EXPERIMENTAL STUDY FOR SPAR TYPE FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND TURBINE WITH BLADE-PITCH CONTROL

The experimental proof of the floating wind turbine has been started off Goto Islands in Japan. Furthermore, the project of floating wind farm is afoot off Fulcushima Prof. in north eastern part of Japan. It is essential for realization of the floating wind farm to comprehend its safety, electric generating property and motion in waves and wind. The scale model experiments are effective to catch the characteristic of floating wind turbines. Authors have mainly carried out scale model experiments with wind turbine models on SPAR buoy type floaters. The wind turbine models have blade-pitch control mechanism and authors focused attention on the effect of blade-pitch control on both the motion of floater and fluctuation of rotor speed. In this paper, the results of scale model experiments are discussed from the aspect of motion of floater and the effect of blade-pitch control.