Wave-Current Interaction Effects on the OC4 DeepCwind Semi-Submersible Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

In order to investigate the hydrodynamic performances of semi-submersible type floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), particularly the effect of body-wave-current interaction, the OC4 FOWT is considered in the presence of co-existing regular wave and uniform current fields. The wind loads are not considered at this stage. The problem is treated in the framework of potential-flow theory in the frequency domain, assuming waves of small steepness, and the solution is obtained by using a perturbation expansion method for the diffraction potential with respect to the normalized current speed. Analytical and numerical formulations have been used to treat the inhomogeneous free-surface boundary condition involved in the hydrodynamic problem formulation for the derivation of the associated perturbation potential. The hydrodynamic loads were obtained after evaluating the pressure field around the multi-body configuration using three different computer codes. The results from the three computer codes compare very well with each other and with the numerical predictions of other investigators. Finally, the mean second-order drift forces are calculated by superposing their zero-current values with the corresponding current-dependent first-order corrections, with the latter being evaluated using a ‘heuristic’ approach.