Wave Induced Effects on the Hydrodynamic Coefficients of an Oscillating Heave Plate in Offshore Wind Turbines

The research problem discussed in this paper is of relevance to floating offshore wind turbine design, where heave plates are attached to the columns of a semi-submersible in order to improve vertical plane stability and the power output. Because of the shallow draft of these structures, the heave p...

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Main Authors: Krish Thiagarajan, Javier Moreno
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
Series:Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/8/8/622
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author Krish Thiagarajan
Javier Moreno
author_facet Krish Thiagarajan
Javier Moreno
author_sort Krish Thiagarajan
collection DOAJ
description The research problem discussed in this paper is of relevance to floating offshore wind turbine design, where heave plates are attached to the columns of a semi-submersible in order to improve vertical plane stability and the power output. Because of the shallow draft of these structures, the heave plates are proximal to the water surface. When subject to vertical plane motions the flow around a plate is altered by the presence of the free surface, resulting in changes in added mass and damping forces. In this paper, we present the experimental results for the added mass and damping coefficients for circular heave plates attached to a column, when oscillating in heave in the presence of oncoming waves. The results tend to indicate that applying the hydrodynamic coefficients obtained from still water experiments for a structure moving in waves may only be an approximation. For different relative phases of the wave and the motion, large variations could occur. We define a modified Keulegan—Carpenter (<inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>K</mi><mi>C</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>) number that depends on the relative amplitude of motion with respect to the wave. With this definition, the added mass and damping values are seen to be closer to the still water trends. However, at lower <inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>K</mi><mi>C</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> values, the added mass coefficients could differ by 30%, which can affect natural frequency estimates. Thus, caution needs to be exerted in the selection of hydrodynamic coefficients for heave plates oscillating in proximity to the free surface.
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spelling doaj.art-08a837572274408b81ee8aff8771ed392023-11-20T10:29:22ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122020-08-018862210.3390/jmse8080622Wave Induced Effects on the Hydrodynamic Coefficients of an Oscillating Heave Plate in Offshore Wind TurbinesKrish Thiagarajan0Javier Moreno1Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01007, USAMarflet Marine, 28014 Madrid, SpainThe research problem discussed in this paper is of relevance to floating offshore wind turbine design, where heave plates are attached to the columns of a semi-submersible in order to improve vertical plane stability and the power output. Because of the shallow draft of these structures, the heave plates are proximal to the water surface. When subject to vertical plane motions the flow around a plate is altered by the presence of the free surface, resulting in changes in added mass and damping forces. In this paper, we present the experimental results for the added mass and damping coefficients for circular heave plates attached to a column, when oscillating in heave in the presence of oncoming waves. The results tend to indicate that applying the hydrodynamic coefficients obtained from still water experiments for a structure moving in waves may only be an approximation. For different relative phases of the wave and the motion, large variations could occur. We define a modified Keulegan—Carpenter (<inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>K</mi><mi>C</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>) number that depends on the relative amplitude of motion with respect to the wave. With this definition, the added mass and damping values are seen to be closer to the still water trends. However, at lower <inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>K</mi><mi>C</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> values, the added mass coefficients could differ by 30%, which can affect natural frequency estimates. Thus, caution needs to be exerted in the selection of hydrodynamic coefficients for heave plates oscillating in proximity to the free surface.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/8/8/622heave platefree surface effectfloating offshore wind turbinehydrodynamic coefficientsadded massdamping coefficient
spellingShingle Krish Thiagarajan
Javier Moreno
Wave Induced Effects on the Hydrodynamic Coefficients of an Oscillating Heave Plate in Offshore Wind Turbines
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
heave plate
free surface effect
floating offshore wind turbine
hydrodynamic coefficients
added mass
damping coefficient
title Wave Induced Effects on the Hydrodynamic Coefficients of an Oscillating Heave Plate in Offshore Wind Turbines
title_full Wave Induced Effects on the Hydrodynamic Coefficients of an Oscillating Heave Plate in Offshore Wind Turbines
title_fullStr Wave Induced Effects on the Hydrodynamic Coefficients of an Oscillating Heave Plate in Offshore Wind Turbines
title_full_unstemmed Wave Induced Effects on the Hydrodynamic Coefficients of an Oscillating Heave Plate in Offshore Wind Turbines
title_short Wave Induced Effects on the Hydrodynamic Coefficients of an Oscillating Heave Plate in Offshore Wind Turbines
title_sort wave induced effects on the hydrodynamic coefficients of an oscillating heave plate in offshore wind turbines
topic heave plate
free surface effect
floating offshore wind turbine
hydrodynamic coefficients
added mass
damping coefficient
url https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/8/8/622
work_keys_str_mv AT krishthiagarajan waveinducedeffectsonthehydrodynamiccoefficientsofanoscillatingheaveplateinoffshorewindturbines
AT javiermoreno waveinducedeffectsonthehydrodynamiccoefficientsofanoscillatingheaveplateinoffshorewindturbines