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HeloFOW

In progress

The HeloFOW project aims to develop a hydro-elastic solver for calculating structural loads on floating wind turbine foundations.

Coordinateurs du projet

Context

Over the past decade, numerous simulators dedicated to the behavior of floating wind turbines have been developed. The vast majority of these models are based on a multibody formulation in which the floating wind turbine is represented by a set of interconnected deformable and rigid bodies. The blades, tower, rotor shaft, and mooring lines are generally considered deformable, while the platform and floating support are assumed to be rigid.

Although this approach may be sufficient for medium-power rotors, recent developments in 10 to 15 MW rotors will require larger foundations for which hydroelastic effects are likely to become significant.

Scientific breakthroughs and innovation

To meet this new design challenge, LHEEA plans to expand the capabilities of its current floating wind turbine simulator. This project aims to develop a hydro-elastic solver for calculating the structural loads experienced by floating wind turbine foundations. This work will involve coupling an in-house hydrodynamic solver based on unsteady potential theory with a structural solver based on a finite element formulation. A second task will focus on experimental validation, which will be carried out at Centrale Nantes using a segmented model of SPAR-type floating foundations.

Expected technical and economic impact

The scientific and technical impact of the project concerns both the numerical and experimental aspects of the project:

  • Numerical modeling of the hydroelastic behavior of floating wind turbine foundations using a potential unsteady code would be a first in the floating wind energy community.
  • There are very few experimental results for floating wind turbine foundations with segmented models; the proposed experimental campaign will therefore be of great value to the community.

Results

  • Development of a digital coupling between the WS_CN unsteady hydrodynamic solver and the Beampy structural solver, both developed at LHEEA.
  • Design and manufacture of a flexible 1:40 scale model of a spar-type float dedicated to a 10MW horizontal axis wind turbine.
  • Conducting an experimental campaign with the flexible model for different cases of regular and irregular waves.
  • The data measured during the HELOFOW model test campaign, conducted in the ocean engineering basins of the Ecole Centrale de Nantes, has just been posted online. This database covers loading tests and tests under regular and irregular wave conditions.