Dynamic Modeling of Deepwater Offshore Wind Turbine Structures in Gulf of Mexico Storm Conditions

Abstract

A Fourier spectrum based model of Gulf of Mexico storm conditions is applied to a 6 degree of freedom analytic simulation of a moored, floating offshore structure fitted with three rotary wind turbines. The resulting heave, surge, and sway motions are calculated using a Newtonian Runge-Kutta method. The angular motions of pitch, roll, and yaw are also calculated in this time-domain progression. The forces due to wind, waves, and mooring line tension are predicted as a function of time over a 4000 second interval. The WAMIT program is used to develop the wave forces on the platform. A constant force coefficient is used to estimate wind turbine loads. A TIMEFLOAT computer code calculates the motion of the system based on the various forces on the structure and the system’s inertia.