Experimental Study on Motion Response of a Taut-Moored Wind Turbine with a Four-Bucket Foundation
This study addresses the motion response of a taut-moored wind turbine supported by a four-bucket foundation under wave loading. A 1:100 scale physical model was tested in a wave flume to systematically investigate the effects of water depth, draft, and anchor distance on the motion response of the four-bucket foundation. The model consists of four buckets (diameter 0.1 m, height 0.2 m) arranged in a square pattern with a center-to-center spacing of 0.25 m, connected by rigid members, with a total mass of 3.4 kg. Mooring lines are steel strands (diameter 2 mm, breaking force 1670 N, elastic modulus 12.04 GPa, tensile stiffness 0.378 MN). Regular waves with a height of 0.02 m (unit wave amplitude 0.01 m) were generated. Results indicate that increasing water depth suppresses the oscillatory motion response. Increasing draft amplifies surge and pitch responses while reducing heave response. Increasing anchor distance enhances heave and pitch motions but reduces surge motion during the slow-drift phase. These findings provide empirical data for optimizing taut mooring configurations for deep-sea floating wind turbine foundations, highlighting the trade-offs between stability and motion attenuation under varying environmental and geometric parameters.