Luca Vita

Implementation of the Actuator Cylinder flow model in the HAWC2 code for aeroelastic simulations on Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

The paper presents the implementation of the Actuator Cylinder (AC) flow model in the HAWC2 aeroelastic code originally developed for simulation of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) aeroelasticity. This is done within the DeepWind project where the main objective is to explore the competitiveness of VAWTs for floating MW concepts. The AC model is a 2D flow model and has thus some advantages compared with the stream tube models often used in VAWT aerodynamic and aeroelastic simulation models. A major finding presented in the present paper is a simple way to correct the results from the linear version of the AC model so that they correlate closely with the results of the full AC model. The linear model has very low computational requirements and is thus well suited for implementation in an aeroelastic model where the induction in a number of points on the rotor swept surface is updated at each time step. The AC model is described and the implementation of the model in HAWC2 is briefly presented. Results illustrating the accuracy of the different versions of the AC model are presented. Finally, initial simulations on the 5MW baseline rotor with the new HAWC2 version with the AC model implemented are presented.

A Novel Concept for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines: Recent Developments in the Concept and Investigation on Fluid Interaction With the Rotating Foundation

This paper describes the recent developments regarding a new concept for deep sea offshore vertical axis wind turbines. The concept utilizes a cylindrical foundation rotating in the water. The 2D Navier-Stokes solver EllipSys2D has been used to investigate the interaction between the rotating foundation and a water flow stream passing the turbine. Lift and drag forces, and the friction moment on the rotating foundation of the turbine have been computed. The calculations are repeated for different operating conditions of the wind turbine on a range of rotational speeds. The Reynolds number, based on the diameter of the foundation, is 5×106 .Copyright

Design and Aero-Elastic Simulation of a 5MW Floating Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

This paper deals with the design of a 5MW floating offshore Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). The design is based on a new offshore wind turbine concept (DeepWind concept), consisting of a Darrieus rotor mounted on a spar buoy support structure, which is anchored to the sea bed with mooring lines [1]. The design is carried out in an iterative process, involving the different sub-components and addressing several conflicting constraints. The present design does not aim to be the final optimum solution for this concept. Instead, the goal is to have a baseline model, based on the present technology, which can be improved in the future with new dedicated technological solutions. The rotor uses curved blades, which are designed in order to minimize the gravitational loads and to be produced by the pultrusion process. The floating platform is a slender cylindrical structure rotating along with the rotor, whose stability is achieved by adding ballast at the bottom. The platform is connected to the mooring lines with some rigid arms, which are necessary to absorb the torque transmitted by the rotor. The aero-elastic simulations are carried out with Hawc2, a numerical solver developed at Riso-DTU. The numerical simulations take into account the fully coupled aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loads on the structure, due to wind, waves and currents. The turbine is tested in operative conditions, at different sea states, selected according to the international offshore standards. The research is part of the European project DeepWind (2010–2014), which has been financed by the European Union (FP7-Future Emerging Technologies).Copyright

Conceptual Design of a Floating Support Structure and Mooring System for a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

This paper deals with the conceptual design of a floating support structure and mooring system for a 5MW vertical axis offshore wind turbine. The work is carried out as part of the DeepWind project, where the main objective is to investigate the feasibility of a floating vertical axis offshore wind turbine. The DeepWind concept consists of a Darrieus rotor mounted on a spar buoy support structure. The conceptual design is carried out in an iterative process, involving the different subcomponents. The present work is part of the first design iteration and the objective is to find a feasible floating support structure and mooring system for the DeepWind concept. The conceptual design is formulated as an optimization problem: Starting with an initial configuration, the optimization procedure tries to find a cheaper solution while satisfying a set of design requirements. This approach utilizes available response analysis programs for mooring system forces and vessel motions, and combines this with a gradient search method for solution of nonlinear optimization problems with arbitrary constraints. Two different mooring system configurations are considered: Chain systems with 3 and 6 lines, respectively.