Simulation and analysis of wave load on offshore wind turbines based on numerical wave tanks

This paper discusses the growing global energy demand, offshore wind power has gained significant attention due to its abundant wind resources and vast development potential. This paper focuses on analyzing the impact of wave loads on the structural safety and operational performance of offshore wind turbines, particularly the coupled mechanical behavior between waves and turbines. Using the wave2foam toolkit in OpenFOAM, a numerical wave tank was established, employing the VOF model to simulate multiphase flow. The Morison method was applied to calculate the load on the tower of a fixed offshore wind turbine under different wave conditions. Simulations of regular waves, irregular waves, and three-dimensional waves were conducted to verify the accuracy of the numerical wave tank method and the Morison method in wave load calculations. The study's findings demonstrate that the numerical wave tank method can effectively simulate wave loads, with results consistent with the Morison method. This provides strong support for future wave load calculations and design optimization of large-diameter offshore wind turbines.