MS#08.2 Floating Wind Turbine Design Optimization Methods

D. ZALKIND¹, F. MENG², F. PIERELLA², R. BEHRENS DE LUNA³
¹ National Renewable Energy Laboratory|² Technical University of Denmark|³ Technical University Berlin

Floating wind special features

Overview

We propose a mini-symposium to present and discuss the latest research in floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) design and optimization. FOWT design requires the integration of many coupled components across disciplines, such as aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, control systems, and structural dynamics. Coordinating FOWT design requires large teams, sophisticated methodologies, and many processes to address the inherent coupling between components and to find platforms and turbines that are both reliable and low cost. Design optimization is one way to automate this process and inherently account for the coupling across components to arrive at high performing designs.

The organizers of this mini-symposium lead two projects aimed at developing integrated software tools for floating wind turbine design. The Wind Energy and Integrated Servo-controls (WEIS) project was developed to incorporate turbine dynamics and control systems with engineering models for wind turbines. The FLOATFARM project builds and expands on the WEIS project by incorporating new components and applying WEIS to solve various design and optimization tasks related to FOWTs. Both projects are aimed at creating and enhancing open-source optimization frameworks that can be used by researchers and industry practitioners.

Symposium Focus

This mini-symposium will provide an opportunity for researchers, industry experts, and practitioners to exchange knowledge, share experiences, and explore the future of FOWT design.

During this mini-symposium, we, the organizers, plan to share the progress and plans for our projects, including collaborative endeavors with each other and with industry partners. We also plan to invite other researchers in the field to showcase alternative design processes and approaches to FOWT design. We also hope to include industry perspectives to highlight new challenges faced in the design and operation of floating wind turbines. This will help bridge the gap between academic research and industry needs and guide research in this area.

Goals and Impact

The aim of this mini-symposium is to foster collaboration between researchers and industry stakeholders, create a platform for sharing innovative solutions, and discuss practical challenges that guide future research and development. By combining academic and industry perspectives, we hope to identify pathways to accelerate FOWT deployment, lower costs, and improve reliability.

We invite researchers, developers, and industry professionals to join this mini-symposium to explore the state-of-the-art in FOWT design optimization and discuss the future of offshore wind energy.

Published on November 13, 2024 Updated on November 20, 2024