Basin Test Validation of New Pendulum Offshore Wind Turbine

A new Floating Sub-Structure concept has been developed for Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT). It consists of a floating tubular sub-structure connected with tendons to a counterweight providing pendulum-restoring forces. The whole floating system is anchored with six low-tension mooring lines. Model tests were carried out in wave basin test facilities at Ecole Centrale de Nantes to provide insight into hydrodynamic behavior of the system under operational and extreme wave conditions. Two installation depths were studied: intermediate and deeper water depth configurations with 75 and 150 meters water depth respectively. Two wind turbine capacities were tested: 8MW and 12MW. Responses of the system were investigated under different irregular wave conditions: operational condition with significant wave height Hs = 4 m and two extreme wave conditions with significant wave heights Hs=8m and 14 m. Sensitivity tests were also performed for various wave periods Tp (Tp = 8, 12 and 16 seconds). Results of these tests demonstrate that the floater is extremely stable with very low pitch motions as well as low vertical & horizontal accelerations both in operational and extreme wave conditions. Detailed results are presented in this paper. This stable dynamic behavior is obtained because natural periods of the floater are far away from wave spectrum peak and it thus leads to low dynamic loads in the mooring lines. This beneficial seakeeping feature and the possibility of accommodating even larger wind turbines with minor modifications on the floater design make the proposed FOWT a relevant concept for the upcoming offshore floating wind market.