Comparative study of dynamic characteristics between a FHAWT and a helical type FVAWT

Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) are a growing area of interest, with significant ongoing research work and commercial development. There are two types of FOWT, namely floating horizontal axis wind turbine (FHAWT) and floating vertical axis wind turbine (FVAWT). It has been a long-standing debate on which type of FOWT has better technical and economic performance. However, the research work on comparative study of these two types of FOWT is very rare. In this study, we aim to systematically evaluate the performance of FHAWT and FVAWT, with particular focus on comparing their dynamic characteristics by using coupled numerical models. Tank testing for these two types of FOWT was conducted at the wave basin, and a series of code-to-experiment comparisons were carried out to validate the numerical models. Afterwards, dynamic characteristics, including the control strategy, aerodynamic power, floater motions, tower base bending moments, and blade deformations, are compared between the FHAWT and helical type FVAWT. Results show that the FHAWT presents better performance on the aerodynamic performance and tower base bending moments, while the helical type FVAWT has the advantage of minimal blade deformations.