Wind turbines and floating platform upsizing are major trends in the current offshore wind development. However, harsh environmental conditions increase the risk of anchor dragging and mooring failure when deploying large offshore floating wind turbines. Therefore, it is necessary to design a mooring system for the specific deployment site. This study aims to perform the mooring system design of a floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) operated in the South China Sea, which is a combination of the IEA 15 MW wind turbine and UMaine VolturnUS-S floating platform. Hydrodynamic coefficients were calculated based on the potential flow theory, considering the environmental loads in the South China Sea. Additionally, the hydrodynamic coefficients were imported into AQWA to calculate the time-domain mooring tension. The mooring design parameters, such as mooring line length, nominal sizes, and anchor point, were determined using the criterion of anchor uplift, maximum breaking strength, and fatigue life, respectively. The design criterion required that the anchor uplift is not more than the allowable value, the long-term breaking limit of mooring with a 100-year return period should be less than the maximum breaking limit, and the fatigue damage accumulation in 50 years should be safe. The mooring design procedure provides a reference for mooring system design and safe operation of large floating wind turbines in the South China Sea.
This study integrates offshore wind power and wave power generation technologies to build a multi-energy complementary renewable energy system, which provides references for marine clean energy development and is highly consistent with the global sustainable development goals. The platform consists of a UMaine VolturnUS-S semi-submersible platform and a group of flap-type wave energy converters. A 15 MW wind turbine is installed on the platform. The hydrodynamic model is established using AQWA. Combined with the upper wind load, the fully coupled time domain model of the integrated power generation platform is constructed using the open-source software F2A. The main purpose is to optimize the parameters of the flap-type wave energy device through frequency domain hydrodynamic analysis and then explore the influence of the wave energy device on the platform under the combined action of regular waves and turbulent wind through a series of working conditions. The results show that when the PTO stiffness is 8 × 107 N·m/rad, the PTO damping takes the optimal damping and has a higher power generation capacity. Secondly, the coupled wave energy device induces minimal hydrodynamic interference between multiple bodies, resulting in negligible impact on the natural frequency of the wind-wave combined platform motion. Overall, the wave energy device can effectively suppress the freedom of shaking degree of the floating wind-wave combined platform.