximum loads obtained

for the semi floating system are lower at

almost all wind speeds than for the spar buoy

wind turbine.

Further analysis should be done to verify the

feasibility of this new semi floating system.

Acknowledgement

The work presented in this paper is part of the

Collaborative Project "INNWIND.EU"

supported by the EU Seventh Framework

Program (FP7), grant no. 308974. The

financial support is greatly appreciated.

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