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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Energy Res.
Sec. Wind Energy
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2024.1502684
This article is part of the Research Topic Recent Advances in Offshore Renewable Energy View all 8 articles

Analysis of mooring performance and layout parameters of multisegment mooring system for a 15MW floating wind turbine

Provisionally accepted
Jianwu Huang Jianwu Huang 1Hang Xu Hang Xu 2*Li Chen Li Chen 1Kuigeng Lin Kuigeng Lin 1Mingyuan Guo Mingyuan Guo 2Mindong Yang Mindong Yang 2Shengjie Rui Shengjie Rui 3
  • 1 China Energy Engineering Group Zhejiang Electric Power Design Institute Co., Ltd., Hanzghou, China
  • 2 College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 3 Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Oslo, Norway

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Floating wind power is the important path for the development of offshore wind energy, and the performance of the mooring system of floating wind turbines (FOWTs) significantly affects their economic viability, safety, and sustainability. This paper systematically analyses the positioning performance, mooring line extreme loads, and fatigue response of a FOWT equipped with both single-segment and multi-segment mooring systems, based on the IEA 15MW large turbine and a floating platform. The hydrodynamic performance of the floating platform is calculated, and the platform's motion-sensitive directions are analysed through Response Amplitude Operators (RAOs). The natural periods of the platform are validated by free decay tests. The six degrees of freedom (DOFs) motion response and the mooring line peak tensions are analysed under normal and extreme conditions. The results show that both mooring systems provide good motion performance and stable tilt angles for the platform. Under ALS (single-line failure) condition, the multi-segment mooring system demonstrates a notable capacity to resist impact loads, with comparatively minor fluctuations in mooring line tension. In the multi-segment system, fatigue damage primarily occurs in the upper mooring chain, with damage approximately 4.5 times greater than that of the bottom chain over a one-year period. The effects of mooring line spread angles and lengths on performance are also analysed. The results indicate that the mooring line spread angle has slight impact on platform motion response and mooring line tension, while mooring line length significantly affects the extreme tension of the lines.

    Keywords: Floating wind turbine, Mooring line, mooring system, Floating platform, Chain

    Received: 08 Oct 2024; Accepted: 30 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Huang, Xu, Chen, Lin, Guo, Yang and Rui. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hang Xu, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, Zhejiang Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.