An Aeroelastic Formulation for the Wake Formation and Stability of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines

摘要

An aeroelastic framework is developed to investigate the wake formation and wake stability of floating offshore wind turbines. The aeroelastic framework couples a free-vortex wake aerodynamic model to a new formulation of the nonlinear Hodges-Dowell beam equations. The Hodges-Dowell beam equations are extended to include asymmetric blade profile geometric properties and kinetic energy components associated with the rigid-body motions of a floating platform. These additional terms are essential to model modern wind turbine blade designs and the offshore environment. The resulting aeroelastic framework aims to investigate the impact of blade elasticity and platform movement on rotor-wake interactions engendered by floating offshore wind turbines. Preliminary aeroelastic results for an onshore wind turbine configuration are presented using a linear structural model to partially validate the new framework and to compare the wake formation, blade deformations, and thrust for rigid and flexible rotors.