Abstract

Keywords: heave-plate, hydrodynamic analysis, experimental modelling, numerical modelling, offshore wind

Heave plates are commonly used in floating wind energy for shifting the resonance periods of the platform out of the predominant wave periods and for damping the motion of the whole structure. During the design phases, heave plates are generally modelled in engineering design tools through Morison-type empirical formulations. These formulations are based on hydrodynamic coefficients that strongly depend on the flow properties (Keulegan–Carpenter number, Reynolds number) and are generally determined experimentally. Several hydrodynamic database are publically available that provides data for different shapes and flow properties but come most of the time from a literature dedicated to classical offshore engineering with structures relatively different to the ones developed in the floating offshore wind energy community (larger diameter of heave plates, larger amplitudes of motion, position wrt the free surface).
.