MAS540 Offshore Wind Engineering

Contents and structure

There is significant global interest for harnessing renewable energy from the Earth’s oceans. With Europe’s greatest wind resource, it is no surprise that offshore wind energy is a key area of research and development in Norway. Yet the limited access to shallow-water locations is driving a push to floating platforms, posing new technological and logistical challenges. Other marine energy conversion methods are also possible, especially a co-location of tidal stream energy with offshore wind.

This course is intended to give an in-depth overview of offshore wind turbines, focusing on applied knowledge for their design and operation. The intended learning outcomes are to provide the student with a broad understanding of the physical processes in conversion of resource into power output, along with an appreciation of the economic, environmental and legislative constraints. The module aims to equip students for future roles in industry and academia related to offshore wind energy.

Contents

• Introduction to offshore wind energy - An overview and history of ocean energy conversion methods, the market, costs, legislation and current trends.
• Met-ocean characteristics: Variability in wind, waves and tidal streams and their statistical description.
• Wind turbine aerodynamics: Airfoil theory, Flow around a turbine blade, Blade-element momentum (BEM) theory, Turbine control and operation, Wake and wind farm flows.
• Flow simulation and optimization of wind turbine flows on different scales: Panel methods for simplified flow simulation, use of optimization algorithms for improved design.
• Offshore wind hydrodynamics: Basic wave theory, Loads on bottom-fixed offshore turbines. Floating wind foundations, Installation and maintenance, Environmental impact, Innovative concepts.
• Tidal energy: Tidal barrage vs. tidal stream energy conversion. Basic tidal stream concepts, Co-location with offshore wind, Power enhancement in channel flows, Fluctuating loads, Cavitation.

Learning Outcome

A student who completes the course in MAS540 should be able to:

Knowledge

• Qualitatively describe the wind, wave and tidal resource and understand appropriate statistical models.
• Demonstrate an understanding of various offshore wind concepts, distinguish their respective advantages and disadvantages and communicate underlying physical limits.
• Appreciate current challenges with respect to design, installation and guidelines, and appreciate their implications in a wider engineering context.
• Apply industry-standard tools and engineering concepts for accessing device performance and viability.

Skills

• Calculate power output and loads for typical offshore wind and tidal energy devices.
• Combine resource data with power calculations for estimating energy yield.
• Application and development of relevant industry software and computational engineering tools for device design and analysis.
• Creative use of knowledge in order to formulate own solutions, designs and configurations to satisfy economical and physical considerations.

General competence

• Technical report writing and advanced computational skills.
• Clear use of correct scientific notation and writing of complex calculations and derivations.
• Ability to work in groups and individually.

Entry requirements

None.

Recommended previous knowledge

MAS123: Energy: Consumption, sources and technology.

MAS220: Introduction to fluid mechanics.

Basic knowledge in Matlab or Python.

Teaching methods

Lectures based on slides and literature sources. Practical lab exercises using engineering software.

Compulsory learning activities

Two compulsory written group reports

• Two written laboratory reports.
• Compulsory attendance during group work.

Assessment

Written exam, 4 hours.

Place and time will be announced on Studentweb.

Grade scale A-F, where F is a fail.

Examination support material

All types of scientific calculators allowed.

General formulary is attached to the exam.

More about examination support material

Course reductions

• MAS312 - Fornybar havenergi - Reduction: 10 studypoints