Scientific seminar on offshore wind

On Monday 1 July from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm, France Energies Marines will be holding a scientific seminar at the Pôle Numérique Brest Iroise (Plouzané) on research topics relating to offshore wind.

Exceptionally brought together in Brest, four internationally-renowned experts will address a number of research topics relating to the design of offshore wind turbines and the study of the effects of OREfarms on the environment:

Erin Bachynski-Polić – Wind and aerodynamic loads on floating wind turbines: time- and frequency-domain models

Floating wind turbines have long resonance periods which can be excited by energy in the wind, and which can be particularly important for mooring system design. There is therefore a need to model these responses properly in both mid-fidelity (typically time domain) and low-fidelity (typically frequency domain) tools. This presentation explores some recent work on the effects of atmospheric stability and wakes on floating wind turbines, and on aero-servo dynamic models in frequency domain.

Erin Bachynski-Polić is Professor in Design and Analysis of Offshore Renewable Energy Devices. She works at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Emmanuel Branlard – Improvements to the Blade Element Momentum Formulation of OpenFAST

In this work, we modify the blade element momentum algorithm of OpenFAST to improve its predictions under large skew inflow conditions, and large cone and prebend angles. For cone and prebend, we introduce a new coordinate system for the projection of the momentum balance. For skewed inflows, we use Glauert’s skew correction and introduce continuous extension of the model for high-thrust conditions. We present the rationale behind Glauert’s empirical model and discuss the different conventions possible for the axial induction factor. We verify the model against the higher-fidelity lifting-line vortex method and blade-resolved computational fluid dynamics, and we observe that the new implementation enhances the accuracy and reliability of OpenFAST’s aerodynamic modeling capabilities.

Emmanuel Branlard is a Researcher on Multiphysics Modelling of Wind Turbines at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Lenaïg Hemery – Offshore renewable energy environmental effects research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is one of the leading research organizations in the U.S. conducting research on the environmental effects of marine renewable energy and offshore wind. As the operating agent of the international initiative Ocean Energy Systems – Environmental, PNNL curates the Tethys knowledge base on environmental effects of wave, tidal, and wind energy technologies as well as publishes the State of the Science reports on the environmental effects of marine renewable energy development around the world. PNNL is also strongly involved in projects providing guidance and recommendations for environmental effects research and monitoring around floating and fixed offshore wind in U.S. waters.

Lenaïg Hemery is a Marine Benthic Ecologist working at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Thomas Sauder – Cyber-physical testing, or how robots are taking over the hydrodynamic labs.

How can marine structures that are strongly influenced by both wind and waves be studied in hydrodynamic laboratories that are not good wind tunnels? In this talk we will show how offshore wind turbines, or sail-assisted ships can studied by cyber-physical testing, that is the real-time combination of (hydrodynamic) experiments and (aerodynamic) simulations. Beyond that, we will show how the combination of marine disciplines and cybernetics, in the lab and at full-scale, enables a deeper understanding of existing and future floating systems.

Thomas Michel Sauder is a Senior Research Scientist in Cyber-physical Testing and Applications to Marine Technology working at Sintef

These experts are part of the Scientific and Technological Committee (CST) of France Energies Marines. Independent and leading experts in their field, they are tasked with critically reviewing our roadmap and making recommendations for improving the R&D projects supported by our Institute.

Photo credit: Fill/Pixabay, NTNU, NREL, PNNL, Sintef