Wind energy industry is expanded to offshore and deep water sites, primarily due to the stronger and more consistent wind fields. Floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) concepts involve new engineering and scientific challenges. A combination of waves, current, and wind loads impact the structures. Often under extreme cases, and sometimes in operational conditions, magnitudes of these loads are comparable with each other. The loads and responses may be large, and simultaneous consideration of the combined environmental loads on the response of the structure is essential. Moreover, FOWTs are often large structures and the load frequencies are comparable to the structural frequencies. This requires a fluid-structure-fluid elastic analysis which adds to the complexity of the problem. Here, we present a critical review of the existing approaches that are used to (i) estimate the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic loads on FOWTs, and (ii) to determine the structures' motion and elastic responses due to the combined loads. Particular attention is given to the coupling of the loads and responses, assumptions made under each of the existing solution approaches, their limitations, and restrictions, where possible, suggestions are provided on areas where further studies are required.

This study is concerned with motion analysis and hydroelastic response of a floating offshore wind turbine to wave loads. The novel floating structure, made of prestressed concrete, is designed to support multiple wind turbines, and it rotates according to the environmental loads to face the incoming wind. The floating structure is attached to a mooring line that allows the rotation of the structure in response to the environmental loads. The floating structure is an equilateral triangular platform. The wind turbines are located at the vertices. Due to the dimensional characteristics of the structure, elasticity of the floating platform plays an important role in its dynamics. While the dynamic response of the structure is driven by both aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loads, this study focuses on the motion and elastic response of the novel floating structure to the hydrodynamic loads only. The three dimensional hydrodynamic loads on the floating structure are obtained by use of the constant panel approach of the Green function method, subject to linear mooring loads. A finite element analysis is carried out for the calculation of the elastic response of the structure. Computations of the integrated linear structure-fluid-structure interaction problem are performed in frequency domain using HYDRAN, a computer program written for the linear dynamic analysis of rigid and flexible bodies. Results presented here include the response amplitude operators of both the rigid and flexible bodies to incoming waves of various frequencies and directions. Also presented are the wave-induced stresses on the floating body, and the elastic deformations.

Most of the existing floating offshore wind turbines (FOWT), whether in concept or built, host a single turbine. Structures that can host multiple turbines have received attention in recent years, mainly with the aim of reducing the overall cost of energy production and maintenance. A concept challenge of placing multiple wind turbines on a single floating platform is that under variable wind directions, the leading turbines may block the wind against the trailing turbines. In this work, concept design of a wind-tracing floating structure accommodating three wind turbines is presented. The triangular-shapefloating platform is made of pre-stressed concrete, and the turbines are located on the corners. The floating structure uses a single-point mooring system which allows for the entire structure to rotate in response to the change of wind direction. Due to the particular configuration of the floating structure, it is essential to consider the wind, wave and current loads, along with the response of the structure, simultaneously. Response of the FOWT to simultaneous environmental loads from different directions is studied by use of the constant panel approach of the Green function method, subject to constant wind loads on the turbines and linear mooring loads. We also consider the elasticity of the structure by use of finite element analysis, coupled with the hydro- and aero-dynamic loads and responses.

A multi-unit floating offshore wind turbine concept, the wind-tracing floating offshore wind turbine, is introduced. In this concept, the floating structure is a triangular platform that hosts three 5 MW wind turbines and is moored to the seabed with a turret-bearing mooring system. This mooring system allows the structure to rotate about the turret such that the total yaw moment by the environmental load on the turret is minimized. In this study, the optimum properties of the mooring lines and the location of the turret are determined. To identify the preferred location of the turret, the responses of the structure to combined co-directional and misaligned wind and wave loads are computed. The motions of the structure are obtained with a frequency-domain numerical model integrated with structural finite-element method for hydroelastic and aeroelastic analyses. The hydrodynamic and aerodynamic loads are obtained by wave diffraction theory and steady blade element momentum method, respectively. Finally, with the optimum configuration of the mooring system, the motion and aero- and hydroelastic responses of the fully flexible wind-tracing floating offshore wind turbines to combined waves and wind loads are determined and discussed.

Water current interaction with arrays of plates is studied by use of the computational fluid dynamics focusing on hydrokinetic energy production applications. Various configurations of arrays of equidistant rectangular plates are considered and the current-induced pressure and velocity distribution, and the hydrodynamic forces on the individual plates are computed and compared with empirical relations. It is found that the current-induced force on the leading plate in the array is substantially different from those on the downstream plates, which experience negative forces, due to the change of the flow field. In three parametric studies, the effect of plate spacing, the number of plates and the relative water depth on the current-induced forces is investigated. It is shown that the relative size of the plates, and the number of plates in an array play significant role on the current-induced loads. Finally, the relative direction of the plates and the incoming flow is changed and its effect on the hydrodynamic forces on the plates is studied in a three-dimensional computational tank. The current loads on an oriented set of plates is shown to be remarkably different, when compared with those perpendicular to the current direction. It is concluded that the current-induced loads on an array of plates cannot be estimated by empirical relations, and specific computations, similar to those shown here, or laboratory experiments are required to investigate the current loads.