Influence of Pitch Motions on the Thrust Characteristics of a 5MW Wind Turbine

With the increasing reliance on wind energy as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, much attentions are attracted by floating offshore wind turbines. This study presents a comprehensive analysis about the thrust characteristics of a wind turbine model under the influence of prescribed pitch motions. A 5MW wind turbine model is adopted as object of this study, and the numerical simulation is based on the open sourced software OpenFAST. The results indicates that for the base-fixed wind turbine, the mean rotor thrust increases with wind speed up to a maximum at a wind speed of $11.4 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s}$, after which it decreases. The numerical results indicate that pitch motion significantly influences the mean values and fluctuations of the rotor thrust. The findings are crucial for the design and operation of wind turbines, particularly for offshore applications.