A Toolbox for Towing Dynamics Predictions for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines: Validation and Parametric Study
Published: 2024
Publication Name: Proceedings of International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering
Publication URL: https://doi.org/10.1115/OMAE2024-121713
Abstract:
The floating offshore wind industry is growing rapidly, with increased capacity goals and expanding commercial project opportunities in the coming years. An important marine operation related to floating offshore wind is towing. The safety and cost of a tow operation are highly dependent on the choice of a suitable tug and tow speed, as well as the forces expected to act on the towing system. In the presence of waves, significant dynamic towline tensions can be experienced that may cause the towline to break. Therefore, predicting the tensions in the towline is important for efficient design and planning of the towing system.
The present paper describes a methodology for towing dynamics predictions and is implemented into MATLAB as a toolbox for planning future tow operations. The proposed methodology is able to (a) estimate the bollard pull requirements and static towing forces crucial for planning the tow operation; as well as (b) predict the mean and dynamic towline tensions in the presence of a given sea state. Two separate analyses are performed. In the first analysis, the towline tension predictions from the toolbox are validated against measured towline tension data from the University of Maine’s VolturnUS 1:8 deployment together with the results from a time domain model developed in OrcaFlex. In the second analysis, a parametric study is performed using the toolbox. The results of the study show the toolbox was able to closely predict the measured static and dynamic towline tensions. In addition, the effect of propeller race interactions with the towed floating offshore wind turbine was shown to significantly impact the predicted towline tension.