6 DEWI MAGAZIN NO.

39, AUGUST 2011

EXTERNAL ARTICLE
A. Heege
ENGLISH
A. Heege, P. Bonnet, L. Bastard, S. G. Horcas,J.L. Sanchez, P. Cucchini, A. Gaull;
SAMTECH Iberica
Numerical Simulation of
Offshore Wind Turbines by a
Coupled Aerodynamic,
Hydrodynamic and Structural
Dynamic Approach
Abstract
The central point of the present publicaton is an implicitly
coupled aerodynamic, hydrodynamic and structural dynam
ic approach dedicated to ofshore wind turbine simulaton.
The mathematcal approach relies on an implicit non-linear
dynamic Finite Element Method extended by Mult-Body-
System functonalites, aerodynamics based on the Blade
Element Momentum theory, controller functonalites and
hydrodynamic loads.
Ofshore loads are formulated in terms of hydrostatc buoy
ancy and hydrodynamic wave loads which are approximat
ed through Morisons equaton. Special atenton is focused
on the implementaton of Morisons equaton in order to
capture hydrodynamic coupling efects which are induced
by the dynamic response of the ofshore wind turbine.
Two distnct applicatons of ofshore wind turbines are ana
lyzed. First, a jacket-based ofshore wind turbine is loaded
hydro-dynamically through a wave feld described by Airys
linear wave theory. As a second example, the aerodynamic
and hydrodynamic coupling efects are put in evidence by a
transient dynamic analysis of a foatng ofshore wind tur
bine anchored to the seabed by structural cables.
Introducton
The operatonal defecton modes and associated dynamic
loads of ofshore wind turbines originate, on one hand,
from the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loading, and, on
the other hand, from the proper dynamic response of the
entre ofshore wind turbine system, including all control
mechanisms.
A decoupling of the dynamic ofshore wind turbine system
into subsystems bears the risk of missing dynamic coupling
efects which might prevail in many operatonal modes. In
partcular in the case of foatng ofshore wind turbines,
a decoupled aero-elastc and hydrodynamic formulaton
does not permit to reproduce properly the global dynamic
response of the wind turbine. This is because the speed
variatons which are induced in the rotor plane by dynamic
defectons of the ofshore wind turbine afect directly the
rotor aerodynamics and associated controller actons on
the blade pitch positon and on the generator torque. As a
consequence, an accurate tuning of controller parameters
is difcult with simplifed, decoupled ofshore wind turbine
models. In order to remedy these defciencies, the pro
posed mathematcal approach is specifcally formulated in
order to capture dynamic coupling efects which might be
DEWI MAGAZIN NO. 39, AUGUST 2011 7
induced simultaneously by aero-elastc and hydrodynamic
loading of ofshore structures. Accordingly, the relatve
velocity and acceleraton felds induced by a foatng and/
or vibratng ofshore wind turbine are accounted for in the
proposed coupled aerodynamic and hydrodynamic formu
laton.
The implementaton of aerodynamic loads is based on the
Blade Element Momentum theory where wind turbine spe
cifc correctons for tp and hub losses, wake efects and the
impact of the tower shadow are accounted. Hydrodynamic
loads are composed of drag loads and of inertal loads and
account for the relatve velocity and acceleraton felds in
between the fuid and the moving and/or vibratng ofshore
structure.
Two diferent applicatons of dynamic analysis of ofshore
wind turbines are presented. The wind turbine models are
discretzed by more than 3,000 Degrees of Freedom (DOF)
and account for all the abovementoned coupling efects.
Coupled Aero-elastc, Hydro-dynamic, Structural FEM &
MBS Analysis
The applied mathematcal approach is based on a non-lin
ear Finite Element formalism, which accounts simultane
ously for fexible Mult-Body-System functonalites [1][2]
[3][4], control devices, aerodynamics in terms of the Blade
Element Momentum theory [1][2][4][5][6][7], hydrostatc
buoyancy loads and fnally hydrodynamic loads in terms of
the Morison equaton [2][5][10][11][12][13][14].
Mathematcal background
In the context of an Augmented Lagrangian Approach and
the one-step tme integraton method of Newmark [1][3],
the incremental form of the equatons of moton in the pres
ence of constraints is given in equaton (1). According to the
defniton of the residual vector of equaton (1), the vector
g

assembles the sum of elasto-visco-plastc internal forces

Int.
g

, complementary inertal forces where centrifugal and

gyroscopic efects are included, external forces
Ext.
g

, the
aerodynamic forces
Aero
F

and fnally the hydro-dynamic

and hydrostatc loads
Hydro
F

. The vector

introduces ad
ditonal equatons of the generalized soluton

, q
, which
are used to include general Mult-Body-System/MBS func
tonalites for the modelling of the power train, pitch and
yaw drives and fnally further DOF which are related to con
troller state variables for blade pitch, yaw orientaton and
generator modelling.
The nonlinear set of equatons (1) is solved iteratvely and
further details on the tme integraton procedure, error es
tmators and soluton strategies can be found in the SAM
CEF-Mecano user manual [1].
Aero-dynamic and structural coupling
Blades are modeled in the S4WT sofware [1][2] through a
non-linear FEM formalism adapted to large transformatons
and large rotatons. For computatonal efciency, the struc
tural blade model is presented either in terms of Super Ele
ments [1][3], or in terms of non-linear beam elements. The
elemental aerodynamic forces are computed according to
the Blade Element Momentum/BEM theory including spe
cifc correctons and additonal models for the tp and hub
losses, turbulent wake state, tower shadow efect, dynamic
infow and dynamic stall [1][2][5][6][7][8][9].
The structural/aerodynamic coupling is performed implic
itly at the blade secton nodes of the structural blade model
through the connecton of Aerodynamic Blade Secton Ele
ments which contribute in terms of elemental aerodynam
ic forces to the global equilibrium equaton (1). The discre
tsaton of the aerodynamic loads corresponds to the FEM
discretsaton of the structural blade model and the nodes
for the aero-elastc coupling are generally located at the
chord length positons of typically about 15 to 20 blade sec
tons distributed along the blade span. Taking into account
that the aerodynamic loads
I
Pitch
I
Drag
I
Lift
M , F , F presented
in equaton (2) are included in the residual vector of equa
ton (1), once the iteratve soluton of equaton (1) to (8) is
found, the induced velocites, angles of atack, Prandtl loss
coefcients, hydrodynamic forces and the global structural
dynamic response are consistent.
It is emphasized that this methodology features a strong
coupling, i.e. all equatons associated either with aerody
namics, hydrodynamics, structures, mechanisms, or control
loops are solved simultaneously. A major advantage of a
strong coupling is that blade vibratons induced by aero
dynamic forces and/or hydrodynamic loads, implicitly afect
the structural response of the global dynamic wind turbine
model. Accordingly, the relatve speeds
rel
V

that enter in
the aerodynamic load computaton, account implicitly for
the aerodynamically induced speeds
ind
V

and the result

ing speeds
BS
V

of the structural Blade Secton nodes.

where a and a are respectvely the axial and tangental in
ducton factors. Details on the procedure applied in order
to compute the induced speed vector ind
V

in terms of the
aerodynamic inductons are given in references [1][2][5].
Hydrostatc buoyancy & hydrodynamic wave loads
In the present work, ofshore loads are presented by hydro
statc buoyancy loads and by hydrodynamic forces which
approximate wave loads. The hydrostatc buoyancy loads
are composed of a buoyancy force vector
,t) q (
Buoy
F

and
of a buoyancy restoring moment
,t) q (
Buoy
M

. The hydro
dynamic wave loads
,t) q , q , q (
Morison
F

are approximated
through Morisons equaton in terms of a drag and an iner
ta term [10][11][12].
Analogously to the aero-elastc coupling through the connec
ton of Aerodynamic Blade Secton Elements to the FEM
model of the rotor blades, the coupling of hydrodynamic
loads to the ofshore structure is realized through Hydro
dynamic Load Elements/HLE. In the context of a nonlinear
FEM formalism, the Hydrodynamic Load Elements are
to be considered as 1noded elements connected to the
nodes of the FEM mesh of the ofshore structure. Accord
ingly, each node of the FEM model of the ofshore struc
ture is loaded by a sixdimensional vector
,t) q , q , q (
Hydro
F

according to equaton (3).
Large transformatons & fuid kinematcs
In partcular in the case of foatng ofshore wind turbines,
the entre wind turbine, or sub-components like for exam
ple the mooring lines, might by subjected to large oscilla
tons which produce eventually large rotatons. In order to
account properly for large displacements, large rotatons
| |
| |
| | ( ) | |
| |
| |
| |
length[m] wave :
wave
L [s], period wave :
wave
T , [rad/m] number wave angular :
wave
2pi/L k
Level/SWL Water Still to distance : z frequency, wave : , waterdepth : d height, wave : H with
(11) t) sin(kx
sinh(kd)
z)) cosh(k(d
2

2
H
fluid
u
(10) 1,2,3 k j, i, with )
i
a
j
q
(
k
a )
k
a
j
q
(
i
a
k
q
j
a
i
a
a
C
sub
V
add
ij
M

t
v
t
v
a : span the to lar perpendicu vector unit on accelerati
q
Span_plane
Proj
t
v
: plane span the on projected vector on accelerati
(9)
q
)
t
v
(

a
C
sub
V
Morison
F
q
add
M
t coefficien Morison 1 , t coefficien mass added , t coefficien drag
volume submerged , diameter : D span, submerged
span element to normal component velocity structural & particle fluid &
(8)
(7)
2
(6)
point at surface to ) ( n body, submerged of surface envelope : ) S(
lever moment restoring : l FWL, w.r.t. depth : E , density fluid : vector gravity
(5) ,
(4) ,
(3) ,
'
a , ),
BS
V
infow
V ( f
ind
V and
ind
V
BS
V
infow
V
rel
V with
(2)
i
t)A , q , q (
2
rel
V t) , q , q (
i
C *
2
1
Pitch
M ,
Drag
F ,
Lift
F
Forces External , Forces Internal with
) ( : vector Residual
factor Penalty : p matrix, Jacobian Constraint : vector Constraint :
matrix Inertia & Mass : M :, matrix Damping : C , matrix Stiffness : K
s Multiplier Lagrange of Vector : , vector vector Position
(1)
2
0
0
0 0
0
0 0
0
=

+
=
=
c
c
+
c
c
+ =
c
c
c
c
=
=
c
c
c
c
c
c
=
c
c
=
+ =
c
c

c
c
+
c
c
=
=
+ =
}} }} =
=
+ =
= + =
= =
+ + + =
c c =
+

= + +
(

|
.
|

\
|
(

)
`

:
a
C
m
C :
a
C :
drag
C
,t): q (
eff
V ,t): q (
eff
L
: v u
)
t
v
t
u
(
a
,t)C q (
eff
V
t
u
,t) q (
eff
V ,t) q , q , q (
Inertia
F
) v u |( v u |
drag
,t)C q (
eff
L
D
,t) q , q (
Drag
F
,t) q , q (
Inertia
F ,t) q , q (
Drag
F ,t) q , q , q (
Morison
F
q normal : ,t q ,t q
, : g

,t) q S(
ds g ,t) q ,t)E( q ( n ,t) q ( l
,t) q S(
ds g ,t) q ,t)E( q ( n ,t) q (
Hstat
F
,t) q (
Buoy
M ,t) q (
Buoy
F ,t) q (
Hstat
F
,t) q (
Buoy
M ,t) q , q , q (
Morison
F ,t) q (
Buoy
F ,t) q , q , q (
Hydro
F
a
,t) q , q (
Aero
F
,t) q , q , q (
Ext.
g ,t) q , q , q (
Int.
g
p ]
T
[B q [M]
Ext.
g
Hydro
F
Aero
F
Int.
g ,t) q , q , q ( R
q / ,[B]
on Accelerati : q , : q
) (
,t) q (
,t) q , q ( R

q
] [ [B]
]
T
[B [K]

q
] [ ] [
] [ [C]

q
] [ ] [
] [ [M]

8 DEWI MAGAZIN NO. 39, AUGUST 2011

DEWI MAGAZIN NO. 39, AUGUST 2011 9
and/or deformatons of the ofshore wind turbine, the
kinematcal variables which are involved in the hydrostatc
& hydrodynamic formulaton of equatons (3) to (8) are
formulated implicitly as a functon of the soluton of the
respectve tme integraton step of the global equilibrium
equaton (1). According to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, the efectvely
submerged depth
) , q (
eff
E t

is measured w.r.t. to a tme

variable Free Water Level/FWL defned by the wave height
t) , q ( W

. It is noted that a span length vector

t) , q (
Span
L

and the associated envelope surface ) ,t q S(

are atached
to each node of the FEM mesh of the ofshore. The surface
normal vector ,t) q ( n

of equaton (5) is to be interpreted as
the outward normal for any point of the integral of the en
velope surface ) ,t q S(

. Since the span vector

t) , q (
Span
L

and
the envelope surface ) ,t q S(

are moving and rotatng with

the associated structural node of the FEM mesh, the fuid
depth
) , q (
eff
E t

depends implicitly on the soluton vector

(t) q

of the respectve tme integraton step. As a conse

quence, the buoyancy, drag and inertal loads of equatons
(5) to (8) account implicitly for the soluton-dependent ef
fectvely submerged span length
) , q ( t
eff
L

and for the ef
fectvely submerged volume
) , q ( t
eff
V

.
Hydrostatc buoyancy force and restoring moment
Hydrodynamic loads are introduced through 1noded Hy
drodynamic Load Elements/HLE atached to each node
of the FEM mesh of the ofshore component. According
to equaton (5), the buoyancy force
,t) q (
Buoy
F

and the
restoring moment
,t) q (
Buoy
M

are obtained from the in

tegraton of the pressure distributon that acts on the en
velope surface of the submerged ofshore components. In
case of cylindrical geometries, the integrals of equaton (5)
are obtained analytcally. According to the frst integral
term of equaton (5), the directon of the buoyancy force
,t) q (
Buoy
F

is opposed to the gravity vector and functon

of the integral of the pressure actng on the submerged
envelope surface. The restoring moment
,t) q (
Buoy
M

is
determined by the second integral term of equaton (5)
where the lever vector
,t) q ( l

points from the origin of the

local coordinate system of the Hydrodynamic Load Ele
ment to the respectve integraton point of the envelope
surface ) ,t q S(

with the normal vector ,t) q ( n

.The orienta
ton of the local axis of the restoring moment
,t) q (
Buoy
M

results from the integral soluton of the second term of
equaton (5) which is functon of the inclinaton of the of
shore component w.r.t. to the gravity vector.
Hydrodynamic wave loads according to Morisons equa-
ton
Morisons formula was originally applied to the computa
ton of uncoupled hydrodynamic forces on vertcal, fxed
piles with shallow water wave loading. It has since been
extended to a three-dimensional formulaton for arbitrar
ily oriented moving structures, with both wave and cur
rent loadings [10][11][12]. As stated in equatons (6) to
(8), the coupled Morison equaton presents an empirical
formulaton that describes the hydro-dynamic loads as a
superpositon of a fuid drag

Drag
F

and an inertal term

Inertia
F

that accounts for the added fuid mass acceler

ated due to the fuid-structure interacton.
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Wind Turbine inspecTion
10 DEWI MAGAZIN NO. 39, AUGUST 2011
The fuid drag vector formulated in equaton (7) and the fu
id inertal load vector formulated in equaton (8) are both
contained in the plane perpendicular to the span directon,
but show generally diferent directons, i.e. the angle of
atack of the drag forces and the angle of atack of the
inerta forces do not generally coincide.
A coupled formulaton of Morisons approach is exposed
in references [11][12] in a form analogous to equaton (8)
where the directon of the Morison inerta load vector is
determined by 2 distnct contributons with a-priori 2 dif
ferent vector orientatons. The frst term of the Morison
equaton (8),
t
u

t) , q (
eff
V
,
contributes to the Morison inerta forces, if the unperturbed
fuid fow is accelerated. The directon of that vector compo
nent corresponds to the directon of the unperturbed fuid
directon, but projected into the plane which is perpendicu
lar to the span directon of the ofshore component. The
second term of the Morison equaton (8) contributes to the
inerta forces through the relatve fuid-structure accelera
ton
) (
t
v
t
u

which results from the unperturbed fuid fow accelera

ton and from the dynamic response of the ofshore struc
ture. It should be noted that both vector components
of equaton (8) are projected onto the same plane which is
perpendicular to the span wise directon, but the respectve
vector orientatons of these two terms are not necessarily
aligned if the structure vibrates and/or foats.
It is conjectured that the inclusion of the uncoupled inerta
term of the Morison equaton (8) might not be straightor
ward for a formulaton dedicated to the simulaton of cou
pled hydrodynamic and structural dynamic phenomena.
It is stpulated that the basic Morison equaton as stated in
references [10][11][12] might lead to an overestmaton of
hydrodynamic drag and/or inerta loads, because hydrody
namic inductons and/or wave dispersion are not accounted
for in that formulaton.
Added Mass & Eigen-Modes
The inerta term
Inertia
F

of the Morison equaton (8) mod

ifes the total mass associated to the submerged ofshore
Fig. 1: S4WT wind turbine model supported by
OC4 jacket ofshore structure
DEWI MAGAZIN NO. 39, AUGUST 2011 11
Fig. 2: Submerged span for node above Free Water Level/FWL and below FWL
structure and as a consequence the Eigen-Modes of the of
shore wind turbine are afected.
As outlined, the implemented algorithm for the hydrody
namic loads accounts implicitly for the kinematcs induced
by a heavily moving ofshore wind turbine and transient
wave height. The total mass taken into account in the Ei
gen-mode computaton of the ofshore structure is comple
mented through the derivatve of the inerta term of the
Morison equaton (8) with respect to the relatve accelera
tons in between the fuid and the vibratng and/or foatng
ofshore structure. Equatons (9, 10) defne the added mass
term in terms of the derivatve of the Morison inerta force
with respect to the structural acceleratons of the respec
tve node of the FEM model. As stated in equaton (10) in
tensorial form using the Einstein summaton conventon,
the added fuid mass is obtained through the derivatve of
the Morison inerta term and can be presented in terms of
two contributons. The frst contributon is determined by
the added mass
a
C
sub
V
multplied by the dyadic product
of the acceleraton unit vector a a

. It is emphasized that
the unit vector a

is contained in the plane perpendicular to

the span wise directon of the respectve component and
might be interpreted as the vector defning the directon of
the inerta loads. The second term of equaton (10) depends
not only on the vector a

, but as well on the structural ac

celeraton of the respectve FEM node q

and on the deriva

tve of the acceleraton unit vector a

. As a consequence
the additonal fuid mass included in the global mass and
inerta matrix of equaton (1) becomes tme dependent
and also dependent on the instantaneous spatal directon
of the relatve acceleraton which occurs in between the
fuid and the submerged ofshore structure. Therefore, not
only do the Eigen-Frequencies of the ofshore wind turbine
become tme dependent, but also the Eigen-Shapes are af
fected by the added fuid mass, because the added mass is
directonal.
Airys linear wave theory
In the present studies, the unperturbed fuid velocity/accel
eraton feld is modelled according to equaton (11) through
Airys wave theory [13][14] that approximates the transient
fuid dynamics of waves as a functon of parameters like wa
ter depth, wave height and period.
The following application examples are based on fluid/
water speed distributions according to equation (11) and
are generated by the independent program Waveloads of
the University of Hannover [13].
Fig. 3: Zoom on wave speed & wave height at node #40 located at limit
to free fuid surface of jacket
Fig. 4: hydrodynamic drag force, Morison inerta force & and buoyancy
force at node#40
12 DEWI MAGAZIN NO. 39, AUGUST 2011
Applicaton Examples
Two distnct simulatons of ofshore wind turbines are
presented. Even though the implemented methodology
supports the implementaton of very complex ofshore
structures in terms of general FEM models, in the present
examples the ofshore structures are modelled by non-line
ar beam elements of circular geometry.
The frst applicaton corresponds to an ofshore wind tur
bine supported by a jacket structure that corresponds to
the OC4 reference base line model [15]. The second exam
ple presents a foatng ofshore wind turbine whose foater
and mooring lines correspond to the OC3 reference model
[16].
Ofshore wind turbine supported by Jacket structure
Fig. 1 presents the S4WT wind turbine model supported by a
jacket structure according to the OC4 reference model [15].
The applied wind turbine model comprises in total 3732
DOFs and includes a detailed gearbox model, pitch and yaw
drives and further fexible structural components like the
bedplate and nacelle structure in terms of Super Elements.
The jacket structure is modelled by nonlinear beam ele
ments and loaded by buoyancy and hydrodynamic loads.
The following simulaton results correspond to a load case
with wind feld of a mean speed of 10 [m/s] and a wave
defniton according to Airys linear wave model with the
following characteristcs:
Wave Height: 6m, Wave Period: 10s, Water Depth: 50m
Angle in between wave & wind direction: 0 [deg.]
Note that the spatal fuid speed distributon is obtained
from the external sofware Waveloads [13]. The corre
sponding acceleraton feld of the external wave and the
relatve structural-fuid acceleratons of equatons (8) are
computed in the hydrodynamic element of the solver SAM
CEF-Mecano.
Fig. 3 presents the hydrodynamic boundary conditons for
the jacket node #40 located closely to the Stll Water Level/
SWL. The applied wave velocites in longitudinal XGL and
vertcal ZGL directons refer to the lef ordinate of Fig. 3 and
the wave height refers to the right ordinate of Fig. 3. The
locaton of the jacket node #40 considered here is depicted
in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 presents for node #40 the resultng buoyancy
force, the fuid drag and fnally the Morison inerta force.
Floatng ofshore wind turbine
Fig. 5 presents the S4WT model of a floating offshore wind
turbine supported by a floating structure according to ref
erence [16]. The wind turbine model comprises in total
3402 DOFs and includes a detailed power train model, pitch
and yaw drives and further flexible structural components
like the mooring lines.
The simulated load case corresponds to a constant wind
feld of a mean speed of 16 [m/s] and a wave defniton ac
cording to equaton (11) with the following characteristcs:
Wave Height: 6m, Wave Period: 10s, Water Depth:
320m
Angle in between wave & wind direction: 45 [deg.]
As depicted in Fig. 5, the floating offshore wind turbine is
attached by 3 cables which are separated each by a rotation
of 120 [degrees] w.r.t. to the vertical reference axis. The
length of each cable is about 700 [m]. In S4WTs floating
Fig. 5: S4WT model of OC3 ofshore 5-MW baseline wind turbine
Werbung
Samtech
1/1
4c
14 DEWI MAGAZIN NO. 39, AUGUST 2011
Fig. 6: Generator speed, blade pitch & power transients induced by the foatng wind turbine oscillatons
wind turbine model, the cables are presented either by
nonlinear cable elements (neither compression, nor bend
ing stiffness), or respectively by nonlinear Beam Ele
ments.
The large oscillations of the floating wind turbine induce
large low frequency speed variations in the rotor plane.
Fig. 6 clearly shows the low frequency speed and rotor
torque variations induced by the global tilt oscillations of
the floating turbine. It can be noted that further controller
tuning would be required in order to reduce these oscilla
tions induced by the floating wind turbine concept.
Fig. 6 presents the blade pitch, speed and power transients
of the presented foatng ofshore wind turbine. The pre
sented transients of blade pitch angle and the produced
power show low frequency oscillatons induced by the ro
tor plane speed variatons due to the tlt oscillatons of the
entre foatng wind turbine.
The tower-top trajectory in longitudinal XGL directon (direc
ton of incoming wind) and in the horizontal YGL, is shown
on the topright corner of Fig. 5. The maximum oscillaton
of the tower-top of the foatng wind turbine in the longi
tudinal directon is evaluated from -1.5 [m] to 9 [m], i.e. a
total displacement range of the tower-top of nearly 14[m]
in the longitudinal directon. In the case of the simulated
wave height of 6 [m], due to the induced buoyancy loads,
the wind turbine top oscillates approximately 2[m] in the
vertcal directon.
On the lower right porton of Fig. 5, the external hydrody
namic fuid loads applied on a specifc node of the mooring
line FEM model are presented. The locaton of mooring line
node #49 is presented in Fig. 5. It is noted that the Morison
inerta force module presents a phase ofset with respect
to the drag force. The drag and inertal forces are both con
tained in the same plane perpendicular to the span direc
ton, but the orientaton of both force components do not
generally coincide.
Conclusions
Morisons equaton was implemented in the solver SAM
CEF-Mecano in an extended form proposed in several refer
ences such as [11] and [12] in order to account for struc
tural dynamics and hydrodynamics coupling efects. The
coupled form of the Morison equaton is interpreted as an
empirical approximaton for the modelling of hydrodynamic
currents and/or waves and can be decomposed into two
principal contributons. On the one hand, an uncoupled in
erta term which is only functon of the acceleraton of the
fuid fow, and, on the other hand, a coupled inerta term
which is functon of the relatve acceleraton in between
the ofshore structure and the unperturbed fuid fow. It
is conjectured that the precision and applicaton range of
the coupled form of Morisons equaton might be improved
with some further modifcatons. First, it might be conven
ient to formulate not only the second term, but as well the
frst term of the Morison equaton (8) implicitly as a func
ton of the dynamic response of the ofshore structure. Sec
ond, Morisons model does not account for hydrodynamic
inductons on the unperturbed fuid speeds and/or accel
eratons which would result from the fuid-structure inter
acton. Analogously, the dispersion of an impactng wave
on the ofshore structure is not accounted for in Morisons
empirical model. As a consequence, it is stpulated that the
applicaton of the Morison equaton might tend to an over
estmaton of hydrodynamic drag and/or fuid inerta loads.
It is conjectured that the empirical formulaton of Morison
might be improved if the added mass coefcient, or respec
tvely the Morison coefcient, is formulated as an empirical
decay functon of the rato between the hydraulic diameter
and the wavelength, as stated by MacCamy and Fuchs [17].
These empirical decay functons might approximate roughly
the efect of fuid-structure inductons and/or wave disper
sion, as it has been already refected in some recommended
practces regarding ofshore structures [18]. Future imple
mentatons will be devoted to automatcally modifying the
DEWI MAGAZIN NO. 39, AUGUST 2011 15
Morison coefcient taking into account these experimental
observatons and the corresponding wave dynamics. The
fully coupled philosophy of the current code will be kept
during this new development, so the efects of the struc
ture kinematcs will be considered during hydrodynamic
load computaton.
Two distnct ofshore wind turbines have been analyzed by
a fully coupled aerodynamic, hydrodynamic and structural
dynamic approach. In the frst applicaton example, the
OC4 reference ofshore wind turbine model was chosen.
The corresponding aero-elastc S4WT wind turbine model
is supported by a hydrodynamically loaded jacket FEM
model, includes fexible MBS models of the major mecha
nisms like the power train including the gearbox, the yaw
and the pitch drives, and comprises in total 3732 Degrees
of Freedom. The required CPU tme for transient analysis
on a standard Intel Duo Core 3.2GHz computer, was similar
compared to standard onshore high fdelity wind turbine
models with a CPU tme factor of about 45 with respect to
real tme. It is mentoned that required CPU tmes depend
strongly on the number of Degrees of Freedom and on the
excited frequency content of the respectve model. In the
case of simplifed wind turbine models that comprise less
than 1000 DOFs, the required CPU is generally less than a
factor of 10 with respect to real tme.
In the case of the OC3 ofshore reference model, the foat
ing wind turbine model is not restrained by fxatons as in
the case of clamped jacket supports. Instead, the foater is
atached to fexible mooring lines atached to the seabed.
As a consequence, the dynamic equilibrium of the oscillat
ing foatng wind turbine is strongly infuenced by coupled
buoyancy, hydrodynamic and aero-elastc loads which all
strongly mutually interact together with controller actons.
In partcular the low frequency oscillatons of the foatng
turbine induce large speed variatons in the rotor plane.
In order to reduce the observed rotor plane speed varia
tons induced by the oscillatng foatng wind turbine, spe
cifc controller tuning for blade pitch and generator torque
would be required. Future research will include specifc
control strategies in order to reduce these oscillatons, for
instance via the integraton of actve damping techniques.
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