Aerodynamic analysis of TLP offshore wind turbine under wind and waves

Abstract

Based on the real-scale NREL 5MW wind turbine as the analysis object, combined with the TLP floating platform, using the CFD software fluent and the Volume of Fluid (VOF) multiphase flow model, this paper simulates and analyzes the aerodynamic characteristics of the TLP floating offshore wind turbine under the wind and wave conditions by applying surge motion through UDF, and carries out an in-depth analysis of its power, axial thrust change, and blade pressure distribution. The power and axial thrust will fluctuate and change more violently as the amplitude and frequency of surge movement increase corresponding to waves. Low wave height, low amplitude, and low frequency are more obvious for local disturbance of power and axial thrust. After the surge motion is applied, the blade pressure at different times changes significantly. With the increase of amplitude, the pressure difference at the same time increases at the entire blade root, blade center, and blade tip, which focus mainly on the leading edge of the blade suction surface, and is most obvious at the blade root and least obvious at the blade tip. When the surge motion is not applied, with the increase of wave height, the front edge of the blade suction will obtain a greater negative pressure, and the pressure difference of each part will increase. The research results provide a technical reference and theoretical basis for the optimization design of the aerodynamic performance.