Simulation and Development of a Wind-Wave Facility for Scale Testing of Offshore Floating Wind Turbines

The development of a new wind-wave facility for offshore floating wind turbine testing can be complex; outfitting existing basins with wind generation capacity can be even more of a challenge. We present the simulation, design, and construction of a wind generation system for use in a modified existing basin at MARIN for the purpose of new concept testing for floating offshore wind turbines. Computational fluid dynamics simulations using MARIN’s ReFRESCO software are carried out for wind generator design and flow characterization within the basin. Modifications to improve the wind flow quality from the designed configuration, with the aid of CFD simulations, are discussed for the constructed system. Measurements on the completed wind generation system show reasonable spatial uniformity of the flow and turbulence intensities similar to atmospheric wind flows. Finally, suggestions for the construction of similar testing facilities are provided based on lessons learned from this retrofit project.