Title：Interesting Observation in Floating Wind Turbine Modelling

Reporter：Prof.Wenhua Zhao

Time：2025.9.22（Monday）9:40-12:00

Venue：F3b-112, Guangzhou International Campus, South China University of Technology

Abstract：

Floating offshore wind energy is poised to be the next frontier in marine renewable energy, unlocking the immense potential of marine resources. It is essential to accurately predict the responses of floating wind turbines. Potential flow calculations seem to deviate from experimental studies, particularly under severe sea states where viscosity plays a significant role.Focusing on a semi-submersible type of floating wind turbine, a series of experiments in a wave basin have been re-analysed using novel data analysis techniques.Interesting and new phenomena are observed and will be introduced in this presentation. Viscosity is found to affect both the response amplitude (via damping) and the natural frequency (via extra added mass) - way beyond the damping effect in a damped spring system.

Resume:

Wenhua Zhao is an Associate Professor at University of Queensland (World top 50). He is a DECRA Fellow and Future Fellow Prof. Zhao has been serving as a Deputy Editor for the leading journal of Ocean Engineering, Associated Editor for the Journal of OMAE and editorial board member for Applied Ocean Research.

His research focuses on offshore hydrodynamics, which has been disseminated in 120+ peer-reviewed papers spanning prestigious journals such as Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Ocean Engineering and Renewable Energy (75+ SCI journal papers). Further, he was elected as a By-Fellow at Cambridge University in 2020.