Mean wave drift forces on a barge-type floating wind turbine platform with moonpools

Barge-type platforms with moonpools are a promising type of foundation for floating offshore wind turbines due to their good seakeeping performance. In this paper, the mean wave drift force on a barge-type vertical-axis floating wind turbine with multiple moonpools was investigated through physical model testing and numerical calculations using WAMIT. The focus was on the characteristics of mean drift load and its optimization potential. The present numerical results indicated that the application of moonpools was useful in reducing horizontal mean drift force at specific frequencies, and the reason was ascribed to the significant radiation effect of the resonant water oscillations in moonpools. The observed reduction effect on mean drift force was shown to be dependent on the viscous damping of moonpool resonance. The experimental results showed that the maximum response of the mean sway drift force was reduced by the gyroscopic effect of rotations of the vertical-axis wind turbine, and this reduction effect became stronger as the rotating speed of the wind turbine increased, but was weakened as wave amplitude increased. The comparisons between experimental data and potential flow predictions indicated that viscous effects should be taken into account to reasonably estimate the mean wave drift forces on barge-type floating wind turbines.