TowerSE Floating Tower Optimization Inputs

Wind & Water Computer-Aided Engineering Software Tools
1

Hi All,

I have run the TowerSE example for the 5MW tower optimization and would like to move on to a floating tower design. I have looked at the example used for the IEA-15MW design which included the WISDEM model of the floater in the file. For my design I have a floating platform I would like to use, and have a morison member model of it in HydroDyn that I use for drag and a potential flow model.

In the IEA-15MW example, the members are defined with material and thicknesses, which presumably provide the mass properties of the platform for the optimizer. Since I do not have these values, is it possible to provide TowerSE equivalent inertia and stiffness matrices at the tower base (similar to the input to BModes) to represent the platform?

2

This use case does arise occasionally, but WISDEM alone cannot yet ingest outside inertia and stiffness matrices in its design optimization. You have a few options:

  1. We are actively working on this input pathway though through the WEIS effort, where the users can specify summary properties about each component instead of detailed geometry info. However, that effort is still a number of months out from completion.

2a. Another option would be a do an inverse design optimization to reverse engineer the platform and mooring details that match the inertia and stiffness outputs. That would also be its own analysis project.

2b. You could try to use do an approximate version of 2a by using WEIS to generate an OpenFAST model with the options set to use your HydroDyn potential flow solution files. You could then design the floating tower in WEIS using time-domain DLC runs from OpenFAST.

  1. Some others may know of other options (perhaps with RAFT?). I will forward your message along.