Hydrodynamic identification of NAUTILUS FOWT platform from small scale tests

A small-scale tank test campaign of the NAUTILUS offshore wind floating semisub-mersible platform was held at the Ifremer Deep Water Basin within the framework of the MaRINET 2 project. The support structure consists in four stabilized columns on a square pontoon supporting a generic 8-MW wind turbine. The tests were carried out at 1:36 Froude scale in parked conditions, and the mooring system was modelled as a set of aerial mooring springs providing a nonlinear stiffness. The hydrodynamic characterization of the floater from experimental data was tackled by using traditional techniques in naval architecture), as well as approaches derived from operational modal analysis in the frequency domain, such as the Sub Space Identification—Covariance (SSI-COV) method. The validity of this approach and its potential application to the identification of such kind of structures is discussed against the results of a more traditional technique based on the fitting of decay tests.