Complementary Airflow Control of Oscillating Water Columns for Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Stabilization

Abstract

The implementation and integration of new methods and control techniques to floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) have the potential to significantly improve its structural response. This paper discusses the idea of integrating oscillating water columns (OWCs) into the barge platform of the FOWT to transform it into a multi-purpose platform for harnessing both wind and wave energies. Moreover, the OWCs will be operated in order to help stabilize the FOWT platform by means of an airflow control strategy used to reduce the platform pitch and tower top fore-aft displacement. This objective is achieved by a proposed complementary airflow control strategy to control the valves within the OWCs. The comparative study between a standard FOWT and the proposed OWC-based FOWT shows an improvement in the platform’s stability.