GOALI/Collaborative Research: Efficient Multiline Mooring Systems for Floating Wind Turbines

该合作项目旨在开发一种新颖的、集成的、联网的海上风力涡轮机多线系泊系统，可以在材料和安装方面提供显著的资本成本节约，从而使海上风能的成本与其他来源相比更具竞争力。降低海上风能发电成本对于实现国家可再生能源目标和满足强劲增长的经济的需求至关重要。行业合作伙伴Vryhof Anchors是海上结构锚定系统的世界领先者，并越来越多地参与海上风能行业，包括为世界上第一台浮式海上风力涡轮机提供锚定系统。Vryhof将通过其子公司Vryhof America与学术研究团队密切合作，确保研究任务与工业需求密切一致，并确保学术研究获得最新工业进展的信息。Vryhof还将担任学术团队与其他行业联系人之间的联络人。为了成功开发所提出的多缆系泊系统，研究必须解决浮式平台在不规则风浪状态下的动力学、系泊线作用以及各种锚类型、土壤地层和系泊几何形状的锚土相互作用的力学问题。本研究的主要目标是提供一条途径，将海上浮式风电场的设计从单独设计和建造涡轮机系泊系统转变为将整个风电场的系泊系统设计为一个网络系统，从而大大提高材料和安装效率。具体的研究目标是：(1)生成理想化的土壤地层；(2)探索符合多线概念的风电场布局的几何设计空间；(3)开发海上风电场范围的空间相关风浪模型；(4)将系缆力建模为相关的随机过程；(5)使用三维有限元分析分析锚的行为；(6)评估候选多线锚设计的可行性和成本。该项目通过Vryhof工业协作和与设在乌缅因州的示范项目的伙伴关系实现了广泛的影响。教育协同是通过UMASS风能IGERT项目、UMSTEM多样性研究所和德克萨斯农工大学AGEP项目的研究生教育活动实现的。

This collaborative Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) project seeks to develop a novel, integrated, and networked multiline mooring system for floating offshore wind turbines that can provide significant capital cost savings in terms of materials and installation, and thereby contribute to making offshore wind energy cost competitive with other sources. Reducing the cost of energy generated from offshore wind sources is critical to meeting national renewable energy goals and for meeting the needs of a robustly growing economy. The industry partner, Vryhof Anchors, is a world leader in anchor systems for offshore structures and has become increasingly involved in the offshore wind industry, including providing the anchoring system for the world's first floating offshore wind turbine. Vryhof, through its subsidiary Vryhof Americas, will work closely with the academic research team to ensure that research tasks are closely aligned with industrial needs, and that the academic research is informed by the latest industrial advances. Vryhof will also act as a liaison between the academic team and other industry contacts. To successfully develop the proposed multiline mooring system, the research must address issues of dynamics of floating platforms in irregular wind and wave states, mooring line actions, and the mechanics of anchor-soil interaction for a variety of anchor types, soil stratigraphies, and mooring geometry.The principal goal of this research is to provide a path to transformation of offshore floating wind farm design from one in which turbines mooring systems are designed and constructed individually to one in which the mooring system for the entire wind farm is designed as a networked system with greatly increased material and installation efficiency. Specific research objectives are to: (1) generate idealized soil stratigraphies; (2) explore the geometric design space for wind farm layout compatible with the multiline concept; (3) develop spatially correlated wind wave models for the extent of an offshore wind farm; (4) model mooring line forces as correlated random processes; (5) analyze anchor behavior using 3D finite element analysis; (6) evaluate candidate multiline anchor designs for feasibility and cost. The project achieves broad impact through the Vryhof industrial collaboration and partnership with demonstration projects based at UMaine. Educational synergy occurs through the graduate education activities of the UMass Wind Energy IGERT program and the UMass STEM Diversity Institute and Texas A&M AGEP programs.