Verticalaxiswindturbines（VAWTs）areadvantageousforthedevelopmentoflarge-scaleoffshorewindpowerbecausethedrivesystemislocatedatthebottomoftheturbine.Thisstudyinvestigatesthestructuralstrengthofatri-floaterfloatingfoundationsupportinga2.6MWDarrieusVAWT.Finiteelementmodelsofthefloatingfoundationweredevelopedusingspaceplate-beamelements.Theenvironmentalloads,suchastheaerodynamicloads,staticwindloads,andwave-currentloads,wereconsidered.Thegeneralstrengthsofthefloatingfoundationwerecalculatedforthenormaloperatingcase（acut-outwindspeedof25ms^（-1）andbladerotationof12rmin^（-1）wereusedtoanalyzethemostunfavorableloads）andanextremecase（windspeedof40ms^（-1）andparkedblades）,andtheweakcomponentsofthestructurewereanalyzed.Theresultsshowthatthefloatingfoundationmeetsthestrengthrequirementsandthestructuralstressishighestwhenthewave,wind,andcurrentareinacollineardirection.Themainandsecondarysupportingbarstransmittheloadsbetweenthestandcolumnsandthetowerfoundation,andtheirstressesarehigherthanthoseintheothercomponents.Intheactualdesign,thesesupportingbarsshouldbestrengthened.Theaerodynamicloadsareveryimportantandshouldbeconsideredinthestructuralstrengthanalysisofthefloatingfoundationandthefloatingwindturbinesystem.
