Fluid-structure interaction simulation of floating wind turbines interacting with complex, large-scale ocean waves

ORAL

Abstract

We develop a numerical method for simulating coupled interactions of complex floating structures with large-scale ocean waves and atmospheric turbulence. The Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) solver integrates the curvilinear immersed boundary method of Borazjani et al. (JCP 2008) with the level-set method of Kang et al. (Adv. in Water Res. 2012) and is capable of simulating the coupled dynamic interaction of arbitrarily complex bodies with airflow and waves. The large-scale wave model is based on the two-fluid coupled approach of Yang et al. (JCP 2011), which employs a high-order spectral method for simulating the water motion and a viscous solver with undulatory boundaries for the air motion. The large-scale wave field solver is coupled with the near-field FSI solver by feeding into the latter large-scale waves via the pressure-forcing method of Guo et al. (JCP 2009), appropriately adapted herein for the level set method. We validate the model under both simple wave trains and three-dimensional directional waves and compare the results with experimental and theoretical solutions. Finally, we demonstrate the capabilities of the new solver by carrying out large eddy simulation of a floating offshore wind turbine platform interacting with realistic ocean waves.

*This work is supported by the US Department of Energy (DE-EE0005482), the National Science Foundation (CBET-1341062), the University of Minnesota Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment, and the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute.

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Authors

  • Antoni Calderer

    • St. Anthony Falls Lab., University of Minnesota

  • Xin Guo

    • St. Anthony Falls Lab., University of Minnesota

  • Lian Shen

    • St. Anthony Falls Laboratory
    • St. Anthony Falls Lab., University of Minnesota

  • Fotis Sotiropoulos

    • University of Minnesota
    • St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
    • St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota
    • St. Anthony Falls Lab., University of Minnesota
    • St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, 2 Third Avenue SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414, USA
    • St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, College of Science and Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota
    • St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota
    • Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory, Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota