Impact of structural flexibility on loads on tidal current turbines

Transient simulations of a representative point of operation are performed considering the structural flexibility of the tower, rotor blades, drivetrain and other components. This comparison is used to quantify the individual and combined effect of flexibilities on the loads and performance. Therefore, the Voith HyTide®1000-13 turbine is simulated within this research in varying levels of detail to analyse the required level of modelling detail for load simulations of tidal current turbines and increases the understanding of fluid-structure-interaction in tidal current turbine applications.