Mitigating Underwater Noise from Offshore Wind Turbines via Individual Pitch Control

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: de Frutos, Martín, Botero-Bolívar, Laura, Ferrer, Esteban
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author de Frutos, Martín
Botero-Bolívar, Laura
Ferrer, Esteban
author_facet de Frutos, Martín
Botero-Bolívar, Laura
Ferrer, Esteban
contents This paper proposes a pitch control strategy to mitigate the underwater acoustic footprint of offshore wind turbines, a measure that will soon become necessary to minimize impacts on marine life, which rely on sound for communication, navigation, and survival. First, we quantify the underwater acoustic signature of blade-generated aerodynamic noise from three reference turbines, the NREL 5 MW, DTU 10 MW, and IEA 22 MW, using coupling blade element momentum and coupled air-water acoustic propagation modeling. Second, we propose and implement an open-loop individual pitch control (IPC) strategy that modulates the pitch of the blade at the blade passing frequency to attenuate the overall sound pressure level (OSPL) and the amplitude modulation (AM) of the transmitted noise. Third, we benchmark IPC performance against conventional pitch schemes. The results indicate that up to 5 dB reductions in OSPL and a decrease in AM depth 20% can be achieved with a pitch variation of $Δθ\approx 5^\circ$, with small losses (5-10%) in energy capture. These findings highlight a previously underappreciated noise pathway and demonstrate that targeted blade-pitch modulation can mitigate its impact.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_15707
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Mitigating Underwater Noise from Offshore Wind Turbines via Individual Pitch Control
de Frutos, Martín
Botero-Bolívar, Laura
Ferrer, Esteban
Systems and Control
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
This paper proposes a pitch control strategy to mitigate the underwater acoustic footprint of offshore wind turbines, a measure that will soon become necessary to minimize impacts on marine life, which rely on sound for communication, navigation, and survival. First, we quantify the underwater acoustic signature of blade-generated aerodynamic noise from three reference turbines, the NREL 5 MW, DTU 10 MW, and IEA 22 MW, using coupling blade element momentum and coupled air-water acoustic propagation modeling. Second, we propose and implement an open-loop individual pitch control (IPC) strategy that modulates the pitch of the blade at the blade passing frequency to attenuate the overall sound pressure level (OSPL) and the amplitude modulation (AM) of the transmitted noise. Third, we benchmark IPC performance against conventional pitch schemes. The results indicate that up to 5 dB reductions in OSPL and a decrease in AM depth 20% can be achieved with a pitch variation of $Δθ\approx 5^\circ$, with small losses (5-10%) in energy capture. These findings highlight a previously underappreciated noise pathway and demonstrate that targeted blade-pitch modulation can mitigate its impact.
title Mitigating Underwater Noise from Offshore Wind Turbines via Individual Pitch Control
topic Systems and Control
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.15707