The review of Vortex lattice method for offshore wind turbines

With the increasing demand for clean and renewable energy, offshore wind turbines are growing in size and are being positioned closer to deep waters. This trend presents significant aerodynamic research challenges for floating offshore wind turbines, including aeroelasticity and unsteady problems due to large blade deformations and the dynamic motions of floating support structures in complex ocean environments. Traditional methods such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory struggle to balance computational efficiency and accuracy in these challenging conditions. In contrast, the Vortex Lattice Method (VLM) has been validated in several studies for providing accurate results while requiring fewer computational resources. VLM can reduce the computational cost by at least 50% compared to CFD while maintaining comparable accuracy. Compared to the BEM, the VLM offers superior geometric and physical fidelity, thus achieving higher accuracy, while the increasing in computational cost remains acceptable. Furthermore, VLM shows much promise for extending its capabilities to study nonlinear aeroelastic problems rather than BEM. This paper reviews the development of VLM and its application in aerodynamic calculations for offshore wind turbines. It compares VLM with other aerodynamic methods and discusses potential research directions for its application in offshore wind turbine aerodynamics.