Ocean Engineering 147 (2018) 431–446

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Ocean Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/oceaneng

Research and development about the mechanisms of a single point mooring

system for offshore wind turbines
Yasunori Nihei a, *, Yusuke Matsuda a, Shinichi Kitamura a, Kazuhito Takaiwa b, Nobuhiro Kanda c
a
Department of Aerospace and Marine System Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1 Naka-ku, Gakuen-cho, Sakai, Japan
b
Bellingham Harbor Management, Kyobashi 7th Nagaoka Building, 3-19-2 Hatchobori, Chuo-ku, Japan
c
Tokyo Keisoku Company LTD, 2-62-17 Hagoromo-cho, Tachikawa, Japan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: A new type of floating wind turbine, in which the floater itself can rotate from the wind is proposed in this paper.
Single point mooring system A new single point mooring system is necessary for the development of this new wind turbine. In this paper, the
Floating offshore wind turbine single point mooring system, which includes component such as catenary chains, the slip ring for the electric cable
Weather vane system and the control cable were researched. This work will examine two different configurations of the single point
Real sea test mooring system that we developed. One uses a thrust bearing at the connecting points between the mooring parts
and the floater parts. The other one uses not only a thrust bearing, but also an aligning bearing. Weather vane tests
about the offshore wind turbine with each mooring system were conducted in an ocean basin. After performing
wind tests of both configurations of the single point mooring system, it was concluded that the latter one func-
tioned superior to the former one. This work discusses and clarifies the reason based on a physics model which
focuses on the relation between the restoring yaw moment caused by the mooring chains and the static friction
moment due to the bearing unit. We also performed a wind test at a real sea and verified that the bearing unit with
not only the thrust bearing but also the aligning bearing could function properly.

1. Introduction column semi-submersible. A 7 MW semi-submersible floating wind

Utilizing ocean renewable energy is promising as an efficient energy
resource in the future. Particularly, offshore wind energy is one of the
most anticipated solutions. In Japan's case, we have a vast Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ). New energy and industrial technology in Japan
has estimated that the potential quality of wind power can reach from
roughly 1500 million KW to 1600 million KW. Floating wind turbines
(FWTs) can be used for this even if the sea depth is over 50 m. For this
reason, FWTs are researched and developed all over the world. For
example, the first full scale FWT is being tested off the shores of Norway
(Hywind Demo, 2009). In the Hywind project, a 2.3 MW wind turbine is
mounted on a spar type platform with four catenary chains. Another
FWT project is being performed off the shores of Portugal (WindFloat,
2011). In that project, a 2.0 MW wind turbine is mounted on a three
turbine, in which the tower of the turbine stands on one of the three
columns of the semi-submersible similar to WindFloat was recently
manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry(MHI). (http://www.
fukushima-forward.jp/english/). MHI's FWT was installed near the
shores of Fukushima, Japan and as of 2016, is currently being tested for
power functionality and it's cost efficiency performance is also being
measured as well. Many other projects like these are also being con-
ducted all over the world (GOTO FOWT, 2013; DeepCwind Con-
sortium, 2013).
We would like to mention some technical problems here regarding
offshore wind turbines. In the case of horizontal wind turbines, blades,
a rotor, a blade pitch control motor, a shaft, a gear box, a generator, a
yaw control unit, and many other mechanical components are located
on the top of the tower. This top heavy state leads to the floater being

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: nihei@marine.osakafu-u.ac.jp (Y. Nihei), kitamura-s@star.bbexcite.jp (S. Kitamura), takaiwa@marina-eng.com (K. Takaiwa), kanda@tokyokeisoku.co.jp (N. Kanda).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2017.10.043
Received 18 January 2017; Received in revised form 16 September 2017; Accepted 19 October 2017

0029-8018/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Y. Nihei et al. Ocean Engineering 147 (2018) 431–446

Table 1 direction of the wind, causing potential blade damage due to the lack
Principal particulars of the wind turbine (values are in scale). of control if the wind conditions are too harsh. Pitch control motor
Item Unit Value failure is also a problem for the horizontal wind turbines (Faulstich
Diameter of the rotor m 2.4 et al., 2011). This motor failure leads to heavy bending at the base of
Length of the tower m 1.65 the tower due to too much thrust force. Damage to the tower as a
Tower mass kg 8.95 result of this heavy bending has been reported (The accident investi-
Nacelle mass kg 2.5 gation committee of Wind Park Kasatori Power Plant, 2013; Mizukami
Generator mass kg 8.4
Power output W 700
et al., 2016).
Our new concept for a floating wind turbine adopts the single point
mooring system. The first small model test which used a 1/100 model of
the 5 MW wind turbine with a stainless wire as its mooring cable was

Fig. 1. Photo of the floating offshore wind turbine.

heavier and bigger. It is better for some mechanical parts to be set

below the tower. In addition, when an electricity-based accident oc-
curs in severe weather conditions, the yaw control gear or the pitch
control gear will not function. In the case of trouble with the yaw
control gear, the wind turbine will fail to move properly based on the

Table 2
Principal particulars of the platform (values are in scale).

Item Unit Value

Diameter of the floater m 1.2

Length of the floater m 0.5
Diameter of the platform m 0.609
Length of the platform m 2.78
Platform mass kg 850
Ballast mass kg 330
Draft(FWT) m 2.375
KG(FWT) m 1.24
KB(FWT) m 0.16
GM(FWT) m 0.54
Mooring lines – 3
Method of mooring Catenary – Fig. 2. Floating offshore wind turbine model.

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Y. Nihei et al.
Fig. 3. Schematic chart of the system.
conducted (Murai et al., 2014). The authors pointed out that the
attachment point of the mooring cables must not be attached to the
bottom of the floater but rather some distance between the rotation axis
and the point of the wind load is needed for the FWT to follow the di-
rection of the wind. They conducted “weather vane” tests for the offshore
wind turbine in an ocean basin. The “weather vane” test checks to see it
the wind turbine can rotate appropriately in order for the turbine to
obtain wind power.
Recently, other FWTs using a single point mooring system were
developed and studied. SWAY in Norway proposed and developed a spar
type FWT using a single mooring system in 2012 (SWAY, 2012). They
performed a 1/5 scale test with the single point mooring but with a
tension leg as its mooring line in order to restrict the movement of the
FWT. Iijima et al. performed a scale model test of a semi-submersible
FWT (Iijima et al., 2013). Their semi-submersible FWT was moored by
a single point mooring but with the tension leg as its mooring cable. They
evaluated the slewing motion of the semi-submersible FWT (Iijima et al.,
2015). In their study, they derived a system of equations to outline the
turning motions in the horizontal plane under various environmental
conditions. Then, the stability of the turning motion of the FWT was
simulated. Another example of a single point mooring being used for a
FWT, was the company SCD, who created the Nezzy FWT (SCD tech-
nology, 2014).
In the field of FPSO technologies, some previous studies about single
point mooring systems have been conducted. The single point mooring
system, which was composed of a floating structure and an articulated
tower was analyzed by observing demonstrations of the simple harmonic
motion of the floating vessel and the tower in waves (Chakrabarti and
Cotter, 1989). In the designing of the single point mooring systems, the
dynamic stability of the weather vane motion was discussed (Obokata,
1987). In that paper, he applied his dynamic stability analysis to the
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Ocean Engineering 147 (2018) 431–446
single point mooring vessel. There has been some research which
addressed the dynamic behavior of the horizontal motion of the single
point mooring vessel (Obokata and Nakajima, 1988; Jiang et al., 1995;
Nishimoto et al., 2002). The research paid attention not only to the
horizontal motion of the vessel but also to the mooring tensions. In
addition, the effect of the turret mooring location on the vertical move-
ment of the vessel which was caused by waves was investigated (Thia-
garajan and Finch, 1999). In another study, a self-tuning fuzzy controller
for the dynamic positioning system of a single point mooring vessel was
tested and applied to the FPSO system (Inoue and Du, 1996).
When we apply the single point mooring system to an offshore
wind turbine, this system is roughly composed of the mooring chains,
the rotation axis, the bearing unit, and the slip ring for the electric
cables. As mentioned above, some research about this system has been
conducted. However, the specifics of the mechanics component are not
clear. So, in this paper, two types of the single point mooring system
will be designed in order to study the physics model of this mooring
system. To achieve the weather vane effect, the requirements for the
single point mooring system are clarified in Section 4 of this paper. We
conducted a tank test and a real sea test using an offshore wind turbine
model with single point mooring. In this paper, we will show the re-
sults of the weather vane tests.
2. Test model
2.1. Wind turbine model and floater model
We considered the detailed principal particulars of FWT which is
based on the design method of FWT. The Japanese industrial standards
(JIS) C 1400 and wind energy handbook were referred to for the design
of the wind turbine (Japanese standards association, 2013; Burton et al.,
2011). Table 1 shows the principal particulars of the wind turbine.
Considering the power output, the diameter of the rotor is 2.4 m. The
NACA 4412 was selected as the wind turbine blade. The blade is made of
urethane and there is a carbon fiber-reinforced plastics rod inside each
blades for reinforcement. The pitch control gear is located inside the
nacelle. Fig. 1 shows a photo of the completed wind turbine. Also, there is
no yaw control system since the single point mooring system itself can
function as the yaw control system.
Table 2 shows the principal particulars of the floating body. The
floating body is designed considering not only the buoyancy but also the
natural frequency of the floating body. The natural period of the heave
and pitch is 1.9 s and 3.7 s respectively. Fig. 2 shows the 2D CAD drawing
of the FWT. The floating body consists of two parts. One is a spar part that
is made of steel and the other is a floater part. The spar part has a
diameter of 0.609 m and a length of 2.78 m. The floater part has a
diameter of 1.2 m.
The FWT model mentioned in this section is used not only for the
tank test but also for the real sea test. For this reason, we don't have to
take scale into consideration for building the model. More detailed
information about this FWT can be found in this paper (Matsuda et al.,
2015; Nihei et al., 2015). In the case of a single point mooring system,
the slewing motion of the mooring system must be considered. How-
ever, the natural period of the slewing motion was not considered in
this work.
2.2. Mooring system
2.2.1. Weather vane system for an offshore wind turbine
A new single point mooring system for offshore wind turbines was
proposed (Murai et al., 2014). Fig. 3 shows a schematic chart of the
Y. Nihei et al. Ocean Engineering 147 (2018) 431–446

Fig. 4. Fundamental structure of the system (type 1).

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Y. Nihei et al.
Fig. 5. Resinous bearing.
Fig. 6. Slip ring.
system. As shown in Fig. 3, an appropriate distance between the mooring
point and the application point of the wind force is necessary in order to
create the weather vane effect. When the wind force blows on the wind
turbine, rotational moment around the mooring point occurs. Eventually,
the wind turbine rotates in the appropriate position where the turbine
can obtain wind power. In this case, the appropriate position for that to
occur is down wind.
In the test, the mooring line is one wire cable. The swivel (Fig. 3) acts
as a free joint between the mooring line and the floater. When an electric
cable and a control cable that is connected onshore are used, these cables
should be passed through at least two mooring lines or a pipe as not to
twist the cables together.
2.2.2. Weather vane system (type 1)
We developed a practical weather vane system based on the study
that was introduced in Section 2.2.1. Fig. 4 shows a fundamental struc-
ture of the system. We will refer to it as “type 1” in this paper.
The part of the floating body with the wind turbine is named “FWT
(Floating body with Wind Turbine)” and the rotation axis is named “RA
(Rotation Axis)”. The mooring chains are connected at the upper part of
the RA through the hollow steel pipe and fairleads. The electrical cable
and the control cable are attached at the slip ring and are passed through
the pipe.
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Ocean Engineering 147 (2018) 431–446
The members of the solid lines shown in Fig. 4 (b) and (c) are con-
nected each other, so they do not rotate because of the chains. When the
FWT receives the wind, the FWT rotates around the RA until it reaches
the appropriate position. The resinous thrust bearing, as shown in Fig. 5,
is used to make the FWT rotate smoothly around the RA. The slip ring to
connect the electric cable and the control cable is shown in Fig. 6.
Type 1 can be summarized as follows;

Resinous thrust bearings are used for the upper and lower part.

The mooring chains are connected at the upper part of the RA.
2.2.3. Weather vane system (type 2)
In this section, another weather vane system we developed is
mentioned. It will be referred to as type 2 in this paper. Fig. 7 shows a
fundamental structure of the system. Similar to type1, the electric cables
pass through a steel pipe.
The differences from type 1 are as follows. A thrust bearing (Fig. 8(a))
and an aligning bearing (Fig. 8(b)), which allow the steel pipe to become
more flexible, are used together at the upper part of the RA. Both bearings
are stainless steel. The lower part of the structure is submerged in water,
so a stainless steel bearing cannot be used. Therefore, flexible rubber,
which functions as a fender when the pipe contorts, is used instead. The
steel chains are connected at the bottom of the RA. The steel pipe and the
attachment structure of the chains are fixed and do not rotate.
Type 2 can be summarized as follows;

A thrust bearing and an aligning bearing are used together at the
upper part of the RA.

The lower part of the RA is composed of flexible rubber.

Steel chains are connected at the bottom of the RA.
3. Physics model of the weather vane system
A physics model that explains how a weather vane system functions
will be introduced here. We are specifically going to focus on the rotation
device and discuss which configuration of the rotation device is effective
and why. As shown in Fig. 9, the relation between the yaw moment
caused by the friction in the connecting point and the restoring yaw
moment caused by the mooring system is the focal point here.
Whether the system functions or not depends on whether the
restoring yaw moment caused by the mooring system is larger than the
static frictional yaw moment due to the bearing system or other small
factors. So we can formulate this idea as follows:
Mr  Mf (1)
where Mr is the restoring yaw moment caused by the mooring system, Mf
is the yaw moment caused by static friction due to the bearing system or
the other small factors.
A static frictional moment Mf must be measured in the test. However,
the restoring yaw moment Mr caused by the mooring system can be
calculated by the catenary theory taking its geometrical configuration
into account.
The derivation process of the restoring moment used in this work
will be shown by using some figures. The left model in Fig. 10 shows
the mooring point under normal conditions. The right model shows
the mooring point with the FWT and the RA rotated by 90 counter-
clockwise. Fig. 11 shows the mooring system of the right model as
seen from above.
When the rotation axis twists θ degree in the yaw direction, the
horizontal force caused by mooring cable can be calculated by the
geometrical conditions as shown in Fig. 11. After the horizontal force is
Y. Nihei et al. Ocean Engineering 147 (2018) 431–446

Fig. 7. Fundamental structure (type2).

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Y. Nihei et al.
Fig. 8. Bearing.
calculated, the restoring yaw moment Mr in the rotation direction can be
obtained. Here, i designates the number of the mooring cables. Then, the
restoring yaw moment is expressed by multiplying each moment lever li
by the restoring force Fri as follows:
X
Nn
Mr ¼ Fri  li
i¼1
Fri value is a projected value and includes a factor sin α, α being the
angle between the mooring line horizontal force vector and the lever arm
vector (with length value equal to the horizontal distance from the axis to
the top connection point of a mooring line to the platform). If α reaches
180 deg. then Mr ¼ 0.
4. Experiment and discussion on the single point mooring system
To know whether a weather vane system functions or not is the
most important and unknown part of a FWT with the single point
mooring system. In this work, we are focusing on the relation between
the frictional moment of the bearing unit and the restoring yaw
moment of the mooring cable. When the FWT rotates, there is the
possibility of the mooring cables becoming twisted. Figuring out the
requirements in order for this not to happen has proven to be a
challenging point throughout this experiment. For this purpose, we
measured the static frictional moment of the bearing unit. We are also
going to show the weather vane experiment results and discuss the key
factors of the single point mooring device using the physics model we
proposed in Section 3.
In this case, the down-wind turbine that we developed was used. In
this scenario, the floating wind turbine has to rotate around the single
point mooring system until it reaches the down-wind position. Even if the
floating wind turbine is upwind, it needs to be able to rotate into the
downwind position.
4.1. Set up of the experiment
4.1.1. Set up of the weather vane test
Whether the weather vane system functions or not is confirmed by a
visual observation. We carried out weather vane tests at an ocean basin at
the University of Tokyo. This basin is 5 m in depth, 10 m in width, and
50 m in length respectively. The wind in the tank can only blow in one
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Ocean Engineering 147 (2018) 431–446
direction. This facility also has a device that can create waves and control
the current of the water in the tank. However, our experiment had no
need for this device, as we focused solely on the effects of the wind rather
than the effects of the water.
Fig. 12 designates the relation between the FWT, the RA, and a wind
making machine using an x-y coordinate system. The wind blows from
the upper side to the lower side in this figure. The origin o is fixed on the
RA. A rotating coordinate system, as seen in Fig. 13 is also used. As
commonly known, when the FWT is located at 0 deg., it is said that the
FWT is set in the down-wind position.
The weather vane test is summarized as follows; In Figs. 12 and 13,
the FWT (shown in black) is located 90deg. as its initial position as an
example. If the FWT can rotate around the RA, the FWT moves to the
0deg position (shown in a translucent color). The weather vane test was
carried out multiple times, with the starting position of the FWT and the
velocity of the wind being the only variances. The FWT's starting point
was rotated for each test, each time by 45 . For 2 min, wind would blow
on the turbine, and we observed the FWT to confirm whether rotation
occurred or not.
4.1.2. Set up of the measurement of the static friction
In this test, the factors that have an effect on the static friction of the
RA can be revealed. Fig. 14 illustrates the schematic chart of the mea-
surement system. We conducted this test outside of the tank. The floater
was set in place using a jig to hold the floater. Then the handle of the RA
was pulled using a spring balance to measure the static friction of the RA.
The tests were carried out under four different conditions. Details of the
condition are shown in Subsection 4.2.2.
4.1.3. Set up of the measurement of the static friction in the yaw direction of
the floating wind turbine
We measured the static friction in yaw direction of the floating wind
turbine. Fig. 15 illustrates the measurement set up. First, the RA is fixed
by ropes not to rotate with the FWT. Second, the FWT is pulled in the
tangential direction using a spring balance. When the FWT starts to
rotate, we measured its load.
The test is performed at the same ocean basin as mentioned in Sub-
section 4.1.1. The tests were carried out five times for each of the two
types of FWT.
Y. Nihei et al. Ocean Engineering 147 (2018) 431–446

Fig. 17 shows the underwater photos of type 1. Fig. 17 (a) shows the
initial state, while (b) shows the result immediately after the floater
started to rotate. As shown in Fig. 17(b), the mooring system didn't
generate a large enough restoring moment in the yaw direction and the
mooring chains twisted together. (In (b), the dotted lines show the chains
which were twisted together).

4.2.2. Examination of the factors of the static friction

The purpose of this test is to examine the factors of the static friction
of type 1 and to derive a new bearing system. The test was conducted
according to the set up mentioned in Subsection 4.1.2.
As shown in Fig. 18 (a), the measurement of the RA with no extra
weight was taken in order to be used as the control experiment (case 1).
In case 2, weights were hung at both sides of the handles as shown in
Fig. 18 (b). In this case, the weights are used to simulate the weight of the
removed mooring chains. Three kinds of weights are used here. The
weights used here are 20, 40, and 60kgf. Case 3 in Fig. 18 (c) is an
asymmetric pattern in which a 40kgf weight is hung at one side of the
handle. When the FWT floats, environmental loads, such as wind loads,
wave loads, and current loads act on the floating body, the RA may
become tilted. In case 3, the effects of these asymmetric conditions are
simulated. In case 4, as illustrated in Fig. 18(d), the resinous bearing at
the bottom is removed in order to figure out how to make the static
friction smaller using only the resinous bearing at the top. Under these
same conditions, an asymmetric test using a 40kgf weight was also car-
ried out.
Fig. 19 shows each static frictional moment obtained from the ex-
periments. Each test was carried out in five times. The bar graphs
represent the averaged values, while the error bars show the maximum
value and the minimum value of each test. The distance between the
center of the RA and the attached point of the spring balance (the handle)
is 100 mm.
From these results, the following points can be observed. In the
symmetrical test, the static friction increases in proportion to the weight.
The increasing rate of static frictional moment in relation to the weight
attached to the RA is estimated at roughly 0.012kgfm/kgf. In the asym-
metrical test, even when a 40kgf weight is used, the static friction is
almost the same as that of the 60kgf weight during the symmetrical test.
Out of all the tests, the bottom free condition has the smallest amount of
static friction. However, the asymmetric weight condition makes the
static friction larger, even when the resinous bearing at the bottom
is removed.
Another single point mooring system (type 2) was introduced based
on the above results. That is, the reduction of the number of bearings and
reduction of the weight of the mooring chains are effective for decreasing
the amount of static friction. In addition, an aligning bearing, which al-
lows the steel pipe to become more flexible during the movement of the
RA is effective too.

4.3. Measurement of the static friction of the bearing unit in the yaw
direction

We discovered that the small yaw restoring moment due to the

Fig. 9. Physics model of the mooring system.
mooring system is one of two major reasons why the single point mooring
system does not function as intended. The other major reason is the large
4.2. Test results and discussion
amount of static friction caused by the mooring system, which makes it
difficult for the RA to rotate. So, we measured the static friction of the
4.2.1. The “type1” system weather vane test
bearing unit in the yaw direction.
Whether the weather vane system functions or not is confirmed by
The measurement results are shown in Fig. 20. The tests were car-
a visual observation. The overview of the tank can be seen in Fig. 16.
ried out five times for each of the two types of FWT. The distance be-
This test is conducted by following the procedure mentioned in 4.1.1.
tween the center of the RA and the spring balance is 1,100 mm. The

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Fig. 10. Restoring yaw moment caused by the mooring cables.

static friction moment of the bearing unit can be calculated by multi-
plying the load of the spring balance by the distance of the fulcrum. The
results are shown in Fig. 20 as well. The averaged values are also
shown there.
Fig. 20 shows the results of the type 2 FWT pulled by a spring bal-
ance as shown in Fig. 15. According to these results, the average static
friction moment of the type 2 FWT is roughly 77.8% less than that of
type1 FWT.
4.4. Discussion using physics model
tank test for the type 1 FWT. In this calculation, the length of the chains is
6.5 m and the density of the chains per meter is 1.5kgf/m. Water depth is
set as 5 m.
Essentially, the restoring yaw moment of the chains increases
depending on the yaw displacement of the FWT. The horizontal axis
designates the yaw displacement of the FWT, while the vertical axis
shows the restoring moment and the static friction moment. As we
previously mentioned, the requirement of Mr  Mf is necessary for the
FWT to function. Because that requirement cannot be fulfilled, the type

The physics model, as we proposed in Section 3, will be used to

discuss why the type 1 FWT did not function as intended and why type 2
FWT did function as intended during the weather vane test.
Fig. 21 shows the relation between the restoring yaw moment due to
the mooring chains and the static frictional moment obtained from the

Fig. 11. Top view of the restoring yaw moment caused by the mooring cables.

Fig. 12. Setup of the weather vane test.

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Fig. 13. Definition of the rotating coordinate system. Fig. 15. Measurement method of the static friction in yaw direction in the tank.

located at 180deg. from the initial state in Fig. 23 (a). After the wind
1 FWT cannot function at all. In the same manner as Figs. 21 and 22
blew, the wind turbine rotated around the rotational axis(RA) as shown
shows the same results as Fig. 21, but for the type 2 FWT instead. From
in Fig. 23 (b). Eventually, the wind turbine moved to the downwind
these results, the requirement of Mr Mf is satisfied when the FWT
position in Fig. 23(c).
rotates at least roughly 40deg. in the yaw direction. Photos from videos
we took of type2 are shown in Fig. 23. The wind turbine with type 2 is

Fig. 14. Measurement method of the static friction.

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5. Real sea test

5.1. Summary of the real sea test

After the tank test, the real sea test was carried out for about two

Fig. 16. Overview of the tank test.

Fig. 17. Under water photo of type 1.

Fig. 18. Test cases.

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Fig. 19. Static frictional moment of each test case.

months in Anamizu-cho, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. The test site and the
Fig. 21. Relation between each moment in type1.
setting point of our offshore wind turbine are shown in Fig. 24. In Fig. 25,
the water depth, which we measured by using a depth gauge, is seen as
well. The C-cross section shown in Fig. 25 is illustrated in Fig. 24. The
water depth gradually becomes shallower the closer it is to land. The
average water depth is about 7–8 m. Using a website called “NeoWins”
which shows a map detailing various wind conditions, we calculated that
the annual average wind velocity is 4.2 m/s at a 10 m height from the sea 5.2. Test result
surface (NeoWinds, 2017). The sea state was calm since the site is inside
the bay (see Fig. 26). As shown in Fig. 27, when the offshore wind turbine is located the
The rotation angle of the floater is measured by using a position south of the rotation axis, facing north, we will define that as 0 . Location
sensor inside the slip ring. The wind speed and the wind direction are will be shown in an ascending order clockwise from the top down view.
measured at point “X” as seen in Fig. 24. In addition, the three axis ac- In Figs. 28 and 29, the results of weather vane tests are shown. The
celeration of the nacelle and the bending moment of the tower are also blue and green dotted mark shows the wind direction and the direction of
measured every minute by various sensors and sent to the measurement the offshore wind turbine respectively. The solid red line shows the wind
room on shore via a telemeter device. In the area where we conducted the speed. The horizontal axis shows the time [sec] and the vertical axis
test, the tide level in our test period was small and the tidal current in that shows the wind speed (left) or the direction (right). It can be verified that
area was also very small. The electric power produced by the FWT is sent the offshore wind turbine rotated following the wind direction from
to the land through an electric cable. The pitch control system and the 1900 s to 2000 s. The offshore wind turbine also rotated following to the
braking system of the turbine are connected to the shore control cable. wind direction from 2300 s to 2400 s. On the other hand, some wind
The detailed information of our real sea test can be referred to in the
paper written by one of the author of this paper (Nihei et al., 2015;
Matsuda et al., 2015).

Fig. 20. Comparison of the static friction.

Fig. 22. Relation between each moment in type2.

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Fig. 23. Weather vane test using type 2 (wind speed 4 m/s).

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Fig. 24. Location of the FWT model.

Fig. 25. C-cross section in Fig. 24.

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velocity is necessary to rotate around the mooring axis. When the wind
velocity was less than about 3 m/s (3 m/s was the average from 380 s to
480 s), the weather vane system didn't work. It is hypothesized that
whether weather vane system works or doesn't work is based on the wind
speed, the upper structure of the offshore wind turbine, the inertia of the
floater, and many other factors. This problem will be discussed in the
next work.

6. Conclusion

A new type of floating wind tubine, in which the single point mooring
is equipped as a mooring system was designed in this work. The following
conclusions were obtained.

This work examined two different configurations of the single point

mooring system. The type 1 configuration uses a thrust bearing which
is made of resin at the connecting points between the mooring parts
Fig. 26. Photo of the FWT model in the real sea test. and the floater parts. The type 2 configuration uses not only a thrust
bearing but also an aligning bearing which is made of stainless steel.
The lower part of the rotational axis of the type 2 configuration uses
flexible rubber.

The static friction of the bearing unit in the mooring system in both
configurations was clarified in the tank test. The average static fric-
tional moment of the type 2 configuration is roughly 77.8% less than
that of the type 1 configuration.

The physics model that focused on the yaw moment caused by the
friction in the connecting point and the restoring yaw moment caused
by the mooring chains is introduced in the present paper. The physics
model clarified why type 1 did not function during the weather vane
test.
The real sea test was carried out using the type 2 configuration FWT.
When the average wind blows over 3 m/s, it is verified that the type 2
did function, however it didn't function when the average wind speed
was under 3 m/s.

Recently, floating wind turbines with a single point mooring system

Fig. 27. Definition of the RA and the FWT at the real sea test.
are being developed. When designing a mooring system, special attention
should be paid to the relation between the static friction of the bearing
unit and the restoring yaw moment of the chains.
At present, 700 W is the targeted power output in full scale. However,
it can be typically concluded that the relationship between the static
friction of the bearing unit and the restoring yaw moment of the mooring

Fig. 28. Weather vane test result in over 3 m/s wind velocity.

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Fig. 29. Weather vane test result in under 3 m/s wind velocity.
chains needs to be carefully evaluated even for multi mega-watt FOWT
systems depending on the mooring and bearing characteristics. In this
paper, the importance and relevance of this relation is clarified not only
based on physics model but also through tank test results.
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