Preliminary Identification of the Dynamics of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Barge

Offshore wind turbines have become an increasingly attractive source of renewable energy because of their potential to access and utilize energy from deeper waters with more stable, stronger winds. The goal of this paper is to propose a mathematical model based on transfer functions to identify and study the behavior of the six degrees of freedom of floating turbines. For this purpose, the system has been simulated with OpenFAST for specific environmental conditions. A subset of data has been used to identify transfer functions to obtain a control-oriented model. The model has been progressively validated, extending the preliminary proposed model. The scope and limitations of this methodology have been assessed, as well as the possibilities of extending the present work to include a more functional methodology oriented to system co-design.