Multibody/FEM numerical tool for HIL scaled offshorewind turbine

Nowadays the study of the renewable sources of energy is one of the most important lines of research. For this reason the wind tunnel researchers of Politecnico di Milano want to apply new hardware in the loop approach to study floating offshore wind turbines scale models by reproducing at the same time both the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic phenomena involved. These experiments allow to have a better understanding of the operating conditions of these structures and to properly set the control algorithm for the blades pitch in order to have a better exploitation of the wind stream. In addition the results of the experimental phase could be used to validate the numerical codes. While it is possible to physically reproduce the wind profile with a good approximation, the sea waves effect has to be simulated by means of a 6-DoF parallel kinematic machine. The result is a coupled system in which two flexible structures, the turbine and the robot, cannot be regarded as two separate entities. The aim of this paper is to provide a multibody model to perform dynamic analysis of this coupled system and to study how the pose of the manipulator and the wind profile affect the results.