Scale Model and Ship Simulator Towing of the IEA 15 MW Wind Turbine on the UMaine VolturnUS-S Platform

Adam Roberts; Frédéric Le Pivert; Saied Kazemi; Tom Tosdevin; Adán López-Santander; Matthew J. Craven; Lars Johanning

doi:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.121732

Scale Model and Ship Simulator Towing of the IEA 15 MW Wind Turbine on the UMaine VolturnUS-S Platform

Adam Roberts^*, Frédéric Le Pivert, Saied Kazemi, Tom Tosdevin, Adán López-Santander, Matthew J. Craven, Lars Johanning

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Floating offshore wind turbines are expected to be deployed in significant numbers across the globe in the coming decades, with wet towing of these structures between ports and farms a key operation in their installation, maintenance, and decommissioning. Platforms are likely to be towed across large distances, and accurate understanding of tow dynamics will be crucial to optimising these journeys to minimise costs, timescales, emissions, and risk. This paper presents experimental and ship simulator modelling of the oceanic towing of the IEA 15 MW turbine on the UMaine VolturnUS-S platform. The work provides indicative data for floating offshore wind turbines under tow, investigates the effect of added wave resistance in head seas, and discusses some of the challenges with traditional modelling and the effectiveness of using a ship simulator to model study offshore wind turbine towing operations.

Original language	English
Article number	121732
Journal	Ocean Engineering
Volume	336
Early online date	14 Jun 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.121732
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2025

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Engineering
Ocean Engineering

Keywords

Floating offshore wind turbine
Offshore operations
Towing
Ship simulator

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.121732

1-s2.0-S0029801825014386-mainFinal published version, 8.25 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Scale Model and Ship Simulator Towing of the IEA 15 MW Wind Turbine on the UMaine VolturnUS-S Platform",

abstract = "Floating offshore wind turbines are expected to be deployed in significant numbers across the globe in the coming decades, with wet towing of these structures between ports and farms a key operation in their installation, maintenance, and decommissioning. Platforms are likely to be towed across large distances, and accurate understanding of tow dynamics will be crucial to optimising these journeys to minimise costs, timescales, emissions, and risk. This paper presents experimental and ship simulator modelling of the oceanic towing of the IEA 15 MW turbine on the UMaine VolturnUS-S platform. The work provides indicative data for floating offshore wind turbines under tow, investigates the effect of added wave resistance in head seas, and discusses some of the challenges with traditional modelling and the effectiveness of using a ship simulator to model study offshore wind turbine towing operations.",

keywords = "Floating offshore wind turbine, Offshore operations, Towing, Ship simulator",

author = "Adam Roberts and \{Le Pivert\}, Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric and Saied Kazemi and Tom Tosdevin and Ad{\'a}n L{\'o}pez-Santander and Craven, \{Matthew J.\} and Lars Johanning",

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month = sep,

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doi = "10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.121732",

language = "English",

volume = "336",

journal = "Ocean Engineering",

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T1 - Scale Model and Ship Simulator Towing of the IEA 15 MW Wind Turbine on the UMaine VolturnUS-S Platform

AU - Roberts, Adam

AU - Le Pivert, Frédéric

AU - Kazemi, Saied

AU - Tosdevin, Tom

AU - López-Santander, Adán

AU - Craven, Matthew J.

AU - Johanning, Lars

PY - 2025/9/1

Y1 - 2025/9/1

N2 - Floating offshore wind turbines are expected to be deployed in significant numbers across the globe in the coming decades, with wet towing of these structures between ports and farms a key operation in their installation, maintenance, and decommissioning. Platforms are likely to be towed across large distances, and accurate understanding of tow dynamics will be crucial to optimising these journeys to minimise costs, timescales, emissions, and risk. This paper presents experimental and ship simulator modelling of the oceanic towing of the IEA 15 MW turbine on the UMaine VolturnUS-S platform. The work provides indicative data for floating offshore wind turbines under tow, investigates the effect of added wave resistance in head seas, and discusses some of the challenges with traditional modelling and the effectiveness of using a ship simulator to model study offshore wind turbine towing operations.

AB - Floating offshore wind turbines are expected to be deployed in significant numbers across the globe in the coming decades, with wet towing of these structures between ports and farms a key operation in their installation, maintenance, and decommissioning. Platforms are likely to be towed across large distances, and accurate understanding of tow dynamics will be crucial to optimising these journeys to minimise costs, timescales, emissions, and risk. This paper presents experimental and ship simulator modelling of the oceanic towing of the IEA 15 MW turbine on the UMaine VolturnUS-S platform. The work provides indicative data for floating offshore wind turbines under tow, investigates the effect of added wave resistance in head seas, and discusses some of the challenges with traditional modelling and the effectiveness of using a ship simulator to model study offshore wind turbine towing operations.

KW - Floating offshore wind turbine

KW - Offshore operations

KW - Towing

KW - Ship simulator

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105007873777

UR - https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/secam-research/2128/

U2 - 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.121732

DO - 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.121732

M3 - Article

SN - 1873-5258

VL - 336

JO - Ocean Engineering

JF - Ocean Engineering

M1 - 121732

ER -

Scale Model and Ship Simulator Towing of the IEA 15 MW Wind Turbine on the UMaine VolturnUS-S Platform

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

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Entrepreneurial Futures. Nurturing, embedding and accelerating an entrepreneurial culture in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly: an agile approach from higher and further education providers

Tow tank testing of a 1:70 Froude scaled floating offshore wind turbine

Cite this

Scale Model and Ship Simulator Towing of the IEA 15 MW Wind Turbine on the UMaine VolturnUS-S Platform

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

Entrepreneurial Futures. Nurturing, embedding and accelerating an entrepreneurial culture in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly: an agile approach from higher and further education providers

Datasets

Tow tank testing of a 1:70 Froude scaled floating offshore wind turbine

Cite this