Influence of Aerodynamic Loads on a Dual-Spar Floating Offshore Wind Farm With a Shared Line in Parked Conditions

Abstract

The concept of a shared mooring system, in which adjacent wind turbines are coupled by sharing mooring lines, has been proposed to reduce the mooring costs of floating offshore wind farms. This work investigates the influence of aerodynamic loads on a floating offshore wind farm of two spar wind turbines connected with a shared line in extreme environmental conditions. A case study is performed for the floating offshore wind farm under parked conditions using a numerical simulation tool. The environmental conditions are determined from environmental contours with a return period of 50 years. Turbulent wind and irregular waves are simulated in dynamic analyses. Wind and waves are aligned and two loading directions are considered. Floater motions and structural response are analyzed. The influence of aerodynamic loads is studied by comparing the simulation results under both wind and waves with those under wave-only. It is concluded that the aerodynamic loads affect the horizontal motions of floating offshore wind turbines, the mooring response and the tower-base bending moment significantly in extreme environmental conditions, especially when the loading direction is 90 deg. The findings from this study improve understanding of the design loads of shared mooring systems.