No abstract

Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) plants are already well developed, and deployed all over the world, on calm water inland lakes, or in sheltered locations. They are now progressing to be installed in nearshore sites, and in deep water seas. The company HelioRec, developing floating modules to form FPV arrays to be deployed in nearshore areas, was awarded free-of-charge testing of their system by the Marine Energy Alliance (MEA) European program. This paper describes the experimental testing of the 1:1 scale float system, composed of 16 floating modules supporting solar panels and three footpaths, carried out in Centrale Nantes’ ocean wave tank, allowing regular and irregular frontal and oblique wave conditions. Experimental results show that, even in the narrow wave spectrum experimentally achievable, a specific response from the array was revealed: the multibody articulated system exhibits a first-order pitch resonant mode when wavelengths are about twice the floater length. A shadowing effect, leading to smaller motions of rear floaters, is also observed, for small wavelengths only.

The dynamics of vortex-induced vibrations of a rigid circular cylinder with structural non-linearities, introduced by means of discontinuities in the support system, are studied experimentally. The analysis of the measurements is carried out using non-linear vibration tools, i.e phase-flow portraits, frequency spectra, Lyapunov exponents and correlation dimensions, to provide an insight into the dynamical changes in the system brought about by restricting the motion. We show that chaotic motions can occur due to the structural non-linearities.