International Conference on Energy and Environment (ICEE 2021)

Jyothi Engineering College, Thrissur, India, April 09-10, 2021

Preliminary Design and Hydrodynamic Analysis of Three-Legged Tension

Leg Platform with Wind Turbine

Nadir1, Chinsu Mereena Joy2,

1
PG student, Department of Civil Engineering, TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, India
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, TKM College of Engineering,
Kollam, India
email: 1nadirummer@gmail.com, 2chinsu@tkmce.ac.in

Abstract

Tension Leg Platforms are compliant type of offshore wind platform used for oil exploration
and harvesting energy from the sea. This paper discusses about the preliminary design of a
three-legged tension leg platform supporting an offshore wind turbine and its performance
against hydrodynamic forces. Detailed literature review was carried out for arriving at the
design considerations and procedure for preliminary design. A suitable location was selected
along the east coast of India for assessing the performance of TLP on site. The wind turbine
selected for study is a 5MW wind turbine developed by NREL. The specifications of turbine
and the tower supporting the turbine at top are taken from the study published by NREL. Once
the preliminary design was completed, the three-legged TLP was modelled in ANSYS using
the ‘Design modeler’ module and all the data were input. The structure was then analyzed for
its response to regular waves simulated by the ANSYS ‘Aqwa’ module. The responses of the
structure to different angles of wave and wind incidence is taken and compared for
performance.
Keywords: Tension Leg Platform, Offshore wind turbine, Offshore structures

INTRODUCTION
Wind energy has been accepted worldwide as the most developed, cost effective and proven
renewable energy technology to meet the rising electrical demands without compromising on
sustainability. India ranked 4th among the top 10 countries for total wind power capacity in
2019, bringing the year-end total capacity to 37.5GW from 35.1GW in the previous year.
However, even though India is new to the offshore wind industry, the Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy(MNRE), which acts as the nodal Ministry for Offshore wind energy in
India has set a target of 30GW of offshore wind installations to encourage the project
developers in India. MNRE has also implemented a project named FOWIND(Facilitating
Offshore Wind in INDia) led by Global Wind Energy Council and supported by the European
Union to help India transition towards cleaner energy production in the future. The project is
focused on two potential sites for tapping wind offshore- along the coast of Gujarat and Tamil
International Conference on Advancements in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME 2019)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jyothi Engineering College, Thrissur, India
April 10-11, 2019

Nadu. This study focuses on the preliminary design for wind turbine for the site in Tamil Nadu,
where studies indicate a potential of 35GW wind power generation according to MNRE. The
depth of sea at the site was found to be 200m. At these depths, fixed platforms are not an option
due to the high construction costs.
Withee(2004), was the first to investigate the TLP type floating offshore wind
turbine(FOWT) considering it as a fully coupled dynamic system. Since then, numerous studies
have been conducted discussing the technical and economic aspects of FOWT supported on
TLPs. Jonkman et al.(2009) presented a technical report defining a 5-MW wind turbine for
offshore wind harnessing. In her Masters thesis, Wayman(2006) mentioned that for a deep-
water wind system to be cost effective, turbine must be rated at 5-MW or higher. Wayman et
al.(2006) also developed the concept of TLP in collaboration with MIT and NREL. The model
was named MIT/NREL TLP. Wang and Fan(2010) improved the MIT/NREL TLP and it was
named South China Sea-TLP(SCS TLP) after the sea where it was developed to be deployed
for. Chodnekar et al.(2015) conducted studies on SCS TLP to find the effect of turbine on the
responses of the TLP supporting it. Bachynski and Moan(2012) conducted a parametric study
with different models of TLP(including 3 legged and 4 legged TLPs), supporting 5MW wind
turbine. At the end of study, the authors recommended a support structure with displacement
value of 3500 to 6500m3, with 3 spokes having radius between 28m and 35m to support 5MW
wind turbine. Philip et al.(2013) developed a quick and simple procedure for preliminary
design of FOWT. The assumptions made for arriving at the design procedure is linked to the
situation at the same site selected for this study. This study can be considered as a continuation
of the work by Philip et al.(2013) to arrive at the preliminary design of a 3-leg TLP from the
design procedure mentioned.

INPUT DATA

Site data
The location of wind turbine was selected from the study by Philip et al. The site is a
rectangular area of 400sq.km, located at about 52 km east of Tuticorin coast. The depth of area
was found to be about 200m. The points 8º5’40”N, 78º40’33”E and 8º29’40”N, 78º45’47”E
conforms the two diagonals of the rectangle. The depth of sea, along with the wind and wave
data can be easily entered and modelled in ANSYS ‘Aqwa module’ which was selected for
hydrodynamic analysis in this study.

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International Conference on Advancements in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME 2019)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jyothi Engineering College, Thrissur, India
April 10-11, 2019

Wind and Wave data

Wind and wave data of the site was obtained from www.waveclimate.com. A wind speed of
11.4 m/s and a wave height of 7m with a period of 12seconds is selected as the design wind
and wave data. The wind is modelled as a constant point force acting on the turbine placed at
the top of the tower.

Wind Turbine and Tower

The turbine and tower selected for this study was developed by NREL to support concept
studies on offshore wind technology. The properties of NREL baseline wind turbine was taken
from the technical report prepared by Jonkman et al.(2009) along with the tower. Modelling of
turbine hub and nacelle with the blades of turbine is a tedious process and for the purpose of
this study, the hub and nacelle were modelled as a lumped mass at an elevation of 97.6m. The
tower recommended by NREL has a tapered cross section which cannot be modelled by line
elements in ANSYS. Hence the tower was modelled by using an equivalent mass distribution
method suggested by Philip et al.(2013) The density of tower material is taken as 8500 kg/m3
to account for paint, bolt, welds and flanges as recommended by Jonkman et al.(2009).

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
The FOWT system achieves its steady state stability by the system’s restoring properties. The
restoring capability of the system is achieved through three general mechanisms namely
waterplane area moment, ballast, and mooring system. The mathematical models of restoring
forces adopted in this study for the preliminary design are taken from the study by Al-Solihat
& Nahon(2014).
𝑭𝑟 = 𝑲𝑿
𝑲 = 𝑲ℎ + 𝑲𝑚
where, K = Stiffness matrix
𝑲ℎ & 𝑲𝑚 = Hydrostatic and mooring stiffness matrices
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 𝜌𝑔𝐴𝑐 0 0 0
𝑲ℎ = 0 0 0 (−𝑊𝑧𝑔 + 𝐹𝐵 𝑧𝐵 + 𝜌𝑔𝐼𝑥𝑥 ) 0 0
0 0 0 0 (−𝑊𝑧𝑔 + 𝐹𝐵 𝑧𝐵 + 𝜌𝑔𝐼𝑦𝑦 ) 0
[0 0 0 0 0 0]
where, Ixx, Iyy = second moment of area of the waterplane area

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International Conference on Advancements in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME 2019)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jyothi Engineering College, Thrissur, India
April 10-11, 2019

Ac = platform cross sectional area

ρ = density of sea water
3𝑇 3𝑇𝐷
0 0 0 − 0
𝐿 𝐿
3𝑇 3𝑇𝐷
0 0 0 0
𝐿 𝐿
𝐸𝐴
0 0 3 0 0 0
𝐿0
𝑲𝑚 =
3𝑇𝐷 44
0 0 𝐾𝑚 0 0
𝐿
3𝑇𝐷 55
− 0 0 0 𝐾𝑚 0
𝐿
3𝑇𝑅 2
[ 0 0 0 0 0
𝐿 ]
44 55
3𝑇𝐷2 3𝑅 2
𝐾𝑚 = 𝐾𝑚 = + 3𝑇𝐷 + 𝐾
𝐿 2 𝐼
Where T = line pretension due to excess buoyancy
L = stretched cable length
R = fairlead length
D = fairlead depth
KI = optimum stiffness of tether = EA/L0
L0 = un-stretched length of cable

Design criteria
The criterion’s considered for formulating the preliminary design steps in this study are
1. Buoyancy force should be greater than self-weight.
2. Restoring moment should be greater than overturning moment.
3. Positive metacentric height should be maintained.

Keeping these criteria in consideration and using the mathematical models for steady-stability
of the system, an excel spreadsheet was prepared for the iterative process of arriving at the
preliminary dimensions of the structure. The result of the design procedure using the
formulated excel spreadsheet is given in table 1 below. The design steps utilized can be
summarized as follows.

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International Conference on Advancements in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME 2019)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jyothi Engineering College, Thrissur, India
April 10-11, 2019

1) Each of the component of TLP such as spoke,

ballast, hull column etc. are studied and initial
dimensions are established. Literature survey on the
topic is essential in this stage.
2) Hollow cylindrical steel sections are used as spoke.
They are formulated as Morrison elements (i.e. ratio
of diameter to wave length is less than 0.2)
3) Configuration of the structure is fixed such that
criteria 1, 2 and 3 mentioned earlier in this chapter is
satisfied.
4) The tether forces should be such that it does not
exceed 22070 kN, which is the maximum strength of
tether (Anchor Manual, 2010).
5) The geometry of the structure should be fixed
through trial and error approach, simultaneously Figure 1. TLP modelled in ANSYS

satisfying all criteria mentioned in the above steps.

Table 1. Parts of the proposed structure

Outer Thickness
Sl no. Item Section type Length (m)
diameter (m) (m)
1 Hub Point mass - - -
2 Nacelle Point mass - - -
3 Spoke Hollow cylinder 5.5 0.025 12.75
4 Hull (above MSL) Hollow cylinder 14.5 0.025 10
5 Hull (below MSL) Hollow cylinder 14.5 0.025 42
6 Concrete ballast Solid cylinder 14.45 - 5.9
RESPONSE ANALYSIS
Following the preparation of a fully coupled model of TLP, simulations were run in the time
domain. Dynamic analysis is done with varying wave directions to simulate the behaviour of
proposed structure in actual sea conditions. The structure is analysed for its performance under
regular waves. Airy’s wave theory is used for evaluating the water particle kinematics for the
assessment of hydrodynamic forces on the support structure. The responses of the structure to
different approach angles of wind and wave from 0º to 180º, with 45º intervals. The results
considered for the study are the responses of the structure for a 100 second time interval ranging

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International Conference on Advancements in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME 2019)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jyothi Engineering College, Thrissur, India
April 10-11, 2019

from the time period 3200s to 3300s. Here, the peak displacement for different DOF plotted
against different angles of incidence of wind and wave is shown.

20 Surge and Sway Response for different angles of incidence

Displacement(m)

15
Surge
10 Sway

0
0 45 90 135 180
Angle of incidence (°)

Figure 2. Comparison of surge and sway for different approach angles

Roll, Pitch and Yaw for different angles of incidence
Displacement(°)

10

Roll
5
Pitch
Yaw
0
0 45 90 135 180
Angle of incidence(°)

Figure 3. Comparison of rotational DOF for different approach angles

RESULTS
The response of the TLP support structure to incident wind and wave at 0º to 180º are analyzed.
The maximum responses for each degrees of freedom are plotted against different wind and
wave direction. The wind and wave are assumed to act simultaneously and in the same
direction. Variation of the responses are shown in the figures 2 and 3. The structure shows
large displacement in surge when the wave and wind directions are 0º and 180º. The response
decreases towards 45º and 135º and reaches the lowest when the incident angle is 90°.
However, the sway displacement is different. It reaches the maximum value at 90° and
decreases towards 0° and 180°. However, the maximum values are at 18 m, which is higher
than acceptable values at operational conditions, showing the structure is unstable.
Rotational motions start at slightly high values and decreases towards 45°. All motions
increase after 45° and reaches their maximum values at 90°. However, a sharp decrease is
experienced after 135° to very low values as shown in the graph for rotational degrees of
freedom. Of all rotational responses, yaw response shows the maximum displacement of 10.9º.

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International Conference on Advancements in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME 2019)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jyothi Engineering College, Thrissur, India
April 10-11, 2019

The effects of wind and wave forces occurring simultaneously from different directions goes
beyond the scope of this study and hence is not included here.

Natural periods
For the present study the values of natural period are obtained directly from modelling of the
structure in ANSYS Aqwa. The obtained values are shown in the table 2 below.
Table 2. Natural period of the system for different DOF
Motion Natural period(rad/s) Natural period(s)
Surge 0.16137 38.94
Sway 0.16139 38.93
Heave 24.21280 0.26
Roll 8.14899 0.77
Pitch 8.14950 0.77
Yaw 0.61904 10.15
One can observe that the natural periods of all degrees of freedom (except yaw) fall outside the
natural period range of sea (4s to 25s) which is a favourable condition. As for natural period in
yaw motion, it is recommended as in the study by Wang & Fan(2013) to increase the length of
spokes which can be considered as a viable solution to the problem.

CONCLUSION
The response under regular waves showed the structure has large displacements under the
selected environmental conditions. Analysis was carried out at different incident angles of wind
and wave, ranging from 0° to 180°. Graphs showing the peak TLP responses are given in Fig
2 and 3. The comparison study shows that the structure gives the least response when the angle
of incidence of wave and wind are aligned at 135°.
The important conclusions of the present work are,
• Natural periods of the structure fall within desirable range, except for yaw motion. From
literature study, it is understood that natural periods of surge, sway and yaw must be
inertia dominated in the first order wave force frequency in order to avoid resonant
behaviour of the structure i.e. natural periods longer than 25s is desirable for avoiding
resonance. However, Heave, pitch and roll motions should be stiffness dominated, i.e.
natural periods shorter than 3-4s are desirable for avoiding resonance.
• It was found that surge and sway responses are critical when the angle of approach of
wind and wave is parallel to X and Y axes respectively. Rotational motions marked
their peak response at approach angle of 90º.

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International Conference on Advancements in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME 2019)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jyothi Engineering College, Thrissur, India
April 10-11, 2019

• From the study, it was seen that at the angle of 135º approach of wind and wave, the
structure shows comparatively lesser responses in all DOF.
• The responses of the structure in regular wave analysis are beyond the acceptable limits
and hence, the structure must be redesigned to bring the responses within limits.

REFERENCES
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