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Wake effect on floating offshore wind turbine fatigue load

Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The operation of wind turbines submerged in the upstream wind turbine (UWT) wake leads to reduced power production and increased fatigue loads. Despite the known impact of the wake on fatigue loads, current wind farm layout optimization processes prioritize power production without adequately addressing fatigue load due to the complexities associated with fatigue load assessment with the UWT wake. In this study, the impacts of wake-turbine overlap on the fatigue load for floating offshore wind turbines are investigated. Large-eddy simulation (LES) is employed to generate the UWT wake, followed by extensive aeroelastic simulations to meticulously examine the wake-turbine overlap effect over the wake domain generated by the LES. The blade fatigue load results reveal significant influences on the degree of wake-turbine overlap. Blade fatigue load correlates with the wake deficit and turbulence, exhibiting a bimodal distribution in the lateral direction with peaks at approximately 0.5 turbine diameter (D) offset while diminishing in magnitude in the streamwise direction. Despite the complete recovery of power production at 1.0 D offset in the lateral direction, the fatigue load remains significant at this point. Furthermore, tower fatigue load and platform motions are notably affected by the degree of wake-turbine overlap and the wake dynamics. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating fatigue load analysis into the wind farm layout optimization process to extend turbine lifespan and reduce operation and maintenance costs, thereby contributing to lowering the levelized cost of energy in wind energy production.
DOI: 10.1063/5.0242835
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4405424460
FWCI: 1.762
Cites: 70
Cited by: 10
Related to: 10