Droplet-inspired floating platforms for sustainable offshore wind turbines optimization and stability validation
Faten JARRAR, Maitha AL SUWAIDI, Nasir SAEED
Abstract. The shift to clean energy would demand new technologies to utilize the offshore wind, in particular the waters more than 5060 m deep where bottom-mounted turbines cannot be deployed! The use of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWTs) opens up massive untapped wind energy such that it can enable global Net-Zero and Sustainable Development Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. The development of the oil-and-gas-based structures to special platforms. FOWTs are satisfying the need of resilient and economical solutions that can survive the demanding conditions of the sea. Conventional platforms like, Spars, Semi-submersibles, and Tension Leg Platforms (TLPs) are not very easy. These spars are suitable in deep waters but hard to make and to carry as the turbine sizes grow. Conversely, semi-submersibles involve sophisticated dynamic analyses that cannot be done in rigid-body, TLPs provide stability at a high cost and tend to experience tendon fatigue. This paper presents a new design of a biomimetic floating platform, based upon the fluid-optimized geometry of water droplets, which is characterized by conical and semi-spherical parts, reducing the hydrodynamic loading and enhancing the stability by suppressing the pitch, heave, and surge motions caused by the waves. Properties of buoyancy, volume and drag were analytically modelled and prototypes of scaled models tested in wave tanks showed improved motion damping and structural fatigue reduction. It has been shown numerically that the droplet design sustains a heave Response Amplitude Operator (RAO) of approximately unity up to a wave frequency of 1.2 rad/s and does not resonate (RAO >10) in the first place in the dominant wave band in the same manner as Tension Leg Platforms, but without the complexity. This concept of nature provides a new frontier to next-generation FOWTs. It can be used in the deeper, more energetic sea environments, which is more cost-effective and contributes to the creation of the structural resilience that rapidly moves the world towards sustainable clean energy.
Keywords
Biomimetic Design, Offshore Wind Energy, Hydrodynamic Modelling, Communication Systems, Droplet-Shaped Hul
Published online 6/20/2026, 7 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Faten JARRAR, Maitha AL SUWAIDI, Nasir SAEED, Droplet-inspired floating platforms for sustainable offshore wind turbines optimization and stability validation, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 67, pp 10-16, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904176-2
The article was published as article 2 of the book Climate Action and Sustainability
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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