Offshore Floating Wind Turbine Operation & Maintenance

The mix of energy supply worldwide has changed dramatically in the last few decades. Worldwide, in order to tackle climate change and increasing energy consumption, there has been a clear movement from fossils towards renewable and sustainable energy sources. Wind energy, for example, has generated 98% of Scottish electricity demand in October 2018, which has established a world-class record.
Compared with onshore wind turbines, offshore wind could provide relatively larger capacity and a lower level of noise pollution, etc. As the wind industry moving to deeper water depth, fixed type wind turbines are no longer suitable, floating wind turbines must be applied. On the other hand, unlike onshore wind turbines, due to the harsh environment they are operating environment and the multifaceted structural components, the model of dynamics for offshore floating wind turbines, especially in the O&M phase needs to be developed.
This project will first investigate the simulation of wind turbine operations based on advanced numerical methods. This work will also focus on developing a detailed model for the dynamics of wind turbines, including a comprehensive simulation of the mechanical part (i.e. aero-hydro-servo-elastic, AHSE). Through the simulated load effects, responses in normal operation and extreme conditions will be solved by a coupled model of the wind turbine system, which is significant for operation and maintenance. Meanwhile, the fast-growing of data science, which will still be a promising field over the next 10 years, especially in the wind energy sector, will be applied in this project together with the development and analysis of the AHSE model for speed/power forecasting & predictions and fault detection & diagnosis.