To enable the fast growth of the floating offshore wind industry, simulation models must be validated with experimental data. Floating wind model-scale experiments in wind–wave facilities have been performed over the last two decades with varying levels of fidelity and limitations. However, the turbine controls in these experiments have considered only limited control strategies and implementations. To allow for control co-design, this research focuses on implementing and experimentally validating more advanced turbine control actions and strategies in a wind–wave basin for a 1:70-scale model of the International Energy Agency’s wind 15 MW reference wind turbine. The control strategies analyzed include torque control, collective pitch control, and transition region control (setpoint smoothing). Our experimental and numerical results include the effects of varying rotor speeds, blade pitches, and wind environments on the turbine thrust and torque. Numerical models from three different software tools are presented and compared to the experimental results. Their ability to effectively represent the aero-dynamic response of the wind turbine to the control actions is successfully validated. Finally, turbine controller tuning parameters based on the derivatives of thrust and torque are derived to allow for improved offshore wind turbine dynamics and to validate the ability of modeling tools to model the dynamics of floating offshore wind turbines with control co-design.

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An array of seven autonomous hydrophones, deployed within 12 N 8S and 95 110W, continuously recorded the frequency band 1–110 Hz from November 1999 to November 2001. Four low frequency sound types were observed, similar to Brydes whale vocalizations previously reported [E. Oleson et al., Mar. Mammal. Sci. 19, 407–419 (2003)]. Two averaged 2.5-s duration and were commonly high amplitude sounds that exceeded the sampling frequency. Both had a distinct tone averaging 18.6 and 25.4 Hz, respectively, several frequency-modulated higher tones that resembled harmonics but were not, and often an initial short broad band pulse which overlapped the tonal components. Two were lower amplitude sounds that typically began with a single constant-frequency upper tone, averaging 36.6 Hz, 1.1-s duration, and 28.7 Hz, 1.1-s duration, respectively. Sometimes, an overlapping lower tone followed 0.7 s later, lasting 1.6 s and averaging 21.4 and 15.3 Hz, respectively. Occasionally the upper and lower tones alternated two or more times, with decreasing amplitude on each repetition. Differences in seasonal occurrence and geographic distribution amongst the four types were found. These results support the use of passive acoustics as a technique for examining existing and proposed stock definitions.