Mooring System Design and Verification for a Floating Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the technical feasibility of an innovative vertical axis floating wind turbine concept with the main focus on the design and verification of the mooring system. The study is developed through iterative processes in order to identify the optimum design for the new floating wind turbine concept. The Ultimate Limit State (ULS) criteria have been considered to verify the integrity of the mooring system in the extreme environmental conditions with a 50-year return period. For this purpose, time domain dynamic analysis has been performed using the commercial software OrcaFlex [Orcina website, OrcaFlex software, https://www.orcina.com/ ]. Although the analysis is carried out for a specific site deemed suitable for the project, the results can be used as an input for any future application in other locations. The present study is intended to be a proof of concept with a proposed scientific framework for optimization of the mooring system which is considered to be a crucial part in the design of floating wind turbines due to their complex dynamic behavior.