OceanSun’s floating solar island consists of a hydro elastic membrane attached to a flexible torus, providing a more cost-efficient alternative with natural cooling of the panels leading to increased efficiency. The current research focuses on the seakeeping characteristics of OceanSun’s FSPV concept specifically. Wave induced loads are of particular interest, as the feasibility of offshore installation strongly depends on environmental loads. Important responses of the membrane based FSPV are identified by the development of a global model based on linear potential flow theory, and linearly pre-tensioned membrane motions. Based on theory formulated by Grøn (2022), a modal analysis is used to describe the vertical displacement of the membrane-floater system. A numerical implementation of the theory in WAMIT is compared to experimental results from model-scaled tests.
Aurora Skare-Haavaag: An experimental and numerical investigation of the membrane based floating solar island
OceanSun’s floating solar island consists of a hydro elastic membrane attached to a flexible torus, providing a more cost-efficient alternative with natural cooling of the panels leading to increased efficiency. The current research focuses on the seakeeping characteristics of OceanSun’s FSPV concept specifically. Wave induced loads are of particular interest, as the feasibility of offshore installation strongly depends on environmental loads. Important responses of the membrane based FSPV are identified by the development of a global model based on linear potential flow theory, and linearly pre-tensioned membrane motions. Based on theory formulated by Grøn (2022), a modal analysis is used to describe the vertical displacement of the membrane-floater system. A numerical implementation of the theory in WAMIT is compared to experimental results from model-scaled tests.