Three-dimensional simulation of a floating wind turbine platform

As the need for renewable energy has grown in recent years, the possibility of creating and collecting deep-sea wind energy has become a research hotspot. Floating wind turbines need platforms to provide a stable working state and structural safety. This article focuses on the study of the dynamics of the deep-water semi-submersible floating platform OC4-DeepCwind. The open-source computational fluid dynamic toolbox OpenFOAM is used for comparative analysis of the floating structure motion response. In order to eliminate the influence of grid size and refinement level on the simulation results, a grid refinement study was conducted before detailed hydrodynamic discussions. In absence of wind, the dynamic response of the platform is studied under the influence of the impact with regular waves with different amplitudes. The effect of the presence of the tower supporting the wind turbine on the dynamics of the platform is investigated as well. Results show that the addition of the tower exerted a slight destabilising influence on the support's dynamic behaviour, confirming its stability against different wave height. Finally, the model has demonstrated its efficacy as a highly valuable tool for the simulation of wind turbines on floating foundations