A Review of High-Fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines

Abstract

The design and development of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) is an attractive issue in the wind energy harvesting field. In this study, the research related to the high-fidelity computational fluid dynamic simulations of FOWTs is comprehensively summarized and analyzed. Specifically, the component-level studies including aerodynamics, aeroelasticity and hydrodynamics are presented. The system studies with increasing complexity are performed, such as the simplified aerodynamics, prescribed platform motions and fully coupled aero-hydrodynamics, as well as a little knowledge relevant to the aero-hydro-elastic behaviors. This study emphasizes that some efforts should shift to the research on strongly coupled aero-hydro-elastic performance of FOWTs with the increasing rotor diameter. Moreover, further investigations of more realistic atmospheric inflows and strong interactions between multi-FOWTs are required. This study aims to introduce the hotspots of high-fidelity simulations of FOWTs to novel researchers, as well as to provide some suggested solutions.