Background
This work was carried out within the framework of the HeLoFOW Project : The HeloFOW project aims to develop a hydro-elastic solver for the calculation of structural loadings of floating wind turbine foundations.
This project is a WEAMEC project with the funding from the Pays de la Loire Region and and Europe (European Regional Development Fund).
Abstract
This paper presents an original contribution to the coupled hydroelastic simulation of offshore wind turbines foundations. A non-linear coupled simulation tool has been developed to calculate the response of these systems. The hydrodynamic loads are computed by the non-linear potential flow solver WSCN, developed at Centrale Nantes and based on the weak-scatterer theory. The response of the structure is calculated with a finite element analysis tool using an Euler-Bernoulli beam model. The two solvers are tightly coupled. A first case study is presented here. It consists of a uniform monopile foundation in regular waves. Numerical simulations are compared to results obtained with the SIMA software, which uses Morison equation and non-linear wave kinematics. The two simulation tools show a very good agreement
in a series of regular waves up to the third-order load harmonic. Higher-order harmonics appear with WSCN in steep waves, which are not computed by SIMA.