A Review of High-Fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines

Abstract

The design and development of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) is an attractive issue in the wind energy harvesting field. In this study, the research related to the high-fidelity computational fluid dynamic simulations of FOWTs is comprehensively summarized and analyzed. Specifically, the component-level studies including aerodynamics, aeroelasticity and hydrodynamics are presented. The system studies with increasing complexity are performed, such as the simplified aerodynamics, prescribed platform motions and fully coupled aero-hydrodynamics, as well as a little knowledge relevant to the aero-hydro-elastic behaviors. This study emphasizes that some efforts should shift to the research on strongly coupled aero-hydro-elastic performance of FOWTs with the increasing rotor diameter. Moreover, further investigations of more realistic atmospheric inflows and strong interactions between multi-FOWTs are required. This study aims to introduce the hotspots of high-fidelity simulations of FOWTs to novel researchers, as well as to provide some suggested solutions.

A Survey of Numerical Simulation Tools for Offshore Wind Turbine Systems

“…In optimization studies, the goal is to keep computations as minimal as possible. While models like FWV, FE, and CFD provide high fidelity to the real system, they are computationally intensive and not ideal for optimization studies [124]. State-of-the-art numerical tools strike a balance by offering reasonable agreement for normal operating conditions with higher computational efficiency compared to high-fidelity tools.…”

“…However, their use in optimization studies is limited due to their time-domain nature and computational demands. When it comes to the conceptual design of a floating platform, several design parameters come into play, and a frequency-domain model is often deemed the most suitable [117,124].…”

“…In this regard, the 3D FEM integrated with bladeresolved modelling for aerodynamics stands out as the highest-fidelity aeroelastic analysis method, providing detailed stress and strain information for blade structures. However, attention needs to be given to challenges such as mismatches between fluid and structural domain meshes, mesh updates due to blade deformations, and computational costs [124]. Alternatively, the 1D EBM incorporated with blade-resolved modelling offers a compromise to save computational resources.…”

A Survey of Numerical Simulation Tools for Offshore Wind Turbine Systems

“…In this regard, the 3D FEM integrated with blade-resolved modelling for aerodynamics stands out as the highest-fidelity aeroelastic analysis method, providing detailed stress and strain information for blade structures. However, attention needs to be given to challenges such as mismatches between fluid and structural domain meshes, mesh updates due to blade deformations, and computational costs [124]. Alternatively, the 1D EBM incorporated with blade-resolved modelling offers a compromise to save computational resources.…”

Comparing the Utility of Coupled Aero-Hydrodynamic Analysis Using a CFD Solver versus a Potential Flow Solver for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines

“…Recently, with a general increase in CFD capability and availability of computational power, CFD studies on coupled aero-hydrodynamics of FOWTs have been performed. In this framework, Xu et al [24] provided an exhaustive review on CFD simulations for FOWTs. The authors discussed the advantages of using CFD for fully coupled simulations, including detailed resolution of wake flow-field features.…”