Abstract
The need to further exploit offshore wind resources has pushed offshore wind farms into deeper waters, requiring the use of floating support structures to be economically sustainable. The use of conventional wind turbines may not continue to be the optimal design for floating applications. Therefore it is important to assess other alternative concepts in this context. Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are one promising concept, and it is important to first understand the coupled and relatively complex dynamics of floating VAWTs to assess their technical feasibility. A comprehensive review detailing the areas of engineering expertise utilised in developing an understanding of the coupled dynamics of floating VAWTs has been developed through a series of articles. This first article details the aerodynamic modelling of VAWTs, providing a review of available models, discussing their applicability to floating VAWTs and current implementations by researchers in this field. A concise comparison between conventional horizontal axis wind turbines and VAWTs is also presented, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of these technologies for the floating wind industry. This article has been written both for researchers new to this research area, outlining underlying theory whilst providing a comprehensive review of the latest work, and for experts in this area, providing a comprehensive list of the relevant references where the details of modelling approaches may be found.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1214-1225 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews |
Volume | 39 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2014 |
Funding
The research leading to these results has been performed in the frame of the H2OCEAN project ( http://www.h2ocean-project.eu ) and has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme ( FP7/2007-2013 ) under grant agreement No 288145 . It reflects only the views of the author(s) and the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.
Keywords
- aerodynamics
- coupled dynamics
- floating offshore wind turbines
- VAWT
- vertical axis wind turbine