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Virginia Tech

Modeling a Semi-Submersible Floating Offshore Wind Turbine With Tuned Inerter Dampers Within the Platform

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

With growing awareness of climate change and an increased interest in renewable energy, resources like offshore wind are projected to grow in the near future. One key issue within offshore wind is how to stabilize the floating system when it experiences large wind and wave forces that impact its performance and shorten its operating life. Researchers have been exploring structural control methods and creating modeling tools to evaluate the performance of the control methods. One such tool is OpenFAST, the industry standard for modeling wind turbine dynamics, and the goal of this paper is to build upon the existing capabilities of OpenFAST. Inerter-based structural control methods offer arguably better performance than traditional vibration absorbers, and the configuration proposed in this paper also offers the ability to use a generator as an element in the structural controller. This allows extra energy to be generated along with the improvement in vibration absorption. Through this study, this inerter-based control method is explored through the lens of an established modeling tool to provide the validation for the model to explore which load cases the inerter performs best in and what design considerations must be made. In addition, the energy harvesting potential of the inerter system is evaluated and shown to increase the system's capabilities especially under stormy ocean conditions.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Mechanical Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Mechanical Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2023

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Okuda, Ryan Rikio
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Zuo, Lei
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Fang, Biao
  • Sandu, Corina

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:37895
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/115785

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Okuda, Ryan Rikio. Modeling a Semi-Submersible Floating Offshore Wind Turbine With Tuned Inerter Dampers Within the Platform. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2023. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/115785