• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.382-392
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• 2021

In recent years, floating offshore wind turbines have attracted more attention as a new renewable energy resource while bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines reach their limit of water depth. Various projects have been proposed with the rapid increase in installed floating wind power capacity, but the economic aspect remains as a biggest issue. To figure out sensible approaches for saving costs, a comparison analysis of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) between floating and bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines was carried out. The LCOE was reviewed from a social perspective and a cost breakdown and a literature review analysis were used to itemize the costs into its various components in each level of power plant and system integration. The results show that the highest proportion in capital expenditure of a floating offshore wind turbine results in the substructure part, which is the main difference from a bottom-fixed wind turbine. A floating offshore wind turbine was found to have several advantages over a bottom-fixed wind turbine. Although a similarity in operation and maintenance cost structure is revealed, a floating wind turbine still has the benefit of being able to be maintained at a seaport. After emphasizing the cost-reduction advantages of a floating wind turbine, its LCOE outlook is provided to give a brief overview in the following years. Finally, some estimated cost drivers, such as economics of scale, wind turbine rating, a floater with mooring system, and grid connection cost, are outlined as proposals for floating wind LCOE reduction.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.466-472
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• 2009

Offshore wind energy is gaining more and more attention during this decade. For the countries with coast sites, the water depth is significantly large. This causes attention to the floating wind turbine. Offshore wind turbines are designed and analyzed using comprehensive simulation codes that account for the coupled dynamics of the wind inflow, aerodynamics, elasticity and controls of the wind turbine, along with the incident waves, sea current, hydrodynamics, and foundation dynamics of the support structures. In this work, a three-bladed 5MW upwind wind turbine installed on a floating spar buoy in 320m of water is studied by using of fully coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulation tool. Specifications of the structures are chosen from the OC3 (Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration) under "IEA Wind Annex XXIII-subtask2". The primary external conditions due to wind and waves are simulated. Certain design load case is investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.614-622
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• 2011

In this study, the computational structural dynamic modeling of floating offshore wind turbine system is presented using efficient equivalent modeling technique. Structural dynamic behaviors of the offshore floating platform with 5MW wind turbine system have been analyzed using computational multi-body dynamics based on the finite element method. The considered platform configuration of the present offshore wind turbine model is the typical spar-buoy type. Equivalent stiffness and damping properties of the floating platform were extracted from the results of the baseline model. Dynamic responses for the floating wind turbine models are presented and compared to investigate its structural dynamic characteristics. It is important shown that the results of the present equivalent modeling technique show good and reasonable agreements with those by the fully coupled analysis considering complex floating body dynamics.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.333-350
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• 2017

Differing from the fixed-type, the dynamic motion of floating-type offshore wind turbines is very sensitive to wind and wave excitations. Thus, the sensing and monitoring of its motion is important to evaluate the dynamic responses to the external excitation. In this context, a monitoring system for sensing and processing the wind-induced dynamic motion of spar-type floating offshore wind turbine is developed in this study. It is developed by integrating a 1/00 scale model of 2.5MW spar-type floating offshore wind turbine, water basin equipped with the wind generator, sensing and data acquisition systems, real-time CompactRIO controller and monitoring program. The scale model with the upper rotatable blades is installed within the basin by means of three mooring lines, and its translational and rotational motions are detected by 3-axis inclinometer and accelerometers and gyroscope. The detected motion signals are processed using a real-time controller CompactRIO to calculate the acceleration and tilting angle of nacelle and the attitude of floating platform. The developed monitoring system is demonstrated and validated by measuring and evaluating the time histories and trajectories of nacelle and platform motions for three different wind velocities and for eight different fairlead positions.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.184.1-184.1
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• 2010

Floating wind turbines have been suggested as a feasible solution for going further offshore into deeper waters. However, floating platforms cause additional unsteady motions induced by wind and wave conditions, so that it is difficult to predict annual energy output of wind turbines by using conventional power prediction method. That is because sectional inflow condition on a rotor plane is varied by unsteady motion of floating platforms. Therefore, aerodynamic simulation using Vortex Lattice Method(VLM) were used to investigate the influence of motion on the aerodynamic performance of a floating offshore wind turbine. Simulation with individual motion of offshore platform were compared to the case of onshore platform and carried out according to the wave height and the wave angular frequency.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2014

A new 5-MW floating offshore wind turbine moored by a spring-tensioned-leg was proposed for installation in about 50m water depth. Its substructure is a platform of the inverted conical cylinder type with massive ballast weight plate at the bottom. A 1:128 scale model was built for the preliminary engineering development. The model tests in waves and wind were carried out to estimate motion characteristics of this platform in the Ocean Engineering Wide Tank of the University of Ulsan. Its motions were measured and the RAOs were compared. The proposed floating offshore wind turbine showed a good stability and decent responses in waves, wind and operation of the wind turbine.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.281-312
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• 2018

Characteristics of a turbulence wind model control the magnitude and frequency distribution of wind loading on floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), and an in-depth understanding of how wind spectral characteristics affect the responses, and ultimately the design cost of system components, is in shortage in the offshore wind industry. Wind spectrum models as well as turbulence intensity curves recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have characteristics derived from land-based sites, and have been widely adopted in offshore wind projects (in the absence of site-specific offshore data) without sufficient assessment of design implications. In this paper, effects of wind spectra and turbulence intensities on the strength or extreme responses of a 5 MW floating offshore wind turbine are investigated. The impact of different wind spectral parameters on the extreme blade loads, nacelle accelerations, towertop motions, towerbase loads, platform motions and accelerations, and mooring line tensions are presented and discussed. Results highlight the need to consider the appropriateness of a wind spectral model implemented in the strength design of FOWT structures.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.57-64
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• 2018

To maximize power generation and reduce the construction cost of a commercial utility-grade wind turbine, the size of the wind turbine should be large. The initial design of the 12 MW University of Ulsan(UOU) Floating Offshore Wind Turbine(FOWT) was carried out based on the 5 MW National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL) offshore wind turbine model. The existing 5 MW NREL offshore wind turbines have been expanded to 12 MW UOU FOWT using the geometric law of similarity and then redesigned for each factor. The resonance of the tower is the most important dynamic responses of a wind turbine, and it should be designed by avoiding resonance due to cyclic load during turbine operations. The natural frequency of the tower needs to avoid being within the frequency range corresponding to the rotational speed of the blades, 1P, and the blade passing frequency, 3P. To avoid resonance, vibration can be reduced by modifying the stiffness or mass. The direct expansion of the 5 MW wind turbine support structure caused a resonance problem with the tower of the 12 MW FOWT and the tower length and diameter was adjusted to avoid a match of the first natural frequency and 3P excitation of the tower.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.64-68
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• 2011

The motion responses of a 5-MW floating offshore wind turbine were simulated in regular and irregular waves and its RAOs and significant motion responses were calculated, respectively. The floating offshore wind turbine employed in this simulation was the OC3-Hywind designed by the National Renewable Research Laboratory, USA. The numerical simulation was carried out using MOSES (Multi-Operational Structural Engineering Simulator), which is widely used to analyze and design floating offshore structures in the gas and oil industry.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.980-992
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• 2019

This paper describes a model test and numerical simulation of a 750-kW-semi-submersible platform wind turbine under several wind and wave conditions for validation of the numerical simulation model. The semi-submersible platform was designed to support the 750-kW-wind turbine class and operate at a water depth of 50 m. The model tests were performed to estimate the performance characteristics of the wind turbine system in the wide tank of the University of Ulsan. Motions and loads of the wind turbine system under the wind and wave conditions were measured and analyzed. The NREL-FAST code was used to simulate the wind turbine system, and the results were compared with those of the test model. The results demonstrate that the numerical simulation captures noticeably the fully coupled floating wind turbine dynamic responses. Also, the model shows a good stability and small responses during waves, wind, and operation of the 750-kW-floating offshore wind turbine.