Preparation

Preparation#

Before running a simulation in OpenFAST, it’s crucial to ensure that all necessary files are properly set up. Here we will guide you through the preparation process. We will walk you through downloading the required input files, and generating any additional components needed, such as the DISCON_OC3Hywind.dll file. By the end of this section, you’ll have everything in place to proceed with running the simulation.

Let’s get started!

Preparation Step 1: Downloading your simulation files#

We are going to run the 5MW_OC4Semi_WSt_WavesWN case as it is originally defined in the GitHub page.

We start by downloading the folders 5MW_OC4Semi_WSt_WavesWN and the 5MW_Baseline to our local input directory. This folders are located here.

After downloading the folders and moving them your input_files should look something like this:

  • input_files

    • 5MW_Baseline

    • 5MW_OC4Semi_WSt_WavesWN

Preparation Step 2: Building DISCON_OC3Hywind.dll#

After downloading the files we need to build the DISCON_OC3Hywind.dll file and place it in 5MW_Baseline/ServoData/.

Note: You can also download de dll file here. By downloading the file you can skip the following sections. Don’t forget to paste this file in the 5MW_Baseline/ServoData folder.

Prerequisites#

Before proceeding, ensure you have the following installed:

  • A Fortran compiler (gfortran can be installed with sudo apt-get install gfortran)

  • make (included in build-essential, install with sudo apt-get install build-essential)

Note: This commands are intended for Ubuntu. If you’re using a different operating system, you may need to adjust them accordingly.

Building the DLL#

Once the prerequisites are met, run the following commands to generate the DISCON_OC3Hywind.dll file:

cd input_files/5MW_Baseline/ServoData/DISCON_OC3/
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
mv DISCON_OC3Hywind.dll ../..

We should now have our input directory looking like this:

  • input_files

    • 5MW_Baseline

      • ServoData

        • DISCON_OC3Hywind.dll

    • 5MW_OC4Semi_WSt_WavesWN

You now have all the necessary files to run your simulation.

Running the simulation

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