Project title: Nonlinear stochastic dynamics and control of floating offshore wind turbines
Interest has been growing recently in floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), along with a rapid growth in wind energy more generally. Although FOWT is considered the most promising candidate for future offshore wind energy, its mass application cannot be realised before solving the vibration and stability problems, since the floating structure is subjected to stochastic wind and wave loads together with mooring loads.
The main aim of the project is to develop rigorous theoretical and numerical models for carrying out stochastic dynamic analysis and reliability-based design and maintenance of FOWTs subjected to extreme wave loads. Therefore, different models need to be developed during the project, including a mechanical model of the FOWT and a stochastic model of the extreme wave loads. All the proposed theoretical models will be verified and validated by existing codes, experimental results or measurements.
The project also aims at developing novel structural control techniques for FOWT under extreme wave loads.
Main supervisor: Assistant Professor Zili Zhang
