Hydrodynamic Simulations to Increase the Workability for Offshore Wind Maintenance Operations

In this paper, the operability of an Offshore Service Vessel (OSV) is looked into for different heading orientations of the vessel. Traditionally, the OSV heading orientation has been into the predominant current direction to prevent large beam current forces and thruster utility. However, such an orientation can lead to unfavourable wave headings which can cause large first order motions making it difficult to operate the gangway on board the vessel. Hydrodynamic time domain simulations were run for 1-year of hindcast weather data from an operational wind farm site in the Netherlands for different OSV heading orientations. The results of the simulations can be used to optimize the OSV heading strategy and increase uptime, reduce waiting time and energy loss associated to this waiting time.