Iku Sato

Dynamic Response Analysis of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine During Severe Typhoon Event

In this paper, dynamic response analysis of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) with Spar-type floating foundation is presented. The FOWT mounts a 100kW down-wind turbine, and is grid-connected. It was launched at sea on 9th June 2012, and moored on 11th for the purpose of the demonstration experiment. During the experiment, the FOWT was attacked by severe typhoon events twice. Among them, Sanba (international designation: 1216) was the strongest tropical cyclone worldwide in 2012. The central atmospheric pressure was 940 hPa when it was close to the FOWT, and the maximum significant wave height of 9.5m was recorded at the site. In this paper, the dynamic responses of the platform motion, the stresses at the tower sections and the chain tensions during the typhoon event, Sanba (1216), have been analyzed, and compared with the measured data. Through the comparison, validation of the numerical simulation tool (Adams with SparDyn developed by the authors) has been made.Copyright

At-Sea Experiment of a Hybrid SPAR Type Offshore Wind Turbine

Ministry of the Environment of Japan started the national demonstration project of Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) in 2010 FY. In this project two SPARs with different scales are used. The first half-sized model, supporting a 100kW wind turbine, was installed in 2012 and is currently in operation. It is characteristic that the floater has a hybrid structure, i.e., the upper part is constructed of steel and the lower part of pre-stressed concrete and that the turbine is downwind type of horizontal axis.The FOWT is equipped with many sensors for measuring motions of 6 DOF, the strain of the steel / concrete parts and other factors. In this paper the measuring system is presented. In September 2012, the FOWT was attacked by a huge typhoon and it survived, although the measured wave height exceeded the designed value. The measured record of the floater in the storm is also presented.Copyright

On sea experiment of a hybrid SPAR for floating offshore wind turbine using 1/10 scale model

This study aims at development of a cost-effective floating offshore wind turbine. The proto-type model considered herein is composed of 1) 2MW horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) of down-wind type, 2) steel mono-tower with 55m hub height above sea level, 3) steel-prestressed concrete (PC) hybrid SPAR-type foundation with 70m draught, and 4) catenary mooring system using anchor chains. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept, on-sea experiment using a 1/10 scale model of the prototype has been made. The demonstrative experiment includes 1) construction of the hybrid SPAR foundation using PC and steel as same as the prototype, 2) dry-towing and installation to the on-sea site at 30m distance from the quay of the Sasebo shipbuilding yard, 3) generating electric power using a 1kW HAWT, and 4) removal from the site. During the on-sea experiment, wind speed, wind direction, tidal height, wave height, motion of the SPAR, tension in a mooring chain, and strains in the tower and the SPAR foundation have been measured. Motion of the SPAR has been numerically simulated and compared with the measured values, where basically good agreement is observed.Copyright

Dynamic Response of a Spar-Type Floating Wind Turbine at Power Generation

In this paper, dynamic response of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) with spar-type floating foundation at power generation is presented. The FOWT mounts a 100kW wind turbine of down-wind type, with the rotor’s diameter of 22m and a hub-height of 23.3m. The floating foundation consists of PC-steel hybrid spar. The upper part is made of steel whereas the lower part made of prestressed concrete segments. The FOWT was installed at the site about 1km offshore from Kabashima Island, Goto city, Nagasaki prefecture on June 11th, 2012. Since then, the field measurement had been made until its removal in June 2013. In this paper, the dynamic behavior during the power generation is presented, where the comparison with the numerical simulation by aero-hydro-servo-mooring dynamics coupled program is made.Copyright

Floating offshore wind turbine demonstration project at Goto Islands, Japan

Offshore wind energy resources in Japanese EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) are now considered to be huge. In order to utilize the huge amount of energy located in relatively deep water areas, Ministry of the Environment, Japan has kicked-off the demonstration project on floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT). The project will continue for six years beginning from 2010fy to 2015fy. In the project, two FOWTs have been installed. The first FOWT mounts a 100kW wind turbine of downwind type, and the length dimensions are almost half of the second FOWT (so called as 1/2 scale model). The second FOWT mounts a 2MW wind turbine of downwind type, and called as a full scale model. The FOWTs consist of PC-steel hybrid spar (which is cost-effective) and are moored by three mooring chains. The half scale model was installed at the site on 11 June 2012 as the first grid-connected FOWT in Japan. The half scale model was attacked by very severe typhoon Sanba (1216), the greatest tropical typhoon in 2012 in the world. The behavior during the typhoon attack, including the measured environmental data and the FOWT responses is introduced. The installation of the full scale model has also successfully been made. The installation at the site completed on 18 October 2013; as the first multi-megawatt FOWT in Japan. The installation procedures and current status are also presented.

Design and installation of a hybrid-spar floating wind turbine platform

A floating offshore wind turbine platform supporting a 2MW downwind-type turbine was successfully installed offshore of Kabashima Island, Goto city, Nagasaki prefecture, Japan on October 18, 2013. It has been operating since October 28, 2013 as the first grid-connected multi-megawatt floating wind turbine in Japan. The spar platform has a unique feature, that is, the upper part of the spar is made of steel (as usual) but the lower part is made of precast prestressed concrete (PC). Such a configuration is referred to as hybrid-spar. In this paper, the design methodology of the hybrid spar is presented — including environmental design conditions, DLCs (Design Load Cases), dynamic analysis, fatigue analysis, etc. Also, the installation procedure is presented briefly.Copyright

Dynamic analysis of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine under extreme environmental conditions

This paper is concerned with the development of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) utilizing spar-type floating foundation. In order to design such a structure, it is essential to evaluate the dynamic response under extreme environmental conditions. In this study, therefore, a dynamic analysis tool has been developed. The dynamic analysis tool consists of a multi-body dynamics solver (MSC.Adams), aerodynamic force evaluation library (NREL/AeroDyn), hydrodynamic force evaluation library (In-house program named SparDyn), and mooring force evaluation library (In-house program named Moorsys). In this paper, some details of the developed dynamic analysis tool are given. In order to validate the program, comparison with the experimental results, where the wind, current and wave are applied simultaneously, has been made. The comparison shows that satisfactory agreements between the simulation and the experimental results are obtained. However, when VIM (Vortex Induced Motion) occurs, the current loads and cross flow responses (sway and roll) are underestimated by the simulation since the simulation code does not account for the effect of VIM.Copyright