Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) is a field of engineering that utilizes tethered aircraft for the generation of electrical power. The potential for the application of AWE in deep-water offshore environments on top of floating foundations is enormous. Where conventional wind turbines would require a very stable platform to reduce motions at the nacelle, AWE requires just enough stability to survive extreme conditions, take-off and land horizontally, and not negatively affect cross-wind performance. The requirements scale well with increasing capacity of AWE systems, which mostly influences the mooring configuration instead of the steel structure. That is why Ampyx Power started an investigative study into the floating offshore application of AWE in collaboration with Mocean Offshore, MARIN and ECN.
A driving factor in the design of the floating foundations is the maximum allowed motions in different sea states. The objective of this research is to determine the relative magnitude of the effect of platform motions on the landing performance. This will result in more clearly defined design requirements for both the floating platform and the aircraft. The method used in this research can be extended to more advanced numerical models at a later stage of the design to obtain quantified motion constraints or operational limits.
It is assumed that standard deviations of several parameters at the end of the landing approach serve as good indicators of successful landings. A numerical model of a tethered aircraft (RPA) making a horizontal landing in time domain is developed to determine these parameters in a multitude of wind conditions. By performing a Monte-Carlo analysis, the standard deviations of these parameters can be acquired. Especially symmetric motions (X, Z and RY) are expected to affect landing performance, which is why a 3DOF model is used. Then harmonic platform motions are included in the model in order to investigate what type of platform motions are most critical. Finally, the platform designed by Mocean Offshore is examined. By combining the motion response of this platform with metocean data at a reference location, the standard deviation of critical parameters is obtained in comparison to an onshore application. The motion response of the platform is determined using a numerical model that combines potential theory with semi-empirical drag formulations. This model is validated with basin tests at MARIN.
Simulations with harmonic platform motions indicate that both frequency and amplitude of platform motions are critical for the landing performance. The landing performance appear to be mainly related to the platform motion velocities. Therefore, increasing damping and added mass of the platform will both have a positive effect on the landing of the RPA.
When looking further at the results of the simulations with platform motions based on metocean data and the hydrodynamic, numerical model, it was found that the current design of the floating platform by Mocean Offshore leads to an expected decrease in landing performance compared to the onshore application. The performance decrease is not insurmountable, and multiple methods of reducing the negative effects on landing performance are presented.