Motion control of a barge for offshore wind turbine (OWT) using gyrostabilizer

Amongst, the floating systems catering to the offshore wind energy, barge floater is the simplest structure but its limitation of application is constrained by its large motion. Mitigating these motions can help in efficient and economical production of energy. The present work focuses on the experiments conducted on a 1:50 scaled model of a barge without and with static Offshore Wind Turbine (OWT) with active gyrostabilizer 'off and 'on' condition for regular and irregular waves for three different rpms. The roll responses were recorded for a range of regular wave heights from 2 cm to 5.5 cm and time periods varying from 0.8 to 1.3 s and irregular waves with significant wave height from 3 cm to 5 cm with peak period ranging from 0.8 to 1.25 s. For barge, the maximum motion reduction observed was 60% and for barge fitted with static OWT the maximum reduction observed was 55% at higher rpm in regular waves. In case of irregular waves, significant response heights were compared. For barge, the maximum response reduction observed was 50% and for barge fitted with static OWT the maximum response reduction observed was 54% in irregular waves.