Hydrodynamic characteristics of floating photovoltaic systems based on membrane structures in maritime environment

Abstract

As the world confronts the pursuit of sustainable energy sources, floating photovoltaic (FPV) systems emerge as a focal point of innovation. As a novel FPV system, the membrane structure, owing to its advantages of lightweight design and economic feasibility, presents significant potential for widespread applications. Drawing inspiration from Ocean Sun's membrane prototype, this article devised a research model for the membrane structure. The initial phase involved a frequency-domain study. A 1:40 scale-down model was meticulously crafted for laboratory experiments, intended for comparison with numerical simulations. Conclusively, the amplitude response functions of the experimental scaled model aligned well with those of the numerically simulated scaled model and full-scale model. Moving forward, a time-domain study was conducted through numerical simulations to analyze the hydrodynamic responses of the prototype under combined wave and current loading. The findings revealed that the membrane structure have good seakeeping and stability. In comparison to the working sea state, the structural motion responses and mooring forces under survival sea state were significantly amplified. Notably, the mooring forces exhibited the most pronounced increase, surpassing a two-fold relationship. Subsequently, comparative analyses were conducted between membrane structures and FPV platforms in six relevant studies. It was found that the trends in RAO and wave interactions exhibited by these structures generally align with those observed in membrane structures.