Effect of Heave Plates on the Wave Motion of a Flexible Multicolumn FOWT

Abstract

Three models with different footing types were used to clarify the effect of heave plates on the hydrodynamic behavior of the elastic response of a flexible multicolumn floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT). The models were tested under regular waves, whose added mass, damping, and motion response results were compared with numerical simulations by NK-UTWind and WAMIT codes. As a whole, the attachment of heave plates was responsible for increasing the added mass and damping levels, consequently modifying the RAO of the models. Regarding the response in a sea condition, a decrease of 33% and 66% of the significant motion height (heave and pitch) was observed. Thus, the heave plate can be a good feature for the future design of FOWT.