Advances in biomimetic floating platforms for offshore wind energy through hydrodynamic design modeling and experimental studies

Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) are critical for harnessing deep-water wind resources; however, conventional support structures, spar, semi-submersible, and tension-leg platforms, continue to encounter challenges related to hydrodynamic stability, fatigue loading, installation complexity, and lifecycle cost. This paper presents a comprehensive review and critical assessment of biomimetically inspired floating platform geometries as an emerging design direction for next-generation FOWTs. Drawing inspiration from naturally optimized forms such as water droplets, marine organisms, and iceberg geometries, streamlined biomimetic configurations are envisioned to mitigate wave excitation and viscous drag. Reported studies indicate potential hydrodynamic drag reductions of approximately 10–20%, pitch/heave motion mitigation on the order of 10–25% under representative wave conditions, and associated reductions in peak mooring loads compared to conventional geometries. While these findings remain largely simulation- and prototype-based, they suggest meaningful performance advantages warranting further investigation. This review synthesizes existing analytical stability formulations, including buoyancy distribution, metacentric height considerations, and natural frequency tuning and evaluates numerical modeling approaches ranging from potential-flow and Morison-based formulations to high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Experimental validation strategies, including scaled wave-basin testing and advanced instrumentation techniques, are also examined. In addition, the paper discusses the integration of embedded sensing, wireless telemetry, and edge analytics to support structural health monitoring and digital twin frameworks for future biomimetic platforms. Key research gaps are identified, particularly in multi-megawatt scaling, manufacturability, ecological considerations, and long-term structural reliability. In a nutshell, biomimetic droplet-inspired platforms are positioned as a promising and forward-looking design paradigm, offering potential hydrodynamic and lifecycle advantages while requiring systematic validation before large-scale deployment.