15th EAWE PhD Seminar on Wind Energy

29-31 October 2019

Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France

A parameter study of the metacentric height role and limita-

tions in minimizing the trim of the DTU 10-MW wind turbine
mounted on moored spar-buoy floater
G Esbera, L Draacka, F Adama
a
Rostock University - Wind energy technology chair LWET - Rostock - Germany

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: A primary design for a moderate size spar-buoy floater suitable for the 10 MW DTU wind turbine is
introduced. Due to the high aerodynamic thrust acting on such large-rotor wind turbine, the tower pitching can
become relatively high, which makes it a key point to be considered in the primary design stage. In addition, the
floating platform is required to provide a sufficient dynamic stability to maintain stable energy production. How-
ever, it should stay cost-effective and limit the need to a complicated and expensive control system. The metacen-
tric height plays a vital role in the dynamic stability, since it is related to the hydrodynamic stiffness of the floating
system. Thus, in this study, minimizing the trim of the floating wind turbine was achieved through increasing the
metacentric height by using ballast materials with different densities. The effect of increasing the platform stiffness
on the spar-buoy pitch response was investigated with regard to the amplitude, natural frequency, damping ratio
and energy production. The potentials and limitations of this approach were investigated analytically and numeri-
cally by using the aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulation tool OpenFAST. The simulations were performed at the
rated wind velocity which is supposed to cause the maximal pitch inclination and with the blades pitch control
system deactivated. The results showed that with a moderate substructure size for the large-rotor wind turbine
“DTU 10-MW”, a satisfactory dynamic stability can be obtained only by using high density, commercially avail-
able, ballast materials.

Keywords: Offshore, Floating wind turbines, DTU 10-MW, spar-buoy, metacentric height

1. Introduction
Looking for better energy potentials and less legal restrictions, the market of wind energy is shifting
more towards offshore industry. This promising transition is driven by the research and industrial
achievements in this field. Several solutions for floating substructures have been introduced as concepts,
prototypes or real scale floaters. The first floating platform to be in service on a scale of wind farm is
the catenary-moored spar-type platform of Statoil company, which was used to support the Siemens
SWT-6.0-154 (6 MW) wind turbine of Hywind Scotland project. The conference paper [1] refers to the
advantages of the spar-type floaters. Design simplicity, onsite installation feasibility and the low sensi-
tivity to waves make the spar an attractive choice for manufacturers. The emerging challenge when
thinking about upscaling the harvested offshore energy is building an efficient large substructure to carry
the large wind turbines. Enlarging the long drafted spars has manufacturing, transporting and installation
limitations. Platforms aim to fulfil the hydrostatic and dynamic stability of the whole system. Hydro-
static stability is relatively easier to be satisfied whereas minimizing the pitch deflection without in-
creasing the dynamic instability is more complicated. Less pitch angle needs more hydrostatic stiffness
and therefore larger metacentric height. This can be achieved with limited platform size by modifying
the floater inner structure geometry or nature. For a spar, its more efficient to change the nature of the
ballast material. This study aims to show the potential of this method in obtaining a reasonably stable
and moderate-size platform for the relatively large DTU 10-MW wind turbine [2]. A spar-buoy based
on the Hywind-OC3 model is introduced in [3] as a floater for this wind turbine. It has a draft of 120 m,
a maximum diameter of 12 m with a maximum heeling angle of 6.77°. While INNWEWIND.EU [4]
project suggested a tripod platform to carry the DTU 10-MW. Both last floater concepts shortened the
wind turbine tower, while it was kept complete in this study.

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 15th EAWE PhD Seminar on Wind Energy
29-31 October 2019
Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France

2. Methodology
A moderate-size spar-buoy suita- Platform structural properties ( Ballast density 4000 kg/m3 )
ble for the DTU 10-MW is intro- Submerged length of the spar-buoy 100.35 m
duced. Concrete of different densi- Height of the tower base above SWL 15.00 m
ties as a ballast material was used. Properties1 of the cylinder under tower base (2.00 m, 8.30 m, 0.06 m)
The effect of increasing the meta- Properties2 of the taper above SWL (7.45 m, 0.06 m)
centric height due to ballast density
Properties1 of the cylinder crossed by SWL (10.00 m, 10.13 m, 0.07 m)
increase on floating wind turbine
Properties2 of the taper under SWL (23.90 m, 0.08 m)
hydrostatic and dynamic behaviour
Properties1 of the cylinder under SWL (72.00 m, 16.00 m, 0.08 m)
was investigated analytically and
numerically with the open source Platform mass without ballast 4585.55 t
Ballast mass 12063.00 t
code openFAST. The spar-buoy
CM of the platform below SWL -82.32 (Z = 0 at SWL)
properties are shown in table [1].
Platform pitch moment of inertia around CM 9343553025.00 kg*m2
Platform yaw moment of inertia around CM 642221381.00 kg*m2
1
(Diameter, length, wall thickness), 2(Length, wall thickness)
Table.1 Platform structural properties

2.1 Analytically
The relation between the metacentric height GM and the platform pitch angle 𝜃 can be derived at the
static equilibrium from the formula: 𝑀ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑙 = 𝜃 ∗ 𝐾 55 , where 𝐾55 is the hydrostatic stiffness coefficient
of the floating system in pitch direction. The following assumptions were adopted: Mooring lines stiff-
ness is neglected, platform pitch 𝜃 <15°, the nonlinearity in the metacentric height is neglected and the
highest thrust 1500 KN according to [2] is applied. Eq. (1) gives the platform pitch angle.
𝑀ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑙
𝜃= (1)
𝜌∗𝑔∗𝑉0 ∗𝐺𝑀
Where 𝑉0 is the displaced water volume and 𝐼𝑦𝑦 is the second moment of inertia of the cross section at
the water level. The natural pitch period is obtained by Eq. (2). [5]
𝑇𝑒𝑖𝑔 = 2𝜋⁄(𝐾55 ⁄(𝐼55 + 𝐴55 ))0.5 (2)
Where I55 is the pitch moment of inertia of the whole system around the centre of mass and A55 is the
pitch added mass. Pitch added mass of the submerged part of the spar-buoy can be obtained according
to strip theory by integrating the 2D added mass expression of the cross section along the submerged
body. The 2D Added mass of a circle moving in the plane of its surface is given by Eq. (3).
2𝐷
𝑎11 = 𝜋𝜌𝑟 2 (3)
The 3D added mass of a cylinder in pitch direction is calculated by Eq. (4).
0
𝐴55 = ∫− 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡 𝜋𝜌𝑟 2 (𝑍 − 𝑍𝑔 )2 𝑑𝑧 (4)
Where 𝑍𝑔 is the gravity centre vertical coordinate. The integration was applied on every part of the spar
independently so that the sum of all integrations gave the total added mass. The added mass was fixed
for all ballast densities.

2.2 Numerically
The open source software OpenFAST was used to estimate the pitch angles, natural pitch periods
, damping ratios and produced power at rated wind speed for different ballast densities with the blades
pitch control deactivated. OpenFAST is an aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulation tool developed by the
American National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

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 15th EAWE PhD Seminar on Wind Energy
29-31 October 2019
Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France

3. Results and discussion

With high density concrete 4000 kg/m3
, the spar has a pitch angle less than 6°.
However, increasing the stiffness led to
shorter natural periods. The ballast with
the density 7500 kg/m3 (Steel) caused a
pitch period of 29 sec when considering
the mooring lines. This value lays within
the waves periods spectrum and might
cause resonance. Fig. 1 shows the rela-
tionship between the metacentric height
and the pitch angle. As can be seen, in-
creasing GM decreases the pitch angle
but also the natural period. In general,
heeling reduces the generated energy Fig.1 The relation between the metacentric height and
°
and at 10.67 of inclination the energy the pitch angle
drop is more than 16% of the rated en-
ergy. By minimizing the pitch to 5.79°, this drop becomes around 6.6%. In addition, the metacentric
height was found to be in an inverse relationship with the pitch damping ratio. This relationship was
almost linear when ignoring the mooring lines damping in the simulations.

4. Conclusion
The metacentric height has an essential role in the floating spar-buoys hydrostatic and dynamic behav-
iour. Increasing it will minimize the trim of the floating structure and subsequently increase the extracted
wind energy. At the same time, it increases the natural frequencies which must be kept out of the critical
range of waves frequencies. An analytical approach can be used for a primary estimation of the required
metacentric height for a specific spar-buoy system and later the required ballast density. The available
high density concrete in the market, up to 4000 kg/m3, provides more flexibility regarding increasing
the stiffness of the floating spar-buoy systems without the need to increase the size of the substructure.

5. Acknowledgement
This work is part of a project funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERFE) of the Eu-
ropean Union and Ministry of Economic Affairs, Construction and Tourism of the State of Mecklen-
burg-Vorpommern (FK: TBI-V-1-277-VBW-097) in partnership with the industry in Rostock.

6. Bibliography
[1] Butterfield S, Musial W, Jonkman J & Sclavounos P 2007 National Renewable Energy
Lab.(NREL) (No. NREL/CP-500-38776) Golden CO (United States)

[2] Bak C, et al 2013 Journal of Wind Energy 124

[3] Xue W 2016 Design, numerical modelling and analysis of a spar floater supporting the DTU
10MW wind turbine MS thesis NTNU

[4] Azcona J, et al 2017 Design Solutions for 10 MW Floating Offshore Wind Turbines
INNWIND. EU Deliverable D 4 37

[5] Faltinsen O 1993 Sea loads on ships and offshore structures (Vol. 1) Cambridge
university press