Characterizing combined aero-hydrodynamic loading on offshore wind turbines considering wind-wave interactions

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2026

Abstract

Offshore wind turbines experience complex loading from wind and waves. Existing research treats wind and wave loading separately, neglecting the impact of wind-wave interactions on turbulent wind structures, combined aero-hydrodynamic loading, and power generation. This study characterizes the turbulent airflow over wave surfaces and evaluates the effects of wind-wave interactions on combined aero-hydrodynamic loading on offshore wind turbines. Using the open-source program OpenFOAM, highly turbulent wind-wave fields are modeled to analyze the coupled loading on a fixed offshore wind turbine under operational ((Formula presented), wave height (Formula presented) m) and extreme conditions ((Formula presented), (Formula presented) m). The simulation results show that the wave-induced turbulence and the wave-influenced region are affected by the wind velocity and wave heights. Under operational conditions, the gentle waves have a limited impact on the wind structure, primarily below the height of 20 m. The wind-wave coupling effect on the combined average loading and wake flow structure is negligible. However, loading fluctuations increase slightly, and power generation variability rises by 5.56%. Under extreme conditions, waves significantly amplify the wind turbulence by over 100% and affect wind structure in the region up to 50 m above the wave surface. Wind-wave coupling significantly increases the average and fluctuating aerodynamic loading, with the tower base bending moment rising by 5.27% on average and 32.96% in standard deviation. A peak corresponding to the wave frequency is observed in the spectrum analysis of loading under coupled wind-wave fields. These findings highlight the importance of considering the wind-wave coupling effect in offshore wind turbine design and operation, particularly under extreme wind-wave conditions.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Engineering Structures

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