Characterization of the unsteady aerodynamic response of a floating offshore wind turbine

The disruptive potential of floating wind turbines has attracted the interest of both industry and scientific community. Lacking a rigid foundation, such machines are subject to large displacements whose impact on the aerodynamic performance is not yet fully acknowledged. In this work, the unsteady aerodynamic response to an harmonic surge motion of a scaled version of the DTU10MW turbine is investigated in detail. The imposed displacements have been chosen representative of typical platform motions. The results of different numerical models are validated against high fidelity wind tunnel tests specifically focused on the aerodynamics. Also a linear analytical model, relying on the quasi-steady assumption, is presented as a theoretical reference. The unsteady responses are shown to be dominated by the first surge harmonic and a frequency domain characterization, mostly focused on the thrust oscillation, is conducted involving aerodynamic damping and mass parameters. A very good agreement among codes, experiments and quasi-steady theory has been found clarifying some literature doubts. A convenient way to describe the unsteady results in non-dimensional form is proposed, hopefully serving as reference for future work.