Floating offshore wind turbines operate with increased unsteady aerodynamic loading, brought on by motion of their support platform in response to wind and wave loads. Since floating wind turbines are a nascent technology, existing research and prototypes have employed existing rotor designs. This work presents the development of a systems engineering, simulation based approach for the aeroelastic optimization of wind turbine blades for floating applications. The optimization methodology is outlined and the results of a cases study presented. Increasing blade twist was found to increase the power coefficient over a wide range of below rated metocean conditions. A lower angle of attack resulting in lower lift resulted in reduced rotor thrust, thereby reducing rotor misalignment from platform pitch.
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