Flexible dynamics of floating wind turbines

This work presents Tower Flex, a structural dynamics model for a coupled analysis of offshore floating wind turbines consisting of a tower, a floating platform and a mooring system. In this multi-body, linear frequency-domain model, the tower is represented as a series of uniform Timoshenko beams connected to each other. The deflections of the tower are solved analytically in each beam while the mass, damping and stiffness coming from the rotor, the floating platform and the mooring lines are taken into account via generalized boundary conditions. Tower Flex is used for the evaluation of a 3MW offshore floating wind turbine mounted on a Tension Leg Platform (TLP). Natural frequencies, motion responses and fatigue damage are analyzed to illustrate the features of Tower Flex and assess the performance of the proposed design.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Luypaert, Thomas (Thomas J.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Paul D. Sclavounos.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70441

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/70441