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Main Authors: Fontanella, Alessandro, Milic, Kristjan, Facchinetti, Alan, Muggiasca, Sara, Belloli, Marco
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.06964
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author Fontanella, Alessandro
Milic, Kristjan
Facchinetti, Alan
Muggiasca, Sara
Belloli, Marco
author_facet Fontanella, Alessandro
Milic, Kristjan
Facchinetti, Alan
Muggiasca, Sara
Belloli, Marco
contents Wake interactions in floating wind farms are inherently coupled to platform motion, yet most experimental studies to date neglect this two-way coupling by prescribing platform movements. This work presents a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) wind-tunnel methodology to investigate wake interactions between two floating wind turbines with fully coupled aerodynamic loading and platform dynamics. The approach integrates physical wind-tunnel testing of two scaled rotors with a real-time numerical model that accounts for platform motion, mooring restoring forces, and hydrodynamic loads. Experiments conducted under low-turbulence inflow conditions show that a downstream turbine operating in the wake of an upstream turbine experiences reduced mean thrust and platform deflections due to the decreased inflow velocity, alongside enhanced low-frequency platform motions driven by increased turbulent energy in the wake. The proposed HIL framework provides a controlled experimental basis for studying wake-induced excitation mechanisms and supports the validation of floating wind farm models and control strategies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_06964
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Hardware-in-the-loop wind-tunnel testing of wake interactions between two floating wind turbines
Fontanella, Alessandro
Milic, Kristjan
Facchinetti, Alan
Muggiasca, Sara
Belloli, Marco
Systems and Control
Wake interactions in floating wind farms are inherently coupled to platform motion, yet most experimental studies to date neglect this two-way coupling by prescribing platform movements. This work presents a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) wind-tunnel methodology to investigate wake interactions between two floating wind turbines with fully coupled aerodynamic loading and platform dynamics. The approach integrates physical wind-tunnel testing of two scaled rotors with a real-time numerical model that accounts for platform motion, mooring restoring forces, and hydrodynamic loads. Experiments conducted under low-turbulence inflow conditions show that a downstream turbine operating in the wake of an upstream turbine experiences reduced mean thrust and platform deflections due to the decreased inflow velocity, alongside enhanced low-frequency platform motions driven by increased turbulent energy in the wake. The proposed HIL framework provides a controlled experimental basis for studying wake-induced excitation mechanisms and supports the validation of floating wind farm models and control strategies.
title Hardware-in-the-loop wind-tunnel testing of wake interactions between two floating wind turbines
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.06964