Aerodynamic Study of a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine in Surge Motion Under Angular Speed and Blade Pitch Controls

Abstract

Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) experience dynamic conditions due to platform motion, requiring specific control strategies to mitigate loads and promote the wake diffusion improving overall wind farm efficiency. These problems can be appropriately modeled by medium-fidelity solvers, which rely on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) resolution of the flow while avoiding its detailed resolution around the blades, preserving high-fidelity in simulating the wake at an acceptable computational cost. This work adopts a medium-fidelity actuator line model (ALM), implemented in the openfoam environment, previously validated against experiments and multifidelity models in the frame of the OC6 Phase III project. The study analyses several operating conditions during surge motion: a variable angular speed in below-rated condition, conceived to maximize the turbine efficiency, and a collective blade pitch control employable in above-rated conditions to limit surge-induced loads fluctuations. The effect of each control strategy is assessed individually through a systematic comparison with the baseline case with constant angular speed and blade pitch. Results indicate that the angular speed control succeeds in increasing the turbine power and reduces the spanwise variability of the induction factor amplitudes. Conversely, the pitch angle control reduces the force amplitude but does not alter the spanwise trend of the induction factor amplitude.