Pure Aerodynamic Load Extraction Method in dMatch for Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Model Testing

Abstract Due to the strong coupling between hydrodynamics and aerodynamics in FOWT, conducting integrated model testing becomes highly challenging. SJTU has proposed a distributed integrated model testing method, called dMATCH, which incorporates mooring, aerodynamics, control, testing, and hydrodynamics. The dMATCH method divides the model testing into two subsystems: the wind tunnel and the wave basin. By leveraging industrial internet technology, it enables integrated model testing through real-time exchange of aerodynamic load data from the wind tunnel and floater motion data from the wave basin. The accuracy of the method is highly dependent on the real-time acquisition, conditioning, and transmission of data. However, the load measured by contact sensors in the wind tunnel include both gravitational and inertial components, making the extraction of pure aerodynamic load a significant challenge. To address this issue, this paper presents a method for extracting pure aerodynamic load based on measurements from the top of the tower. By establishing relationships in the correction factors for gravitational and inertial components, pure aerodynamic load under various operating conditions can be derived. For two different wind turbines, the pure aerodynamic load extraction method was validated using both numerical simulations and experimental studies. The results demonstrate that the proposed method accurately reflects the time-domain characteristics of pure aerodynamic load. In addition, the numerical model fits the full frequency range well, while the experimental model shows good alignment in the low-frequency range but exhibits some deviations in the high-frequency range.