Session: 09-09-03 Hybrid Energy: Concept and Analysis

Submission Number: 182076

Numerical Assessment of Structural Performance and Passive Damping Effects in a Hybrid Wind–Wave Energy Platform Under Operational and Extreme Wave Conditions 

Offshore wind power can benefit from combined wave energy production, compensating in time and space with statistical synergy between the wave peaks that generally follow wind peaks. Such a combination holds several advantages, including enhanced energy yields, reduced variability, smoothed power output, and environmental benefits. Not only are hybrid wave–wind energy systems a promising way forward to counter some of the shortcomings of intermittent renewable energy sources, but also to elevate wave energy converters (WEC) technology readiness and preparedness. For offshore multi-purpose platforms, hybrid systems consist of floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) platforms that host WECs, which generally rely on purpose-built sub-structures that can accommodate WEC connections. For this, highly nonlinear hydrodynamic interactions among the various floaters are very difficult to predict with engineering tools. Thus, our work is oriented to supporting and promoting the development of offshore renewable energy sources, specifically focusing on advancing numerical modeling tools for verifications in scenarios where engineered structures are faced with extreme loads.

 

This paper presents structural performance estimations of a hybrid platform under extreme waves using the high-fidelity DualSPHysics code, which is based on the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method (SPH) for fluid dynamics, together with a multi-body system solver Project Chrono, which supports dynamics and kinematic motion restrictions. Therefore, our numerical environment provides the necessary functionalities to simulate the targeted DeepCwind–Wavestar hybrid platform, which comprises a DeepCwind platform (5-MW wind turbine) and three Wavestar devices, with a total rated power of 500 kW. We provide detailed data over the platform motion and mooring tension for an incremental analysis conducted for four different system configurations, swiping over the power take-off damping for the energy converters. From this extreme analysis, it is revealed that combined wave and wind energy platforms are more susceptible to wave induced loads when the wave energy process is not interrupted, suggesting how WECs combined to FOWTs do not generally provide a stabilizing effect unless more specific strategies are enforced. Additionally, we will present structural re-design of the FOWT to WEC connections according to expected extreme loads.

 

Presenting Author: Bonaventura Tagliafierro Uppsala University

Presenting Author Biography: Bonaventura Tagliafierro is a Researcher in Renewable Energy Systems and Numerical Modeling. Now Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at Uppsala University (Sweden) at the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, advised by Prof. Malin Göteman. Completed his doctoral program at the University of Salerno (Italy – 2022), specializing in design of steel structures and numerical methods for structural verification. Has been collaborating with EPhysLab (University of Vigo, Spain) since 2019 as a researcher and has also joined the DualSPHysics code project. Research interests include finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, dynamics of multibody systems, and coupling between fluid and solid mechanics. Computational methodologies include the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) technique: a meshless method for developing Lagrangian frameworks. Code applications involve wave energy converters, floating offshore wind turbine platforms, and steel structures, aiming at investigating performance under extreme events. Was awarded a Fulbright Schuman fellowship to research on the numerical implementation of control systems for offshore wind technology at Simulation Based Engineering Lab (SBEL, UW-Madison, US) using Project Chrono.

Authors:

Bonaventura Tagliafierro Uppsala University
Salvatore Capasso Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Iván Martínez-Estévez EPhysLab
José Manuel Domínguez Alonso EPhysLab
Beatrice Mina IUSS - Scuola Universitaria Superiore Pavia
Giacomo Viccione Università di Salerno
Moncho Gómez-Gesteira EPhysLab
Madjid Karimirad Queens' University Belfast
Alejandro Crespo EPhysLab
Malin Göteman Uppsala University