Substructure Optimization for a Semi-Submersible Floating Wind Turbine Under Extreme Environmental Conditions
A barrier to the adoption of floating offshore wind turbines is their high cost relative to conventional fixed-bottom wind turbines. The largest contributor to this cost disparity is generally the floating substructure, due to its large size and complexity. Typically, a primary driver of the geometr...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| author | Kevin Fletcher Edem Tetteh Eric Loth Chris Qin Rick Damiani |
| author_facet | Kevin Fletcher Edem Tetteh Eric Loth Chris Qin Rick Damiani |
| author_sort | Kevin Fletcher |
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| description | A barrier to the adoption of floating offshore wind turbines is their high cost relative to conventional fixed-bottom wind turbines. The largest contributor to this cost disparity is generally the floating substructure, due to its large size and complexity. Typically, a primary driver of the geometry and size of a floating substructure is the extreme environmental load case of Region 4, where platform loads are the greatest due to the impact of extreme wind and waves. To address this cost issue, a new concept for a floating offshore wind turbine’s substructure, its moorings, and anchors was optimized for a reference 10-MW turbine under extreme load conditions using OpenFAST. The levelized cost of energy was minimized by fixing the above-water turbine design and minimizing the equivalent substructure mass, which is based on the mass of all substructure components (stem, legs, buoyancy cans, mooring, and anchoring system) and associated costs of their materials, manufacturing, and installation. A stepped optimization scheme was used to allow an understanding of their influence on both the system cost and system dynamic responses for the extreme parked load case. The design variables investigated include the length and tautness ratio of the mooring lines, length and draft of the cans, and lengths of the legs and the stem. The dynamic responses investigated include the platform pitch, platform roll, nacelle horizontal acceleration, and can submergence. Some constraints were imposed on the dynamic responses of interest, and the metacentric height of the floating system was used to ensure static stability. The results offer insight into the parametric influence on turbine motion and on the potential savings that can be achieved through optimization of individual substructure components. A 36% reduction in substructure costs was achieved while slightly improving the hydrodynamic stability in pitch and yielding a somewhat large surge motion and slight roll increase. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2e8ac06ce5b444a2a2a04c64ddd71de1 |
| institution | Kabale University |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-2e8ac06ce5b444a2a2a04c64ddd71de12025-08-20T03:27:18ZengMDPI AGDesigns2411-96602025-06-01936810.3390/designs9030068Substructure Optimization for a Semi-Submersible Floating Wind Turbine Under Extreme Environmental ConditionsKevin Fletcher0Edem Tetteh1Eric Loth2Chris Qin3Rick Damiani4Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USAMechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USAMechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USAEngineering and Computer Science, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA 98686, USAThe Floating Wind Technology Company, Arvada, CO 80007, USAA barrier to the adoption of floating offshore wind turbines is their high cost relative to conventional fixed-bottom wind turbines. The largest contributor to this cost disparity is generally the floating substructure, due to its large size and complexity. Typically, a primary driver of the geometry and size of a floating substructure is the extreme environmental load case of Region 4, where platform loads are the greatest due to the impact of extreme wind and waves. To address this cost issue, a new concept for a floating offshore wind turbine’s substructure, its moorings, and anchors was optimized for a reference 10-MW turbine under extreme load conditions using OpenFAST. The levelized cost of energy was minimized by fixing the above-water turbine design and minimizing the equivalent substructure mass, which is based on the mass of all substructure components (stem, legs, buoyancy cans, mooring, and anchoring system) and associated costs of their materials, manufacturing, and installation. A stepped optimization scheme was used to allow an understanding of their influence on both the system cost and system dynamic responses for the extreme parked load case. The design variables investigated include the length and tautness ratio of the mooring lines, length and draft of the cans, and lengths of the legs and the stem. The dynamic responses investigated include the platform pitch, platform roll, nacelle horizontal acceleration, and can submergence. Some constraints were imposed on the dynamic responses of interest, and the metacentric height of the floating system was used to ensure static stability. The results offer insight into the parametric influence on turbine motion and on the potential savings that can be achieved through optimization of individual substructure components. A 36% reduction in substructure costs was achieved while slightly improving the hydrodynamic stability in pitch and yielding a somewhat large surge motion and slight roll increase.https://www.mdpi.com/2411-9660/9/3/68floating offshore wind turbinerenewable energycost-reductionequivalent mass methodologySpiderFLOATsubstructure optimization |
| spellingShingle | Kevin Fletcher Edem Tetteh Eric Loth Chris Qin Rick Damiani Substructure Optimization for a Semi-Submersible Floating Wind Turbine Under Extreme Environmental Conditions Designs floating offshore wind turbine renewable energy cost-reduction equivalent mass methodology SpiderFLOAT substructure optimization |
| title | Substructure Optimization for a Semi-Submersible Floating Wind Turbine Under Extreme Environmental Conditions |
| title_full | Substructure Optimization for a Semi-Submersible Floating Wind Turbine Under Extreme Environmental Conditions |
| title_fullStr | Substructure Optimization for a Semi-Submersible Floating Wind Turbine Under Extreme Environmental Conditions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Substructure Optimization for a Semi-Submersible Floating Wind Turbine Under Extreme Environmental Conditions |
| title_short | Substructure Optimization for a Semi-Submersible Floating Wind Turbine Under Extreme Environmental Conditions |
| title_sort | substructure optimization for a semi submersible floating wind turbine under extreme environmental conditions |
| topic | floating offshore wind turbine renewable energy cost-reduction equivalent mass methodology SpiderFLOAT substructure optimization |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2411-9660/9/3/68 |
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