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Simulation of tower shadow effect for a three bladed, upwind offshore wind turbine using Star-ccm+ software is researched. The model of National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 5MW baseline wind turbine is used in this simulation by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and the shear-stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model, aerodynamic simulations for the NREL 5MW turbine have been studied. Model validation and grid-independence verification are conducted in order to have more accurate results. The aerodynamic simulations of full machine model and blade only model are carried out separately. The impacts of tower shadow effect on aerodynamic performance of wind turbine are obtained by comparison of the two models. Influence of blade on tower is analyzed and the impact of tower on blade is also performed. Simulation results demonstrate that the tower shadow effect is remarkable. Tower shadow effect will cause some adverse results not only for blades but also for tower. Periodical fluctuation force is applied on tower and blade which causes fatigue damage easily. This paper can provide some references for further research about the influence of tower shadow effect on aerodynamic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research which developed a method of unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of a floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT). Topics discussed include the aerodynamic simulations for a turbine combined with OC3-Hywind spar buoy, simulation results of a fixed wind turbine and the effect of typical periodic surge, pitch and yaw motions of the FOWT platform.