the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
| 21 Apr 2026
Brief communication: A novel wake mixing phenomenon and key parameters for wake recovery of floating wind turbines subjected to surge motions
Abstract. This letter clarifies the key parameters governing the wake recovery of a floating wind turbine undergoing surge motion. A dedicated wind-tunnel campaign covering reduced frequencies (Stp) well beyond current literature is presented. This enabled a full characterisation of the wake recovery and the discovery of a previously unreported wake mixing phenomenon. We highlight three main findings: (i) enhanced wake recovery of the surging turbine is highly sensitive to thrust; (ii) wake recovery is characterised by the ratio of motion velocity amplitude to wind speed and Stp; and (iii) a previously unreported flow phenomenon improves wake recovery when the motion frequency is slightly lower than the blade passing frequency.
Competing interests: At least one of the (co-)authors is a member of the editorial board of Wind Energy Science.
Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this paper. While Copernicus Publications makes every effort to include appropriate place names, the final responsibility lies with the authors. Views expressed in the text are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.- Preprint
(1436 KB) - Metadata XML
- BibTeX
- EndNote
Status: final response (author comments only)
- RC1: 'Comment on wes-2026-60', Anonymous Referee #1, 06 May 2026
-
RC2: 'Comment on wes-2026-60', Anonymous Referee #2, 09 Jun 2026
Manuscript titled “A novel wake mixing phenomenon and key parameters for wake recovery of floating wind turbines subjected to surge motions” discusses the impact of motion conditions and turbine operating conditions on the wake deficit and coherent structures. This work is well structured and presented and presents a valuable addition to the current understanding of wake dynamics of floating wind turbines.
Still, there are some additional comments that should be addressed:
The authors are only presenting results under laminar inflow conditions. Having that in mind, without data to support it, or more literature that would support the claim, the extension of the presented results to turbulent inflow conditions is way too strong statement and should be revisited. In the light of some existing literature on floating wind turbine wakes, implying that turbulence may have a significant impact on wake dynamics, author’s claim(s) should be supported with data or reframed. Also, the presented (included) body of literature on impact of motion on the wake of a floating turbine should be a bit expanded.
Additional comments:
Line 25: The authors state that the unsteady impact on the loads can be determined as a function of the motion frequency or Strouhal number. I believe that reasoning of using these specific parameters should be included.
Line 69: here “Nevertheless, the results can be generalized to turbulent uniform inflows, however, not shown here.” should be better explained (either discuss data that supports this statement, or study that will support it). So, unless the authors include better proof that laminar flow experiment measurements/results are applicable to higher turbulent flow, this should be excluded/revisited.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2026-60-RC2
Viewed
| HTML | XML | Total | BibTeX | EndNote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 327 | 199 | 21 | 547 | 26 | 22 |
- HTML: 327
- PDF: 199
- XML: 21
- Total: 547
- BibTeX: 26
- EndNote: 22
Viewed (geographical distribution)
| Country | # | Views | % |
|---|
| Total: | 0 |
| HTML: | 0 |
| PDF: | 0 |
| XML: | 0 |
- 1
Dear authors,
I would like to thank you for your valuable contribution to Wind Energy Science. Please find some comments in the attached file, which should be addressed before publication.