The Effects of Second-Order Hydrodynamics on a Semisubmersible Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

The objective of this paper is to assess the second-order hydrodynamic effects on a semisubmersible floating offshore wind turbine. Second-order hydrodynamics induce loads and motions at the sum- and difference-frequencies of the incident waves. These effects have often been ignored in offshore wind analysis, under the assumption that they are significantly smaller than first-order effects. The sum- and difference-frequency loads can, however, excite eigenfrequencies of a floating system, leading to large oscillations that strain the mooring system or vibrations that cause fatigue damage to the structure. Observations of supposed second-order responses in wave-tank tests performed by the DeepCwind consortium at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) offshore basin suggest that these effects might be more important than originally expected. These observations inspired interest in investigating how second-order excitation affects floating offshore wind turbines and whether second-order hydrodynamics should be included in offshore wind simulation tools like FAST. In this work, the effects of second-order hydrodynamics on a floating semisubmersible offshore wind turbine are investigated. Because FAST is currently unable to account for second-order effects, a method to assess these effects was applied in which linearized properties of the floating wind system derived from FAST (including the 6x6 mass and stiffness matrices) are used by WAMIT to solve the first- and second-order hydrodynamics problems in the frequency domain. The method was applied to the Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration Continuation OC4-DeepCwind semisubmersible platform, supporting the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's 5-MW baseline wind turbine. In this paper, the loads and response of the system caused by the second-order hydrodynamics are analysed and compared to the first-order hydrodynamic loads and induced motions in the frequency domain. Further, the second-order loads and induced response data are compared to the loads and motions induced by aerodynamic loading as solved by FAST.