Hydrodynamic and Static Stability Analysis of a Hybrid Offshore Wind-Wave Energy Generation

Marine structures like Floating Wind Turbine (FWT) is exposed to the oncoming waves and wind that can cause oscillatory motions within the system. These undesired oscillations can have negative impacts on the efficiency of the system, reduce its lifespan, hinder energy extraction, increase stress levels, and raise maintenance costs. To mitigate these negative impacts, the integration of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) into the FWT system has been proposed. This hybrid system may be capable of extracting coupled wind-wave energy and transferring electrical power to the shared grid. This paper presents an investigation of the use of Oscillating Water Columns (OWCs), a type of WECs, within a FWT system. The purpose of using an OWC to increase the hydrodynamic damping and reduce the resonant motions of the floating wind turbines under environmental loads, including both wind and wave loads. This is because the wave energy from OWC would be very small as compared to the wind energy. However, OWCs can provide a damping source for reducing the resonant motions of the floater, especially the pitch resonant motions. This would be very beneficial for the power performance of the floating wind turbine and the structural design of the floater. The purpose of this paper is to redesign the original FWT platform to accommodate the additional OWCs by considering the hydrostatic stability and hydrodynamics since the new elements, the OWCs, can significantly change the response of the platform. The redesign of the original FWT involves the integration of OWCs within two out of three columns of an existing semisubmersible platform for a 12 MW FWT. To do this, two moonpools, which are consistent with OWC air chambers, have been created within two columns of the FWT. The water ballast was designed for the columns with and without OWCs. After that the redesign is done hydrostatic stability and hydrodynamics analyses are evaluated. The hydrodynamics properties are discussed in terms of the hybrid platform response as compared to the original platform. The hybrid platform was modeled using GeniE and the hydrostatic stability and hydrodynamics of the system was evaluated by HydroD, tools developed and marketed by DNV. The results of this study demonstrate the potential benefits of integrating OWCs within a FWT system in terms of reducing the platform oscillatory motion.