Optimal design and performance analysis of a hybrid system combing a floating wind platform and wave energy converters

Abstract

Combined floating offshore wind platform and wave energy converter (WECs) systems have the potential to provide a cost-effective solution to offshore power supply and platform protection. The objective of this paper is to optimize the size and layout of WECs within the hybrid system under a given sea state with a numerical study. The numerical model was developed based on potential flow theory with viscous correction in the frequency domain to investigate the hydrodynamic performance of a hybrid system consisting of a floating platform and multiple heaving WECs. A non-dimensional method was presented to determine a series of variables, including radius, draft, and layout of the cylindrical WEC at a typical wave frequency as the initial design. WECs with larger diameter to draft ratio were found to experience relatively smaller viscous effects, and achieve more wave power, larger effective frequency range and similar wave power per unit volume in the same sea state. The addition of WECs reduced the maximum horizontal force and pitch moment on the platform, whereas the maximum vertical force increased due to the increasing power take-off force, especially at low frequencies. The results presented in this paper provide guidance for the optimized design of WECs and indicate the potential for synergies between wave and wind energy utilization on floating platforms.

Motion Response and Energy Conversion Performance of a Heaving Point Absorber Wave Energy Converter

“…In the following sections, different DDRs of 2r/d are chosen, where d 1.0 m. The investigation of Hu et al (2020) showed that f λ,vist generally decreased to approach 1.0 as the ratio 2r/d increased. It meant that the viscous effect became smaller as the WEC became fatter, such that the viscous effect of a very fat floater is negligible.…”

Performance Analysis on the Use of Oscillating Water Column in Barge-Based Floating Offshore Wind Turbines

“…There are many articles using combined FOWT and Wave Energy Converters (WEC) to create a multi-purpose platform that absorbs both wind and wave energies [27][28][29][30][31]. However, there are a few articles proposing OWCs included in FOWTs with stabilization as the main objective.…”

Complementary Airflow Control of Oscillating Water Columns for Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Stabilization

“…The most studied platform is wind-wave platforms that combine wind turbines and WEC to harness the wave and wind energies [19][20][21]. The use of the OWC with a floating offshore wind turbine has been proposed and shown promising results.…”