Statistical Energy Storage Sizing for Point Absorber Wave Energy Converters (WECs): A Device for Operation off the U.S. East Coast

This paper addresses the sizing problem of an energy storage system (ESS) while considering statistical tolerance for a two-body wave energy converter (WEC), which is designed to support ocean sensing applications with sustained power for long-term functioning. The power is extracted by assuming ideal power take-off (PTO) based upon historical ocean data record (significant wave height and period of wave swell) from Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory. A gamma distribution is applied to generate the extracted power distribution of each sample in the time-series using Bayesian methodology. The means and standard deviation of the extracted power distributions compose the statistical annual power time-series. Finally, the required capacities for the ESS sizing are estimated and discussed while considering both ground truth values and statistical values.

Dynamic Response Analysis on the Interaction Between Flexible Bodies of Large-Sized Wind Turbine Under Random Wind Loads

As the output power of wind turbine increasingly gets larger, the structural flexibility of elastic bodies, such as rotor blades and tower, gets more significant owing to larger structural size. In that case, the dynamic interaction between these flexible bodies become more profound and may significantly impact the dynamic response of the whole wind turbine. In this study, the integrated model of a 5-MW wind turbine is developed based on the finite element simulations so as to carry out dynamic response analysis under random wind load, in terms of both time history and frequency spectrum, considering the interactions between the flexible bodies. And, the load evolution along its transmitting route and mechanical energy distribution during the dynamic response are examined. And, the influence of the stiffness and motion of the supporting tower on the integrated system is discussed. The basic dynamic characteristics and responses of 3 models, i.e. the integrated wind turbine model, a simplified turbine model (blades, hub and nacelle are simplified as lumped masses) and a rigid supported blade, are examined, and their results are compared in both time and frequency domains. Based on our numerical simulations, the dynamic coupling mechanism are explained in terms of the load transmission and energy consumption. It is found that the dynamic interaction between flexible bodies is profound for wind turbine with large structural size, e.g. the load and displacement of the tower top gets around 15% larger mainly due to the elastic deformation and dynamic behaviors (called inertial-elastic effect here) of the flexible blade; On the other hand, the elastic deformation may additionally consume around 10% energy (called energy-consuming effect) coming from external wind load and consequently decreases the displacement of the tower. In other words, there is a competition between the energy-consuming effect and inertial-elastic effect of the flexible blade on the overall dynamic response of the wind turbine. And similarly, the displacement of the blade gets up to 20% larger because the elastic-dynamic behaviors of the tower principally provides a elastic and moving support which can significantly change the natural mode shape of the integrated wind turbine and decrease the natural frequency of the rotor blade.

Development of a Scaled Rotor Blade for Tank Tests of Floating Wind Turbine Systems

Floating wind turbine systems will play an important role for a sustainable energy supply in the future. The dynamic behavior of such systems is governed by strong couplings of aerodynamic, structural mechanic and hydrodynamic effects. To examine these effects scaled tank tests are an inevitable part of the design process of floating wind turbine systems. Normally Froude scaling is used in tank tests. However, using Froude scaling also for the wind turbine rotor will lead to wrong aerodynamic loads compared to the full-scale turbine. Therefore the paper provides a detailed description of designing a modified scaled rotor blade mitigating this problem. Thereby a focus is set on preserving the tip speed ratio of the full scale turbine, keeping the thrust force behavior of the full scale rotor also in model scale and additionally maintaining the power coefficient between full scale and model scale. This is achieved by completely redesigning the original blade using a different airfoil. All steps of this redesign process are explained using the example of the generic DOWEC 6MW wind turbine. Calculations of aerodynamic coefficients are done with the software tools XFoil and AirfoilPrep and the resulting thrust and power coefficients are obtained by running several simulations with the software AeroDyn.

Comparison Between Experiments and a Multibody Weakly Nonlinear Potential Flow Approach for Modeling of Marine Operations

This paper presents validation tests for a new numerical tool for the numerical simulation of marine operations. It involves multibody dynamics modeling, wave-structure interactions with large amplitude body motion and cable’s dynamic modeling. Hydrodynamic loads are computed using the WS_CN weakly nonlinear potential flow solver, based on the weak-scatterer hypothesis. Large deformation of the wetted body surfaces can be taken into account. Firstly the ECN’s WS_CN solver capabilities are extended to multibody simulations. A first validation test is performed by comparing numerical results to the experimental data of [1]. Then, a second validation test is proposed. It consists in the ballasting operation of a spar. The experimental set-up is described.

Hybrid Scaled Testing of a 5MW Floating Wind Turbine Using the SiL Method Compared With Numerical Models

The design of floating wind turbines requires both, simulation tools and scaled testing methods, accurately integrating the different phenomena involved in the system dynamics, such as the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic forces, the mooring lines dynamics and the control strategies. In particular, one of the technical challenges when testing a scaled floating wind turbine in a wave tank is the proper integration of the rotor aerodynamic thrust. The scaling of the model based on the Froude number produces equivalent hydrodynamic forces, but out of scale aerodynamic forces at the rotor, because the Reynolds number, that governs the aerodynamic forces, is not kept constant. Several approaches have been taken to solve this conflict, like using a tuned drag disk or redesigning the scaled rotor to provide the correct scaled thrust at low Reynolds numbers. This work proposes a hybrid method for the integration of the aerodynamic thrust during the scaled tests. The work also explores the agreement between the experimental measurements and the simulation results through the calibration and improvement of the numerical models. CENER has developed a hybrid testing method that replaces the rotor by a ducted fan at the model tower top. The fan can introduce a variable force which represents the total wind thrust by the rotor. This load is obtained from an aerodynamic simulation that is performed in synchrony with the test and it is fed in real time with the displacements of the platform provided by the acquisition system. Thus, the simulation considers the displacements of the turbine within the wind field and the relative wind speed on the rotor, including the effect of the aerodynamic damping on the tests. The method has been called “Software-in-the-Loop” (SiL). The method has been applied on a test campaign at the Ecole Centrale de Nantes wave tank of the OC4 semisubmersible 5MW wind turbine, with a scale factor of 1/45. The experimental results have been compared with equivalent numerical simulations of the floating wind turbine using the integrated code FAST. Simple cases as only steady wind and free decays with constant wind showed a good agreement with computations, demonstrating that the SiL method is able to successfully introduce the rotor scaled thrust and the effect of the aerodynamic damping on the global dynamics. Cases with turbulent wind and irregular waves showed better agreement with the simulations when mooring line dynamics and second order effects were included in the numerical models.

Coupled Dynamics of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) With Active Blade Pitch Control on a Semi-Submersible Floater

A vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) typically has a low position of the center of gravity and a large allowable tilt angle, which could allow for a relatively small floating support structure. Normally however, the drawback of large loads on the VAWT rotor during parked survival conditions limits the extent to which the floater size can be reduced. If active blade pitch control is applied to the VAWT, this drawback can be mitigated and the benefits can be fully utilized. The coupled dynamics of a 6 MW VAWT with active blade pitch control supported by a GustoMSC Tri-Floater semi-submersible floater have been simulated using coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic software. The applied blade pitch control during power production results in a steady-state thrust curve which is more comparable to a HAWT, with the maximum thrust occurring at rated wind velocity. During power production, floater motions occur predominantly at low frequencies. These low frequency motions are caused by variations in the wind velocity and consequently the rotor thrust and torque. For the parked survival condition, it is illustrated that active blade pitch control can be used to effectively reduce dynamic load variations on the rotor and minimize floater motions and mooring line tensions.

Simulation Requirements and Relevant Load Conditions in the Design of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines

Aligned with work performed in deliverable D7.7 of the H2020 project LIFES50+, this study supports the definition of the numerical setup in the design of floating offshore wind turbines. The results of extensive simulation studies are presented, which focus particularly on determining the requirements for the load simulations in the design process. The analysis focusses on the cases of: (1) fatigue during power production and (2) ultimate loads during power production and severe sea state. For the fatigue load case, sensitivity study is performed in order to determine relevant load conditions and the expected impact of a variation in the environmental loading. Additionally, focus is put on the requirements regarding the run-in time, number of seeds and the simulation length for both fatigue and ultimate limit state (FLS, ULS) analysis. Another topic addressed is the benefit of using an increased number of seeds rather than extending the simulation time of single seeds, when a given total simulation time is required as described in the guidelines. The run-in time may be shortened when using predetermined steady states as initial conditions. Requirements for the steady state simulations are also determined and presented.

Wells Turbine With Variable Blade Profile for Wave Energy Conversion

It is well known among the researchers involved in the field of turbines for Oscillating Water Column systems (OWC) that the main problem for Wells turbines is the stall, which appears when the main flow incidence angle exceeds certain value and leads to a sharp drop in the efficiency. It also causes problems during the starting, driving the turbine to not reach the designing rotation speed. Delaying the stall apparition is the key to improve the performance of the Wells turbine. is necessary to delay the flow separation at the trailing edge because it is the reason which leads to the sharp efficiency drop at the stall point. One of the solutions proposed by researchers in this field is using a variable blade profile instead of the traditional ones, built using constant chord and profile from hub to tip. This work tries to dig deeper in this line by analysing a blade with variable chord and shape among the blade span. The work has been developed numerically by using commercial software ANSYS FLUENT®. A CFD code was created in order to obtain the performance curve of the turbine proposed to be compared with those assumed as reference, which were taken from the bibliography and also used to validate the numerical model. The results have shown that an improvement has been achieved. It confirms that using a variable blade profile is a suitable solution to delay the stall apparition.

Experimental Assessment of the Performance of CECO Wave Energy Converter in Irregular Waves

A new concept of wave energy device (CECO) has been proposed and developed at the Hydraulics, Water Resources and Environment Division of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP). In a first stage, the proof of concept was performed through physical model tests at the wave basin (Rosa-Santos et al., 2015). These experimental results demonstrated the feasibility of the concept to harness wave energy and provided a preliminary assessment of its performance. Later, an extensive experimental campaign was conducted with an enhanced 1:20 scale model of CECO under regular and irregular long and short-crested waves (Marinheiro et al., 2015). An electric PTO system with adjustable damping levels was also installed on CECO as a mechanism of quantification of the WEC power. The results of regular waves tests have been used to validate a numerical model to gain insight into different potential configurations of CECO and its performance (López et al., 2017a,b). This paper presents the results and analyses of the model tests in irregular waves. A simplified approach based on spectral analyses of the WEC motions is presented as a means of experimental assessment of the damping level of the PTO mechanism and its effect on the WEC power absorption. Transfer functions are also computed to identify nonlinear effects associated to higher waves and to characterize the range of periods where wave absorption is maximized. Furthermore, based on the comparison of the present experimental results with those corresponding to a linear numerical potential model, some discussions are addressed regarding viscous and other nonlinear effects on CECO performance.

Effects of Misaligned Wave and Wind Action on the Response of the Combined Concept WindWEC

In the present paper, the effects of misaligned wave and wind action on the dynamic response of the WindWEC combined concept are evaluated and presented. WindWEC is a recently proposed combined wind and wave energy system; a hybrid offshore energy system that consists of: (a) a 5MW floating wind turbine supported by a spar-type substructure (e.g. Hywind), a Wave Energy Converter (WEC) that is of heaving buoy type (e.g. Wavestar), (c) a structural arm that connects the spar with the WEC and (d) a common mooring system. Hybrid offshore platforms are combining wave and wind energy systems and are designed in order to gain the possible synergy effects and reduce the cost of generated electrical power while increasing the quality of delivered power to grids. During the lifetime of a combined concept, wave and wind can be misaligned which may affect the dynamic response and as a result the functionality of it. In particular, for asymmetric configurations, the misalignment of the wave and wind may result in unexpected behaviour and significant effects that may reduce the produced power. For the case of the WindWEC concept, the relative motion of the spar platform and WEC buoy results to the produced power. In this paper, the dynamic response and power production of the buoy type WEC and wind turbine are examined for different loading conditions where the wave and wind are misaligned. Integrated/coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic time-domain dynamic simulations considering multi-body analyses are applied. The motion, structural and tension responses as well as power production are examined. The misalignment of wave and wind results to higher loads that affect the mooring line system and motion responses of the spar. It is found that the produced power of wind turbine is not significantly affected.