Active vibration-based structural health monitoring system for wind turbine blade: Demonstration on an operating Vestas V27 wind turbine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tcherniak, Dmitri; Mølgaard, Lasse Lohilahti

2017-01-01

enough to be able to propagate the entire blade length. This article demonstrates the system on a Vestas V27 wind turbine. One blade of the wind turbine was equipped with the system, and a 3.5-month monitoring campaign was conducted while the turbine was operating normally. During the campaign, a defect......—a trailing-edge opening—was artificially introduced into the blade and its size was gradually increased from the original 15 to 45 cm. Using a semi-supervised learning algorithm, the system was able to detect even the smallest amount of damage while the wind turbine was operating under different weather......This study presents a structural health monitoring system that is able to detect structural defects of wind turbine blade such as cracks, leading/trailing-edge opening, or delamination. It is shown that even small defects of at least 15 cm size can be detected remotely without stopping the wind...

Initiation of trailing edge failure in full-scale wind turbine blade test

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haselbach, Philipp Ulrich; Branner, Kim

2016-01-01

non-linear buckling effect of the trailing edge under combined loading, and how it affects the ultimate strength of a blade in a trailing-edge failure dominated load direction were investigated. The study details the interaction between trailing edge buckling on damage onset and sandwich panel failure...

Aerodynamic behavior of an airfoil with morphing trailing edge for wind turbine applications

Science.gov (United States)

Wolff, T.; Ernst, B.; Seume, J. R.

2014-06-01

The length of wind turbine rotor blades has been increased during the last decades. Higher stresses arise especially at the blade root because of the longer lever arm. One way to reduce unsteady blade-root stresses caused by turbulence, gusts, or wind shear is to actively control the lift in the blade tip region. One promising method involves airfoils with morphing trailing edges to control the lift and consequently the loads acting on the blade. In the present study, the steady and unsteady behavior of an airfoil with a morphing trailing edge is investigated. Two-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are performed for a typical thin wind turbine airfoil with a morphing trailing edge. Steady-state simulations are used to design optimal geometry, size, and deflection angles of the morphing trailing edge. The resulting steady aerodynamic coefficients are then analyzed at different angles of attack in order to determine the effectiveness of the morphing trailing edge. In order to investigate the unsteady aerodynamic behavior of the optimal morphing trailing edge, time- resolved RANS-simulations are performed using a deformable grid. In order to analyze the phase shift between the variable trailing edge deflection and the dynamic lift coefficient, the trailing edge is deflected at four different reduced frequencies for each different angle of attack. As expected, a phase shift between the deflection and the lift occurs. While deflecting the trailing edge at angles of attack near stall, additionally an overshoot above and beyond the steady lift coefficient is observed and evaluated.

Aerodynamic behavior of an airfoil with morphing trailing edge for wind turbine applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolff, T; Ernst, B; Seume, J R

2014-01-01

The length of wind turbine rotor blades has been increased during the last decades. Higher stresses arise especially at the blade root because of the longer lever arm. One way to reduce unsteady blade-root stresses caused by turbulence, gusts, or wind shear is to actively control the lift in the blade tip region. One promising method involves airfoils with morphing trailing edges to control the lift and consequently the loads acting on the blade. In the present study, the steady and unsteady behavior of an airfoil with a morphing trailing edge is investigated. Two-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are performed for a typical thin wind turbine airfoil with a morphing trailing edge. Steady-state simulations are used to design optimal geometry, size, and deflection angles of the morphing trailing edge. The resulting steady aerodynamic coefficients are then analyzed at different angles of attack in order to determine the effectiveness of the morphing trailing edge. In order to investigate the unsteady aerodynamic behavior of the optimal morphing trailing edge, time- resolved RANS-simulations are performed using a deformable grid. In order to analyze the phase shift between the variable trailing edge deflection and the dynamic lift coefficient, the trailing edge is deflected at four different reduced frequencies for each different angle of attack. As expected, a phase shift between the deflection and the lift occurs. While deflecting the trailing edge at angles of attack near stall, additionally an overshoot above and beyond the steady lift coefficient is observed and evaluated

Application of Circulation Controlled Blades for Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Velissarios Kourkoulis

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The blades of a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT rotor see an inconsistent angle of attack through its rotation. Consequently, VAWT blades generally use symmetrical aerofoils with a lower lift-to-drag ratio than cambered aerofoils tailored to maximise horizontal axis wind turbine rotor performance. This paper considers the feasibility of circulation controlled (CC VAWT blades, using a tangential air jet to provide lift and therefore power augmentation. However CC blade sections require a higher trailing-edge thickness than conventional sections giving rise to additional base drag. The choice of design parameters is a compromise between lift augmentation, additional base drag as well as the power required to pump the air jet. Although CC technology has been investigated for many years, particularly for aerospace applications, few researchers have considered VAWT applications. This paper considers the feasibility of the technology, using Computational Fluid Dynamics to evaluate a baseline CC aerofoil with different trailing-edge ellipse shapes. Lift and drag increments due to CC are considered within a momentum based turbine model to determine net power production. The study found that for modest momentum coefficients significant net power augmentation can be achieved with a relatively simple aerofoil geometry if blowing is controlled through the blades rotation.

Breakdown and tracking properties of rubber materials for wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garolera, Anna Candela; Holboell, Joachim; Henriksen, Mogens

2012-01-01

The use of rubber materials in wind turbine blades, for example in controllable trailing edge flaps, requires research on their behavior under heavy exposure to electric fields and electrical discharges. Since the complex construction of blades usually involves several and often inhomogeneous mat...

A practical approach to fracture analysis at the trailing edge of wind turbine rotor blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eder, Martin Alexander; Bitsche, Robert; Nielsen, Magda

2014-01-01

Wind turbine rotor blades are commonly manufactured from composite materials by a moulding process. Typically, the wind turbine blade is produced in two halves, which are eventually adhesively joined along their edges. Investigations of operating wind turbine blades show that debonding...

Simulation of Moving Trailing Edge Flaps on a Wind Turbine Blade using a Navier-Stokes based Immersed Boundary Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Behrens, Tim

. Simulations demonstrated the feasibility and robustness of the approach. The hybrid immersed boundary approach proved to be able to handle 3D airfoil sections with span-wise flap gaps. The flow around and in the wake of a deflected flap at a Reynolds number of 1.63mio was investigated for steady inflow......As the rotor diameter of wind turbines increases, turbine blades with distributed aerodynamic control surfaces promise significant load reductions. Therefore, they are coming into focus in relation to research in academia and industry. Trailing edge flaps are of particular interest in terms...... conditions. A control for two span-wise independent flaps was implemented and first load reductions could be achieved. The hybrid method has demonstrated to be a versatile tool in the research of moving trailing edge flaps. The results shall serve as the basis for future investigations of the unsteady flow...

Development of a Wind Turbine Test Rig and Rotor for Trailing Edge Flap Investigation: Static Flap Angles Case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdelrahman, Ahmed; Johnson, David A

2014-01-01

One of the strategies used to improve performance and increase the life-span of wind turbines is active flow control. It involves the modification of the aerodynamic characteristics of a wind turbine blade by means of moveable aerodynamic control surfaces. Trailing edge flaps are relatively small moveable control surfaces placed at the trailing edge of a blade's airfoil that modify the lift of a blade or airfoil section. An instrumented wind turbine test rig and rotor were specifically developed to enable a wide-range of experiments to investigate the potential of trailing edge flaps as an active control technique. A modular blade based on the S833 airfoil was designed to allow accurate instrumentation and customizable settings. The blade is 1.7 meters long, had a constant 178mm chord and a 6° pitch. The modular aerodynamic parts were 3D printed using plastic PC-ABS material. The blade design point was within the range of wind velocities in the available large test facility. The wind facility is a large open jet wind tunnel with a maximum velocity of 11m/s in the test area. The capability of the developed system was demonstrated through an initial study of the effect of stationary trailing edge flaps on blade load and performance. The investigation focused on measuring the changes in flapwise bending moment and power production for different trailing edge flap spanwise locations and deflection angles. The relationship between the load reduction and deflection angle was linear as expected from theory and the highest reduction was caused by the flap furthest from the rotor center. Overall, the experimental setup proved to be effective in measuring small changes in flapwise bending moment within the wind turbine blade and will provide insight when (active) flap control is targeted

Blade-to-coolant heat-transfer results and operating data from a natural-convection water-cooled single-stage turbine

Science.gov (United States)

Diaguila, Anthony J; Freche, John C

1951-01-01

Blade-to-coolant heat-transfer data and operating data were obtained with a natural-convection water-cooled turbine over range of turbine speeds and inlet-gas temperatures. The convective coefficients were correlated by the general relation for natural-convection heat transfer. The turbine data were displaced from a theoretical equation for natural convection heat transfer in the turbulent region and from natural-convection data obtained with vertical cylinders and plates; possible disruption of natural convection circulation within the blade coolant passages was thus indicated. Comparison of non dimensional temperature-ratio parameters for the blade leading edge, midchord, and trailing edge indicated that the blade cooling effectiveness is greatest at the midchord and least at the trailing edge.

Experimental demonstration of wind turbine noise reduction through optimized airfoil shape and trailing-edge serrations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oerlemans, S. [National Aerospace Laboratory NLR, Emmeloord (Netherlands); Schepers, J.G. [Unit Wind Energy, Energy research Centre of the Netherlands ECN, Petten (Netherlands); Guidati, G.; Wagner, S. [Institut fuer Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik IAG, Universitaet Stuttgart (Germany)

2001-07-15

The objective of the European project DATA (Design and Testing of Acoustically Optimized Airfoils for Wind Turbines) is a reduction of trailing-edge (TE) noise by modifying the airfoil shape and/or the application of trailing-edge serrations. This paper describes validation measurements that were performed in the DNW-LLF wind tunnel, on a model scale wind turbine with a two-bladed 4.5 m diameter rotor which was designed in the project. Measurements were done for one reference- and two acoustically optimized rotors, for varying flow conditions. The aerodynamic performance of the rotors was measured using a torque meter in the hub, and further aerodynamic information was obtained from flow visualization on the blades. The acoustic measurements were done with a 136 microphone out-of-flow acoustic array. Besides the location of the noise sources in the (stationary) rotor plane, a new acoustic processing method enabled identification of dominant noise source regions on the rotating blades. The results show dominant noise sources at the trailing-edge of the blade, close to the tip. The optimized airfoil shapes result in a significant reduction of TE noise levels with respect to the reference rotor, without loss in power production. A further reduction can be achieved by the application of trailing-edge serrations. The aerodynamic measurements are generally in good agreement with the aerodynamic predictions made during the design of the model turbine.

A morphing trailing edge flap system for wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aagaard Madsen, Helge; Barlas, Athanasios; Løgstrup Andersen, Tom

2015-01-01

system has been further developed in corporation with the industrial partners Hydratech Industries (DK) and Rehau (DE). A new trailing edge flap design with spanwise voids (channels) and with a chord of 15cm suitable for a 1m chord blade section was developed. It was then manufactured by extrusion...

Investigation of HP Turbine Blade Failure in a Military Turbofan Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Mishra, R. K.; Thomas, Johny; Srinivasan, K.; Nandi, Vaishakhi; Bhatt, R. Raghavendra

2017-04-01

Failure of a high pressure (HP) turbine blade in a military turbofan engine is investigated to determine the root cause of failure. Forensic and metallurgical investigations are carried out on the affected blades. The loss of coating and the presence of heavily oxidized intergranular fracture features including substrate material aging and airfoil curling in the trailing edge of a representative blade indicate that the coating is not providing adequate oxidation protection and the blade material substrate is not suitable for the application at hand. Coating spallation followed by substrate oxidation and aging leading to intergranular cracking and localized trailing edge curling is the root cause of the blade failure. The remaining portion of the blade fracture surface showed ductile overload features in the final failure. The damage observed in downstream components is due to secondary effects.

Effects of Blade Boundary Layer Transition and Daytime Atmospheric Turbulence on Wind Turbine Performance Analyzed with Blade-Resolved Simulation and Field Data

Science.gov (United States)

Nandi, Tarak Nath

Relevant to utility scale wind turbine functioning and reliability, the present work focuses on enhancing our understanding of wind turbine responses from interactions between energy-dominant daytime atmospheric turbulence eddies and rotating blades of a GE 1.5 MW wind turbine using a unique data set from a GE field experiment and computer simulations at two levels of fidelity. Previous studies have shown that the stability state of the lower troposphere has a major impact on the coherent structure of the turbulence eddies, with corresponding differences in wind turbine loading response. In this study, time-resolved aerodynamic data measured locally at the leading edge and trailing edge of three outer blade sections on a GE 1.5 MW wind turbine blade and high-frequency SCADA generator power data from a daytime field campaign are combined with computer simulations that mimic the GE wind turbine within a numerically generated atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow field which is a close approximation of the atmospheric turbulence experienced by the wind turbine in the field campaign. By combining the experimental and numerical data sets, this study describes the time-response characteristics of the local loadings on the blade sections in response to nonsteady nonuniform energetic atmospheric turbulence eddies within a daytime ABL which have spatial scale commensurate with that of the turbine blade length. This study is the first of its kind where actuator line and blade boundary layer resolved CFD studies of a wind turbine field campaign are performed with the motivation to validate the numerical predictions with the experimental data set, and emphasis is given on understanding the influence of the laminar to turbulent transition process on the blade loadings. The experimental and actuator line method data sets identify three important response time scales quantified at the blade location: advective passage of energy-dominant eddies (≈25 - 50 s), blade rotation (1P

Deformable trailing edge flaps for modern megawatt wind turbine controllers using strain gauge sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Peter Bjørn; Henriksen, Lars Christian; Gaunaa, Mac

2010-01-01

. By enabling the trailing edge to move independently and quickly along the spanwise position of the blade, local small flutuations in the aerodynamic forces can be alleviated by deformation of the airfoil flap. Strain gauges are used as input for the flap controller, and the effect of placing strain gauges......The present work contains a deformable trailing edge flap controller integrated in a numerically simulated modern, variablespeed, pitch-regulated megawatt (MW)-size wind turbine. The aeroservoelastic multi-body code HAWC2 acts as a component in the control loop design. At the core of the proposed...... edge flaps on a wind turbine blade rather than a conclusive control design with traditional issues like stability and robustness fully investigated. Recent works have shown that the fatigue load reduction by use of trailing edge flaps may be greater than for traditional pitch control methods...

Design and evaluation of low-cost laminated wood composite blades for intermediate size wind turbines: Blade design, fabrication concept, and cost analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Lieblein, S.; Gaugeon, M.; Thomas, G.; Zueck, M.

1982-01-01

As part of a program to reduce wind turbine costs, an evaluation was conducted of a laminated wood composite blade for the Mod-OA 200 kW wind turbine. The effort included the design and fabrication concept for the blade, together with cost and load analyses. The blade structure is composed of laminated Douglas fir veneers for the primary spar and nose sections, and honeycomb cored plywood panels for the trailing edges sections. The attachment of the wood blade to the rotor hub was through load takeoff studs bonded into the blade root. Tests were conducted on specimens of the key structural components to verify the feasibility of the concept. It is concluded that the proposed wood composite blade design and fabrication concept is suitable for Mod-OA size turbines (125-ft diameter rotor) at a cost that is very competitive with other methods of manufacture.

Aeroelastic Optimization of a 10 MW Wind Turbine Blade with Active Trailing Edge Flaps

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barlas, Athanasios; Tibaldi, Carlo; Zahle, Frederik

2016-01-01

This article presents the aeroelastic optimization of a 10MW wind turbine ‘smart blade’ equipped with active trailing edge flaps. The multi-disciplinary wind turbine analysis and optimization tool HawtOpt2 is utilized, which is based on the open-source framework Open-MDAO. The tool interfaces...... to several state-of-the art simulation codes, allowing for a wide variety of problem formulations and combinations of models. A simultaneous aerodynamic and structural optimization of a 10 MW wind turbine rotor is carried out with respect to material layups and outer shape. Active trailing edge flaps...

The use of wood for wind turbine blade construction

Science.gov (United States)

Gougeon, M.; Zuteck, M.

1979-01-01

The interrelationships between moisture and wood, conditions for dry rot spore activity, the protection of wood fibers from moisture, wood resin composites, wood laminating, quality control, and the mechanical properties of wood are discussed. The laminated veneer and the bonded sawn stock fabrication techniques, used in the construction of a turbine blade with a monocoque 'D' section forming the leading edge and a built up trailing edge section, are described. A 20 foot root end sample complete with 24 bonded-in studs was successfully subjected to large onetime loads in both the flatwise and edgewise directions, and to fatigue tests. Results indicate that wood is both a viable and advantageous material for use in wind turbine blades. The basic material is reasonably priced, domestically available, ecologically sound, and easily fabricated with low energy consumption.

Design and fabrication of a composite wind turbine blade

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, R. A.; Haley, R. G.

1980-01-01

The design considerations are described which led to the combination of materials used for the MOD-I wind turbine generator rotor and to the fabrication processes which were required to accomplish it. It is noted that the design problem was to create a rotor for a 2500 kW wind turbine generator. The rotor was to consist of two blades, each with a length of 97.5 feet and a weight of less than 21,000 pounds. The spanwise frequency is 1.17-1.45 Hz, and the chordwise frequency 2.80-2.98 Hz. The design life of the blade is 30 years, or 4.35 x 10 to the 8th cycles. The structures of the spars and trailing edges are described, and the adhesive bonding system is discussed.

Parametric dependence of a morphing wind turbine blade on material elasticity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Puterbaugh, Martin; Beyene, Asfaw

2011-01-01

A few recent works have suggested a morphing blade for wind turbine energy conversion. The concept is derived from fin and wing motions that better adapt to varying load conditions. Previous research has provided the fluid mechanic justification of this new concept. This paper establishes a parametric relationship between an asymmetric wind turbine blade and constituent material modulus to predict the geometric response of the morphing blade for a given material characteristic. The airfoil's trailing edge deflection is associated to a prescribed fluid exit angle via the Moment Area (MA) method. Subsequently, a mathematical model is derived to predict material deformation with respect to imparted aerodynamic forces. Results show that an airfoil, much like a tapered beam, can be modeled as a non-prismatic cantilevered beam using this well established method. -- Research highlights: →A mathematical model relating morphing airfoil thickness and elastic modulus was established. →For non-prismatic beam under a uniform distributive load, the slope and deflection of the airfoil's trailing edge were related to the fluid exit angle. →The main driver of blade deformation was the angular drag force. The Moment Area method was used, verified by Finite Element method. →Displacement to the exit angle is predicated upon the elastic modulus value given that other parameters are constant. →Optimum power output is obtained in part load conditions when the blade deforms to the applicable exit angle.

An advanced structural trailing edge modelling method for wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haselbach, Philipp Ulrich

2017-01-01

to ultimate loads. The prediction accuracy of the numerical simulations was compared to a certification load case and a full-scale ultimate limit state test of a 34 m wind turbine rotor blade. The displacements, stresses and strains show reasonably good agreement and demonstrate the capabilities...

Damage Detection in an Operating Vestas V27 Wind Turbine Blade by use of Outlier Analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ulriksen, Martin Dalgaard; Tcherniak, Dmitri; Damkilde, Lars

2015-01-01

The present paper explores the application of a well-established vibration-based damage detection method to an operating Vestas V27 wind turbine blade. The blade is analyzed in a total of four states, namely, a healthy one plus three damaged ones in which trailing edge openings of increasing sizes...

Towards an industrial manufactured morphing trailing edge flap system for wind turbines

OpenAIRE

Aagaard Madsen , Helge; Løgstrup Andersen, Tom; Bergami, Leonardo; Jørgensen, Johnny Egtved; Candela Garolera, Anna; Holbøll, Joachim; Schettler, T.; Michels, P.; Schoebel, M.; Heisterberg, M.; Christensen, M.B.

2014-01-01

A flap actuation system, the Controllable Rubber Trailing Edge Flap (CRTEF), for distributed load control on a wind turbine blade has been developed in the period from 2006 to 2010 at DTU. The function of the system and its capability to change the lift on a blade section was measured during a wind tunnel experiment in 2009 with promising results. This led in 2011 to initiation of a new research project INDUFLAP with the main aim to transfer the flap technology to industry as concerns manufac...

Condensation phenomena in a turbine blade passage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skillings, S.A.

1989-02-01

The mechanisms associated with the formation and growth of water droplets in the large low-pressure (LP) turbines used for electrical power generation are poorly understood and recent measurements have indicated that an unusually high loss is associated with the initial nucleation of these droplets. In order to gain an insight into the phenomena which arise in the turbine situation, some experiments were performed to investigate the behaviour of condensing steam flows in a blade passage. This study has revealed the fundamental significance of droplet nucleation in modifying the single-phase flow structure and results are presented which show the change in shock wave pattern when inlet superheat and outlet Mach number are varied. The trailing-edge shock wave structure appears considerably more robust towards variation of inlet superheat than purely one-dimensional considerations may suggest and the inadequacies of adopting a one-dimensional theory to analyse multi-dimensional condensing flows are demonstrated. Over a certain range of outlet Mach numbers an oscillating shock wave will establish in the throat region of the blade passage and this has been shown to interact strongly with droplet nucleation, resulting in a considerably increased mean droplet size. The possible implications of these results for turbine performance are also discussed. (author)

Gas turbine engine turbine blade damaging estimate in maintenance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ель-Хожайрі Хусейн

2004-01-01

Full Text Available  The factors determining character and intensity of corrosive damages of gas turbine blades are analyzed in the article. The classification of detrimental impurities polluting gas turbine airflow duct and injuring blade erosion damages are given. Common features of the method of turbine blade corrosive damage estimation are shown in the article.

Compression fatigue of Wind Turbine Blade composites materials and damage mechanisms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fraisse, Anthony; Brøndsted, Povl

According to the new IEC 61400-5-rev0 recommendation, which is under preparation it will be required to qualify wind turbine blade (WTB) composite materials in fatigue at R=0.1, R=-1, and R=10. As a minimum fatigue at R=-1 is required. This is a consequence of the ever-growing blades, where gravity...... driven edgewise bending introduces significant fully reversed cycling at the leading and trailing edges. Therefore, material manufacturer and WTB manufacturer demand test results of highest reliability and reproducibility. However, these equirements for compression-compression and tensioncompression...

Wind Turbine Blade

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2010-01-01

The invention relates to a blade for a wind turbine, particularly to a blade that may be produced by an advanced manufacturing process for producing a blade with high quality structural components. Particularly, the structural components, which are preferably manufactured from fibre reinforced...

On the impact of multi-axial stress states on trailing edge bondlines in wind turbine rotor blades

OpenAIRE

Castelos, Pablo Noever; Balzani, Claudio

2016-01-01

For a reliable design of wind turbine systems all of their components have to be designed to withstand the loads appearing in the turbine's lifetime. When performed in an integral manner this is called systems engineering, and is exceptionally important for components that have an impact on the entire wind turbine system, such as the rotor blade. Bondlines are crucial subcomponents of rotor blades, but they are not much recognized in the wind energy research community. However, a bondline fai...

Metallurgical failure analysis for a blade failed in a gas-turbine engine of a power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huda, Zainul

2009-01-01

The failed gas-turbine blades (first stage blades) (type Siemens V94.2 KWU) were acquired from TNB Research Sdn. Bhd: a subsidiary of Malaysian power-generation industry (TNB, Malaysia). The blades were sectioned for metallographic investigations. The microstructural characterization involved use of both optical as well as electron microscopes including application of EPMA technique. The Microstructures were compared for three spots selection i.e. leading edge of the blade (transverse and longitudinal), trailing edge of the blade (transverse and longitudinal), and centre (near the platform of the blade) (transverse and longitudinal). The material properties and behavior at high temperature were interpreted on the basis of the observed microstructures and the phases present in the alloy. The interpretations were related to the operating conditions of the turbine blade; and main cause of failure was found to be creep damage. Recommendations have been made for improved material performance.

Full-scale test of trailing edge flaps on a Vestas V27 wind turbine: active load reduction and system identification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Castaignet, Damien; Barlas, Thanasis K.; Buhl, Thomas

2014-01-01

model, from trailing edge flap angle to flapwise blade root moment, was derived and compared with the linear analytical model used in the model predictive control design model. Flex5 simulations run with the same model predictive control showed a good correlation between the simulations......A full-scale test was performed on a Vestas V27 wind turbine equipped with one active 70 cm long trailing edge flap on one of its 13 m long blades. Active load reduction could be observed in spite of the limited spanwise coverage of the single active trailing edge flap. A frequency-weighted model...

A Take Stock of Turbine Blades Failure Phenomenon

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Abhijit

2018-02-01

Turbine Blade design and engineering is one of the most complicated and important aspects of turbine technology. Experiments with blades can be simple or very complicated, depending upon parameters of analysis. Turbine blades are subjected to vigorous environments, such as high temperatures, high stresses, and a potentially high vibration environment. All these factors can lead to blade failures, which can destroy the turbine, and engine, so careful design is the prime consideration to resist those conditions. A high cycle of fatigue of compressor and turbine blades due to high dynamic stress caused by blade vibration and resonance within the operating range of machinery is common failure mode for turbine machine. Continuous study and investigation on failure of turbine blades are going on since last five decades. Some review papers published during these days aiming to present a review on recent studies and investigations done on failures of turbine blades. All the detailed literature related with the turbine blades has not been described but emphasized to provide all the methodologies of failures adopted by various researches to investigate turbine blade. This paper illustrate on various factors of failure.

Advances in wind turbine blade design and materials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wind energy is gaining critical ground in the area of renewable energy, with wind energy being predicted to provide up to 8% of the world’s consumption of electricity by 2021. Advances in wind turbine blade design and materials reviews the design and functionality of wind turbine rotor blades...... as well as the requirements and challenges for composite materials used in both current and future designs of wind turbine blades. Part one outlines the challenges and developments in wind turbine blade design, including aerodynamic and aeroelastic design features, fatigue loads on wind turbine blades......, and characteristics of wind turbine blade airfoils. Part two discusses the fatigue behavior of composite wind turbine blades, including the micromechanical modelling and fatigue life prediction of wind turbine blade composite materials, and the effects of resin and reinforcement variations on the fatigue resistance...

Steady State Shift Damage Localization in a Residential-Sized Wind Turbine Blade

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Markvart, Morten Kusk; Sekjær, Claus; Bull, Thomas

2017-01-01

methodological premise is that of mapping a model-based damage distribution to experimental vibration features from the healthy and damaged states. Damage is then localized when a postulated damage distribution yields a, under ideal conditions, perfect mapping. The S3DL method relies on a theoretical model that......, in an experimental procedure with a plate-like structure, thus the present study serves to investigate the applicability of the method for more complex structures; in this case, a residential-sized wind turbine blade, which has been designed specifically for damage identification purposes. The blade consists of two...... parts that are bolted together along the leading and trailing edges, hence enabling introduction of stiffness-related damages by untightening a number of bolts. The paper studies two damage cases: failure of the trailing edge and a mass modification....

Advanced LP turbine blade design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jansen, M.; Pfeiffer, R.; Termuehlen, H.

1990-01-01

In the 1960's and early 1970's, the development of steam turbines for the utility industry was mainly influenced by the demand for increasing unit sizes. Nuclear plants in particular, required the design of LP turbines with large annulus areas for substantial mass and volumetric steam flows. Since then the development of more efficient LP turbines became an ongoing challenge. Extensive R and D work was performed in order to build efficient and reliable LP turbines often exposed to severe corrosion, erosion and dynamic excitation conditions. This task led to the introduction of an advanced disk-type rotor design for 1800 rpm LP turbines and the application of a more efficient, reaction-type blading for all steam turbine sections including the first stages of LP turbines. The most recent developments have resulted in an advanced design of large LP turbine blading, typically used in the last three stages of each LP turbine flow section. Development of such blading required detailed knowledge of the three dimensional, largely transonic, flow conditions of saturated steam. Also the precise assessment of blade stressing from dynamic conditions, such as speed and torsional resonance, as well as stochastic and aerodynamic excitation is of extreme importance

Application of advanced surface and volumetric NDE methods to the detection of cracks in critical regions of turbine blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Porter, J.P.

1990-01-01

Advanced NDE inspection techniques capable of detecting small, yet potentially dangerous cracks in turbine blade tenons, blade tie-wire through-holes, trailing edges, and blade root attachment ends have been devised and developed and are now being applied successfully in the field replacing conventional, less-sensitive methods commonly used for crack detection in these blade elements. Under-shroud lateral cracks in tenons are detected ultrasonically by highangle refracted pulse-echo shear wave and 0-degree pitch-catch longitudinal wave methods. Trailing-edge blade cracks and surface-connected cracks in root attachment ends are detected by high frequency eddy current techniques, typically applied remotely using ports in the turbine housing to gain access to the parts under inspection. Cracks emanating from tie-wire holes in blade upper ends are detected by eddy current inspection, which has been found to be a far more effective methods than either magnetic particle or ultrasonic testing for this application. Root attachment ends of side entry blades are inspected volumetrically by ultrasonics, using proprietary coupling techniques that allow examination of heretofore uninspectable regions of blade attachment hooks, known regions of crack initiation. Techniques developed for this collection of applications are described, and the results of actual field inspections are presented and discussed

Rotational effects on turbine blade cooling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Govatzidakis, G.J.; Guenette, G.R.; Kerrebrock, J.L. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)

1995-10-01

An experimental investigation of the influence of rotation on the heat transfer in a smooth, rectangular passage rotating in the orthogonal mode is presented. The passage simulates one of the cooling channels found in gas turbine blades. A constant heat flux is imposed on the model with either inward or outward flow. The effects of rotation and buoyancy on the Nusselt number were quantified by systematically varying the Rotation number, Density Ratio, Reynolds number, and Buoyancy parameter. The experiment utilizes a high resolution infrared temperature measurement technique in order to measure the wall temperature distribution. The experimental results show that the rotational effects on the Nusselt number are significant and proper turbine blade design must take into account the effects of rotation, buoyancy, and flow direction. The behavior of the Nusselt number distribution depends strongly on the particular side, axial position, flow direction, and the specific range of the scaling parameters. The results show a strong coupling between buoyancy and Corollas effects throughout the passage. For outward flow, the trailing side Nusselt numbers increase with Rotation number relative to stationary values. On the leading side, the Nusselt numbers tended to decrease with rotation near the inlet and subsequently increased farther downstream in the passage. The Nusselt numbers on the side walls generally increased with rotation. For inward flow, the Nusselt numbers generally improved relative to stationary results, but increases in the Nusselt number were relatively smaller than in the case of outward flow. For outward and inward flows, increasing the density ratio generally tended to decrease Nusselt numbers on the leading and trailing sides, but the exact behavior and magnitude depended on the local axial position and specific range of Buoyancy parameters.

Adaptor assembly for coupling turbine blades to rotor disks

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia-Crespo, Andres Jose; Delvaux, John McConnell

2014-09-23

An adaptor assembly for coupling a blade root of a turbine blade to a root slot of a rotor disk is described. The adaptor assembly includes a turbine blade having a blade root and an adaptor body having an adaptor root. The adaptor body defines a slot having an open end configured to receive the blade root of the turbine blade such that the adaptor root of the adaptor body and the blade root of the turbine blade are adjacent to one another when the blade root of the turbine blade is positioned within the slot. Both the adaptor root of the adaptor body and the blade root of the turbine blade are configured to be received within the root slot of the rotor disk.

Graphene in turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Das, D. K.; Swain, P. K.; Sahoo, S.

2016-07-01

Graphene, the two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial, draws interest of several researchers due to its many superior properties. It has extensive applications in numerous fields. A turbine is a hydraulic machine which extracts energy from a fluid and converts it into useful work. Recently, Gudukeya and Madanhire have tried to increase the efficiency of Pelton turbine. Beucher et al. have also tried the same by reducing friction between fluid and turbine blades. In this paper, we study the advantages of using graphene as a coating on Pelton turbine blades. It is found that the efficiency of turbines increases, running and maintenance cost is reduced with more power output. By the application of graphene in pipes, cavitation will be reduced, durability of pipes will increase, operation and maintenance cost of water power plants will be less.

Design and testing of a deformable wind turbine blade control surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daynes, S; Weaver, P M

2012-01-01

Wind tunnel tests were conducted on a 1.3 m chord NACA 63–418 blade section fitted with an adaptive trailing edge flap. The 20% chord flap had an aramid honeycomb core covered with a silicone skin and was actuated using servo motors. The honeycomb core had a high stiffness in the thickness direction but was compliant in chordwise bending. These anisotropic properties offer a potential solution for the conflicting design requirements found in morphing trailing edge structures. Static and dynamic tests were performed up to a Reynolds number of 5.4 × 10 6 . The tests showed that deflecting the flap from − 10° to + 10° changes the blade section lift coefficient by 1.0 in non-stalled conditions. Dynamic tests showed the flap to be capable of operating up to 9° s −1 using a 15 V power supply. A two-dimensional static aeroelastic model of the morphing flap was developed to analyse strains, predict actuator requirements and study fluid–structure interaction effects. The model was used to conduct parametric studies to further improve the flap design. Potential applications include wind turbine blade load alleviation and increased wind energy capture. (paper)

Structural Testing of the Blade Reliability Collaborative Effect of Defect Wind Turbine Blades

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Desmond, M. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hughes, S. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Paquette, J. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-06-08

Two 8.3-meter (m) wind turbine blades intentionally constructed with manufacturing flaws were tested to failure at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) south of Boulder, Colorado. Two blades were tested; one blade was manufactured with a fiberglass spar cap and the second blade was manufactured with a carbon fiber spar cap. Test loading primarily consisted of flap fatigue loading of the blades, with one quasi-static ultimate load case applied to the carbon fiber spar cap blade. Results of the test program were intended to provide the full-scale test data needed for validation of model and coupon test results of the effect of defects in wind turbine blade composite materials. Testing was part of the Blade Reliability Collaborative (BRC) led by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The BRC seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the causes of unexpected blade failures (Paquette 2012), and to develop methods to enable blades to survive to their expected operational lifetime. Recent work in the BRC includes examining and characterizing flaws and defects known to exist in wind turbine blades from manufacturing processes (Riddle et al. 2011). Recent results from reliability databases show that wind turbine rotor blades continue to be a leading contributor to turbine downtime (Paquette 2012).

Flow separation on wind turbines blades

Science.gov (United States)

Corten, G. P.

2001-01-01

In the year 2000, 15GW of wind power was installed throughout the world, producing 100PJ of energy annually. This contributes to the total electricity demand by only 0.2%. Both the installed power and the generated energy are increasing by 30% per year world-wide. If the airflow over wind turbine blades could be controlled fully, the generation efficiency and thus the energy production would increase by 9%. Power Control To avoid damage to wind turbines, they are cut out above 10 Beaufort (25 m/s) on the wind speed scale. A turbine could be designed in such a way that it converts as much power as possible in all wind speeds, but then it would have to be to heavy. The high costs of such a design would not be compensated by the extra production in high winds, since such winds are rare. Therefore turbines usually reach maximum power at a much lower wind speed: the rated wind speed, which occurs at about 6 Beaufort (12.5 m/s). Above this rated speed, the power intake is kept constant by a control mechanism. Two different mechanisms are commonly used. Active pitch control, where the blades pitch to vane if the turbine maximum is exceeded or, passive stall control, where the power control is an implicit property of the rotor. Stall Control The flow over airfoils is called "attached" when it flows over the surface from the leading edge to the trailing edge. However, when the angle of attack of the flow exceeds a certain critical angle, the flow does not reach the trailing edge, but leaves the surface at the separation line. Beyond this line the flow direction is reversed, i.e. it flows from the trailing edge backward to the separation line. A blade section extracts much less energy from the flow when it separates. This property is used for stall control. Stall controlled rotors always operate at a constant rotation speed. The angle of attack of the flow incident to the blades is determined by the blade speed and the wind speed. Since the latter is variable, it determines

Wind turbine blade waste in 2050.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Pu; Barlow, Claire Y

2017-04-01

Wind energy has developed rapidly over the last two decades to become one of the most promising and economically viable sources of renewable energy. Although wind energy is claimed to provide clean renewable energy without any emissions during operation, but it is only one side of the coin. The blades, one of the most important components in the wind turbines, made with composite, are currently regarded as unrecyclable. With the first wave of early commercial wind turbine installations now approaching their end of life, the problem of blade disposal is just beginning to emerge as a significant factor for the future. This paper is aimed at discovering the magnitude of the wind turbine blade waste problem, looking not only at disposal but at all stages of a blade's lifecycle. The first stage of the research, the subject of this paper, is to accurately estimate present and future wind turbine blade waste inventory using the most recent and most accurate data available. The result will provide a solid reference point to help the industry and policy makers to understand the size of potential environmental problem and to help to manage it better. This study starts by estimating the annual blade material usage with wind energy installed capacity and average blade weight. The effect of other waste contributing factors in the full lifecycle of wind turbine blades is then included, using industrial data from the manufacturing, testing and in-service stages. The research indicates that there will be 43 million tonnes of blade waste worldwide by 2050 with China possessing 40% of the waste, Europe 25%, the United States 16% and the rest of the world 19%. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of loading distribution on the performance of high pressure turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Corriveau, Daniel

Midspan measurements were made in a transonic wind tunnel for three High Pressure (HP) turbine blade cascades at both design and off-design incidences. Comparisons with two-dimensional numerical simulations of the cascade flow were also made. The baseline profile is the midspan section of a HP turbine blade of fairly recent design. It is considered mid-loaded. To gain a better understanding of blade loading limits and the influence of loading distributions, the profile of the baseline airfoil was modified to create two new airfoils having aft-loaded and front-loaded pressure distributions. Tests were performed for exit Mach numbers between 0.6 and 1.2. In addition, measurements were made for an extended range of Reynolds numbers for constant Mach numbers of 0.6, 0.85, 0.95 and 1.05. At the design exit Mach number of 1.05 and at design incidence, the aft-loaded airfoil showed a reduction of almost 20% in the total pressure losses compared with the baseline airfoil. Based on the analysis of wake traverse data and base pressure measurements combined with numerical results, it was found that the poorer loss performance of the baseline mid-loaded profile compared to the aft-loaded blade could be attributed to the former's higher rear suction side curvature, which resulted in higher flow velocity in that region, which, in turn, contributed to reducing the base pressure. The lower base pressure at the trailing edge resulted in a stronger trailing edge shock system for the mid-loaded blade. This shock system increased the losses for the mid-loaded baseline profile when compared to the aft-loaded profile. On the negative side, it was also found that as Mach numbers were increased beyond the design value the performance of the aft-loaded blade deteriorated rapidly. Under such conditions, the front-loaded airfoil showed generally inferior performance compared with the baseline airfoil. At off-design incidence, the aft-loaded blade maintained a superior loss performance over a

Applied modal analysis of wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, H.B.; Kristensen, O.J.D.

2003-01-01

In this project modal analysis has been used to determine the natural frequencies, damping and the mode shapes for wind turbine blades. Different methods to measure the position and adjust the direction of the measuring points are discussed. Differentequipment for mounting the accelerometers...... is investigated by repeated measurement on the same wind turbine blade. Furthermore the flexibility of the test set-up is investigated, by use ofaccelerometers mounted on the flexible adapter plate during the measurement campaign. One experimental campaign investigated the results obtained from a loaded...... and unloaded wind turbine blade. During this campaign the modal analysis are performed on ablade mounted in a horizontal and a vertical position respectively. Finally the results obtained from modal analysis carried out on a wind turbine blade are compared with results obtained from the Stig Øyes blade_EV1...

Methodology for wind turbine blade geometry optimization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Perfiliev, D.

2013-11-01

Nowadays, the upwind three bladed horizontal axis wind turbine is the leading player on the market. It has been found to be the best industrial compromise in the range of different turbine constructions. The current wind industry innovation is conducted in the development of individual turbine components. The blade constitutes 20-25% of the overall turbine budget. Its optimal operation in particular local economic and wind conditions is worth investigating. The blade geometry, namely the chord, twist and airfoil type distributions along the span, responds to the output measures of the blade performance. Therefore, the optimal wind blade geometry can improve the overall turbine performance. The objectives of the dissertation are focused on the development of a methodology and specific tool for the investigation of possible existing wind blade geometry adjustments. The novelty of the methodology presented in the thesis is the multiobjective perspective on wind blade geometry optimization, particularly taking simultaneously into account the local wind conditions and the issue of aerodynamic noise emissions. The presented optimization objective approach has not been investigated previously for the implementation in wind blade design. The possibilities to use different theories for the analysis and search procedures are investigated and sufficient arguments derived for the usage of proposed theories. The tool is used for the test optimization of a particular wind turbine blade. The sensitivity analysis shows the dependence of the outputs on the provided inputs, as well as its relative and absolute divergences and instabilities. The pros and cons of the proposed technique are seen from the practical implementation, which is documented in the results, analysis and conclusion sections. (orig.)

High Humidity Aerodynamic Effects Study on Offshore Wind Turbine Airfoil/Blade Performance through CFD Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weipeng Yue

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Damp air with high humidity combined with foggy, rainy weather, and icing in winter weather often is found to cause turbine performance degradation, and it is more concerned with offshore wind farm development. To address and understand the high humidity effects on wind turbine performance, our study has been conducted with spread sheet analysis on damp air properties investigation for air density and viscosity; then CFD modeling study using Fluent was carried out on airfoil and blade aerodynamic performance effects due to water vapor partial pressure of mixing flow and water condensation around leading edge and trailing edge of airfoil. It is found that the high humidity effects with water vapor mixing flow and water condensation thin film around airfoil may have insignificant effect directly on airfoil/blade performance; however, the indirect effects such as blade contamination and icing due to the water condensation may have significant effects on turbine performance degradation. Also it is that found the foggy weather with microwater droplet (including rainy weather may cause higher drag that lead to turbine performance degradation. It is found that, at high temperature, the high humidity effect on air density cannot be ignored for annual energy production calculation. The blade contamination and icing phenomenon need to be further investigated in the next study.

Flow characteristics in nuclear steam turbine blade passage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahn, H.J.; Yoon, W.H.; Kwon, S.B.

1995-01-01

The rapid expansion of condensable gas such as moist air or steam gives rise to nonequilibrium condensation. As a result of irreversibility of condensation process in the nuclear steam turbine blade passage, the entropy of the flow increases, and the efficiency of the turbine decreases. In the present study, in order to investigate the flow characteristics of moist air in two-dimensional turbine blade passage which is made from the configuration of the last stage tip section of the actual nuclear steam turbine moving blade, the static pressures along both pressure and suction sides of blade are measured by static pressure taps and the distribution of Mach number on both sides of the blade are obtained by using the measured static pressure. Also, the flow field is visualized by a Schlieren system. From the experimental results, the effects of the stagnation temperature and specific humidity on the flow properties in the two dimensional steam turbine blade passage are clearly identified

Computational Fluid Dynamic Analysis of a Vibrating Turbine Blade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Osama N. Alshroof

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This study presents the numerical fluid-structure interaction (FSI modelling of a vibrating turbine blade using the commercial software ANSYS-12.1. The study has two major aims: (i discussion of the current state of the art of modelling FSI in gas turbine engines and (ii development of a “tuned” one-way FSI model of a vibrating turbine blade to investigate the correlation between the pressure at the turbine casing surface and the vibrating blade motion. Firstly, the feasibility of the complete FSI coupled two-way, three-dimensional modelling of a turbine blade undergoing vibration using current commercial software is discussed. Various modelling simplifications, which reduce the full coupling between the fluid and structural domains, are then presented. The one-way FSI model of the vibrating turbine blade is introduced, which has the computational efficiency of a moving boundary CFD model. This one-way FSI model includes the corrected motion of the vibrating turbine blade under given engine flow conditions. This one-way FSI model is used to interrogate the pressure around a vibrating gas turbine blade. The results obtained show that the pressure distribution at the casing surface does not differ significantly, in its general form, from the pressure at the vibrating rotor blade tip.

Bimetallic Blisks with Shrouded Turbine Blades for Gas Turbine Engines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. A. Magerramova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper discusses prospects of using blisks with shrouded blades. Increasing an engine life and efficiency as well as mass reduction can also be achieved by increasing blade numbers and decreasing disk diameter. But design engineers are faced with the problem of blade placement because of the disk size and root dimensions.The problem of increasing life and cyclic durability, vibration strength, and lightweight design of the turbine gas turbine wheels, can be solved by an elimination of blade - disk locks.The technology of manufacturing one-piece blisks by connecting the blades with the disc part using hot isostatic pressing was developed. This technology allows us to use blades with shrouds. It is necessary to increase efficiency and to improve high cycle fatigue performance of rotor blades.One of the pressing problems is to ensure the necessary position of shrouds in relation to each other in the manufacturing process as well as in the service. Numerical studies of the influence of the shroud mounting position on blade strength during operation allowed us to develop a methodology of choosing a shroud mounting position.Based on the two turbine wheels (LPT and HPT calculations advantages of blisk design with respect to the lock-based design were shown. Application of bimetallic blisks with shrouded blades resulted in a lifespan increase and weight reduction.In addition, other advantages of blisk design are as follows: possible reduction in the number of parts, elimination of leaks and fretting that take place in the blade - disk locks, exception of expensive broaching operations and disk alloy saving. The shortcoming is elimination of damping in root connection. In addition, there are no widely used repair methods.Despite these disadvantages the usage of bimetallic turbine blisks with shrouded blades is very promising.

Structural Analysis of Basalt Fiber Reinforced Plastic Wind Turbine Blade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mengal Ali Nawaz

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In this study, Basalt fiber reinforced plastic (BFRP wind turbine blade was analyzed and compared with Glass fiber reinforced plastic blade (GFRP. Finite element analysis (FEA of blade was carried out using ANSYS. Data for FEA was obtained by using rule of mixture. The shell element in ANSYS was used to simulate the wind turbine blade and to conduct its strength analysis. The structural analysis and comparison of blade deformations proved that BFRP wind turbine blade has better strength compared to GFRP wind turbine blade.

Metallurgy of gas turbine blades with integral shroud and its influence on blades performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazur, Z.; Marino, C.; Kubiak, J.

1999-01-01

The influence of the microstructure of the gas turbine blades with integral shroud on the blades performance is presented. The analysis of the solidification process of the gas turbine blades during conventionally casting process (equiaxed grains) with all elements which has influence on the mode of its solidification and variation of the microstructure is carried out. Also, the evaluation of the failure of the gas turbine blade is present. A detailed analysis of the blade tip shroud microstructure (presence of the equiaxed and columnar grains) and its influence on the failure initiation and propagation is carried out. Finally, conclusions and some necessary improvements of the blades casting process to prevent blades failures are presented. (Author) 2 refs

Damage detection in wind turbine blades using acoustic techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Juengert, A., E-mail: anne.juengert@mpa.uni-stuttgart.de [Univ. of Stuttgart, Materialpruefungsanstalt Stuttgart, Stuttgart (Germany)

2013-05-15

Facing climate change, the use of renewable energy gains importance. The wind energy sector grows very fast. Bigger and more powerful wind turbines will be built in the coming decades and the safety and reliability of the turbines will become more important. Wind turbine blades have to be inspected at regular intervals, because they are highly stressed during operation and a blade breakdown can cause big economic damages. The turbine blades consist of fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP/CFRP) and sandwich areas containing wood or plastic foam. The blades are manufactured as two halves and glued together afterwards. Typical damages are delaminations within the GFRP or the sandwich and missing adhesive or deficient bond at the bonding surfaces. The regular inspections of wind turbine blades are performed manually by experts and are limited to visual appraisals and simple tapping tests. To improve the inspections of wind turbine blades non-destructive testing techniques using acoustic waves are being developed. To detect delaminations within the laminates of the turbine blade, a local resonance spectroscopy was used. To detect missing bond areas from the outside of the blade the impulse-echo-technique was applied. This paper is an updated reprint of an article published on ndt.net in 2008. (author)

Damage detection in wind turbine blades using acoustic techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Juengert, A.

2013-01-01

Facing climate change, the use of renewable energy gains importance. The wind energy sector grows very fast. Bigger and more powerful wind turbines will be built in the coming decades and the safety and reliability of the turbines will become more important. Wind turbine blades have to be inspected at regular intervals, because they are highly stressed during operation and a blade breakdown can cause big economic damages. The turbine blades consist of fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP/CFRP) and sandwich areas containing wood or plastic foam. The blades are manufactured as two halves and glued together afterwards. Typical damages are delaminations within the GFRP or the sandwich and missing adhesive or deficient bond at the bonding surfaces. The regular inspections of wind turbine blades are performed manually by experts and are limited to visual appraisals and simple tapping tests. To improve the inspections of wind turbine blades non-destructive testing techniques using acoustic waves are being developed. To detect delaminations within the laminates of the turbine blade, a local resonance spectroscopy was used. To detect missing bond areas from the outside of the blade the impulse-echo-technique was applied. This paper is an updated reprint of an article published on ndt.net in 2008. (author)

Failure analysis of turbine blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iorio, A.F.; Crespi, J.C.

1989-01-01

Two 20 MW gas turbines suffered damage in blades belonging to the 2nd. stage of the turbine after 24,000 hours of duty. From research it arises that the fuel used is not quite adequate to guarantee the blade's operating life due to the excess of SO 3 , C and Na existing in combustion gases which cause pitting to the former. Later, the corrosion phenomenon is presented under tension produced by working stress enhanced by pitting where Pb is its main agent. A change of fuel is recommended thus considering the blades will reach the operational life they were designed for. (Author) [es

Applied modal analysis of wind turbine blades

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Broen Pedersen, H.; Dahl Kristensen, O.J.

2003-02-01

In this project modal analysis has been used to determine the natural frequencies, damping and the mode shapes for wind turbine blades. Different methods to measure the position and adjust the direction of the measuring points are discussed. Different equipment for mounting the accelerometers are investigated and the most suitable are chosen. Different excitation techniques are tried during experimental campaigns. After a discussion the pendulum hammer were chosen, and a new improved hammer was manufactured. Some measurement errors are investigated. The ability to repeat the measured results is investigated by repeated measurement on the same wind turbine blade. Furthermore the flexibility of the test set-up is investigated, by use of accelerometers mounted on the flexible adapter plate during the measurement campaign. One experimental campaign investigated the results obtained from a loaded and unloaded wind turbine blade. During this campaign the modal analysis are performed on a blade mounted in a horizontal and a vertical position respectively. Finally the results obtained from modal analysis carried out on a wind turbine blade are compared with results obtained from the Stig Oeyes blade{sub E}V1 program. (au)

Simulation of unsteady flows through stator and rotor blades of a gas turbine using the Chimera method

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, S.; Scott, J. N.

1993-01-01

A two-dimensional model to solve compressible Navier-Stokes equations for the flow through stator and rotor blades of a turbine is developed. The flow domains for the stator and rotor blades are coupled by the Chimera method that makes grid generation easy and enhances accuracy because the area of the grid that have high turning of grid lines or high skewness can be eliminated from the computational domain after the grids are generated. The results of flow computations show various important features of unsteady flows including the acoustic waves interacting with boundary layers, Karman vortex shedding from the trailing edge of the stator blades, pulsating incoming flow to a rotor blade from passing stator blades, and flow separation from both suction and pressure sides of the rotor blades.

Fatigue strength ofcomposite wind turbine blade structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ardila, Oscar Gerardo Castro

Wind turbines are normally designed to withstand 20-30 years of life. During this period, the blades, which are the main rotating structures of a wind turbine, are subjected to high fluctuating load conditions as a result of a combination of gravity, inertia, and aeroelastic forces. For this reason......, fatigue is one of the foremost concerns during the design of these structures. However, current standard fatigue methods used for designing wind turbine blades seem not to be completely appropriate for these structures because they are still based on methods developed for metals and not for composite...... materials from which the blades are made. In this sense, the aim of this work is to develop more accurate and reliable fatigue-life prediction models for composite wind turbine blades. In this project, two types of fatigue models are implemented: fatigue-life models and damage mechanics models. In the first...

Development of 52 inch last stage blade for steam turbine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kadoya, Yoshiki; Harada, Masakatsu; Watanabe, Eiichiro

1985-01-01

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. has developed the last stage blades with 1320 mm length for a 1800 rpm LP turbine, and the verification by rotating vibration test using actual blades was finished, thus the blades were completed. In a nuclear power plant with an A-PWR of 3800 MW thermal output, the 1350 MW steam turbine has one HP turbine and three LP turbines coupled in tandem, and the optimum last stage blades for the LP turbines became the 1320 mm blades. The completion of these blades largely contributes to the improvement of thermal efficiency and the increase of generator output in large nuclear power plants, and has the possibility to decrease three LP turbines to two in 900 MW plants, which reduces the construction cost. The velocity energy of steam coming out of last stage blades is abandoned as exhaust loss in a condenser, which is the largest loss in a turbine. The increase of exhaust area using long blades reduces this loss. The economy of the 1320 mm blades, the features of the 1320 mm blades, the aerodynamic design and its verification, the prevention of the erosion of the 1320 mm blades due to wet steam, the strength design, the anti-vibration design and its verification, and the CAD/CAM system are reported. (Kako, I.)

Estimation of gas turbine blades cooling efficiency

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moskalenko, A.B.; Kozhevnikov, A.

2016-01-01

This paper outlines the results of the evaluation of the most thermally stressed gas turbine elements, first stage power turbine blades, cooling efficiency. The calculations were implemented using a numerical simulation based on the Finite Element Method. The volume average temperature of the blade

Numerical analysis of turbine blade tip treatments

Science.gov (United States)

Gopalaswamy, Nath S.; Whitaker, Kevin W.

1992-01-01

Three-dimensional solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations for a turbine blade with a turning angle of 180 degrees have been computed, including blade tip treatments involving cavities. The geometry approximates a preliminary design for the GGOT (Generic Gas Oxidizer Turbine). The data presented here will be compared with experimental data to be obtained from a linear cascade using original GGOT blades. Results have been computed for a blade with 1 percent clearance, based on chord, and three different cavity sizes. All tests were conducted at a Reynolds number of 4 x 10 exp 7. The grid contains 39,440 points with 10 spanwise planes in the tip clearance region of 5.008E-04 m. Streamline plots and velocity vectors together with velocity divergence plots reveal the general flow behavior in the clearance region. Blade tip temperature calculations suggest placement of a cavity close to the upstream side of the blade tip for reduction of overall blade tip temperature. The solutions do not account for the relative motion between the endwall and the turbine blade. The solutions obtained are generally consistent with previous work done in this area,

Blade profile optimization of kaplan turbine using cfd analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janjua, A.B.; Khalil, M.S.

2013-01-01

Utilization of hydro-power as renewable energy source is of prime importance in the world now. Hydropower energy is available in abundant in form of falls, canals rivers, dams etc. It means, there are various types of sites with different parameters like flow rate, heads, etc. Depending upon the sites, water turbines are designed and manufactured to avail hydro-power energy. Low head turbines on runof-river are widely used for the purpose. Low head turbines are classified as reaction turbines. For runof-river, depending upon the variety of site data, low head Kaplan turbines are selected, designed and manufactured. For any given site requirement, it becomes very essential to design the turbine runner blades through optimization of the CAD model of blades profile. This paper presents the optimization technique carried out on a complex geometry of blade profile through static and dynamic computational analysis. It is used through change of the blade profile geometry at five different angles in the 3D (Three Dimensional) CAD model. Blade complex geometry and design have been developed by using the coordinates point system on the blade in PRO-E /CREO software. Five different blade models are developed for analysis purpose. Based on the flow rate and heads, blade profiles are analyzed using ANSYS software to check and compare the output results for optimization of the blades for improved results which show that by changing blade profile angle and its geometry, different blade sizes and geometry can be optimized using the computational techniques with changes in CAD models. (author)

Blade Profile Optimization of Kaplan Turbine Using CFD Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aijaz Bashir Janjua

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Utilization of hydro-power as renewable energy source is of prime importance in the world now. Hydropower energy is available in abundant in form of falls, canals rivers, dams etc. It means, there are various types of sites with different parameters like flow rate, heads, etc. Depending upon the sites, water turbines are designed and manufactured to avail hydro-power energy. Low head turbines on runof-river are widely used for the purpose. Low head turbines are classified as reaction turbines. For runof river, depending upon the variety of site data, low head Kaplan turbines are selected, designed and manufactured. For any given site requirement, it becomes very essential to design the turbine runner blades through optimization of the CAD model of blades profile. This paper presents the optimization technique carried out on a complex geometry of blade profile through static and dynamic computational analysis. It is used through change of the blade profile geometry at five different angles in the 3D (Three Dimensional CAD model. Blade complex geometry and design have been developed by using the coordinates point system on the blade in PRO-E /CREO software. Five different blade models are developed for analysis purpose. Based on the flow rate and heads, blade profiles are analyzed using ANSYS software to check and compare the output results for optimization of the blades for improved results which show that by changing blade profile angle and its geometry, different blade sizes and geometry can be optimized using the computational techniques with changes in CAD models.

Operational modal analysis and wavelet transformation for damage identification in wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ulriksen, Martin Dalgaard; Tcherniak, Dmitri; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

2014-01-01

The presented study demonstrates an application of a previously proposed modal and wavelet analysis-based damage identification method to a wind turbine blade. A trailing edge debonding was introduced to a SSP 34m blade mounted on a test rig. Operational modal analysis (OMA) was conducted to obtain...... are captured in the CWT by significantly magnified transform coefficients, thus providing combined damage detection, localization, and size assessment. It was found that due to the nature of the proposed method, the value of the identification results highly depends on the number of employed measurement points....... Since only a limited number of measurement points were utilized in the experiments, valid damage identification can only be obtained when employing high-frequency modes....

Wind Turbine Blade Design System - Aerodynamic and Structural Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Dey, Soumitr

2011-12-01

The ever increasing need for energy and the depletion of non-renewable energy resources has led to more advancement in the "Green Energy" field, including wind energy. An improvement in performance of a Wind Turbine will enhance its economic viability, which can be achieved by better aerodynamic designs. In the present study, a design system that has been under development for gas turbine turbomachinery has been modified for designing wind turbine blades. This is a very different approach for wind turbine blade design, but will allow it to benefit from the features inherent in the geometry flexibility and broad design space of the presented system. It starts with key overall design parameters and a low-fidelity model that is used to create the initial geometry parameters. The low-fidelity system includes the axisymmetric solver with loss models, T-Axi (Turbomachinery-AXIsymmetric), MISES blade-to-blade solver and 2D wing analysis code XFLR5. The geometry parameters are used to define sections along the span of the blade and connected to the CAD model of the wind turbine blade through CAPRI (Computational Analysis PRogramming Interface), a CAD neutral API that facilitates the use of parametric geometry definition with CAD. Either the sections or the CAD geometry is then available for CFD and Finite Element Analysis. The GE 1.5sle MW wind turbine and NERL NASA Phase VI wind turbine have been used as test cases. Details of the design system application are described, and the resulting wind turbine geometry and conditions are compared to the published results of the GE and NREL wind turbines. A 2D wing analysis code XFLR5, is used for to compare results from 2D analysis to blade-to-blade analysis and the 3D CFD analysis. This kind of comparison concludes that, from hub to 25% of the span blade to blade effects or the cascade effect has to be considered, from 25% to 75%, the blade acts as a 2d wing and from 75% to the tip 3D and tip effects have to be taken into account

Fast Trailed Vorticity Modeling for Wind Turbine Aerodynamics and its Influence on Aeroelastic Stability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pirrung, Georg

In this work, an aerodynamic model for the use in aeroelastic wind turbine codes is presented. It consists of a simplified lifting line model covering the induction due to the trailed vorticity in the near wake, a 2D shed vorticity model and a far wake model using the well known blade element...... to earlier implementations, the model has been improved in several ways: Among other things, the need for model-specific user input has been removed, the effect of downwind convection of the trailed vorticity is modeled, the near wake induction is iterated to stabilize the computations and the numerical......-of-plane vibrations agrees much better with high fidelity models. Further, the trailed vorticity effects on the aerodynamic work are found to be of the same order of magnitude as the shed vorticity effects. The trailed vorticity effects are, however, mainly important close to the tip in the investigated cases, which...

Optimization design of blade shapes for wind turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Jin; Wang, Xudong; Shen, Wen Zhong

2010-01-01

For the optimization design of wind turbines, the new normal and tangential induced factors of wind turbines are given considering the tip loss of the normal and tangential forces based on the blade element momentum theory and traditional aerodynamic model. The cost model of the wind turbines...... and the optimization design model are developed. In the optimization model, the objective is the minimum cost of energy and the design variables are the chord length, twist angle and the relative thickness. Finally, the optimization is carried out for a 2 MW blade by using this optimization design model....... The performance of blades is validated through the comparison and analysis of the results. The reduced cost shows that the optimization model is good enough for the design of wind turbines. The results give a proof for the design and research on the blades of large scale wind turbines and also establish...

A Long-Period Grating Sensor for Wind Turbine Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Glavind, Lars

This PhD project concerns the applied research for providing a novel sensor for measurements on wind turbine blades, based on Long-Period Gratings. The idea is based on the utilization of a special asymmetrical optical fibre with Long-Period Gratings for directional sensitive bend sensing...... blade material, where a suitable process and recoating material were investigated. The sensor was implemented and tested on a full scale wind turbine blade placed on a test rig. This first prototype has demonstrated the capability of the sensor for wind turbine blade monitoring, particular...... the possibility to distinguish between the flap- and edge-wise bend directions on the wind turbine blade, providing a selective sensor. The sensor has proven to be very robust and suitable for this application....

Vibration analysis of gas turbine blade using FEM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iqbal, M.J.; Chohan, G.Y.; Khusnood, S.; Khan, M.A.

2003-01-01

In a typical turbo-machine, there is a stator row of blades, which guide the gases onto a rotor row of blades, to extract the mechanical power from the machine. A typical rotor blade was sees upstream disturbance from the stator row and as it rotates, receive a corresponding number of increasing and decreasing lift and moment forces alternating periodically, depending on the number of stator blades/nozzles/guide vanes. Thus all the blades in a turbo-machine receiver their major periodic excitation at a frequency equal to nozzle passing frequency. Since these forces are periodic, one has to consider several number of these harmonics in determining whether resonance takes place, when one of these harmonics coincides with any of the natural frequencies of the blades. Turbine blades have a variety of natural modes of vibration, predominantly as blade alone but also in combination with flexing of the disc rim. These mode occur at characteristic frequencies, which are determined by the distribution of mass and stiffness (in bending or torsion), resulting from the variable thickness over the blade area. Since the advent of steam turbines and their application in various sectors of industry, it is a common experience that a blade failure is a major cause of breakdown in these machines. Blade failures due to fatigue are predominantly vibration related. The dynamic loads on the blading can arise from many sources, the predominant being the source of the operation principles on which the machine is designed. This work deals with vibration analysis of a gas turbine blade using a finite element package ANSYS. Determined the natural frequencies and mode shapes for a turbine blade and a rectangular blade. Results have been validated experimentally using a rectangular blade. ANSYS results have also been compared against published results. (author)

Research on the nonintrusive measurement of the turbine blade vibration

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shi hai; Li, Lu-ping; Rao, Hong-de

2008-11-01

It's one of the important ways to monitor the change of dynamic characteristic of turbine blades for ensuring safety operation of turbine unit. Traditional measurement systems for monitoring blade vibration generally use strain gauges attached to the surface of turbine blades, each strain gauge gives out an analogue signal related to blade deformation, it's maximal defect is only a few blades could be monitored which are attached by strain gauge. But the noncontact vibration measurement will be discussed would solve this problem. This paper deals with noncontact vibration measurement on the rotor blades of turbine through experiments. In this paper, the noncontact vibration measurement - Tip Timing Measurement will be presented, and will be improved. The statistics and DFT will be used in the improved measurement. The main advantage of the improved measurement is that only two sensors over the top of blades and one synchronous sensor of the rotor are used to get the exact vibration characteristics of the each blade in a row. In our experiment, we adopt NI Company's DAQ equipment: SCXI1001 and PCI 6221, three optical sensors, base on the graphics program soft LabVIEW to develop the turbine blade monitor system. At the different rotational speed of the rotor (1000r/m and 1200r/m) we do several experiments on the bench of the Turbine characteristic. Its results indicated that the vibration of turbine blade could be real-time monitored and accurately measured by the improved Tip Timing Measurement.

Thermodynamic analysis of turbine blade cooling on the performance of gas turbine cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarabchi, K.; Shokri, M.

2002-01-01

Turbine inlet temperature strongly affects gas turbine performance. Today blade cooling technologies facilitate the use of higher inlet temperatures. Of course blade cooling causes some thermodynamic penalties that destroys to some extent the positive effect of higher inlet temperatures. This research aims to model and evaluate the performance of gas turbine cycle with air cooled turbine. In this study internal and transpiration cooling methods has been investigated and the penalties as the result of gas flow friction, cooling air throttling, mixing of cooling air flow with hot gas flow, and irreversible heat transfer have been considered. In addition, it is attempted to consider any factor influencing actual conditions of system in the analysis. It is concluded that penalties due to blade cooling decrease as permissible temperature of the blade surface increases. Also it is observed that transpiration method leads to better performance of gas turbine comparing to internal cooling method

Navier-Stokes analysis of an oxidizer turbine blade with tip clearance

Science.gov (United States)

Gibeling, Howard J.; Sabnis, Jayant S.

1992-01-01

The Gas Generator Oxidizer Turbine (GGOT) Blade is being analyzed by various investigators under the NASA MSFC sponsored Turbine Stage Technology Team design effort. The present work concentrates on the tip clearance region flow and associated losses; however, flow details for the passage region are also obtained in the simulations. The present calculations simulate the rotor blade row in a rotating reference frame with the appropriate coriolis and centrifugal acceleration terms included in the momentum equation. The upstream computational boundary is located about one axial chord from the blade leading edge. The boundary conditions at this location were determined by using a Euler analysis without the vanes to obtain approximately the same flow profiles at the rotor as were obtained with the Euler stage analysis including the vanes. Inflow boundary layer profiles are then constructed assuming the skin friction coefficient at both the hub and the casing. The downstream computational boundary is located about one axial chord from the blade trailing edge, and the circumferentially averaged static pressure at this location was also obtained from the Euler analysis. Results were obtained for the 3-D baseline GGOT geometry at the full scale design Reynolds number. Details of the clearance region flow behavior and blade pressure distributions were computed. The spanwise variation in blade loading distributions are shown, and circumferentially averaged spanwise distributions of total pressure, total temperature, Mach number, and flow angle are shown at several axial stations. The spanwise variation of relative total pressure loss shows a region of high loss in the region near the casing. Particle traces in the near tip region show vortical behavior of the fluid which passes through the clearance region and exits at the downstream edge of the gap.

A deflection monitoring system for a wind turbine blade

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2017-01-01

A wind turbine blade comprising a system for monitoring the deflection of a wind turbine blade is described. The system comprises a wireless range-measurement system, having at least one wireless communication device located towards the root end of the blade and at least one wireless communication...

Low Speed Technology for Small Turbine Development Reaction Injection Molded 7.5 Meter Wind Turbine Blade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

David M. Wright; DOE Project Officer - Keith Bennett

2007-07-31

An optimized small turbine blade (7.5m radius) was designed and a partial section molded with the RIM (reaction-injection molded polymer) process for mass production. The intended market is for generic three-bladed wind turbines, 100 kilowatts or less, for grid-assist end users with rural and semi-rural sites, such as the farm/ranch market, having low to moderate IEC Class 3-4 wind regimes. This blade will have substantial performance improvements over, and be cheaper than, present-day 7.5m blades. This is made possible by the injection-molding process, which yields high repeatability, accurate geometry and weights, and low cost in production quantities. No wind turbine blade in the 7.5m or greater size has used this process. The blade design chosen uses a RIM skin bonded to a braided infused carbon fiber/epoxy spar. This approach is attractive to present users of wind turbine blades in the 5-10m sizes. These include rebladeing California wind farms, refurbishing used turbines for the Midwest farm market, and other manufacturers introducing new turbines in this size range.

Thermal stresses investigation of a gas turbine blade

Science.gov (United States)

Gowreesh, S.; Pravin, V. K.; Rajagopal, K.; Veena, P. H.

2012-06-01

The analysis of structural and thermal stress values that are produced while the turbine is operating are the key factors of study while designing the next generation gas turbines. The present study examines structural, thermal, modal analysis of the first stage rotor blade of a two stage gas turbine. The design features of the turbine segment of the gas turbine have been taken from the preliminary design of a power turbine for maximization of an existing turbojet engine with optimized dump gap of the combustion chamber, since the allowable temperature on the turbine blade dependents on the hot gas temperatures from the combustion chamber. In the present paper simplified 3-D Finite Element models are developed with governing boundary conditions and solved using the commercial FEA software ANSYS. As the temperature has a significant effect on the overall stress on the rotor blades, a detail study on mechanical and thermal stresses are estimated and evaluated with the experimental values.

Use Deflected Trailing Edge to Improve the Aerodynamic Performance and Develop Low Solidity LPT Cascade

Science.gov (United States)

Chao, Li; Peigang, Yan; Xiangfeng, Wang; Wanjin, Han; Qingchao, Wang

2017-08-01

This paper investigates the feasibility of improving the aerodynamic performance of low pressure turbine (LPT) blade cascades and developing low solidity LPT blade cascades through deflected trailing edge. A deflected trailing edge improved aerodynamic performance of both LPT blade cascades and low solidity LPT blade cascades. For standard solidity LPT cascades, deflecting the trailing edge can decrease the energy loss coefficient by 20.61 % for a Reynolds number (Re) of 25,000 and freestream turbulence intensities (FSTI) of 1 %. For a low solidity LPT cascade, aerodynamic performance was also improved by deflecting the trailing edge. Solidity of the LPT cascade can be reduced by 12.5 % for blades with a deflected trailing edge without a drop in efficiency. Here, the flow control mechanism surrounding a deflected trailing edge was also revealed.

Future Materials for Wind Turbine Blades - A Critical Review

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raghavalu Thirumalai, Durai Prabhakaran

2012-01-01

Wind turbine industry is continuously evaluating material systems to replace the current thermoset composite technologies. Since turbine blades are the key component in the wind turbines and the size of the blade is increasing in today’s wind design, the material selection has become crucial...

Turbine blade having a constant thickness airfoil skin

Science.gov (United States)

Marra, John J

2012-10-23

A turbine blade is provided for a gas turbine comprising: a support structure comprising a base defining a root of the blade and a framework extending radially outwardly from the base, and an outer skin coupled to the support structure framework. The skin has a generally constant thickness along substantially the entire radial extent thereof. The framework and the skin define an airfoil of the blade.

Study on the replacement of last moving blade at lower pressure turbine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koo, Jae Raeyang; Lee, Woo Kwang; Koo, Woo Sik; Kim, Yeon Hwan

2003-01-01

Vibration of turbine is concerned with array of last moving blade at lower pressure turbine. When last moving blade at lower pressure turbine was replaced, we must consider mass unbalance problems of blades. If mass unbalance happened at rotor, it is impossible to operate turbine. In this paper, we have how to minimize the mass unbalance problems of last moving blade at lower pressure turbine

Stress analysis of composite wind turbine blade by finite element method

Science.gov (United States)

Yeh, Meng-Kao; Wang, Chen-Hsu

2017-10-01

In this study, the finite element analysis software ANSYS was used to analyze the composite wind turbine blade. The wind turbine blade model used is adopted from the 5 MW model of US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The wind turbine blade is a sandwich structure, comprising outermost carbon fiber cloth/epoxy composites, the inner glass fiber/vinylester layers, and PVC foam core, together with stiffeners. The wind pressure is converted into the load on the blade structure. The stress distribution and deformation of wind turbine blade were obtained by considering different pitch angles and at different angular positions. The Tsai-Hill criterion was used to determine the failure of wind turbine blade. The results show that at the 0° pitch angle, the wind turbine blade is subjected to the largest combined load and therefore the stress is the largest; with the increasing pitch angle, the load gradually decreases and the stress is also smaller. The stress and displacement are the greatest when the wind blade is located at 120° angular position from its highest vertex.

Development of 52 inches last stage blade for steam turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Atsuhide; Hisa, Shoichi; Nagao, Shinichiro; Ogata, Hisao

1986-01-01

The last stage blades of steam turbines are the important component controlling the power output and performance of plants. In order to realize a unit of large capacity and high efficiency, the proper exhaust area and the last stage blades having good performance are indispensable. Toshiba Corp. has completed the development of the 52 inch last stage blades for 1500 and 1800 rpm steam turbines. The 52 inch last stage blades are the longest in the world, which have the annular exhaust area nearly 1.5 times as much as that of 41 inch blades used for 1100 MW, 1500 rpm turbines in nuclear power stations. By adopting these 52 inch blades, the large capacity nuclear power plants up to 1800 MW can be economically constructed, the rate of heat consumption of 1350 MW plants is improved by 3 ∼ 4 % as compared with 41 inch blades, and in the plants up to 1100 MW, LP turbines can be reduced from three sets to two. The features of 52 inch blades, the flow pattern and blade form design, the structural strength analysis and the erosion withstanding property, and the verification by the rotation test of the actual blades, the performance test using a test turbine, the vibration analysis of the actually loaded blades and the analysis of wet steam behavior are reported. (Kako, I.)

Wind Turbine Blade with Angled Girders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2011-01-01

The present invention relates to a reinforced blade for a wind turbine, particularly to a blade having a new arrangement of two or more girders in the blade, wherein each of the girders is connected to the upper part and the lower part of the shell and forms an angle with another girder thereby...

Numerical results in a vertical wind axis turbine with relative rotating blades

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bayeul-Laine, Annie-Claude; Dockter, Aurore; Simonet, Sophie; Bois, Gerard [Arts et Metiers PARISTECH (France)

2011-07-01

The use of wind energy to produce electricity through wind turbines has spread world-wide. The quantity of electricity produced is affected by numerous factors such as wind speed and direction and turbine design; the aim of this paper is to assess the influence of different blades on the performance of a turbine. This study was performed on a turbine in which the blades have a rotating movement, each around its own axis and around the turbine's axis. Unsteady simulations were carried out with several blade stagger angles and one wind speed and 2 different blade geometries were used for 4 rotational speeds. Results showed that the studied turbine gave better performance than vertical axis wind turbines and that blade sketch, blade speed ratios, and blade stagger angle were important influences on the performance. This study showed that this kind of turbine has the potential to achieve good performance but that further work needs to be done.

New airfoil sections for straight bladed turbine

Science.gov (United States)

Boumaza, B.

1987-07-01

A theoretical investigation of aerodynamic performance for vertical axis Darrieus wind turbine with new airfoils sections is carried out. The blade section aerodynamics characteristics are determined from turbomachines cascade model. The model is also adapted to the vertical Darrieus turbine for the performance prediction of the machine. In order to choose appropriate value of zero-lift-drag coefficient in calculation, an analytical expression is introduced as function of chord-radius ratio and Reynolds numbers. New airfoils sections are proposed and analyzed for straight-bladed turbine.

New airfoil sections for straight bladed turbine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boumaza, B.

1987-07-01

A theoretical investigation of aerodynamic performance for vertical axis Darrieus wind turbine with new airfoils sections is carried out. The blade section aerodynamics characteristics are determined from turbomachines cascade model. The model is also adapted to the vertical Darrieus turbine for the performance prediction of the machine. In order to choose appropriate value of zero-lift-drag coefficient in calculation, an analytical expression is introduced as function of chord-radius ratio and Reynolds numbers. New airfoils sections are proposed and analyzed for straight-bladed turbine

Aerodynamic shape optimization of non-straight small wind turbine blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, Xin; Yang, Hong; Chen, Jinge; Zhu, Xiaocheng; Du, Zhaohui

2016-01-01

Graphical abstract: Small wind turbine blades with 3D stacking lines (sweep and bend) have been considered and analyzed with an optimization code based on the lifting surface method. The results indicated that the power capture and the rotor thrust can be improved with these more complex geometries. The starting behavior of the small wind turbines can be improved by the optimization of the blade chord and twist angle distribution. - Highlights: • The small wind turbine blade was optimized with non-straight shape. • Lifting surface method with free wake was used for aerodyanmic performace evaluation. • The non-straight shape can be used to increase energy production and decrease the thrust. • The energy production should be sacrificed in order to increase the starting behavior. - Abstract: Small wind turbines usually operate in sub-optimal wind conditions in order to satisfy the demand where it is needed. The aerodynamic performance of small horizontal axis wind turbines highly depends on the geometry. In the present study, the geometry of wind turbine blades are optimized not only in terms of the distribution of the chord and twist angle but also with 3-dimensional stacking line. As the blade with 3-dimensional stacking line is given sweep in the plan of rotation and dihedral in the plan containing the blade and rotor axis, the common used blade element momentum method can no longer provide accurate aerodynamic performance solution. A lifting surface method with free wake model is used as the aerodynamic model in the present work. The annual energy production and the starting performance are selected as optimization objective. The starting performance is evaluated based on blade element method. The optimization of the geometry of the non-straight wind turbine blades is carried out by using a micro-genetic algorithm. Results show that the wind turbine blades with properly designed 3-dimensional stacking line can increase the annual energy production and have

Structural experiment of wind turbine blades; Fushayo blade no zairyo rikigakuteki jikken kenkyu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seki, K; Shimizu, Y; Kuroyanagi, H [Tokai University, Tokyo (Japan)

1997-11-25

Aluminum, GFRP and composite of aluminum coated with carbon as structural materials for wind turbine blades were bending-tested, to improve blade bending stiffness, understand stress conditions at each position, and clarify structural dynamic strength by the bending-failure test. It is possible to estimate stress conditions at each position from the test results of displacement and strain at each load. The test results with GFRP are well explained qualitatively by the boundary theory, known as a theory for composite materials. The test gives reasonable material strength data, useful for designing wind turbines of high functions and safety. The results of the blade bending-failure test are in good agreement with the calculated structural blade strength. It is also found that GFRP is a good material of high structural strength for wind turbines. 8 refs., 6 tabs.

Accelerated rain erosion of wind turbine blade coatings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Shizhong

. There are four chapters in the thesis. In chapter 1, a literature survey provides background information to the field. Topics discussed are the global wind energy development, possible wind turbine constructions, blade structures and materials, blade coatings, and liquid erosion mechanisms. In chapter 2......During operation, the fast-moving blades of wind turbines are exposed to continuous impacts with rain droplets, hail, insects, or solid particles. This can lead to erosion of the blades, whereby the electrical efficiency is compromised and expensive repairs may be required. One possible solution...

Numerical Simulation of Wind Turbine Blade-Tower Interaction

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Qiang Wang; Hu Zhou; Decheng Wan

2012-01-01

Numerical simulations of wind turbine blade-tower interaction by using the open source OpenFOAM tools coupled with arbitrary mesh interface (AMI) method were presented.The governing equations were the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (PANS) which were solved by the pimpleDyMFoam solver,and the AMI method was employed to handle mesh movements.The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) phase Ⅵ wind turbine in upwind configuration was selected for numerical tests with different incoming wind speeds (5,10,15,and 25 m/s) at a fixed blade pitch and constant rotational speed.Detailed numerical results of vortex structure,time histories of thrust,and pressure distribution on the blade and tower were presented.The findings show that the wind turbine tower has little effect on the whole aerodynamic performance of an upwind wind turbine,while the rotating rotor will induce an obvious cyclic drop in the front pressure of the tower.Also,strong interaction of blade tip vortices with separation from the tower was observed.

Aero-Thermo-Structural Design Optimization of Internally Cooled Turbine Blades

Science.gov (United States)

Dulikravich, G. S.; Martin, T. J.; Dennis, B. H.; Lee, E.; Han, Z.-X.

1999-01-01

A set of robust and computationally affordable inverse shape design and automatic constrained optimization tools have been developed for the improved performance of internally cooled gas turbine blades. The design methods are applicable to the aerodynamics, heat transfer, and thermoelasticity aspects of the turbine blade. Maximum use of the existing proven disciplinary analysis codes is possible with this design approach. Preliminary computational results demonstrate possibilities to design blades with minimized total pressure loss and maximized aerodynamic loading. At the same time, these blades are capable of sustaining significantly higher inlet hot gas temperatures while requiring remarkably lower coolant mass flow rates. These results suggest that it is possible to design internally cooled turbine blades that will cost less to manufacture, will have longer life span, and will perform as good, if not better than, film cooled turbine blades.

A Two-Bladed Concept Wind Turbine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kim, Taeseong

2012-01-01

This article shows the potential for reducing extreme loads with an innovative design of wind turbine, a partial pitch two-bladed concept turbine. The most extreme conditions to test a turbine are considered to be stand-still combined with a grid failure in which the wind comes from all directions...

Numerical simulation on a straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine with auxiliary blade

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Y.; Zheng, Y. F.; Feng, F.; He, Q. B.; Wang, N. X.

2016-08-01

To improve the starting performance of the straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (SB-VAWT) at low wind speed, and the output characteristics at high wind speed, a flexible, scalable auxiliary vane mechanism was designed and installed into the rotor of SB-VAWT in this study. This new vertical axis wind turbine is a kind of lift-to-drag combination wind turbine. The flexible blade expanded, and the driving force of the wind turbines comes mainly from drag at low rotational speed. On the other hand, the flexible blade is retracted at higher speed, and the driving force is primarily from a lift. To research the effects of the flexible, scalable auxiliary module on the performance of SB-VAWT and to find its best parameters, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical calculation was carried out. The calculation result shows that the flexible, scalable blades can automatic expand and retract with the rotational speed. The moment coefficient at low tip speed ratio increased substantially. Meanwhile, the moment coefficient has also been improved at high tip speed ratios in certain ranges.

The influence of trailed vorticity on flutter speed estimations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pirrung, Georg R; Madsen, Helge Aa; Kim, Taeseong

2014-01-01

This paper briefly describes the implementation of a coupled near and far wake model for wind turbine rotor induction in the aeroelastic code HAWC2 and its application for flutter analysis of the NREL 5 MW wind turbine. The model consists of a far wake part based on Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory, which is coupled with Beddoes' near wake model for trailed vorticity. The first part of this work outlines the implementation in HAWC2, with a focus on the interaction of the induction from the blade based near wake model with the induction from the polar grid based BEM model in HAWC2. The influence of the near wake model on the aeroelastic stability of the blades of the NREL 5 MW turbine in overspeed conditions is investigated in the second part of the paper. The analysis is based on a runaway case in which the turbine is free to speed up without generator torque and vibrations start building up at a critical rotor speed. Blades with modified torsional and flapwise stiffness are also investigated. A flutter analysis is often part of the stability investigations for new blades but is normally carried out with engineering models that do not include the influence of unsteady trailed vorticity. Including this influence results in a slightly increased safety margin against classical flutter in all simulated cases

Super titanium blades for advanced steam turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coulon, P.A.

1990-01-01

In 1986, the Alsthom Steam Turbines Department launched the manufacture of large titanium alloy blades: airfoil length of 1360 mm and overall length of 1520 mm. These blades are designed for the last-stage low pressure blading of advanced steam turbines operating at full speed (3000 rpm) and rating between 300 and 800 MW. Using titanium alloys for steam turbine exhaust stages as substitutes for chrome steels, due to their high strength/density ratio and their almost complete resistance to corrosion, makes it possible to increase the length of blades significantly and correspondingly that steam passage section (by up to 50%) with a still conservative stresses level in the rotor. Alsthom relies on 8 years of experience in the field of titanium, since as early as 1979 large titanium blades (airfoil length of 1240 mm, overall length of 1430 mm) were erected for experimental purposes on the last stage of a 900 MW unit of the Dampierre-sur-Loire power plant and now totals 45,000 operating hours without problems. The paper summarizes the main properties (chemical, mechanical and structural) recorded on very large blades and is based in particular on numerous fatigue corrosion test results to justify the use of the Ti 6 Al 4 V alloy in a specific context of micrographic structure

Resonant vibration control of wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Martin Nymann; Krenk, Steen; Høgsberg, Jan Becker

2010-01-01

. The efficiency of the resonant controller is demonstrated for a representative turbine blade exposed to turbulent wind loading. It is found that the present explicit tuning procedure yields close to optimal tuning, with very limited modal spill-over and effective reduction of the vibration amplitudes.......The paper deals with introduction of damping to specific vibration modes of wind turbine blades, using a resonant controller with acceleration feedback. The wind turbine blade is represented by three-dimensional, two-node finite elements in a local, rotating frame of reference. The element...... formulation accounts for arbitrary mass density distributions, general elastic crosssection properties and geometric stiffness effects due to internal stresses. A compact, linear formulation for aerodynamic forces with associated stiffness and damping terms is established and added to the structural model...

Influence of Icing on the Modal Behavior of Wind Turbine Blades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sudhakar Gantasala

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Wind turbines installed in cold climate sites accumulate ice on their structures. Icing of the rotor blades reduces turbine power output and increases loads, vibrations, noise, and safety risks due to the potential ice throw. Ice accumulation increases the mass distribution of the blade, while changes in the aerofoil shapes affect its aerodynamic behavior. Thus, the structural and aerodynamic changes due to icing affect the modal behavior of wind turbine blades. In this study, aeroelastic equations of the wind turbine blade vibrations are derived to analyze modal behavior of the Tjaereborg 2 MW wind turbine blade with ice. Structural vibrations of the blade are coupled with a Beddoes-Leishman unsteady attached flow aerodynamics model and the resulting aeroelastic equations are analyzed using the finite element method (FEM. A linearly increasing ice mass distribution is considered from the blade root to half-length and thereafter constant ice mass distribution to the blade tip, as defined by Germanischer Lloyd (GL for the certification of wind turbines. Both structural and aerodynamic properties of the iced blades are evaluated and used to determine their influence on aeroelastic natural frequencies and damping factors. Blade natural frequencies reduce with ice mass and the amount of reduction in frequencies depends on how the ice mass is distributed along the blade length; but the reduction in damping factors depends on the ice shape. The variations in the natural frequencies of the iced blades with wind velocities are negligible; however, the damping factors change with wind velocity and become negative at some wind velocities. This study shows that the aerodynamic changes in the iced blade can cause violent vibrations within the operating wind velocity range of this turbine.

Vibration-Based Damage Identification in Wind Turbine Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ulriksen, Martin Dalgaard; Tcherniak, Dmitri; Damkilde, Lars

Due to the existing trend of placing wind turbines in impassable terrain, for example, offshore, these structures constitute prime candidates for being subjected to structural health monitoring (SHM). The wind turbine blades have in particular been paid research attention [1] as these compose one...... of the most common and critical components to fail in the turbines [2]. The standard structural integrity assessment of blades is based on visual inspection, which requires the turbine in question to be stopped while inspections are conducted. This procedure is extremely costly and tedious, hence emphasizing...

Nonlinear aeroelastic modelling for wind turbine blades based on blade element momentum theory and geometrically exact beam theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Lin; Liu, Xiongwei; Renevier, Nathalie; Stables, Matthew; Hall, George M.

2014-01-01

Due to the increasing size and flexibility of large wind turbine blades, accurate and reliable aeroelastic modelling is playing an important role for the design of large wind turbines. Most existing aeroelastic models are linear models based on assumption of small blade deflections. This assumption is not valid anymore for very flexible blade design because such blades often experience large deflections. In this paper, a novel nonlinear aeroelastic model for large wind turbine blades has been developed by combining BEM (blade element momentum) theory and mixed-form formulation of GEBT (geometrically exact beam theory). The nonlinear aeroelastic model takes account of large blade deflections and thus greatly improves the accuracy of aeroelastic analysis of wind turbine blades. The nonlinear aeroelastic model is implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics and validated with a series of benchmark calculation tests. The results show that good agreement is achieved when compared with experimental data, and its capability of handling large deflections is demonstrated. Finally the nonlinear aeroelastic model is applied to aeroelastic modelling of the parked WindPACT 1.5 MW baseline wind turbine, and reduced flapwise deflection from the nonlinear aeroelastic model is observed compared to the linear aeroelastic code FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence). - Highlights: • A novel nonlinear aeroelastic model for wind turbine blades is developed. • The model takes account of large blade deflections and geometric nonlinearities. • The model is reliable and efficient for aeroelastic modelling of wind turbine blades. • The accuracy of the model is verified by a series of benchmark calculation tests. • The model provides more realistic aeroelastic modelling than FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence)

A review of damage detection methods for wind turbine blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Dongsheng; Song, Gangbing; Ren, Liang; Li, Hongnan; Ho, Siu-Chun M

2015-01-01

Wind energy is one of the most important renewable energy sources and many countries are predicted to increase wind energy portion of their whole national energy supply to about twenty percent in the next decade. One potential obstacle in the use of wind turbines to harvest wind energy is the maintenance of the wind turbine blades. The blades are a crucial and costly part of a wind turbine and over their service life can suffer from factors such as material degradation and fatigue, which can limit their effectiveness and safety. Thus, the ability to detect damage in wind turbine blades is of great significance for planning maintenance and continued operation of the wind turbine. This paper presents a review of recent research and development in the field of damage detection for wind turbine blades. Specifically, this paper reviews frequently employed sensors including fiber optic and piezoelectric sensors, and four promising damage detection methods, namely, transmittance function, wave propagation, impedance and vibration based methods. As a note towards the future development trend for wind turbine sensing systems, the necessity for wireless sensing and energy harvesting is briefly presented. Finally, existing problems and promising research efforts for online damage detection of turbine blades are discussed. (topical review)

Korean experience with steam turbine blade inspection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Hyun Kyu; Park, D.Y.; Park, Hyung Jin; Chung, Min Hwa

1990-01-01

Several turbine blade accidents in Korea have emphasized the importance of their adequate periodic inspection. As a typical example, a broken blade was found in the Low Pressure (LP) turbine at the 950 MWe KORI unit 3 during the 1986 overhaul after one year commercial operation. Since then the Manufacturer and the Utility company (KEPCO) have been concerned about the need of blade root inspection. The ultrasonic testing was applied to detect cracks in the blade roots without removing the blades from rotor. Due to the complex geometry of the roots, the test results could not be evaluated easily. We feel that the currently applied UT technique seems to be less reliable and more effective method of inspection must be developed in the near future. This paper describes the following items: The causes and analysis of blade damage The inspection techniques and results The remedial action to be taken (Repair and Replacement) The future plan

A Critical Review of Future Materials for Wind Turbine Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raghavalu Thirumalai, Durai Prabhakaran

2014-01-01

Wind turbine industry is continuously evaluating materials systems to replace the current thermoset composite technologies. Since turbine blades are the key component in the wind turbines and the size of the blade is increasing in todays wind design, the materials selection has become crucial...

Study on an Undershot Cross-Flow Water Turbine with Straight Blades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasuyuki Nishi

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Small-scale hydroelectric power generation has recently attracted considerable attention. The authors previously proposed an undershot cross-flow water turbine with a very low head suitable for application to open channels. The water turbine was of a cross-flow type and could be used in open channels with the undershot method, remarkably simplifying its design by eliminating guide vanes and the casing. The water turbine was fitted with curved blades (such as the runners of a typical cross-flow water turbine installed in tube channels. However, there was ambiguity as to how the blades’ shape influenced the turbine’s performance and flow field. To resolve this issue, the present study applies straight blades to an undershot cross-flow water turbine and examines the performance and flow field via experiments and numerical analyses. Results reveal that the output power and the turbine efficiency of the Straight Blades runner were greater than those of the Curved Blades runner regardless of the rotational speed. Compared with the Curved Blades runner, the output power and the turbine efficiency of the Straight Blades runner were improved by about 31.7% and about 67.1%, respectively.

Static Structural and Modal Analysis of Gas Turbine Blade

Science.gov (United States)

Ranjan Kumar, Ravi; Pandey, K. M., Prof.

2017-08-01

Gas turbine is one of the most versatile items of turbo machinery nowadays. It is used in different modes such as power generation, oil and gas, process plants, aviation, domestic and related small industries. This paper is based on the problems concerning blade profile selection, material selection and turbine rotor blade vibration that seriously impact the induced stress-deformation and structural functioning of developmental gas turbine engine. In this paper for generating specific power by rotating blade at specific RPM, blade profile and material has been decided by static structural analysis. Gas turbine rotating blade RPM is decided by Modal Analysis so that the natural frequency of blade should not match with the excitation frequency. For the above blade profile has been modeled in SOLIDWORKS and analysis has been done in ANSYS WORKBENCH 14. Existing NACA6409 profile has been selected as base model and then it is modified by bending it through 72.5° and 145°. Hence these three different blade profiles have been analyzed for three different materials viz. Super Alloy X, Nimonic 80A and Inconel 625 at three different speed viz. 20000, 40000 and 60000RPM. It is found that NACA6409 with 72.5° bent gives best result for all material at all speed. Among all the material Inconel 625 gives best result. Hence Blade of Inconel 625 having 72.5° bent profile is the best combination for all RPM.

Development of 1800 rpm, 43in. blade for large steam turbine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuroda, Michio; Yamazaki, Yoshiaki; Namura, Kiyoshi; Taki, Takamitsu; Ninomiya, Satoshi.

1978-01-01

In the turbines for nuclear power generation, the inlet conditions of steam is low pressure and low temperature as compared with the turbines for thermal power generation, therefore generally the required steam flow rate is much more. It is the main problem to cope with this steam of large flow rate effectively with long final stage blades and to make a turbine compact. This newly developed blade aims at the turbines from 1100 to 1300 MW class for nuclear power generation and those of 1000 MW class for thermal power generation, and it is the first low revolution, long blade in Japan used for large capacity machines of 60 Hz. Hereinafter, the outline of various examinations carried out at the time of the tests on this blade and the features of this blade are described. There is large margin in the exhaust area with this blade, therefore the turbines with large power output and good performance can be produced. The loss of exhaust energy at turbine exit can be reduced, and thermal efficiency can be raised. Large capacity machines from 1100 to 1300 MW class can be manufactured with six-flow exhaust, tandem compound turbines. In order to confirm the reliability, the vibration characteristics of the blade were investigated in the test of this time, and also the overspeed test and endurance test were carried out. (Kako, I.)

Optimization design of spar cap layup for wind turbine blade

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

2012-01-01

Based on the aerodynamic shape and structural form of the blade are fixed,a mathematical model of optimization design for wind turbine blade is established.The model is pursued with respect to minimum the blade mass to reduce the cost of wind turbine production.The material layup numbers of the spar cap are chosen as the design variables;while the demands of strength,stiffness and stability of the blade are employed as the constraint conditions.The optimization design for a 1.5 MW wind turbine blade is carried out by combing above objective and constraint conditions at the action of ultimate flapwise loads with the finite element software ANSYS.Compared with the original design,the optimization design result achieves a reduction of 7.2% of the blade mass,the stress and strain distribution of the blade is more reasonable,and there is no occurrence of resonance,therefore its effectiveness is verified.

Repair welding of cracked steam turbine blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhaduri, A.K.; Gill, T.P.S.; Albert, S.K.; Shanmugam, K.; Iyer, D.R.

1999-01-01

The procedure for repair welding of cracked steam turbine blades made of martensitic stainless steels has been developed using the gas tungsten arc welding process. Weld repair procedures were developed using both ER316L austenitic stainless steel filler wire and ER410 martensitic stainless steel filler wire. The repair welding procedure with austenitic filler wire was developed to avoid preheating of the blade as also hydrogen induced cold cracking, and involved evaluation of three different austenitic filler wires, viz. ER309L, ER316L and ERNiCr-3. The overall development of the repair welding procedure included selection of welding consumables (for austenitic filler metal), optimisation of post weld heat treatment parameters, selection of suitable method for local pre-heating and post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) of the blades, determination of mechanical properties of weldments in as-welded and PWHT conditions, and microstructural examination. After various trials using different procedures, the procedure of local PWHT using electrical resistance heating on the top surface of the weldment and monitoring the temperature by placing a thermocouple at the bottom of the weld, was found to give the most satisfactory results. A similar procedure was used for preheating while using ER410 filler metal. Mechanical testing of weldments before and after PWHT involved tensile tests at room temperature, face and root bend tests, and microhardness measurements across the fusion line and heat affected zone. During procedure qualification, mock-ups and actual repair welding, dye penetrant testing was used at different stages and where ever possible radiography was carried out. These procedures were developed for repair welding of cracked blades in the low-pressure (LP) steam turbines of Indian nuclear power plants. The procedure with ER316 L filler wire has so far been applied for repair welding of 2 cracked blades (made of AISI 410 SS) of LP steam turbines, while the procedure

Study on Determination Method of Fatigue Testing Load for Wind Turbine Blade

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, Gaohua; Wu, Jianzhong

2017-07-01

In this paper, the load calculation method of the fatigue test was studied for the wind turbine blade under uniaxial loading. The characteristics of wind load and blade equivalent load were analyzed. The fatigue property and damage theory of blade material were studied. The fatigue load for 2MW blade was calculated by Bladed, and the stress calculated by ANSYS. Goodman modified exponential function S-N curve and linear cumulative damage rule were used to calculate the fatigue load of wind turbine blades. It lays the foundation for the design and experiment of wind turbine blade fatigue loading system.

Reliability of wind turbine blades: An overview of materials testing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holmes, John W.; Sørensen, Bent F.; Brøndsted, Povl

2007-01-01

an understanding of how damage develops in composite structures, composite materials and adhesives. Designing reliable wind turbine blades also requires the further development of laboratory scale and full scale test methods to evaluate the structural response and durability of new materials under various loading......The structural reliability of wind turbine components can have a profound impact on both the profitability and reputation of a wind turbine manufacturer or supplier of wind turbine components. The issue of reliability is of critical concern when large wind farm co-operatives are considered......, and when wind turbines are located in remote regions where the cost of inspections and repairs can be very high. From a structural viewpoint, wind turbine blades are subjected to very complex loading histories with coupled deformation modes. The long-term reliability of wind turbine blades requires...

Implicit geometric representations for optimal design of gas turbine blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mansour, T.; Ghaly, W.

2004-01-01

Shape optimization requires a proper geometric representation of the blade profile; the parameters of such a representation are usually taken as design variables in the optimization process. This implies that the model must possess three specific features: flexibility, efficiency, and accuracy. For the specific task of aerodynamic optimization for turbine blades, it is critical to have flexibility in both the global and local design spaces in order to obtain a successful optimization. This work is concerned with the development of two geometric representations of turbine blade profiles that are appropriate for aerodynamic optimization: the Modified Rapid Axial Turbine Design (MRATD) model where the blade is represented by five low-order curves that satisfy eleven designer parameters; this model is suitable for a global search of the design space. The second model is NURBS parameterization of the blade profile that can be used for a local refinement. The two models are presented and are assessed for flexibility and accuracy when representing several typical turbine blade profiles. The models will be further discussed in terms of curve smoothness and blade shape representation with a multi-NURBS curve versus one curve and its effect on the flow field, in particular the pressure distribution along the blade surfaces, will be elaborated. (author)

Knowledge-based system for detailed blade design of turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Goel, Sanjay; Lamson, Scott

1994-03-01

A design optimization methodology that couples optimization techniques to CFD analysis for design of airfoils is presented. This technique optimizes 2D airfoil sections of a blade by minimizing the deviation of the actual Mach number distribution on the blade surface from a smooth fit of the distribution. The airfoil is not reverse engineered by specification of a precise distribution of the desired Mach number plot, only general desired characteristics of the distribution are specified for the design. Since the Mach number distribution is very complex, and cannot be conveniently represented by a single polynomial, it is partitioned into segments, each of which is characterized by a different order polynomial. The sum of the deviation of all the segments is minimized during optimization. To make intelligent changes to the airfoil geometry, it needs to be associated with features observed in the Mach number distribution. Associating the geometry parameters with independent features of the distribution is a fairly complex task. Also, for different optimization techniques to work efficiently the airfoil geometry needs to be parameterized into independent parameters, with enough degrees of freedom for adequate geometry manipulation. A high-pressure, low reaction steam turbine blade section was optimized using this methodology. The Mach number distribution was partitioned into pressure and suction surfaces and the suction surface distribution was further subdivided into leading edge, mid section and trailing edge sections. Two different airfoil representation schemes were used for defining the design variables of the optimization problem. The optimization was performed by using a combination of heuristic search and numerical optimization. The optimization results for the two schemes are discussed in the paper. The results are also compared to a manual design improvement study conducted independently by an experienced airfoil designer. The turbine blade optimization

Modeling the transient aerodynamic effects during the motion of a flexible trailing edge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolff, T; Seume, J R

2016-01-01

Wind turbine blades have been becoming longer and more slender during the last few decades. The longer lever arm results in higher stresses at the blade root. Hence, the unsteady loads induced by turbulence, gust, or wind shear increase. One promising way to control these loads is to use flexible trailing edges near the blade tip. The unsteady effects which appear during the motion of a flexible trailing edge must be considered for the load calculation during the design process because of their high influence on aeroelastic effects and hence on the fatigue loads. This is not yet possible in most of the wind turbine simulation environments. Consequently, an empirical model is developed in the present study which accounts for unsteady effects during the motion of the trailing edge. The model is based on Fourier analyses of results generated with Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of a typical thin airfoil with a deformable trailing edge. The validation showed that the model fits Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) results simulated with a random time series of the deflection angle. (paper)

Transient power coefficients for a two-blade Savonius wind turbine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pope, K.; Naterer, G. [Univ. of Ontario Inst. of Technology, Oshawa, ON (Canada). Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science

2010-07-01

The wind power industry had a 29 percent growth rate in installed capacity in 2008, and technological advances are helping to speed up growth by significantly increasing wind turbine power yields. While the majority of the industry's growth has come from large horizontal axis wind turbine installations, small wind turbines can also be used in a wide variety of applications. This study predicted the transient power coefficient for a Savonius vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) wind turbine with 2 blades. The turbine's flow field was used to analyze pressure distribution along the rotor blades in relation to the momentum, lift, and drag forces on the rotor surfaces. The integral force balance was used to predict the transient torque and power output of the turbine. The study examined the implications of the addition of a second blade on the model's ability to predict transient power outputs. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) programs were used to verify that the formulation can be used to accurately predict the transient power coefficients of VAWTs with Savonius blades. 11 refs., 1 tab., 6 figs.

Determination of Turbine Blade Life from Engine Field Data

Science.gov (United States)

Zaretsky, Erwin V.; Litt, Jonathan S.; Hendricks, Robert C.; Soditus, Sherry M.

2013-01-01

It is probable that no two engine companies determine the life of their engines or their components in the same way or apply the same experience and safety factors to their designs. Knowing the failure mode that is most likely to occur minimizes the amount of uncertainty and simplifies failure and life analysis. Available data regarding failure mode for aircraft engine blades, while favoring low-cycle, thermal-mechanical fatigue (TMF) as the controlling mode of failure, are not definitive. Sixteen high-pressure turbine (HPT) T-1 blade sets were removed from commercial aircraft engines that had been commercially flown by a single airline and inspected for damage. Each set contained 82 blades. The damage was cataloged into three categories related to their mode of failure: (1) TMF, (2) Oxidation/erosion (O/E), and (3) Other. From these field data, the turbine blade life was determined as well as the lives related to individual blade failure modes using Johnson-Weibull analysis. A simplified formula for calculating turbine blade life and reliability was formulated. The L10 blade life was calculated to be 2427 cycles (11 077 hr). The resulting blade life attributed to O/E equaled that attributed to TMF. The category that contributed most to blade failure was Other. If there were no blade failures attributed to O/E and TMF, the overall blade L(sub 10) life would increase approximately 11 to 17 percent.

Blade Surface Pressure Distributions in a Rocket Engine Turbine: Experimental Work With On-Blade Pressure Transducers

Science.gov (United States)

Hudson, Susan T.; Zoladz, Thomas F.; Griffin, Lisa W.; Turner, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Understanding the unsteady aspects of turbine rotor flowfields is critical to successful future turbine designs. A technology program was conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to increase the understanding of unsteady environments for rocket engine turbines. The experimental program involved instrumenting turbine rotor blades with surface-mounted high frequency response pressure transducers. The turbine model was then tested to measure the unsteady pressures on the rotor blades. The data obtained from the experimental program is unique in three respects. First, much more unsteady data was obtained (several minutes per set point) than has been possible in the past. Also, two independent unsteady data acquisition systems and fundamental signal processing approaches were used. Finally, an extensive steady performance database existed for the turbine model. This allowed an evaluation of the effect of the on-blade instrumentation on the turbine's performance. This unique data set, the lessons learned for acquiring this type of data, and the improvements made to the data analysis and prediction tools will contribute to future turbine programs such as those for reusable launch vehicles.

Study on optimal design of wind turbine blade airfoil and its application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Min Young; Kim, Dong Yong; Lim, Jae Kyoo

2012-01-01

This study was carried out with two goals. One was the development of a model of a wind turbine blade airfoil and the other was the application of the folding blade. In general, in large sized (MW) wind turbines, damage is prevented in small wind turbines since equipment costs and maintenance costs are high, and therefore, the blade will cause serious damage. The wind turbine proposed in this study does not require maintenance, and the blades do not break during high winds because they are folded in accordance with changes in the wind speed. But generators are not cut out, while maintaining a constant angle will continue to produce. The focus of this study, the wind turbine is continued by folding blade system in strong winds and gusts without stopping production

Study on optimal design of wind turbine blade airfoil and its application

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sun, Min Young; Kim, Dong Yong; Lim, Jae Kyoo [Chonbuk Nat' l Univ., Jeonju (Korea, Republic of)

2012-05-15

This study was carried out with two goals. One was the development of a model of a wind turbine blade airfoil and the other was the application of the folding blade. In general, in large sized (MW) wind turbines, damage is prevented in small wind turbines since equipment costs and maintenance costs are high, and therefore, the blade will cause serious damage. The wind turbine proposed in this study does not require maintenance, and the blades do not break during high winds because they are folded in accordance with changes in the wind speed. But generators are not cut out, while maintaining a constant angle will continue to produce. The focus of this study, the wind turbine is continued by folding blade system in strong winds and gusts without stopping production.

Composite ceramic blade for a gas turbine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rossmann, A; Hoffmueller, W; Krueger, W

1980-06-26

The gas turbine blade consists of a supporting metal core which has at its lower end a modelled root and a profile blade made of ceramics enclosing it at some distance. The invention deals with a reliable connection between these two parts of the rotor blade: from the top end of the blade core a head protrudes supporting the thin-walled profile blade from below with a projection each pointing into the interior. The design of the projections and supporting surfaces is described and illustrated by drawings.

Potential load reductions on megawatt turbines exposed to wakes using individual-pitch wake compensator and trailing-edge flaps

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Markou, Helen; Andersen, Peter Bjørn; Larsen, Gunner Chr.

2011-01-01

that typically focus on either load or power prediction. As a consequence, the wake affected inflow field generated by the DWM formulation opens for control strategies for the individual turbine. Two different control approaches for load reduction on the individual turbines are implemented in the multi-body aero-servo-elastic...... tool HAWC2, developed at Risø-DTU in Denmark, and their potential load reduction capabilities compared: (1) full-blade ‘individual-pitch controllers’ acting as wake compensators and (2) controllers using trailing-edge flaps. Information on the wake inflow conditions, induced by upstream turbines...... for the loading conditions of the individual turbines in the farm. The dynamic wake meandering model (DWM) is believed to capture the essential physics of the wake problem, and thus, both load and production aspects can be predicted, which is contrary to the traditional engineering wake prediction methods...

Structural Reliability of Wind Turbine Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dimitrov, Nikolay Krasimirov

turbine blades. The main purpose is to draw a clear picture of how reliability-based design of wind turbines can be done in practice. The objectives of the thesis are to create methodologies for efficient reliability assessment of composite materials and composite wind turbine blades, and to map...... the uncertainties in the processes, materials and external conditions that have an effect on the health of a composite structure. The study considers all stages in a reliability analysis, from defining models of structural components to obtaining the reliability index and calibration of partial safety factors...... by developing new models and standards or carrying out tests The following aspects are covered in detail: ⋅ The probabilistic aspects of ultimate strength of composite laminates are addressed. Laminated plates are considered as a general structural reliability system where each layer in a laminate is a separate...

Magnus wind turbines as an alternative to the blade ones

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bychkov, N M; Dovgal, A V; Kozlov, V V

2007-01-01

Experimental and calculated data on a wind turbine equipped with rotating cylinders instead of traditional blades are reported. Optimal parameters and the corresponding operational characteristics of the windwheel are given in comparison with those of the blade wind turbines

Enhancing wind turbines efficiency with passive reconfiguration of flexible blades

Science.gov (United States)

Cognet, Vincent P. A.; Thiria, Benjamin; Courrech Du Pont, Sylvain; MSC Team; PMMH Team

2015-11-01

Nature provides excellent examples where flexible materials are advantageous in a fluid stream. By folding, leaves decrease the drag caused by air stream; and birds' flapping is much more efficient with flexible wings. Motivated by this, we investigate the effect of flexible blades on the performance of a wind turbine. The effect of chordwise flexible blades is studied both experimentally and theoretically on a small wind turbine in steady state. Four parameters are varied: the wind velocity, the resisting torque, the pitch angle, and the blade's bending modulus. We find an optimum efficiency with respect to the bending modulus. By tuning our four parameters, the wind turbine with flexible blades has a high-efficiency range significantly larger than rigid blades', and, furthermore enhances the operating range. These results are all the more important as one of the current issues concerning wind turbines is the enlargement of their operating range. To explain these results, we propose a simple two-dimensional model by discretising the blade along the radius. We take into account the variation of drag and lift coefficients with the bending ability. This model matches experimental observations and demonstrates the contribution of the reconfiguration of the blade. Matiere et Systemes Complexes.

Materials for Wind Turbine Blades: An Overview

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mishnaevsky, Leon; Branner, Kim; Petersen, Helga Nørgaard

2017-01-01

A short overview of composite materials for wind turbine applications is presented here. Requirements toward the wind turbine materials, loads, as well as available materials are reviewed. Apart from the traditional composites for wind turbine blades (glass fibers/epoxy matrix composites), natural...... composites, hybrid and nanoengineered composites are discussed. Manufacturing technologies for wind turbine composites, as well their testing and modelling approaches are reviewed....

Materials for Wind Turbine Blades: An Overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Mishnaevsky, Leon; Branner, Kim; Petersen, Helga Nørgaard; Beauson, Justine; McGugan, Malcolm; Sørensen, Bent F

2017-11-09

A short overview of composite materials for wind turbine applications is presented here. Requirements toward the wind turbine materials, loads, as well as available materials are reviewed. Apart from the traditional composites for wind turbine blades (glass fibers/epoxy matrix composites), natural composites, hybrid and nanoengineered composites are discussed. Manufacturing technologies for wind turbine composites, as well their testing and modelling approaches are reviewed.

Rocket Engine Turbine Blade Surface Pressure Distributions Experiment and Computations

Science.gov (United States)

Hudson, Susan T.; Zoladz, Thomas F.; Dorney, Daniel J.; Turner, James (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Understanding the unsteady aspects of turbine rotor flow fields is critical to successful future turbine designs. A technology program was conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to increase the understanding of unsteady environments for rocket engine turbines. The experimental program involved instrumenting turbine rotor blades with miniature surface mounted high frequency response pressure transducers. The turbine model was then tested to measure the unsteady pressures on the rotor blades. The data obtained from the experimental program is unique in two respects. First, much more unsteady data was obtained (several minutes per set point) than has been possible in the past. Also, an extensive steady performance database existed for the turbine model. This allowed an evaluation of the effect of the on-blade instrumentation on the turbine's performance. A three-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes analysis was also used to blindly predict the unsteady flow field in the turbine at the design operating conditions and at +15 degrees relative incidence to the first-stage rotor. The predicted time-averaged and unsteady pressure distributions show good agreement with the experimental data. This unique data set, the lessons learned for acquiring this type of data, and the improvements made to the data analysis and prediction tools are contributing significantly to current Space Launch Initiative turbine airflow test and blade surface pressure prediction efforts.

Construction of low-cost, Mod-OA wood composite wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Lark, R. F.

1983-01-01

Two sixty-foot, low-cost, wood composite blades for service on 200 kW Mod-OA wind turbines were constructed. The blades were constructed of epoxy resin-bonded Douglas fir veneers for the leading edge sections, and paper honeycombcored, birch plywood faced panels for the afterbody sections. The blades were joined to the wind turbine hub by epoxy resin-bonded steel load take-off studs embedded into the root end of the blades. The blades were installed on the 200 kW Mod-OA wind turbine facility at Kahuku, Hawaii, The blades completed nearly 8,000 hours of operation over an 18 month period at an average power of 150 kW prior to replacement with another set of wood composite blades. The blades were replaced because of a corrosion failure of the steel shank on one stud. Inspections showed that the wood composite structure remained in excellent condition.

Modeling of uncertainties for wind turbine blade design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Toft, Henrik Stensgaard

2014-01-01

Wind turbine blades are designed by a combination of tests and numerical calculations using finite element models of the blade. The blades are typically composite structures with laminates of glass-fiber and/or carbon-fibers glued together by a matrix material. This paper presents a framework...

Flowfield Analysis of Savonius-type Wind Turbine blade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Noh, Tae Hyun; Chang, Se Myong [Kunsan National Univ., Kunsan (Korea, Republic of); Seo, Hyun Soo [Korea Institute of Energy Research, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2007-07-01

In this paper, we researched flow of 8000 {approx} 24000 Reynolds number around a blade model of Savonius-type wind turbine with experimental and numerical method. For the blade shape of arc, we analyzed flowfield with streak-image flow visualization, measured wake, computed drag coefficients, and compared them for given angle of attacks. The result of research can be used to design aerodynamic performance of Savonius-type turbine rotor directly.

Fundamentals for remote structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades - a preproject. Annex A. Cost-benefit for embedded sensors in large wind turbine blades

OpenAIRE

Hansen, L.G.; Lading, Lars

2002-01-01

This report contains the results of a cost-benefit analysis for the use of embed-ded sensors for damage detection in large wind turbine blades - structural health monitoring - (in connection with remote surveillance) of large wind turbine placedoff-shore. The total operating costs of a three-bladed 2MW turbine placed offshore either without sensors or with sensors are compared. The price of a structural health monitoring system of a price of 100 000 DKK (per tur-bine) results in a break-event...

A novel folding blade of wind turbine rotor for effective power control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie, Wei; Zeng, Pan; Lei, Liping

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A novel folding blade for wind turbine power control is proposed. • Wind tunnel experiments were conducted to analyze folding blade validity. • Folding blade is valid to control wind turbine power output. • Compared to pitch control, thrust was reduced by fold control in power regulation. • Optimum fold angles were found for wind turbine start up and aerodynamic brake. - Abstract: A concept of novel folding blade of horizontal axis wind turbine is proposed in current study. The folding blade comprises a stall regulated root blade section and a folding tip blade section with the fold axis inclined relative to blade span. By folding blade, lift force generated on the tip blade section changes and the moment arm also shortens, which leads to variations of power output. The blade folding actuation mechanism with servo motor and worm-gear reducer was designed. Wind turbine rotor control scheme and servo system with double feedback loops for blade fold angle control were proposed. In this study, a small folding blade model was tested in a wind tunnel to analyze its performance. The blade model performance was estimated in terms of rotation torque coefficient and thrust coefficient. Wind tunnel experiments were also conducted for pitch control using the same blade model in order to make a direct comparison. The power control, start up and aerodynamic brake performance of the folding blade were analyzed. According to the wind tunnel experiment results, fold angle magnitude significantly affected blade aerodynamic performance and the thrust characteristic together with the rotation torque characteristic of folding blade were revealed. The experiment results demonstrated that the folding blade was valid to control power output and had advantages in reducing thrust with maximum reduction of 51.1% compared to pitch control. Optimum fold angles of 55° and 90° were also found for start up and aerodynamic brake, respectively

The heat transfer analysis of the first stage blade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Yong Ju; Choi, Bum Seog; Park, Byung Gyu; Yoon, Eui Soo

2001-01-01

To get higher efficiency of gas turbine, the designer should have more higher Turbine Inlet Temperature(TIT). Today, modern gas turbine having sophisticated cooling scheme has TIT above 1,700 .deg. C. In the Korea, many gas turbine having TIT above 1,300 .deg. C was imported and being operated, but the gas with high TIT above 1,300 .deg. C in the turbine will give damage to liner of combustor, and blade of turbine and etc. So frequently maintenance for parts enduring high temperature was performed. In this study, the heat transfer analysis of cooling air in the internal cooling channel (network analysis) and temperature analysis of the blade (Finite Element Analysis) in the first stage rotor was conducted for development of the optimal cooling passage design procedure. The results of network analysis and FEM analysis of blade show that the high temperature spot are occurred at the leading edge, trailing edge near tip, and platform. So to get more reliable performance of gas turbine, the more efficient cooling method should be applied at the leading edge and tip section and the thermal barrier coating on the blade surface has important role in cooling blade

Blade pitch optimization methods for vertical-axis wind turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Kozak, Peter

Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) offer an inherently simpler design than horizontal-axis machines, while their lower blade speed mitigates safety and noise concerns, potentially allowing for installation closer to populated and ecologically sensitive areas. While VAWTs do offer significant operational advantages, development has been hampered by the difficulty of modeling the aerodynamics involved, further complicated by their rotating geometry. This thesis presents results from a simulation of a baseline VAWT computed using Star-CCM+, a commercial finite-volume (FVM) code. VAWT aerodynamics are shown to be dominated at low tip-speed ratios by dynamic stall phenomena and at high tip-speed ratios by wake-blade interactions. Several optimization techniques have been developed for the adjustment of blade pitch based on finite-volume simulations and streamtube models. The effectiveness of the optimization procedure is evaluated and the basic architecture for a feedback control system is proposed. Implementation of variable blade pitch is shown to increase a baseline turbine's power output between 40%-100%, depending on the optimization technique, improving the turbine's competitiveness when compared with a commercially-available horizontal-axis turbine.

Computational Fluid Dynamics Prediction of a Modified Savonius Wind Turbine with Novel Blade Shapes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenlong Tian

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The Savonius wind turbine is a type of vertical axis wind turbine (VAWTs that is simply composed of two or three arc-type blades which can generate power even under poor wind conditions. A modified Savonius wind turbine with novel blade shapes is introduced with the aim of increasing the power coefficient of the turbine. The effect of blade fullness, which is a main shape parameter of the blade, on the power production of a two-bladed Savonius wind turbine is investigated using transient computational fluid dynamics (CFD. Simulations are based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS equations with a renormalization group turbulent model. This numerical method is validated with existing experimental data and then utilized to quantify the performance of design variants. Results quantify the relationship between blade fullness and turbine performance with a blade fullness of 1 resulting in the highest coefficient of power, 0.2573. This power coefficient is 10.98% higher than a conventional Savonius turbine.

Resonant Vibrations Resulting from the Re-Engineering of a Constant-Speed 2-Bladed Turbine to a Variable-Speed 3-Bladed Turbine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fleming, P.; Wright, A. D.; Finersh, L. J.

2010-12-01

The CART3 (Controls Advanced Research Turbine, 3-bladed) at the National Wind Technology Center has recently been converted from a 2-bladed constant speed machine to a 3-bladed variable speed machine designed specically for controls research. The purpose of this conversion was to develop an advanced controls field-testing platform which has the more typical 3-bladed configuration. A result of this conversion was the emergence of several resonant vibrations, some of which initially prevented operation of the turbine until they could be explained and resolved. In this paper, the investigations into these vibrations are presented as 'lessons-learned'. Additionally, a frequency-domain technique called waterfall plotting is discussed and its usefulness in this research is illustrated.

Analysis and improvement of gas turbine blade temperature measurement error

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Shan; Wang, Lixin; Feng, Chi; Daniel, Ketui

2015-01-01

Gas turbine blade components are easily damaged; they also operate in harsh high-temperature, high-pressure environments over extended durations. Therefore, ensuring that the blade temperature remains within the design limits is very important. In this study, measurement errors in turbine blade temperatures were analyzed, taking into account detector lens contamination, the reflection of environmental energy from the target surface, the effects of the combustion gas, and the emissivity of the blade surface. In this paper, each of the above sources of measurement error is discussed, and an iterative computing method for calculating blade temperature is proposed. (paper)

Analysis and improvement of gas turbine blade temperature measurement error

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Shan; Wang, Lixin; Feng, Chi; Daniel, Ketui

2015-10-01

Gas turbine blade components are easily damaged; they also operate in harsh high-temperature, high-pressure environments over extended durations. Therefore, ensuring that the blade temperature remains within the design limits is very important. In this study, measurement errors in turbine blade temperatures were analyzed, taking into account detector lens contamination, the reflection of environmental energy from the target surface, the effects of the combustion gas, and the emissivity of the blade surface. In this paper, each of the above sources of measurement error is discussed, and an iterative computing method for calculating blade temperature is proposed.

Application of bamboo laminates in large-scale wind turbine blade design?

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Long WANG; Hui LI; Tongguang WANG

2016-01-01

From the viewpoint of material and structure in the design of bamboo blades of large-scale wind turbine, a series of mechanical property tests of bamboo laminates as the major enhancement materials for blades are presented. The basic mechanical characteristics needed in the design of bamboo blades are brie?y introduced. Based on these data, the aerodynamic-structural integrated design of a 1.5 MW wind turbine bamboo blade relying on a conventional platform of upwind, variable speed, variable pitch, and doubly-fed generator is carried out. The process of the structural layer design of bamboo blades is documented in detail. The structural strength and fatigue life of the designed wind turbine blades are certified. The technical issues raised from the design are discussed. Key problems and direction of the future study are also summarized.

Computational method for the design of wind turbine blades

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vitale, A.J. [Instituto Argentino de Oceanografia, Camino La Carrindanga Km. 7.5, CC 804, B8000FWB Bahia Blanca (Argentina); Universidad Tecnologica Nacional Facultad Regional Bahia Blanca, GESE, 11 de Abril 461, B8000LMI Bahia Blanca (Argentina); Universidad Nacional del Sur, Dpto. de Ing. Electrica y de Computadoras, Av. Alem 1253, 8000 Bahia Blanca (Argentina); Rossi, A.P. [Universidad Tecnologica Nacional Facultad Regional Bahia Blanca, GESE, 11 de Abril 461, B8000LMI Bahia Blanca (Argentina); Universidad Nacional del Sur, Dpto. de Ing. Electrica y de Computadoras, Av. Alem 1253, 8000 Bahia Blanca (Argentina)

2008-07-15

Zeus Disenador was developed to design low-power, horizontal-axis wind turbine blades, by means of an iterative algorithm. With this software, it is possible to obtain the optimum blade shape for a wind turbine to satisfy energy requirements of an electric system with optimum rotor efficiency. The number of blades, the airfoil curves and the average wind velocity can be specified by the user. The user can also request particular edge conditions for the width of the blades and for the pitch angle. Results are provided in different windows. Two- and three-dimensional graphics show the aspect of the resultant blade. Numerical results are displayed for blade length, blade surface, pitch angle variation along the blade span, rotor angular speed, rotor efficiency and rotor output power. Software verifications were made by comparing rotor power and rotor efficiency for different designs. Results were similar to those provided by commercial wind generator manufacturers. (author)

Detection of aeroacoustic sound sources on aircraft and wind turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oerlemans, S.

2009-01-01

This thesis deals with the detection of aeroacoustic sound sources on aircraft and wind turbines using phased microphone arrays. First, the reliability of the array technique is assessed using airframe noise measurements in open and closed wind tunnels. It is demonstrated that quantitative acoustic measurements are possible in both wind tunnels. Then, the array technique is applied to characterize the noise sources on two modern large wind turbines. It is shown that practically all noise emitted to the ground is produced by the outer part of the blades during their downward movement. This asymmetric source pattern, which causes the typical swishing noise during the passage of the blades, can be explained by trailing edge noise directivity and convective amplification. Next, a semi-empirical prediction method is developed for the noise from large wind turbines. The prediction code is successfully validated against the experimental results, not only with regard to sound levels, spectra, and directivity, but also with regard to the noise source distribution in the rotor plane and the temporal variation in sound level (swish). The validated prediction method is then applied to calculate wind turbine noise footprints, which show that large swish amplitudes can occur even at large distance. The influence of airfoil shape on blade noise is investigated through acoustic wind tunnel tests on a series of wind turbine airfoils. Measurements are carried out at various wind speeds and angles of attack, with and without upstream turbulence and boundary layer tripping. The speed dependence, directivity, and tonal behaviour are determined for both trailing edge noise and inflow turbulence noise. Finally, two noise reduction concepts are tested on a large wind turbine: acoustically optimized airfoils and trailing edge serrations. Both blade modifications yield a significant trailing edge noise reduction at low frequencies, but also cause increased tip noise at high frequencies

Materials of large wind turbine blades: Recent results in testing and modeling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mishnaevsky, Leon; Brøndsted, Povl; Nijssen, Rogier

2012-01-01

The reliability of rotor blades is the pre-condition for the development and wide use of large wind turbines. In order to accurately predict and improve the wind turbine blade behavior, three main aspects of the reliability and strength of rotor blades were considered: (i) development of methods...... of the effect of the microstructure of wind turbine blade composites on their strength and ways of microstructural optimization of the materials. By testing reference coupons, the effect of testing parameters (temperature and frequency) on the lifetime of blade composites was investigated, and the input data...... clustering, misalignments, interface properties and other factors on the strength and lifetime of the wind turbine blade materials were investigated in the micromechanical finite element simulations. The results described in this paper stem from the Rotor Structure and Materials task of the UPWIND project...

A shape adaptive airfoil for a wind turbine blade

Science.gov (United States)

Daynes, Stephen; Weaver, Paul M.

2011-04-01

The loads on wind turbine components are primarily from the blades. It is important to control these blade loads in order to avoid damaging the wind turbine. Rotor control technology is currently limited to controlling the rotor speed and the pitch of the blades. As blades increase in length it becomes less desirable to pitch the entire blade as a single rigid body, but instead there is a requirement to control loads more precisely along the length of the blade. This can be achieved with aerodynamic control devices such as flaps. Morphing technologies are good candidates for wind turbine flaps because they have the potential to create structures that have the conflicting abilities of being load carrying, light-weight and shape adaptive. A morphing flap design with a highly anisotropic cellular structure is presented which is able to undergo large deflections and high strains without a large actuation penalty. An aeroelastic analysis couples the work done by aerodynamic loads on the flap, the flap strain energy and the required actuation work to change shape. The morphing flap is experimentally validated with a manufactured demonstrator and shown to have reduced actuation requirements compared to a conventional hinged flap.

Computational analysis of supercritical carbon dioxide flow around a turbine and compressor BLADE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Tae W.; Kim, Nam H.; Suh, Kune Y.; Kim, Seung O.

2007-01-01

The turbine and compressor isentropic efficiencies are one of the major parameters affecting the overall Brayton cycle efficiency. Thus, the optimal turbine and compressor design should contribute to the economics of future nuclear fission and fusion energy systems. A computation analysis was performed utilizing CFX for the supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO 2 ) flow around a turbine and compressor blade to check on the potential efficiency of the turbine and compressor which determine such basic design values as the blade (or impeller) and nozzle (or diffuser) types, blade height, and minimum and maximum radii of the hub and tip. Basic design values of the turbine and compressor blades based on the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) design code was generated by ANSYS BladeGen TM . The boundary conditions were based on the KALIMER-600 secondary loop. Optimal SCO 2 turbine and compressor blades were developed for high efficiency of 90% by the computational analysis. (author)

The Influence of Eroded Blades on Wind Turbine Performance Using Numerical Simulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthias Schramm

2017-09-01

Full Text Available During their operation, wind turbine blades are eroded due to rain and hail, or they are contaminated with insects. Since the relative inflow velocity is higher at the outer than at the inner part of the blades, erosion occurs mostly at the outer blade region. In order to prevent strong erosion, it is possible to install a leading edge protection, which can be applied to the blades after the initial installation, but changes the shape of the initial airfoil sections. It is unclear how this modification influences the aerodynamic performance of the turbine. Hence, it is investigated in this work. The NREL 5 MW turbine is simulated with clean and eroded blades, which are compared to coated blades equipped with leading edge protection. Aerodynamic polars are generated by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics, and load calculations are conducted using the blade element momentum theory. The analysis in this work shows that, compared to clean rotor blades, the worse aerodynamic behaviour of strongly eroded blades can lead to power losses of 9 % . In contrast, coated blades only have a small impact on the turbine power of less than 1 % .

Flutter of Darrieus wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Ham, N. D.

1978-01-01

The testing of Darrieus wind turbines has indicated that under certain conditions, serious vibrations of the blades can occur, involving flatwise bending, torsion, and chordwise bending. A theoretical method of predicting the aeroelastic stability of the coupled bending and torsional motion of such blades with a view to determining the cause of these vibrations, and a means of suppressing them was developed.

Effect of blades number to performance of Savonius water turbine in water pipe

Science.gov (United States)

Hamzah, Imron; Prasetyo, Ari; Tjahjana, D. D. D. Prija; Hadi, Syamsul

2018-02-01

Savonius is usually known as a wind turbine that works efficiently at low wind speed. In this research, the Savonius turbine is proposed for a pico hydro power plant that is installed straightly on the 3-inch vertical pipeline of rainwater and household waste. The Savonius water turbine was designed with blade curvature angle of 70°, the aspect ratio of 1, turbine diameter of 82 mm, and endplate ratio of 1,1. The experimental study investigated the effect of blades number to the performance of Savonius turbine on various volume flow rate of water. Savonius turbine with three blades number generated the highest coefficient of performance of 0.23 on tip speed ratio of 1.7 compared to turbines with the number of other blades.

Study on visual detection method for wind turbine blade failure

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jianping; Shen, Zhenteng

2018-02-01

Start your abstract here…At present, the non-destructive testing methods of the wind turbine blades has fiber bragg grating, sound emission and vibration detection, but there are all kinds of defects, and the engineering application is difficult. In this regard, three-point slope deviation method, which is a kind of visual inspection method, is proposed for monitoring the running status of wind turbine blade based on the image processing technology. A better blade image can be got through calibration, image splicing, pretreatment and threshold segmentation algorithm. Design of the early warning system to monitor wind turbine blade running condition, recognition rate, stability and impact factors of the method were statistically analysed. The experimental results shown showed that it has highly accurate and good monitoring effect.

Numerical investigation on aerodynamic performance of a novel vertical axis wind turbine with adaptive blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Ying; Sun, Xiaojing; Dong, Xiaohua; Zhu, Bing; Huang, Diangui; Zheng, Zhongquan

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A novel vertical axis wind turbine with deformed blades is designed. • The universal tendency of power characteristics for simulated turbine is found. • The whole flow field of different turbines from the aspect of vortex is analyzed. • The tracking analysis of vortex at different positions for a blade is conducted. • The aerodynamic performance of turbine with three deformed blades is analyzed. - Abstract: In this paper, a novel Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine was designed whose blade can be deformed automatically into a desired geometry and thus achieve a better aerodynamic performance. A series of numerical simulations were conducted by utilizing the United Computational Fluid Dynamics code. Firstly, analysis and comparison of the performance of undeformed and deformed blades for the rotors having different blades were conducted. Then, the power characteristics of each simulated turbine were summarized and a universal tendency was found. Secondly, investigation on the effect of blade number and solidity on the power performance of Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine with deformable and undeformable blades was carried out. The results indicated that compared to conventional turbines with same solidity, the maximum percentage increase in power coefficient that the low solidity turbine with three deformable blades can achieve is about 14.56%. When solidity is high and also turbine operates at low tip speed ratio of less than the optimum value, the maximum power coefficient increase for the turbines with two and four deformable blades are 7.51% and 8.07%, respectively. However, beyond the optimal tip speed ratio, the power improvement of the turbine using the deformable blades seems not significant and even slightly worse than the conventional turbines. The last section studied the transient behavior of vortex and turbulent flow structures around the deformable rotor blade to explore the physical mechanism of improving aerodynamic

Multi-spectral temperature measurement method for gas turbine blade

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Shan; Feng, Chi; Wang, Lixin; Li, Dong

2016-02-01

One of the basic methods to improve both the thermal efficiency and power output of a gas turbine is to increase the firing temperature. However, gas turbine blades are easily damaged in harsh high-temperature and high-pressure environments. Therefore, ensuring that the blade temperature remains within the design limits is very important. There are unsolved problems in blade temperature measurement, relating to the emissivity of the blade surface, influences of the combustion gases, and reflections of radiant energy from the surroundings. In this study, the emissivity of blade surfaces has been measured, with errors reduced by a fitting method, influences of the combustion gases have been calculated for different operational conditions, and a reflection model has been built. An iterative computing method is proposed for calculating blade temperatures, and the experimental results show that this method has high precision.

Pitched Blade Turbine Efficiency at Particle Suspension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Ceres

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Mixing suspensions is a very important hydraulic operation. The pitched six-blade turbine is a widely-used axial-flow impeller. This paper deals with effect relative impeller size and particle content on theefficiency of a pitched six-blade turbine at particle suspension. Two pitched six-blade turbines were used in model measurements of just suspension impeller speed. The ratios of the vessel to agitator diameter D/d were 3 and 4.5. The measurements were carried out in a dish-bottomed vessel 300 mm in diameter. The just suspension impeller speeds were measured using an electrochemical method, and were checked visually. A 2.5 % NaCl water solution was used as the liquid phase, and glass particles with four equivalent diameters between 0.18 and 0.89 mmand volumetric concentration from 2.5 % to 40% were usedasthesolid phase. The criterion values πs=Po√Fr'3(d/D7 were calculated from the particle suspension and power consumption measurements. The dependencies of πs on particle content cv show that larger agitators are more efficient for higher particle content.

Nonlinear 3D calculations of turbine blade impact on turbine cover

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hatala, B.; Adamik, V.; Buchar, J.

2000-01-01

This paper present the approach used at the VUJE institute for the evaluation of a ruptured blade impact on the current protection cover of a SKODA 220 MW turbine. Firstly, it briefly describes experiments (Hopkinson-Davies split bar facility, Taylor tests) and numerical simulations used to obtain realistic material parameters needed for the Cowper- Symonds material model that is implemented in the code LS-DYNA3D. Then, numerical simulations, by using the code, of the ruptured blade impact on various protection barriers are presented. These simulations make it possible to find an optimal solution for a new turbine protection cover. (author)

Gas Turbine Blade Damper Optimization Methodology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. K. Giridhar

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The friction damping concept is widely used to reduce resonance stresses in gas turbines. A friction damper has been designed for high pressure turbine stage of a turbojet engine. The objective of this work is to find out effectiveness of the damper while minimizing resonant stresses for sixth and ninth engine order excitation of first flexure mode. This paper presents a methodology that combines three essential phases of friction damping optimization in turbo-machinery. The first phase is to develop an analytical model of blade damper system. The second phase is experimentation and model tuning necessary for response studies while the third phase is evaluating damper performance. The reduced model of blade is developed corresponding to the mode under investigation incorporating the friction damper then the simulations were carried out to arrive at an optimum design point of the damper. Bench tests were carried out in two phases. Phase-1 deals with characterization of the blade dynamically and the phase-2 deals with finding optimal normal load at which the blade resonating response is minimal for a given excitation. The test results are discussed, and are corroborated with simulated results, are in good agreement.

Optimized chord and twist angle distributions of wind turbine blade considering Reynolds number effects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, L.; Tang, X. [Univ. of Central Lancashire. Engineering and Physical Sciences, Preston (United Kingdom); Liu, X. [Univ. of Cumbria. Sustainable Engineering, Workington (United Kingdom)

2012-07-01

The aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine depends very much on its blade geometric design, typically based on the blade element momentum (BEM) theory, which divides the blade into several blade elements. In current blade design practices based on Schmitz rotor design theory, the blade geometric parameters including chord and twist angle distributions are determined based on airfoil aerodynamic data at a specific Reynolds number. However, rotating wind turbine blade elements operate at different Reynolds numbers due to variable wind speed and different blade span locations. Therefore, the blade design through Schmitz rotor theory at a specific Reynolds number does not necessarily provide the best power performance under operational conditions. This paper aims to provide an optimal blade design strategy for horizontal-axis wind turbines operating at different Reynolds numbers. A fixed-pitch variable-speed (FPVS) wind turbine with S809 airfoil is chosen as a case study and a Matlab program which considers Reynolds number effects is developed to determine the optimized chord and twist angle distributions of the blade. The performance of the optimized blade is compared with that of the preliminary blade which is designed based on Schmitz rotor design theory at a specific Reynolds number. The results demonstrate that the proposed blade design optimization strategy can improve the power performance of the wind turbine. This approach can be further developed for any practice of horizontal axis wind turbine blade design. (Author)

Distribution of defects in wind turbine blades and reliability assessment of blades containing defects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stensgaard Toft, Henrik; Branner, Kim; Berring, Peter

2009-01-01

on the assumption that one error in the production process tends to trigger several defects. For both models additional information about number, type and size of the defects is included as stochastic variables. The probability of failure for a wind turbine blade will not only depend on variations in the material......In the present paper two stochastic models for the distribution of defects in wind turbine blades are proposed. The first model assumes that the individual defects are completely randomly distributed in the blade. The second model assumes that the defects occur in clusters of different size based...... properties and the load but also on potential defects in the blades. As a numerical example the probability of failure is calculated for the main spar both with and without defects in terms of delaminations. The delaminations increase the probability of failure compared to a perfect blade, but by applying...

Wind Turbine Blades: An End of Life Perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beauson, Justine; Brøndsted, Povl

2016-01-01

In 2016, the first offshore windfarm constructed in the world—located in Denmark, near Ravnsborg—is turning 25 years old, and will soon be decommissioned. After decommissioning, most of the material of the turbine can be recycled; only the composite materials found in the blades represent...... a challenge. This part looks at end of life solutions for this material. Wind turbine blade structure and material are described. The ends of life solutions existing and under development are detailed....

ANALYSIS OF MODERN TURBINE ENGINES WORKING SURFACE LAYERS BLADES WORK CONDITIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

М. A. Petrova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In the article the analysis of engine turbine blades performance operation conditions influence is presented. As a result the factors, resulting in poor durability of the blades in operation, the characteristic defects of the turbine blades are determined and the conclusion on the necessity of applying a protective coating on them is made.

Numerical study of Wavy Blade Section for Wind Turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kobæk, C. M.; Hansen, Martin Otto Laver

2016-01-01

than a flipper having a smooth trailing edge and thus could be potentially beneficial when catching food. A thorough literature study of the Wavy Blade concept is made and followed by CFD computations of two wavy blade geometries and a comparison with their baseline S809 airfoil at conditions more...

UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing for Wind Energy Cost Reduction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Shuai; Jensen, Tobias Lindstrøm; Franek, Ondrej

2015-01-01

A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1–5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists...... is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics...

Direct Numerical Simulations of a Full Stationary Wind-Turbine Blade

Science.gov (United States)

Qamar, Adnan; Zhang, Wei; Gao, Wei; Samtaney, Ravi

2014-11-01

Direct numerical simulation of flow past a full stationary wind-turbine blade is carried out at Reynolds number, Re = 10,000 placed at 0 and 5 (degree) angle of attack. The study is targeted to create a DNS database for verification of solvers and turbulent models that are utilized in wind-turbine modeling applications. The full blade comprises of a circular cylinder base that is attached to a spanwise varying airfoil cross-section profile (without twist). An overlapping composite grid technique is utilized to perform these DNS computations, which permits block structure in the mapped computational space. Different flow shedding regimes are observed along the blade length. Von-Karman shedding is observed in the cylinder shaft region of the turbine blade. Along the airfoil cross-section of the blade, near body shear layer breakdown is observed. A long tip vortex originates from the blade tip region, which exits the computational plane without being perturbed. Laminar to turbulent flow transition is observed along the blade length. The turbulent fluctuations amplitude decreases along the blade length and the flow remains laminar regime in the vicinity of the blade tip. The Strouhal number is found to decrease monotonously along the blade length. Average lift and drag coefficients are also reported for the cases investigated. Supported by funding under a KAUST OCRF-CRG grant.

Modal analysis of wind turbine blades

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Larsen, G.C.; Hansen, M.H.; Baumgart, A.; Carlen, I.

2002-02-01

The modal analysis technique has been used to identify essential dynamic properties of wind turbine blades like natural frequencies, damping characteristics and mode shapes. Different experimental procedures have been considered, and the most appropriate of these has been selected. Although the comparison is based on measurements on a LM 19 m blade, the recommendations given are believed to be valid for other wind turbine blades as well. The reliability of the selected experimental analysis has been quantified by estimating the unsystematic variations in the experimental findings. Satisfactory results have been obtained for natural frequencies, damping characteristics and for the dominating deflection direction of the investigated mode shapes. For the secondary deflection directions, the observed experimental uncertainty may be considerable - especially for the torsional deflection. The experimental analysis of the LM 19 m blade has been compared with results from a state-of-the-art FE-modeling of the same blade. For some of the higher modes substantial discrepancies between the natural frequencies originating from the FE-modeling and the modal analysis, respectively, are observed. In general the qualitative features of measured and computed modes shapes are in good agreement. However, for the secondary deflection directions, substantial deviations in the absolute values may occur (when normalizing with respect to the primary deflection direction). Finally, suggestions of potential future improvements of the experimental procedure are discussed. (au)

Steady State Structural Analysis of High Pressure Gas Turbine Blade using Finite Element Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Mazarbhuiya, Hussain Mahamed Sahed Mostafa; Murari Pandey, Krishna

2017-08-01

In gas turbines the major portion of performance dependency lies upon turbine blade design. Turbine blades experience very high centrifugal, axial and tangential force during power generation. While withstanding these forces blades undergo elongation. Different methods have proposed for better enhancement of the mechanical properties of blade to withstand in extreme condition. Present paper describes the stress and elongation for blades having properties of different materials. Steady state structural analysis have performed in the present work for different materials (In 625, In 718, In 738, In 738 LC, MAR M246, Ni-Cr, Ti-alloy, Ti-Al, Ti-T6, U500). Remarkable finding is that the root of the blade is subjected to maximum stress for all blade materials and the blade made of MAR M246 has less stress and deformation among all other blade materials which can be selected as a suitable material for gas turbine blade.

Hybrid anisotropic materials for wind power turbine blades

CERN Document Server

Golfman, Yosif

2012-01-01

Based on rapid technological developments in wind power, governments and energy corporations are aggressively investing in this natural resource. Illustrating some of the crucial new breakthroughs in structural design and application of wind energy generation machinery, Hybrid Anisotropic Materials for Wind Power Turbine Blades explores new automated, repeatable production techniques that expand the use of robotics and process controls. These practices are intended to ensure cheaper fabrication of less-defective anisotropic material composites used to manufacture power turbine blades. This boo

Hot spot detection system for vanes or blades of a combustion turbine

Science.gov (United States)

Twerdochlib, M.

1999-02-02

This invention includes a detection system that can determine if a turbine component, such as a turbine vane or blade, has exceeded a critical temperature, such as a melting point, along any point along the entire surface of the vane or blade. This system can be employed in a conventional combustion turbine having a compressor, a combustor and a turbine section. Included within this system is a chemical coating disposed along the entire interior surface of a vane or blade and a closed loop cooling system that circulates a coolant through the interior of the vane or blade. If the temperature of the vane or blade exceeds a critical temperature, the chemical coating will be expelled from the vane or blade into the coolant. Since while traversing the closed loop cooling system the coolant passes through a detector, the presence of the chemical coating in the coolant will be sensed by the system. If the chemical coating is detected, this indicates that the vane or blade has exceeded a critical temperature. 5 figs.

On Orientation Control of Suspended Blade During Installation in Wind Turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Lasse; Roemer, Daniel Beck; Pedersen, Henrik Clemmensen

2015-01-01

This paper discusses problems involved in the procedure for offshore installation of blades in wind turbines, due to wind loads. In general the high winds at sea provides for nearly optimal conditions for harvesting energy via wind turbines due to the often high wind speeds and low turbulence...... intensity. However, the very same features also call for great difficulties during installation of the wind turbine blades, making this process extremely difficult, expensive and time consuming. Often the blades are hoisted to the wind turbine hub via cranes and sought held in appropriate positions by so......-called taglines/wires, but still significant motion oscillations of blade root ends are experienced, even at rather low wind speeds. The paper considers the possibility to dampen the oscillating motions via control of the tagline lengths. The main control strategy considered, is the possibility to control...

Sub-scale Inverse Wind Turbine Blade Design Using Bound Circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, Christopher; Berg, Jonathan

2014-11-01

A goal of the National Rotor Testbed project at Sandia is to design a sub-scale wind turbine blade that has similitude to a modern, commercial size blade. However, a smaller diameter wind turbine operating at the same tip-speed-ratio exhibits a different range of operating Reynolds numbers across the blade span, thus changing the local lift and drag coefficients. Differences to load distribution also affect the wake dynamics and stability. An inverse wind turbine blade design tool has been implemented which uses a target, dimensionless circulation distribution from a full-scale blade to find the chord and twist along a sub-scale blade. In addition, airfoil polar data are interpolated from a few specified span stations leading to a smooth, manufacturable blade. The iterative process perturbs chord and twist, after running a blade element momentum theory code, to reduce the residual sum of the squares between the modeled sub-scale circulation and the target full-scale circulation. It is shown that the converged sub-scale design also leads to performance similarity in thrust and power coefficients. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Design and construction of a simple blade pitch measurement system for small wind turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Whale, Jonathan [Research Institute of Sustainable Energy, Murdoch University, Perth, WA 6150 (Australia)

2009-02-15

For small wind turbines to be reliable they must have in place good mechanisms to protect themselves against very high winds or sudden removal of load. One common protection method in small wind turbines is that of blade feathering. It is important that the blade feathering mechanism of a small wind turbine is tested before the turbine is installed in the field. This paper presents a simple system for monitoring the blade feathering of a turbine with an overall component cost that small wind turbine manufacturers can afford. The Blade Pitch Measurement System (BPMS) has been designed and constructed by the Research Institute of Sustainable Energy (RISE) and aids small wind turbine manufacturers in testing and optimising the settings of the blade feathering mechanisms on their machines. The results show that the BPMS was successful in recording the behaviour of the blade feathering mechanism in field trials with a 20 kW and a 30 kW wind turbine. The BPMS displays significant potential as an effective, inexpensive system for small wind turbine manufacturers to ensure the reliability of their pitch regulating over-speed protection mechanisms. (author)

Study on measurement of leading and trailing edges of blades based on optical scanning system

Science.gov (United States)

Chao, Bi; Liu, Hongguang; Bao, Longxiang; Li, Di

2017-10-01

In the field of aeronautics, the geometry and dimensional accuracy of the blade edges has a large influence on the aerodynamic performance of aero engine. Therefore, a non-contact optical scanning system is established to realize the measurement of leading and trailing edges of blades in a rapid, precise and efficient manner in the paper. Based on the mechanical framework of a traditional CMM, the system is equipped with a specified sensing device as the scanning probe, which is made up by two new-style laser scanning sensors installed at a certain angle to each other by a holder. In the measuring procedure, the geometric dimensions of the measured blade edges on every contour plane are determined by the contour information on five transversals at the leading or trailing edges, which can be used to determine the machining allowance of the blades. In order to verify the effectiveness and practicality of the system set up, a precision forging blade after grinded is adopted as the measured object and its leading and trailing edges are measured by the system respectively. In the experiment, the thickness of blade edges on three contour planes is measured by the optical scanning system several times. As the experiment results show, the repeatability accuracy of the system can meet its design requirements and the inspecting demands of the blade edges. As a result, the optical scanning system could serve as a component of the intelligent manufacturing system of blades to improve the machining quality of the blade edges.

Cooling of Gas Turbines. 6; Computed Temperature Distribution Through Cross Section of Water-Cooled Turbine Blade

Science.gov (United States)

Livingood, John N. B.; Sams, Eldon W.

1947-01-01

A theoretical analysis of the cross-sectional temperature distribution of a water-cooled turbine blade was made using the relaxation method to solve the differential equation derived from the analysis. The analysis was applied to specific turbine blade and the studies icluded investigations of the accuracy of simple methods to determine the temperature distribution along the mean line of the rear part of the blade, of the possible effect of varying the perimetric distribution of the hot gas-to -metal heat transfer coefficient, and of the effect of changing the thermal conductivity of the blade metal for a constant cross sectional area blade with two quarter inch diameter coolant passages.

Determination of the number of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine blades based on power spectrum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fedak Waldemar

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Technology of wind exploitation has been applied widely all over the world and has already reached the level in which manufacturers want to maximize the yield with the minimum investment outlays. The main objective of this paper is the determination of the optimal number of blades in the Cup-Bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. Optimizing the size of the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine allows the reduction of costs. The maximum power of the rotor is selected as the performance target. The optimum number of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine blades evaluation is based on analysis of a single blade simulation and its superposition for the whole rotor. The simulation of working blade was done in MatLab environment. Power spectrum graphs were prepared and compared throughout superposition of individual blades in the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine rotor. The major result of this research is the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine power characteristic. On the basis of the analysis of the power spectra, optimum number of the blades was specified for the analysed rotor. Power spectrum analysis of wind turbine enabled the specification of the optimal number of blades, and can be used regarding investment outlays and power output of the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine.

Determination of the number of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine blades based on power spectrum

Science.gov (United States)

Fedak, Waldemar; Anweiler, Stanisław; Gancarski, Wojciech; Ulbrich, Roman

2017-10-01

Technology of wind exploitation has been applied widely all over the world and has already reached the level in which manufacturers want to maximize the yield with the minimum investment outlays. The main objective of this paper is the determination of the optimal number of blades in the Cup-Bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. Optimizing the size of the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine allows the reduction of costs. The maximum power of the rotor is selected as the performance target. The optimum number of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine blades evaluation is based on analysis of a single blade simulation and its superposition for the whole rotor. The simulation of working blade was done in MatLab environment. Power spectrum graphs were prepared and compared throughout superposition of individual blades in the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine rotor. The major result of this research is the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine power characteristic. On the basis of the analysis of the power spectra, optimum number of the blades was specified for the analysed rotor. Power spectrum analysis of wind turbine enabled the specification of the optimal number of blades, and can be used regarding investment outlays and power output of the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine.

Towing Tank and Flume Testing of Passively Adaptive Composite Tidal Turbine Blades: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murray, Robynne [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ordonez-Sanchez, Stephanie [University of Strathclyde; Porter, Kate E. [University of Strathclyde; Johnstone, Cameron M. [University of Strathclyde; Doman, Darrel A. [Dalhousie University; Pegg, Michael J. [Dalhousie University

2017-09-28

Composite tidal turbine blades with bend-twist (BT) coupled layups allow the blade to self-adapt to local site conditions by passively twisting. Passive feathering has the potential to increase annual energy production and shed thrust loads and power under extreme tidal flows. Decreased hydrodynamic thrust and power during extreme conditions meann that the turbine support structure, generator, and other components can be sized more appropriately, resulting in a higher utilization factor and increased cost effectiveness. This paper presents new experimental data for a small-scale turbine with BT composite blades. The research team tested the turbine in the Kelvin Hydrodynamics Laboratory towing tank at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, United Kingdom, and in the recirculating current flume at the l Institut Francais de Recherche pour l Exploitation de la Mer Centre in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. Tests were also performed on rigid aluminum blades with identical geometry, which yielded baseline test sets for comparison. The results from both facilities agreed closely, supporting the hypothesis that increased blade flexibility can induce load reductions. Under the most extreme conditions tested the turbine with BT blades had up to 11 percent lower peak thrust loads and a 15 percent reduction in peak power compared to the turbine with rigid blades. The load reductions varied as a function of turbine rotational velocity and ambient flow velocity.

Design and manufacture of radar absorbing wind turbine blades - final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2005-02-15

This report describes the results of a collaborative project between QinetiQ Ltd and NOI (Scotland) Ltd to design and manufacture radar absorbent wind turbine blades. The main objectives were to: use predictive modelling to understand the contribution made by the blade to radar cross section (RCS) of the complete turbine; confirm that the turbine RCS could feasibility be reduced to appropriate levels through the use of radar absorbent material (RAM); and to demonstrate that introduction of stealth technology within current composite sections would allow RAM variants of the blade materials to be manufactured with minimal impact on the structure. The RCS of a turbine was predicted at frequencies at which representative air traffic control (ATC), weather and marine navigation radar systems operate. The material compositions that exist on the blades produced by NOI were studied and methods by which RAM could be introduced to each region were identified. RCS predictions for a blade having RAM over its surface were then repeated. The study showed that it was possible to modify all material regions of the NOI blades to create RAM with little or no degradation in structural properties, thus reducing detection by non-Doppler radar and ATC radars. A full practical demonstration of a stealthy turbine is recommended to allow the benefits of RCS reduction through the use of RAM to be quantified by all stakeholders.

Optimization of Heat Transfer on Thermal Barrier Coated Gas Turbine Blade

Science.gov (United States)

Aabid, Abdul; Khan, S. A.

2018-05-01

In the field of Aerospace Propulsion technology, material required to resist the maximum temperature. In this paper, using thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) method in gas turbine blade is used to protect hot section component from high-temperature effect to extend the service life and reduce the maintenance costs. The TBCs which include three layers of coating corresponding initial coat is super alloy-INCONEL 718 with 1 mm thickness, bond coat is Nano-structured ceramic-metallic composite-NiCoCrAIY with 0.15 mm thickness and top coat is ceramic composite-La2Ce2O7 with 0.09 mm thickness on the nickel alloy turbine blade which in turn increases the strength, efficiency and life span of the blades. Modeling a gas turbine blade using CATIA software and determining the amount of heat transfer on thermal barrier coated blade using ANSYS software has been performed. Thermal stresses and effects of different TBCs blade base alloys are considered using CATIA and ANSYS.

Bionic Design of Wind Turbine Blade Based on Long-Eared Owl's Airfoil.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Weijun; Yang, Zhen; Zhang, Qi; Wang, Jiyue; Li, Ming; Ma, Yi; Cong, Qian

2017-01-01

The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a bionic design for the airfoil of wind turbines inspired by the morphology of Long-eared Owl's wings. Glauert Model was adopted to design the standard blade and the bionic blade, respectively. Numerical analysis method was utilized to study the aerodynamic characteristics of the airfoils as well as the blades. Results show that the bionic airfoil inspired by the airfoil at the 50% aspect ratio of the Long-eared Owl's wing gives rise to a superior lift coefficient and stalling performance and thus can be beneficial to improving the performance of the wind turbine blade. Also, the efficiency of the bionic blade in wind turbine blades tests increases by 12% or above (up to 44%) compared to that of the standard blade. The reason lies in the bigger pressure difference between the upper and lower surface which can provide stronger lift.

Verification of Thermal Models of Internally Cooled Gas Turbine Blades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Igor Shevchenko

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Numerical simulation of temperature field of cooled turbine blades is a required element of gas turbine engine design process. The verification is usually performed on the basis of results of test of full-size blade prototype on a gas-dynamic test bench. A method of calorimetric measurement in a molten metal thermostat for verification of a thermal model of cooled blade is proposed in this paper. The method allows obtaining local values of heat flux in each point of blade surface within a single experiment. The error of determination of local heat transfer coefficients using this method does not exceed 8% for blades with radial channels. An important feature of the method is that the heat load remains unchanged during the experiment and the blade outer surface temperature equals zinc melting point. The verification of thermal-hydraulic model of high-pressure turbine blade with cooling allowing asymmetrical heat removal from pressure and suction sides was carried out using the developed method. An analysis of heat transfer coefficients confirmed the high level of heat transfer in the leading edge, whose value is comparable with jet impingement heat transfer. The maximum of the heat transfer coefficients is shifted from the critical point of the leading edge to the pressure side.

Experimental investigation of turbine blade-tip excitation forces

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez-Sanchez, Manuel; Jaroux, Belgacem; Song, Seung Jin; Yoo, Soom-Yung; Palczynski, Taras

1994-01-01

Results of a program to investigate the magnitude and parametric variations of rotordynamic forces which arise in high power turbines due to blade-tip leakage effects are presented. Five different unshrouded turbine configurations and one configuration shrouded with a labyrinth seal were tested with static offsets of the turbine shaft. The forces along and perpendicular to the offset were measured directly with a rotating dynometer. Exploration of casing pressure and flow velocity distributions was used to investigate the force-generating mechanisms. For unshrouded turbines, the cross-forces originate mainly from the classical Alford mechanisms while the direct forces arise mainly from a slightly skewed pressure pattern. The Alford coefficient for cross-force was found to vary between 2.4 and 4.0, while the similar direct force coefficient varied from 1.5 to 3.5. The cross-forces are found to increase substantially when the gap is reduced from 3.0 to 1.9% of blade height, probably due to viscous blade-tip effects. The forces also increase when the hub gap between stator and rotor decreases. The force coefficient decreased with operating flow coefficient. In the case of the shrouded turbine, most of the forces arise from nonuniform seal pressures. This includes about 80% for the transverse forces. The rest appears to come from uneven work extraction. Their level is about 50% higher in the shrouded case.

Integrated approach for stress based lifing of aero gas turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Abu, Abdullahi Obonyegba

In order to analyse the turbine blade life, the damage due to the combined thermal and mechanical loads should be adequately accounted for. This is more challenging when detailed component geometry is limited. Therefore, a compromise between the level of geometric detail and the complexity of the lifing method to be implemented would be necessary. This research focuses on how the life assessment of aero engine turbine blades can be done, considering the balance between available design inputs and adequate level of fidelity. Accordingly, the thesis contributes to developing a generic turbine blade lifing method that is based on the engine thermodynamic cycle; as well as integrating critical design/technological factors and operational parameters that influence the aero engine blade life. To this end, thermo-mechanical fatigue was identified as the critical damage phenomenon driving the life of the turbine blade.. The developed approach integrates software tools and numerical models created using the minimum design information typically available at the early design stages. Using finite element analysis of an idealised blade geometry, the approach captures relevant impacts of thermal gradients and thermal stresses that contribute to the thermo-mechanical fatigue damage on the gas turbine blade. The blade life is evaluated using the Neu/Sehitoglu thermo-mechanical fatigue model that considers damage accumulation due to fatigue, oxidation, and creep. The leading edge is examined as a critical part of the blade to estimate the damage severity for different design factors and operational parameters. The outputs of the research can be used to better understand how the environment and the operating conditions of the aircraft affect the blade life consumption and therefore what is the impact on the maintenance cost and the availability of the propulsion system. This research also finds that the environmental (oxidation) effect drives the blade life and the blade coolant

Fundamentals for remote structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades - a preproject. Annex A. Cost-benefit for embedded sensors in large wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, L.G.; Lading, Lars

2002-01-01

-bladed 2MW turbine placed offshore either without sensors or with sensors are compared. The price of a structural health monitoring system of a price of 100 000 DKK (per tur-bine) results in a break-eventime of about 3 years. For a price of 300 000 DKK the break-even time is about 8 years. However......This report contains the results of a cost-benefit analysis for the use of embed-ded sensors for damage detection in large wind turbine blades - structural health monitoring - (in connection with remote surveillance) of large wind turbine placedoff-shore. The total operating costs of a three......, the cost/benefit analysis has large uncertainties....

Moving blade for steam turbines with axial flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raschke, K.; Wehle, G.

1976-01-01

The invention concerns the improvement of the production of moving blades for steam turbines with axial flow, especially of multi-blades produced by welding of the top plates. It is proposed to weld the top plates before the moving blades are fitted into the rotor. Welding is this made much easier and can be carried out under protective gas and with better results. (UWI) [de

Active Tuned Mass Dampers for Control of In-Plane Vibrations of Wind Turbine Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fitzgerald, B.; Basu, Biswajit; Nielsen, Søren R.K.

2013-01-01

matrices. The aim of this paper is to determine whether ATMDs could be used to reduce in-plane blade vibrations in wind turbines with better performance than compared with their passive counterparts. A Euler–Lagrangian wind turbine mathematical model based on energy formulation was developed......, centrifugal, and turbulent aerodynamic loadings. Investigations show promising results for the use of ATMDs in the vibration control of wind turbine blades.......This paper investigates the use of active tuned mass dampers (ATMDs) for the mitigation of in-plane vibrations in rotating wind turbine blades. The rotating wind turbine blades with tower interaction represent time-varying dynamical systems with periodically varying mass, stiffness, and damping...

Investigation of Structural Behavior due to Bend-Twist Couplings in Wind Turbine Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fedorov, Vladimir; Dimitrov, Nikolay Krasimirov; Berggreen, Christian

2010-01-01

for predicting the torsional response of the wind turbine blades with built-in bend-twist couplings. Additionally, a number of improved full-scale tests using an advanced bi-axial servo-hydraulic load control have been performed on a wind turbine blade section provided by Vestas Wind Systems A/S. In the present......One of the problematic issues concerning the design of future large composite wind turbine blades is the prediction of bend-twist couplings and torsion behaviour. The current work is a continuation of a previous work [1,2], and it examines different finite element modelling approaches...... of the blade cross section as the defining surface, off-setting the location of the shell elements according to the specified thickness. The experimental full-scale tests were carried out on an 8 m section of a 23 m wind turbine blade with specially implemented bend-twist coupling. The blade was tested under...

Multidisciplinary design optimization of film-cooled gas turbine blades

OpenAIRE

Shashishekara S. Talya; J. N. Rajadas; A. Chattopadhyay

1999-01-01

Design optimization of a gas turbine blade geometry for effective film cooling toreduce the blade temperature has been done using a multiobjective optimization formulation. Three optimization formulations have been used. In the first, the average blade temperature is chosen as the objective function to be minimized. An upper bound constraint has been imposed on the maximum blade temperature. In the second, the maximum blade temperature is chosen as the objective function to be minimized with ...

Structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Rumsey, Mark A.; Paquette, Joshua A.

2008-03-01

As electric utility wind turbines increase in size, and correspondingly, increase in initial capital investment cost, there is an increasing need to monitor the health of the structure. Acquiring an early indication of structural or mechanical problems allows operators to better plan for maintenance, possibly operate the machine in a de-rated condition rather than taking the unit off-line, or in the case of an emergency, shut the machine down to avoid further damage. This paper describes several promising structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques that were recently exercised during a fatigue test of a 9 meter glass-epoxy and carbon-epoxy wind turbine blade. The SHM systems were implemented by teams from NASA Kennedy Space Center, Purdue University and Virginia Tech. A commercial off-the-shelf acoustic emission (AE) NDT system gathered blade AE data throughout the test. At a fatigue load cycle rate around 1.2 Hertz, and after more than 4,000,000 fatigue cycles, the blade was diagnostically and visibly failing at the out-board blade spar-cap termination point at 4.5 meters. For safety reasons, the test was stopped just before the blade completely failed. This paper provides an overview of the SHM and NDT system setups and some current test results.

An Innovative Approach To Making Ultra Light Weight Wind Turbine Blades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suhail Zaki Farooqui

2012-04-01

Full Text Available An innovative mould free method for the fabrication of ultimate light weight small wind turbine blades made out of composites has been suggested in this paper. The method has been practically applied with very satisfactory results. The method is low cost and is specifically suitable for individual small wind turbine makers. The airfoils used are simple to shape and possess good Cl/Cd characteristics. The blades are crafted using galvanized iron sheets, aluminum pipes, hard paper and fiberglass. A computer program is included with tip correction features to design the blades at the required power rating, wind speed, tip speed ratio and the chosen constant angle of attack. Results of the program run for designing 250 and 500 watt wind turbine blades at 8 m/s wind speed and tip speed ratios of 5.5 are tabulated. Performance results of the blades thus produced are also discussed.

Evaluation of feasibility of prestressed concrete for use in wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Leiblein, S.; Londahl, D. S.; Furlong, D. B.; Dreier, M. E.

1979-01-01

A preliminary evaluation of the feasibility of the use of prestressed concrete as a material for low cost blades for wind turbines was conducted. A baseline blade design was achieved for an experimental wind turbine that met aerodynamic and structural requirements. Significant cost reductions were indicated for volume production. Casting of a model blade section showed no fabrication problems. Coupled dynamic analysis revealed that adverse rotor tower interactions can be significant with heavy rotor blades.

Effect of number of blades on aerodynamic forces on a straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Qing'an; Maeda, Takao; Kamada, Yasunari; Murata, Junsuke; Furukawa, Kazuma; Yamamoto, Masayuki

2015-01-01

Small wind turbine performance and safety standard for straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) have not been developed in the world because of the lack of fundament experimental data. This paper focuses on the evaluation of aerodynamic forces depending on several numbers of blades in wind tunnel experiment. In the present study, the test airfoil of blade is symmetry airfoil of NACA 0021 and the number of blades is from two to five. Pressure acting on the surface of rotor blade is measured during rotation by multiport pressure devices and transmitted to a stationary system through wireless LAN. And then, the aerodynamic forces (tangential force, normal force et al.) are discussed as a function of azimuth angle, achieving a quantitative analysis of the effect of numbers of blades. Finally, the loads are compared with the experimental data of six-component balance. As a result, it is clarified that the power coefficient decreases with the increase of numbers of blades. Furthermore, the power which is absorbed from wind by wind turbine mainly depends on upstream region of azimuth angle of θ = 0°∼180°. In this way, these results are very important for developing the simple design equations and applications for straight-bladed VAWT. - Highlights: • Aerodynamic forces are measured by not only torque meter but also six-component balance. • The pressure distribution on the surface of rotor blade is directly measured by multiport pressure devices. • The power coefficient decreases with the increase of numbers of blades. • The fluctuation amplitudes from six-component balance show larger value than the results of pressure distribution.

An Experimental Analysis of the Effect of Icing on Wind Turbine Rotor Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raja, Muhammad Imran; Hussain, Dil muhammed Akbar; Soltani, Mohsen

2016-01-01

Wind Turbine is highly nonlinear plant whose dynamics changes with change in aerodynamics of the rotor blade. Power extracted from the wind turbine is a function of coefficient of power (Cp). Wind turbine installed in the cold climate areas has an icing on its rotor blade which might change its...... aerodynamics. This paper is an experimental investigation of the aerodynamic changes occur due to effect of ice accumulated on the rotor blades of wind turbine. We have tested three small scale model of the NREL's 5MW rotor blade with same profile but simulated different icing effect on them. These models...... are printed with 3D printer and tested one by one in a Wind Tunnel. Lift, drag and moment coefficients are calculated from the measured experimental data and program WT-Perf based on blade-element momentum (BEM) theory is used to predict the performance of wind turbine. Cp curves generated from the test...

Flow field analysis inside a gas turbine trailing edge cooling channel under static and rotating conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Armellini, A.; Casarsa, L.; Mucignat, C.

2011-01-01

The flow field inside a modern internal cooling channel specifically designed for the trailing edge of gas turbine blades has been experimentally investigated under static and rotating conditions. The passage is characterized by a trapezoidal cross-section of high aspect-ratio and coolant discharge at the blade tip and along the wedge-shaped trailing edge, where seven elongated pedestals are also installed. The tests were performed under engine similar conditions with respect to both Reynolds (Re = 20,000) and Rotation (Ro = 0, 0.23) numbers, while particular care was put in the implementation of proper pressure conditions at the channel exits to allow the comparison between data under static and rotating conditions. The flow velocity was measured by means of 2D and Stereo-PIV techniques applied in the absolute frame of reference. The relative velocity fields were obtained through a pre-processing procedure of the PIV images developed on purpose. Time averaged flow fields inside the stationary and rotating channels are analyzed and compared. A substantial modification of the whole flow behavior due to rotational effects is commented, nevertheless no trace of rotation induced secondary Coriolis vortices has been found because of the progressive flow discharge along the trailing edge. For Ro = 0.23, at the channel inlet the high aspect-ratio of the cross section enhances inviscid flow effects which determine a mass flow redistribution towards the leading edge side. At the trailing edge exits, the distortion of the flow path observed in the channel central portion causes a strong reduction in the dimensions of the 3D separation structures that surround the pedestals.

Online monitoring of dynamic tip clearance of turbine blades in high temperature environments

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Yu; Zhong, Chong; Zhu, Xiaoliang; Zhe, Jiang

2018-04-01

Minimized tip clearance reduces the gas leakage over turbine blade tips and improves the thrust and efficiency of turbomachinery. An accurate tip clearance sensor, measuring the dynamic clearances between blade tips and the turbine case, is a critical component for tip clearance control. This paper presents a robust inductive tip clearance sensor capable of monitoring dynamic tip clearances of turbine machines in high-temperature environments and at high rotational speeds. The sensor can also self-sense the temperature at a blade tip in situ such that temperature effect on tip clearance measurement can be estimated and compensated. To evaluate the sensor’s performance, the sensor was tested for measuring the tip clearances of turbine blades under various working temperatures ranging from 700 K to 1300 K and at turbine rotational speeds ranging from 3000 to 10 000 rpm. The blade tip clearance was varied from 50 to 2000 µm. The experiment results proved that the sensor can accurately measure the blade tip clearances with a temporal resolution of 10 µm. The capability of accurately measuring the tip clearances at high temperatures (~1300 K) and high turbine rotation speeds (~30 000 rpm), along with its compact size, makes it promising for online monitoring and active control of blade tip clearances of high-temperature turbomachinery.

Methods of Enhancing the Operating Characteristics of Gas-Turbine Blades

Science.gov (United States)

Ospennikova, O. G.; Visik, E. M.; Gerasimov, V. V.; Kolyadov, E. V.

2017-12-01

This paper considers the main tendencies of development and ways of introduction of new technological solutions and alloys in the production of industrial gas-turbine unit (GTU) blades and presents a review of modern corrosion-resistant alloys, casting units for high-gradient directional solidification, and the techniques providing the preparation of a single-crystal structure in the blades of stationary turbine plants.

Manufacturing a 9-Meter Thermoplastic Composite Wind Turbine Blade: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murray, Robynne [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Snowberg, David R [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Berry, Derek S [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Beach, Ryan [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Rooney, Samantha A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Swan, Dana [Arkema Inc.

2017-12-06

Currently, wind turbine blades are manufactured from a combination of glass and/or carbon fiber composite materials with a thermoset resin such as epoxy, which requires energy-intensive and expensive heating processes to cure. Newly developed in-situ polymerizing thermoplastic resin systems for composite wind turbine blades polymerize at room temperature, eliminating the heating process and significantly reducing the blade manufacturing cycle time and embodied energy, which in turn reduces costs. Thermoplastic materials can also be thermally welded, eliminating the need for adhesive bonds between blade components and increasing the overall strength and reliability of the blades. As well, thermoplastic materials enable end-of-life blade recycling by reheating and decomposing the materials, which is a limitation of existing blade technology. This paper presents a manufacturing demonstration for a 9-m-long thermoplastic composite wind turbine blade. This blade was constructed in the Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology facility at the National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) using a vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding process. Johns Manville fiberglass and an Arkema thermoplastic resin called Elium were used. Additional materials included Armacell-recycled polyethylene terephthalate foam from Creative Foam and low-cost carbon- fiber pultruded spar caps (manufactured in collaboration with NREL, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Huntsman, Strongwell, and Chomarat). This paper highlights the development of the thermoplastic resin formulations, including an additive designed to control the peak exothermic temperatures. Infusion and cure times of less than 3 hours are also demonstrated, highlighting the efficiency and energy savings associated with manufacturing thermoplastic composite blades.

Blade number impact on pressure and performance of archimedes screw turbine using CFD

Science.gov (United States)

Maulana, Muhammad Ilham; Syuhada, Ahmad; Nawawi, Muhammad

2018-02-01

Many rivers in Indonesia can be used as source of mini/micro hydro power plant using low head turbine. The most suitable type of turbine used in fluid flow with low head is the Archimedes screw turbine. The Archimedes screw hydro turbine is a relative newcomer to the small-scale hydropower that can work efficiently on heads as low as 10 meter. In this study, the performance of Archimedes water turbines that has different blade numbers that are thoroughly evaluated to obtain proper blade configuration. For this purpose, numerical simulations are used to predict the pressure changes that occur along the turbine. The simulation results show that turbines with an amount of two blades have more sloping pressure distribution so that it has better stability.

Determination of Remaining Useful Life of Gas Turbine Blade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meor Said Mior Azman

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this research is to determine the remaining useful life of gas turbine blade, using service-exposed turbine blades. This task is performed using Stress Rupture Test (SRT under accelerated test conditions where the applied stresses to the specimen is between 400 MPa to 600 MPa and the test temperature is 850°C. The study will focus on the creep behaviour of the 52000 hours service-exposed blades, complemented with creep-rupture modelling using JMatPro software and microstructure examination using optical microscope. The test specimens, made up of Ni-based superalloy of the first stage turbine blades, are machined based on International Standard (ISO 24. The results from the SRT will be analyzed using these two main equations – Larson-Miller Parameter and Life Fraction Rule. Based on the results of the remaining useful life analysis, the 52000h service-exposed blade has the condition to operate in the range of another 4751 hr to 18362 hr. The microstructure examinations shows traces of carbide precipitation that deteriorate the grain boundaries that occurs during creep process. Creep-rupture life modelling using JMatPro software has shown good agreement with the accelerated creep rupture test with minimal error.

H-Darrieus Wind Turbine with Blade Pitch Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Paraschivoiu

2009-01-01

Full Text Available A procedure for computing the optimal variation of the blades' pitch angle of an H-Darrieus wind turbine that maximizes its torque at given operational conditions is proposed and presented along with the results obtained on a 7 kW prototype. The CARDAAV code, based on the “Double-Multiple Streamtube” model developed by the first author, is used to determine the performances of the straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine. This was coupled with a genetic algorithm optimizer. The azimuthal variation of the blades' pitch angle is modeled with an analytical function whose coefficients are used as variables in the optimization process. Two types of variations were considered for the pitch angle: a simple sinusoidal one and one which is more general, relating closely the blades' pitch to the local flow conditions along their circular path. A gain of almost 30% in the annual energy production was obtained with the polynomial optimal pitch control.

Analysis of Pressure Fluctuations in a Prototype Pump-Turbine with Different Numbers of Runner Blades in Turbine Mode

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deyou Li

2018-06-01

Full Text Available In pump-turbines, high pressure fluctuation is one of the crucial instabilities, which is harmful to the stable and effective operation of the entire unit. Extensive studies have been carried out to investigate pressure fluctuations (amplitude and frequency at specific locations. However, limited research was conducted on the distribution of pressure fluctuations in turbine mode in a pump-turbine, as well as the influence of the number of runner blades on pressure fluctuations. Hence, in this study, three dimensional numerical simulations were performed to predict the distribution of pressure fluctuations with different numbers of runner blades in a prototype pump-turbine in turbine mode using the shear stress transport (SST k-ω turbulence model. Three operating points with the same hydraulic head and different mass flow rates were simulated. The distribution of pressure fluctuation components of blade passing frequency and its harmonics in the direction along the whole flow path, as well as along the circumferential direction, was presented. The mass flow rate and number of runner blades have great influence on the distribution of pressure fluctuations, especially at blade passing frequency along circumferential direction. The mass flow rate mainly affects the position of peak pressure fluctuations, while the number of runner blades mainly changes the number of peak pressure fluctuations. Additionally, the number of runner blades influences the dominant frequencies of pressure fluctuations especially in the spiral casing and draft tube.

Effect of the number of blades and solidity on the performance of a vertical axis wind turbine

Science.gov (United States)

Delafin, PL; Nishino, T.; Wang, L.; Kolios, A.

2016-09-01

Two, three and four bladed ϕ-shape Vertical Axis Wind Turbines are simulated using a free-wake vortex model. Two versions of the three and four bladed turbines are considered, one having the same chord length as the two-bladed turbine and the other having the same solidity as the two-bladed turbine. Results of the two-bladed turbine are validated against published experimental data of power coefficient and instantaneous torque. The effect of solidity on the power coefficient is presented and the instantaneous torque, thrust and lateral force of the two-, three- and four-bladed turbines are compared for the same solidity. It is found that increasing the number of blades from two to three significantly reduces the torque, thrust and lateral force ripples. Adding a fourth blade further reduces the ripples except for the torque at low tip speed ratio. This work aims to help choosing the number of blades during the design phase of a vertical axis wind turbine.

Wind turbine blade shear web disbond detection using rotor blade operational sensing and data analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Myrent, Noah; Adams, Douglas E; Griffith, D Todd

2015-02-28

A wind turbine blade's structural dynamic response is simulated and analysed with the goal of characterizing the presence and severity of a shear web disbond. Computer models of a 5 MW offshore utility-scale wind turbine were created to develop effective algorithms for detecting such damage. Through data analysis and with the use of blade measurements, a shear web disbond was quantified according to its length. An aerodynamic sensitivity study was conducted to ensure robustness of the detection algorithms. In all analyses, the blade's flap-wise acceleration and root-pitching moment were the clearest indicators of the presence and severity of a shear web disbond. A combination of blade and non-blade measurements was formulated into a final algorithm for the detection and quantification of the disbond. The probability of detection was 100% for the optimized wind speed ranges in laminar, 30% horizontal shear and 60% horizontal shear conditions. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Experimental investigation of airfoil trailing edge heat transfer and aerodynamic losses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brundage, A.L. [Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185 (United States); Plesniak, M.W.; Lawless, P.B. [School of Mechanical Engineering, Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States); Ramadhyani, S. [132 Cecil Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414 (United States)

2007-01-15

Modern gas turbine development is being driven by the often-incompatible goals of increased efficiency, better durability, and reduced emissions. High turbine inlet temperatures and ineffective cooling at the trailing edge of a first-stage stator vane lead to corrosion, oxidation, and thermal fatigue. Observations of this region in engines frequently reveal burn marks, cracks, and buckling. Fundamental studies of the importance of trailing edge heat transfer to the design of an optimal cooling scheme are scarce. An experimental study of an actively cooled trailing edge configuration, in which coolant is injected through a slot, is performed. Trailing edge heat transfer and aerodynamic measurements are reported. An optimum balance between maximizing blade row aerodynamic efficiency and improving thermal protection at the trailing edge is estimated to be achieved when blowing ratios are in the range between 2.1% and 2.8%. The thermal phenomena at the trailing edge are dominated by injection slot heat transfer and flow physics. These measured trends are generally applicable over a wide range of gas turbine applications. (author)

Research on automatic inspection technique of real-time radiography for turbine-blade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Z.G.; Zhao, S.; An, Z.G.

2004-01-01

To inspect turbine blade automatically, with a real-time radiographic system based on X-ray flat panel detector, computerized defect extraction technique is studied on the basis of characteristics of turbine blade's digital radiographic images. At first, in the light of a variety of gray-level in a turbine blade's digital radiographic image, it is divided into six subareas. An adaptive median filter is used to smooth defects in each subarea. Then, the filtrated image is subtracted from the raw image and a difference image with flat background and outstanding defects is obtained. After that, thresholding is applied to the difference image and defects in the turbine blade become obvious. Later on, a morphological opening is used to realize noise reduction. In order to ensure the accuracy of defects, a region growing method is adopted to reconstruct the defects. Finally, the feature data of defects are extracted. The comparison between computerized feature extraction results and human interpretation results indicates that the method mentioned above is effective and efficient, which will lay a good foundation for automatic inspection of turbine-blade with X-ray. (author)

Experimental investigation on performance of crossflow wind turbine as effect of blades number

Science.gov (United States)

Kurniawati, Diniar Mungil; Tjahjana, Dominicus Danardono Dwi Prija; Santoso, Budi

2018-02-01

Urban living is one of the areas with large electrical power consumption that requires a power supply that is more than rural areas. The number of multi-storey buildings such as offices, hotels and several other buildings that caused electricity power consumption in urban living is very high. Therefore, energy alternative is needed to replace the electricity power consumption from government. One of the utilization of renewable energy in accordance with these conditions is the installation of wind turbines. One type of wind turbine that is now widely studied is a crossflow wind turbines. Crossflow wind turbine is one of vertical axis wind turbine which has good self starting at low wind speed condition. Therefore, the turbine design parameter is necessary to know in order to improve turbine performance. One of wind turbine performance parameter is blades number. The main purpose of this research to investigate the effect of blades number on crossflow wind turbine performance. The design of turbine was 0.4 × 0.4 m2 tested by experimental method with configuration on three kinds of blades number were 8,16 and 20. The turbine investigated at low wind speed on 2 - 5 m/s. The result showed that best performance on 16 blade number.

Structural dynamic analysis of turbine blade

Science.gov (United States)

Antony, A. Daniel; Gopalsamy, M.; Viswanadh, Chaparala B. V.; Krishnaraj, R.

2017-10-01

In any gas turbine design cycle, blade design is a crucial element which needs maximum attention to meet the aerodynamic performance, structural safety margins, manufacturing feasibility, material availability etc. In present day gas turbine engines, most of the failures occur during engine development test and in-service, in rotor and stator blades due to fatigue and resonance failures. To address this issue, an extensive structural dynamic analysis is carried out to predict the natural frequencies and mode shapes using FE methods. Using the dynamics characteristics, the Campbell diagram is constructed to study the possibility of resonance at various operating speeds. In this work, the feasibility of using composite material in place of titanium alloy from the structural dynamics point of view. This is being attempted in a Low-pressure compressor where the temperatures are relatively low and fixed with the casings. The analysis will be carried out using FE method for different composite material with different lamina orientations chosen through the survey. This study will focus on the sensitivity of blade mode shapes to different laminae orientations, which will be used to alter the natural frequency and tailor the mode shapes. Campbell diagrams of existing titanium alloy are compared with the composite materials with different laminae at all critical operating conditions. The existing manufacturing methods and the proven techniques for blade profiles will also be discussed in this report.

Videometric research on deformation measurement of large-scale wind turbine blades

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2011-01-01

Utilization of wind energy is a promising way to generate power,and wind turbine blades play a key role in collecting the wind energy effectively.This paper attempts to measure the deformation parameter of wind turbine blades in mechanics experiments using a videometric method. In view that the blades experience small buckling deformation and large integral deformation simultaneously, we proposed a parallel network measurement(PNM) method including the key techniques such as camera network construction,c...

Lightning transient analysis in wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Candela Garolera, Anna; Holbøll, Joachim; Madsen, Søren Find

2013-01-01

The transient behavior of lightning surges in the lightning protection system of wind turbine blades has been investigated in this paper. The study is based on PSCAD models consisting of electric equivalent circuits with lumped and distributed parameters involving different lightning current...... waveforms. The aim of the PSCAD simulations is to study the voltages induced by the lightning current in the blade that may cause internal arcing. With this purpose, the phenomenon of current reflections in the lightning down conductor of the blade and the electromagnetic coupling between the down conductor...... and other internal conductive elements of the blade is studied. Finally, several methods to prevent internal arcing are discussed in order to improve the lightning protection of the blade....

Vibrational analysis of vertical axis wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Kapucu, Onur

The goal of this research is to derive a vibration model for a vertical axis wind turbine blade. This model accommodates the affects of varying relative flow angle caused by rotating the blade in the flow field, uses a simple aerodynamic model that assumes constant wind speed and constant rotation rate, and neglects the disturbance of wind due to upstream blade or post. The blade is modeled as elastic Euler-Bernoulli beam under transverse bending and twist deflections. Kinetic and potential energy equations for a rotating blade under deflections are obtained, expressed in terms of assumed modal coordinates and then plugged into Lagrangian equations where the non-conservative forces are the lift and drag forces and moments. An aeroelastic model for lift and drag forces, approximated with third degree polynomials, on the blade are obtained assuming an airfoil under variable angle of attack and airflow magnitudes. A simplified quasi-static airfoil theory is used, in which the lift and drag coefficients are not dependent on the history of the changing angle of attack. Linear terms on the resulting equations of motion will be used to conduct a numerical analysis and simulation, where numeric specifications are modified from the Sandia-17m Darrieus wind turbine by Sandia Laboratories.

Ice accretion modeling for wind turbine rotor blades

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chocron, D.; Brahimi, T.; Paraschivoiu, I.; Bombardier, J.A. [Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal (Canada)

1997-12-31

The increasing application of wind energy in northern climates implies operation of wind turbines under severe atmospheric icing conditions. Such conditions are well known in the Scandinavian countries, Canada and most of Eastern European countries. An extensive study to develop a procedure for the prediction of ice accretion on wind turbines rotor blades appears to be essential for the safe and economic operation of wind turbines in these cold regions. The objective of the present paper is to develop a computer code capable of simulating the shape and amount of ice which may accumulate on horizontal axis wind turbine blades when operating in icing conditions. The resulting code is capable to predict and simulate the formation of ice in rime and glaze conditions, calculate the flow field and particle trajectories and to perform thermodynamic analysis. It also gives the possibility of studying the effect of different parameters that influence ice formation such as temperature, liquid water content, droplet diameter and accretion time. The analysis has been conducted on different typical airfoils as well as on NASA/DOE Mod-0 wind turbine. Results showed that ice accretion on wind turbines may reduce the power output by more than 20%.

Coupling analysis of wind turbine blades based on aeroelastics and aerodynsmics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Xudong; Chen, Jin; Zhang, Shigiang

2010-01-01

The structural dynamic equations of blades were constructed for blades of wind turbines. The vibration velocity of blades and the relative flow velocity were calculated using the structural dynamics model. Based on the BEM (Blade Element Momentum) theory and traditional areodynamics, the coupling...

Structural and mechanism design of an active trailing-edge flap blade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Jae Hwan [Samsung Techwin R and D Center, Seongnam (Korea, Republic of); Natarajan, Balakumaran; Eun, Won Jong; Shin, Sang Joon [Seoul National University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); R, Viswamurthy S. [National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore (India); Park, Jae Sang [Agency for Defense Development, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Tae Song [Technical University of Denmark, Risoe Campus, Roskilde (Denmark)

2013-09-15

A conventional rotor control system restricted at 1/rev frequency component is unable to vary the hub vibratory loads and the aero acoustic noise, which exist in high frequency components. Various active rotor control methodologies have been examined in the literature to alleviate the problem of excessive hub vibratory loads and noise. The active control device manipulates the blade pitch angle with arbitrary higher harmonic frequencies individually. In this paper, an active trailing-edge flap blade, which is one of the active control methods, is developed to reduce vibratory loads and noise of the rotor through modification of unsteady aerodynamic loads. Piezoelectric actuators installed inside the blade manipulate the motion of the trailing edge flap. The proposed blade rotates at higher speed and additional structures are included to support the actuators and the flap. This improves the design, as the blade is able to withstand increased centrifugal force. The cross-section of the active blade is designed first. A stress/strain recovery analysis is then conducted to verify its structural integrity. A one-dimensional beam analysis is also carried out to assist with the construction of the fan diagram. To select the actuator and design the flap actuation region, the flap hinge moment is estimated via a CFD analysis. To obtain the desired flap deflection of ±4 .deg. , three actuators are required. The design of the flap actuation region is validated using a test bed with a skin hinge. However, because the skin hinge induces additional flap hinge moment, it does not provide sufficient deflection angle. Therefore, the flap hinge is replaced by a pin-type hinge, and the results are evaluated.

Conjugate heat transfer investigation on the cooling performance of air cooled turbine blade with thermal barrier coating

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Yongbin; Ma, Chao; Ge, Bing; Zang, Shusheng

2016-08-01

A hot wind tunnel of annular cascade test rig is established for measuring temperature distribution on a real gas turbine blade surface with infrared camera. Besides, conjugate heat transfer numerical simulation is performed to obtain cooling efficiency distribution on both blade substrate surface and coating surface for comparison. The effect of thermal barrier coating on the overall cooling performance for blades is compared under varied mass flow rate of coolant, and spatial difference is also discussed. Results indicate that the cooling efficiency in the leading edge and trailing edge areas of the blade is the lowest. The cooling performance is not only influenced by the internal cooling structures layout inside the blade but also by the flow condition of the mainstream in the external cascade path. Thermal barrier effects of the coating vary at different regions of the blade surface, where higher internal cooling performance exists, more effective the thermal barrier will be, which means the thermal protection effect of coatings is remarkable in these regions. At the designed mass flow ratio condition, the cooling efficiency on the pressure side varies by 0.13 for the coating surface and substrate surface, while this value is 0.09 on the suction side.

Calibration procedures for improved accuracy of wind turbine blade load measurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dahlberg, J.Aa. [Aeronautical Research Inst. of Sweden, Bromma (Sweden); Johansson, Hjalmar [Teknikgruppen AB, Sollentuna (Sweden)

1996-12-01

External loads acting on wind turbine blades are mainly transferred via the hub to the rest of the structure. It is therefore a normal approach to measure the loads acting on the turbine by load measurements in the blade roots. The load measurement is often accomplished by measurements of strain on the surface of the blade or the hub. The strain signals are converted to loads by applying calibration factors to the measurements. This paper deals with difficulties associated with load measurements on two different wind turbines; one with strain gauges applied to a steel hub where a linear stress-load relationship is expected and the other with strain gauges applied to the GFRP blade close to the bearings where strong non-linearity`s and temperature effects are expected. This paper suggests calibration methods to overcome these problems. 2 refs, 11 figs

Multi-spectral pyrometer for gas turbine blade temperature measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Shan; Wang, Lixin; Feng, Chi

2014-09-01

To achieve the highest possible turbine inlet temperature requires to accurately measuring the turbine blade temperature. If the temperature of blade frequent beyond the design limits, it will seriously reduce the service life. The problem for the accuracy of the temperature measurement includes the value of the target surface emissivity is unknown and the emissivity model is variability and the thermal radiation of the high temperature environment. In this paper, the multi-spectral pyrometer is designed provided mainly for range 500-1000°, and present a model corrected in terms of the error due to the reflected radiation only base on the turbine geometry and the physical properties of the material. Under different working conditions, the method can reduce the measurement error from the reflect radiation of vanes, make measurement closer to the actual temperature of the blade and calculating the corresponding model through genetic algorithm. The experiment shows that this method has higher accuracy measurements.

Application of additive laser technologies in the gas turbine blades design process

Science.gov (United States)

Shevchenko, I. V.; Rogalev, A. N.; Osipov, S. K.; Bychkov, N. M.; Komarov, I. I.

2017-11-01

An emergence of modern innovative technologies requires delivering new and modernization existing design and production processes. It is especially relevant for designing the high-temperature turbines of gas turbine engines, development of which is characterized by a transition to higher parameters of working medium in order to improve their efficient performance. A design technique for gas turbine blades based on predictive verification of thermal and hydraulic models of their cooling systems by testing of a blade prototype fabricated using the selective laser melting technology was presented in this article. Technique was proven at the time of development of the first stage blade cooling system for the high-pressure turbine. An experimental procedure for verification of a thermal model of the blades with convective cooling systems based on the comparison of heat-flux density obtained from the numerical simulation data and results of tests in a liquid-metal thermostat was developed. The techniques makes it possible to obtain an experimentally tested blade version and to exclude its experimental adjustment after the start of mass production.

Laser shock peening of steam turbine blade for enhanced service life

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2014-02-13

Feb 13, 2014 ... Fretting-fatigue is an important factor influencing service life of turbine blades. The present paper describes laser shock peening of potential crack nucleation site in the root region of steam turbine blade for its enhanced service life. The experimental study, performed with an in-house developed 2.5 J/7 ns ...

Accuracy of an efficient framework for structural analysis of wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blasques, José Pedro Albergaria Amaral; Bitsche, Robert D.; Fedorov, Vladimir

2016-01-01

-section analysis tool is able to capture the effects stemming from material anisotropy and inhomogeneity for sections of arbitrary geometry. The proposed framework is very efficient and therefore ideally suited for integration within wind turbine aeroelastic design and analysis tools. A number of benchmark......This paper presents a novel framework for the structural design and analysis of wind turbine blades and establishes its accuracy. The framework is based on a beam model composed of two parts—a 2D finite element-based cross-section analysis tool and a 3D beam finite element model. The cross...... examples are presented comparing the results from the proposed beam model to 3D shell and solid finite element models. The examples considered include a square prismatic beam, an entire wind turbine rotor blade and a detailed wind turbine blade cross section. Phenomena at both the blade length scale...

Influence of coating quality on the service life of land-based gas turbine blades

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cheruvu, N.S. [Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio (United States)

2007-06-15

The land-based gas turbine blades operate at severe operating conditions: higher metal temperatures and stresses, and severe duty cycles. Metallic coatings with or without a top ceramic coating have been used to protect the turbine blades. The durability of the coating system is one of the prime life-limiting factors of modem gas turbine blades. The quality of the coating plays a critical role on the coating life. This paper discusses the failure mechanisms of the coatings and describes how the quality of the coating affects the service life of a gas turbine blade. A few case studies are presented in the paper. (orig.)

Aerodynamic optimization of the blades of diffuser-augmented wind turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaz, Jerson R.P.; Wood, David H.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • An optimization procedure to design shrouded wind turbine blades is proposed. • The procedure relies on the diffuser speed-up ratio. • The diffuser speed-up ratio increases the velocity at the rotor plane. • Chord and twist angle are optimized for typical speed-up ratios. • The procedure is applicable for any tip-speed ratio greater than 1. - Abstract: Adding an exit diffuser is known to allow wind turbines to exceed the classical Betz–Joukowsky limit for a bare turbine. It is not clear, however, if there is a limit for diffuser-augmented turbines or whether the structural and other costs of the diffuser outweigh any gain in power. This work presents a new approach to the aerodynamic optimization of a wind turbine with a diffuser. It is based on an extension of the well-known Blade Element Theory and a simple model for diffuser efficiency. It is assumed that the same conditions for the axial velocity in the wake of an ordinary wind turbine can be applied on the flow far downwind of the diffuser outlet. An algorithm to optimize the blade chord and twist angle distributions in the presence of a diffuser was developed and implemented. As a result, an aerodynamic improvement of the turbine rotor geometry was achieved with the blade shape sensitive to the diffuser speed-up ratio. In order to evaluate the proposed approach, a comparison with the classical Glauert optimization was performed for a flanged diffuser, which increased the efficiency. In addition, a comparative assessment was made with experimental results available in the literature, suggesting better performance for the rotor designed with the proposed optimization procedure.

Bioinspired turbine blades offer new perspectives for wind energy

Science.gov (United States)

Cognet, V.; Courrech du Pont, S.; Dobrev, I.; Massouh, F.; Thiria, B.

2017-02-01

Wind energy is becoming a significant alternative solution for future energy production. Modern turbines now benefit from engineering expertise, and a large variety of different models exists, depending on the context and needs. However, classical wind turbines are designed to operate within a narrow zone centred around their optimal working point. This limitation prevents the use of sites with variable wind to harvest energy, involving significant energetic and economic losses. Here, we present a new type of bioinspired wind turbine using elastic blades, which passively deform through the air loading and centrifugal effects. This work is inspired from recent studies on insect flight and plant reconfiguration, which show the ability of elastic wings or leaves to adapt to the wind conditions and thereby to optimize performance. We show that in the context of energy production, the reconfiguration of the elastic blades significantly extends the range of operating regimes using only passive, non-consuming mechanisms. The versatility of the new turbine model leads to a large increase of the converted energy rate, up to 35%. The fluid/elasticity mechanisms involved for the reconfiguration capability of the new blades are analysed in detail, using experimental observations and modelling.

Optimization model for rotor blades of horizontal axis wind turbines

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LIU Xiong; CHEN Yan; YE Zhiquan

2007-01-01

This paper presents an optimization model for rotor blades of horizontal axis wind turbines. The model refers to the wind speed distribution function on the specific wind site, with an objective to satisfy the maximum annual energy output. To speed up the search process and guarantee a global optimal result, the extended compact genetic algorithm (ECGA) is used to carry out the search process.Compared with the simple genetic algorithm, ECGA runs much faster and can get more accurate results with a much smaller population size and fewer function evaluations. Using the developed optimization program, blades of a 1.3 MW stall-regulated wind turbine are designed. Compared with the existing blades, the designed blades have obviously better aerodynamic performance.

Wavelet Transformation for Damage Identication in Wind Turbine Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ulriksen, Martin Dalgaard; Skov, Jonas falk; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

2014-01-01

The present paper documents a proposed modal and wavelet analysis-based structural health monitoring (SHM) method for damage identification in wind turbine blades. A finite element (FE) model of a full-scale wind turbine blade is developed and introduced to a transverse surface crack. Hereby, post......-damage mode shapes are derived through modal analysis and subsequently analyzed with continuous two-dimensional wavelet transformation for damage identification, namely detection, localization and assessment. It is found that valid damage identification is obtained even when utilizing the mode shape...

Damage tolerance and structural monitoring for wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McGugan, Malcolm; Pereira, Gilmar Ferreira; Sørensen, Bent F.

2015-01-01

The paper proposes a methodology for reliable design and maintenance of wind turbine rotor blades using a condition monitoring approach and a damage tolerance index coupling the material and structure. By improving the understanding of material properties that control damage propagation it will b......The paper proposes a methodology for reliable design and maintenance of wind turbine rotor blades using a condition monitoring approach and a damage tolerance index coupling the material and structure. By improving the understanding of material properties that control damage propagation...

A New Method for Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT Blade Optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammadreza Mohammadi

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Iran has a great potential for wind energy. This paper introduces optimization of 7 wind turbine blades for small and medium scales in a determined wind condition of Zabol site, Iran, where the average wind speed is considered 7 m /s. Considered wind turbines are 3 bladed and radius of 7 case study turbine blades are 4.5 m, 6.5 m, 8 m, 9 m, 10 m, 15.5 m and 20 m. As the first step, an initial design is performed using one airfoil (NACA 63-215 across the blade. In the next step, every blade is divided into three sections, while the 20 % of first part of the blade is considered as root, the 5% of last the part is considered as tip and the rest of the blade as mid part. Providing necessary input data, suitable airfoils for wind turbines including 43 airfoils are extracted and their experimental data are entered in optimization process. Three variables in this optimization problem would be airfoil type, attack angle and chord, where the objective function is maximum output torque. A MATLAB code was written for design and optimization of the blade, which was validated with a previous experimental work. In addition, a comparison was made to show the effect of optimization with two variables (airfoil type and attack angle versus optimization with three variables (airfoil type, attack angle and chord on output torque increase. Results of this research shows a dramatic increase in comparison to initial designed blade with one airfoil where two variable optimization causes 7.7% to 22.27 % enhancement and three variable optimization causes 17.91% up to 24.48% rise in output torque .Article History: Received Oct 15, 2015; Received in revised form January 2, 2016; Accepted January 14, 2016; Available online How to Cite This Article: Mohammadi, M., Mohammadi, A. and Farahat, S. (2016 A New Method for Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT Blade Optimization. Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 5(1,1-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.14710/ijred.5.1.1-8

Film cooling adiabatic effectiveness measurements of pressure side trailing edge cooling configurations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Becchi

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Nowadays total inlet temperature of gas turbine is far above the permissible metal temperature; as a consequence, advanced cooling techniques must be applied to protect from thermal stresses, oxidation and corrosion the components located in the high pressure stages, such as the blade trailing edge. A suitable design of the cooling system for the trailing edge has to cope with geometric constraints and aerodynamic demands; state-of-the-art of cooling concepts often use film cooling on blade pressure side: the air taken from last compressor stages is ejected through discrete holes or slots to provide a cold layer between hot mainstream and the blade surface. With the goal of ensuring a satisfactory lifetime of blades, the design of efficient trailing edge film cooling schemes and, moreover, the possibility to check carefully their behavior, are hence necessary to guarantee an appropriate metal temperature distribution. For this purpose an experimental survey was carried out to investigate the film covering performance of different pressure side trailing edge cooling systems for turbine blades. The experimental test section consists of a scaled-up trailing edge model installed in an open loop suction type test rig. Measurements of adiabatic effectiveness distributions were carried out on three trailing edge cooling system configurations. The baseline geometry is composed by inclined slots separated by elongated pedestals; the second geometry shares the same cutback configuration, with an additional row of circular film cooling holes located upstream; the third model is equipped with three rows of in-line film cooling holes. Experiments have been performed at nearly ambient conditions imposing several blowing ratio values and using carbon dioxide as coolant in order to reproduce a density ratio close to the engine conditions (DR=1.52. To extend the validity of the survey a comparison between adiabatic effectiveness measurements and a prediction by

Modal properties and stability of bend–twist coupled wind turbine blades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. R. Stäblein

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Coupling between bending and twist has a significant influence on the aeroelastic response of wind turbine blades. The coupling can arise from the blade geometry (e.g. sweep, prebending, or deflection under load or from the anisotropic properties of the blade material. Bend–twist coupling can be utilized to reduce the fatigue loads of wind turbine blades. In this study the effects of material-based coupling on the aeroelastic modal properties and stability limits of the DTU 10 MW Reference Wind Turbine are investigated. The modal properties are determined by means of eigenvalue analysis around a steady-state equilibrium using the aero-servo-elastic tool HAWCStab2 which has been extended by a beam element that allows for fully coupled cross-sectional properties. Bend–twist coupling is introduced in the cross-sectional stiffness matrix by means of coupling coefficients that introduce twist for flapwise (flap–twist coupling or edgewise (edge–twist coupling bending. Edge–twist coupling can increase or decrease the damping of the edgewise mode relative to the reference blade, depending on the operational condition of the turbine. Edge–twist to feather coupling for edgewise deflection towards the leading edge reduces the inflow speed at which the blade becomes unstable. Flap–twist to feather coupling for flapwise deflections towards the suction side increase the frequency and reduce damping of the flapwise mode. Flap–twist to stall reduces frequency and increases damping. The reduction of blade root flapwise and tower bottom fore–aft moments due to variations in mean wind speed of a flap–twist to feather blade are confirmed by frequency response functions.

Adhesive Joints in Wind Turbine Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Jeppe Bjørn

to be determined in several different ways. The accuracy of different ways of measuring residual stresses in the adhesive was tested by applying five different methods on a single sandwich test specimen (laminate/adhesive/laminate) that was instrumented with strain gauges and fiber Bragg gratings. Quasi...... of the project is to develop new- and to improve the existing design rules for adhesive joints in wind turbine blades. The first scientific studies of adhesive joints were based on stress analysis, which requires that the bond-line is free of defects, but this is rarely the case for a wind turbine blade. Instead...... curing and test temperatures) on the formation of transverse cracks in the adhesive were tested experimentally. It was assumed that the transverse cracks evolved due to a combination of mechanical- and residual stresses in the adhesive. A new approach was developed that allows the residual stress...

Life assessment of gas turbine blades after long term service

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Auerkari, Pertti; Salonen, Jorma [VTT, Espoo (Finland); Maekinen, Sari [Helsingin Energia, Helsinki (Finland); Karvonen, Ikka; Tanttari, Heikki [Lappeenrannan Laempoevoima, Lappeenranta (Finland); Kangas, Pekka [Neste Oil, Kilpilahti (Finland); Scholz, Alfred [Technische Univ. Darmstadt (Germany); Vacchieri, Erica [Ansaldo Richerche, Genoa (Italy)

2010-07-01

Turbine blade samples from three land based gas turbines have been subjected to systematic condition and life assessment after long term service (88000 - 109000 equivalent operating hours, eoh), when approaching the nominal or suggested life limits. The blades represent different machine types, materials and design generations, and uncooled blading outside the hottest front end of the turbine, i.e. blades with relatively large size and considerable expected life. For a reasonable assessment, a range of damage mechanisms need to be addressed and evaluated for the impact in the residual life. The results suggested significant additional safe life for all three blade sets. In some cases this could warrant yet another life cycle comparable to that of new blades, even after approaching the nominal end of life in terms of recommended equivalent operating hours. This is thought to be partly because of base load combined cycle operation and natural gas fuel, or modest operational loading if the design also accounted for more intensive cycling operation and more corrosive oil firing. In any case, long term life extension is only appropriate if not intervened by events of overloading, overheating or other sudden events such as foreign object damage (FOD), and if supported by the regular inspection and maintenance program to control in-service damage. Condition based assessment therefore remains an important part of the blade life management after the decision of accepted life extension. (orig.)

Deflection estimation of a wind turbine blade using FBG sensors embedded in the blade bonding line

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Sang-Woo; Kang, Woo-Ram; Jeong, Min-Soo; Lee, In; Kwon, Il-Bum

2013-01-01

Estimating the deflection of flexible composite wind turbine blades is very important to prevent the blades from hitting the tower. Several researchers have used fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors—a type of optical fiber sensor (OFS)—to monitor the structural behavior of the blades. They can be installed on the surface and/or embedded in the interior of composites. However, the typical installation positions of OFSs present several problems, including delamination of sensing probes and a higher risk of fiber breakage during installation. In this study, we proposed using the bonding line between the shear web and spar cap as a new installation position of embedded OFSs for estimating the deflection of the blades. Laboratory coupon tests were undertaken preliminarily to confirm the strain measuring capability of embedded FBG sensors in adhesive layers, and the obtained values were verified by comparison with results obtained by electrical strain gauges and finite element analysis. We performed static loading tests on a 100 kW composite wind turbine blade to evaluate its deflections using embedded FBG sensors positioned in the bonding line. The deflections were estimated by classical beam theory considering a rigid body rotation near the tip of the blade. The evaluated tip deflections closely matched those measured by a linear variable differential transformer. Therefore, we verified the capability of embedded FBG sensors for evaluating the deflections of wind turbine blades. In addition, we confirmed that the bonding line between the shear web and spar cap is a practical location to embed the FBG sensors. (paper)

Effect of the blade arc angle on the performance of a Savonius wind turbine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaoyong Mao

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Savonius wind turbine is a common vertical axis wind turbine which simply comprises two or three arc-type blades and can generate power under poor wind conditions. With the aim of increasing the turbine’s power efficiency, the effect of the blade arc angle on the performance of a typical two-bladed Savonius wind turbine is investigated with a transient computational fluid dynamics method. Simulations were based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes equations, and the renormalization group k − ε turbulent model was utilized. The numerical method was validated with existing experimental data. The results indicate that the turbine with a blade arc angle of 160 ∘ generates the maximum power coefficient, 0.2836, which is 8.37% higher than that from a conventional Savonius turbine.

Bionic Design of Wind Turbine Blade Based on Long-Eared Owl’s Airfoil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weijun Tian

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a bionic design for the airfoil of wind turbines inspired by the morphology of Long-eared Owl’s wings. Glauert Model was adopted to design the standard blade and the bionic blade, respectively. Numerical analysis method was utilized to study the aerodynamic characteristics of the airfoils as well as the blades. Results show that the bionic airfoil inspired by the airfoil at the 50% aspect ratio of the Long-eared Owl’s wing gives rise to a superior lift coefficient and stalling performance and thus can be beneficial to improving the performance of the wind turbine blade. Also, the efficiency of the bionic blade in wind turbine blades tests increases by 12% or above (up to 44% compared to that of the standard blade. The reason lies in the bigger pressure difference between the upper and lower surface which can provide stronger lift.

Enhanced efficiency steam turbine blading - for cleaner coal plant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fowler, A.; Bell, D.; Cao, C.; Fowler, R.; Oliver, P.; Greenough, C.; Timmis, P. [ALSTOM Power, Rugby (United Kingdom)

2005-03-01

The aim of this project was to increase the efficiency of the short height stages typically found in high pressure steam turbine cylinders. For coal fired power plant, this will directly lead to a reduction in the amount of fuel required to produce electrical power, resulting in lower power station emissions. The continual drive towards higher cycle efficiencies demands increased inlet steam temperatures and pressures, which necessarily leads to shorter blade heights. Further advances in blading for short height stages are required in order to maximise the benefit. To achieve this, an optimisation of existing 3 dimensional designs was carried out and a new 3 dimensional fixed blade for use in the early stages of the high pressure turbine was developed. 28 figs., 5 tabs.

A study for soundness of turbine blade root using ultrasonic and phased array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gil, Doo Song; Park, Sang Ki; Cho, Yong Sang; Lee, Sang Gug; Huh, Kuang Bum

2003-01-01

Power plant is consisted of many component parts for the generation of the electricity, and occasionally, turbine equipment may be caused in break-down because of the damage of the blade root. Phased array ultrasonic testing system has become available for practical application in complicated geometry such as turbine blade root, tenon, disc in power industry. This research describes the characteristics of phased array ultrasonic testing signal for various type of blade roots in thermal Power Plant turbines. This application of Phased array ultrasonic testing system has been promoted mainly to save inspection time and labor cost of turbine inspection. The characteristic of phased array ultrasonic testing signal for power plant component in very simple to understand but to difficult for perform the inspection. This paper is focused on the safety of the turbine equipment by the ultrasonic measurement and phased array analysis. As a result of the test through ultrasonic and phased array method, we have concluded that the main damage in these turbine blade root parts could be generated by the concentrated stress and centrifugal force.

Active vibration-based SHM system: demonstration on an operating Vestas V27 wind turbine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tcherniak, Dmitri; Mølgaard, Lasse Lohilahti

2016-01-01

with the system and a 3.5 month monitoring campaign was conducted while the turbine was operating normally. During the campaign, a defect – a trailing edge opening – was artificially introduced into the blade and its size was gradually increased from the original 15 cm to 45 cm. Using an unsupervised learning......This study presents a system that is able to detect defects like cracks, leading/trailing edge opening or delamination of at least 15 cm size, remotely, without stopping the wind turbine. The system is vibration-based: mechanical energy is artificially introduced by means of an electromechanical......-to-noise ratio. At the same time, the corresponding wavelength is short enough to deliver required damage detection resolution and long enough to be able to propagate the entire blade length. The paper demonstrates the system on a 225 kW Vesta s V27 wind turbine. One blade of the wind turbine was equipped...

Fish passage assessment of an advanced hydropower turbine and conventional turbine using blade-strike modeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deng, Z.; Carlson, T. J.; Dauble, D. D.; Ploskey, G. R. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)

2011-07-01

Hydropower is the largest renewable energy source in the world. However, in the Columbia and Snake River basins, several species of Pacific salmon and steelhead have been listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act due to significant declines of fish population. Dam operators and design engineers are thus faced with the task of making hydroelectric facilities more fish friendly through changes in hydro-turbine design and operation. Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County, Washington, applied for relicensing from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to replace the 10 turbines at Wanapum Dam with advanced hydropower turbines that were designed to increase power generation and improve fish passage conditions. We applied both deterministic and stochastic blade-strike models to compare fish passage performance of the newly installed advanced turbine to an existing turbine. Modeled probabilities were compared to the results of a large-scale live-fish survival study and a Sensor Fish study under the same operational parameters. Overall, injury rates predicted by the deterministic model were higher than experimental rates of injury, while those predicted by the stochastic model were in close agreement with experimental results. Fish orientation at the time of entry into the plane of the leading edges of the turbine runner blades was an important factor contributing to uncertainty in modeled results. The advanced design turbine had slightly higher modeled injury rates than the existing turbine design; however, no statistical evidence suggested significant differences in blade-strike injuries between the two turbines, thus the hypothesis that direct fish survival rate through the advanced hydropower turbine is equal to or higher than that for fish passing through the conventional turbine could not be rejected. (authors)

Fish Passage Assessment of an Advanced Hydropower Turbine and Conventional Turbine Using Blade-Strike Modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiqun Deng

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Hydropower is the largest renewable energy source in the world. However, in the Columbia and Snake River basins, several species of Pacific salmon and steelhead have been listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act due to significant declines of fish population. Dam operators and design engineers are thus faced with the task of making hydroelectric facilities more fish friendly through changes in hydro-turbine design and operation. Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County, Washington, applied for relicensing from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to replace the 10 turbines at Wanapum Dam with advanced hydropower turbines that were designed to increase power generation and improve fish passage conditions. We applied both deterministic and stochastic blade-strike models to compare fish passage performance of the newly installed advanced turbine to an existing turbine. Modeled probabilities were compared to the results of a large-scale live-fish survival study and a Sensor Fish study under the same operational parameters. Overall, injury rates predicted by the deterministic model were higher than experimental rates of injury, while those predicted by the stochastic model were in close agreement with experimental results. Fish orientation at the time of entry into the plane of the leading edges of the turbine runner blades was an important factor contributing to uncertainty in modeled results. The advanced design turbine had slightly higher modeled injury rates than the existing turbine design; however, no statistical evidence suggested significant differences in blade-strike injuries between the two turbines, thus the hypothesis that direct fish survival rate through the advanced hydropower turbine is equal to or higher than that for fish passing through the conventional turbine could not be rejected.

Large-area photogrammetry based testing of wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Poozesh, Peyman; Baqersad, Javad; Niezrecki, Christopher; Avitabile, Peter; Harvey, Eric; Yarala, Rahul

2017-03-01

An optically based sensing system that can measure the displacement and strain over essentially the entire area of a utility-scale blade leads to a measurement system that can significantly reduce the time and cost associated with traditional instrumentation. This paper evaluates the performance of conventional three dimensional digital image correlation (3D DIC) and three dimensional point tracking (3DPT) approaches over the surface of wind turbine blades and proposes a multi-camera measurement system using dynamic spatial data stitching. The potential advantages for the proposed approach include: (1) full-field measurement distributed over a very large area, (2) the elimination of time-consuming wiring and expensive sensors, and (3) the need for large-channel data acquisition systems. There are several challenges associated with extending the capability of a standard 3D DIC system to measure entire surface of utility scale blades to extract distributed strain, deflection, and modal parameters. This paper only tries to address some of the difficulties including: (1) assessing the accuracy of the 3D DIC system to measure full-field distributed strain and displacement over the large area, (2) understanding the geometrical constraints associated with a wind turbine testing facility (e.g. lighting, working distance, and speckle pattern size), (3) evaluating the performance of the dynamic stitching method to combine two different fields of view by extracting modal parameters from aligned point clouds, and (4) determining the feasibility of employing an output-only system identification to estimate modal parameters of a utility scale wind turbine blade from optically measured data. Within the current work, the results of an optical measurement (one stereo-vision system) performed on a large area over a 50-m utility-scale blade subjected to quasi-static and cyclic loading are presented. The blade certification and testing is typically performed using International

Stress analysis and life prediction of gas turbine blade

Science.gov (United States)

Hsiung, H. C.; Dunn, A. J.; Woodling, D. R.; Loh, D. L.

1988-01-01

A stress analysis procedure is presented for a redesign of the Space Shuttle Main Engine high pressure fuel turbopump turbine blades. The analysis consists of the one-dimensional scoping analysis to support the design layout and the follow-on three-dimensional finite element analysis to confirm the blade design at operating loading conditions. Blade life is evaluated based on high-cycle fatigue and low-cycle fatigue.

Effect of blade flutter and electrical loading on small wind turbine noise

Science.gov (United States)

The effect of blade flutter and electrical loading on the noise level of two different size wind turbines was investigated at the Conservation and Production Research Laboratory (CPRL) near Bushland, TX. Noise and performance data were collected on two blade designs tested on a wind turbine rated a...

Design of a fibrous composite preform for wind turbine rotor blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Jens Zangenberg; Brøndsted, Povl; Kofoed, M.

2014-01-01

The present work addresses the different factors and challenges one must cope with in the design process of a composite preform used for the load-carrying main laminate of a wind turbine rotor blade. The design process is split up into different key elements, each of which are presented...... and discussed separately. The key elements are all interconnected, which complicate the design process and involves an iterative procedure. The aim is to provide an overview of the process that governs the design of composite preforms for wind turbine blades. The survey can be used as an information source...... on composite preform manufacturing. Basic knowledge on wind turbine blade technology and composites is assumed. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved....

Fiber-Optic Defect and Damage Locator System for Wind Turbine Blades

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dr. Vahid Sotoudeh; Dr. Richard J. Black; Dr. Behzad Moslehi; Mr. Aleks Plavsic

2010-10-30

IFOS in collaboration with Auburn University demonstrated the feasibility of a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) integrated sensor system capable of providing real time in-situ defect detection, localization and quantification of damage. In addition, the system is capable of validating wind turbine blade structural models, using recent advances in non-contact, non-destructive dynamic testing of composite structures. This new generation method makes it possible to analyze wind turbine blades not only non-destructively, but also without physically contacting or implanting intrusive electrical elements and transducers into the structure. Phase I successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the technology with the construction of a 1.5 kHz sensor interrogator and preliminary instrumentation and testing of both composite material coupons and a wind turbine blade.

Dual-axis resonance testing of wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Scott; Musial, Walter; White, Darris

2014-01-07

An apparatus (100) for fatigue testing test articles (104) including wind turbine blades. The apparatus (100) includes a test stand (110) that rigidly supports an end (106) of the test article (104). An actuator assembly (120) is attached to the test article (104) and is adapted for substantially concurrently imparting first and second forcing functions in first and second directions on the test article (104), with the first and second directions being perpendicular to a longitudinal axis. A controller (130) transmits first and second sets of displacement signals (160, 164) to the actuator assembly (120) at two resonant frequencies of the test system (104). The displacement signals (160, 164) initiate the actuator assembly (120) to impart the forcing loads to concurrently oscillate the test article (104) in the first and second directions. With turbine blades, the blades (104) are resonant tested concurrently for fatigue in the flapwise and edgewise directions.

System design and optimization study of axial flow turbine applied in ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

between parameters of the turbine and flows, three different types of turbines with ... and the water are run through a multi-stage hydro-turbine for producing electricity. ... to optimize the runner blade shape of a tubular turbine. ..... Ranade V V, Perrard M, Le Sauze N, Xuereb C and Bertrand J 2001 Trailing vortices of Rushton ...

Recycled wind turbine blades as a feedstock for second generation composites.

Science.gov (United States)

Mamanpush, Seyed Hossein; Li, Hui; Englund, Karl; Tabatabaei, Azadeh Tavousi

2018-06-01

With an increase in renewable wind energy via turbines, an underlying problem of the turbine blade disposal is looming in many areas of the world. These wind turbine blades are predominately a mixture of glass fiber composites (GFCs) and wood and currently have not found an economically viable recycling pathway. This work investigates a series of second generation composites fabricated using recycled wind turbine material and a polyurethane adhesive. The recycled material was first comminuted via a hammer-mill through a range of varying screen sizes, resinated and compressed to a final thickness. The refined particle size, moisture content and resin content were assessed for their influence on the properties of recycled composites. Static bending, internal bond and water sorption properties were obtained for all composites panels. Overall improvement of mechanical properties correlated with increase in resin content, moisture content, and particle size. The current investigation demonstrates that it is feasible and promising to recycle the wind turbine blade to fabricate value-added high-performance composite. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experimental Investigation of Inter-Blade Vortices in a Model Francis Turbine

Science.gov (United States)

LIU, Demin; LIU, Xiaobing; ZHAO, Yongzhi

2017-07-01

The inter-blade vortex in a Francis turbine becomes one of the main hydraulic factors that are likely to cause blade erosion at deep part load operating conditions. However, the causes and the mechanism of inter-blade vortex are still under investigation according to present researches. Thus the causes of inter-blade vortex and the effect of different hydraulic parameters on the inter-blade vortex are investigated experimentally. The whole life cycle of the inter-blade vortex is observed by a high speed camera. The test results illustrate the whole life cycle of the inter-blade vortex from generation to separation and even to fading. It is observed that the inter-blade vortex becomes stronger with the decreasing of flow and head, which leads to pressure fluctuation. Meanwhile, the pressure fluctuations in the vane-less area and the draft tube section become stronger when inter-blade vortices exist in the blade channel. The turbine will be damaged if operating in the inter-blade vortex zone, so its operating range must be far away from that zone. This paper reveals the main cause of the inter-blade vortex which is the larger incidence angle between the inflow angle and the blade angle on the leading edge of the runner at deep part load operating conditions.

Damage Identification of Wind Turbine Blades Using Piezoelectric Transducers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seong-Won Choi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the experimental results of active-sensing structural health monitoring (SHM techniques, which utilize piezoelectric transducers as sensors and actuators, for determining the structural integrity of wind turbine blades. Specifically, Lamb wave propagations and frequency response functions at high frequency ranges are used to estimate the condition of wind turbine blades. For experiments, a 1 m section of a CX-100 blade is used. The goal of this study is to assess and compare the performance of each method in identifying incipient damage with a consideration given to field deployability. Overall, these methods yielded a sufficient damage detection capability to warrant further investigation. This paper also summarizes the SHM results of a full-scale fatigue test of a 9 m CX-100 blade using piezoelectric active sensors. This paper outlines considerations needed to design such SHM systems, experimental procedures and results, and additional issues that can be used as guidelines for future investigations.

Observations of dynamic stall on Darrieus wind turbine blades

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fujisawa, N.; Shibuya, S. [Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi 2, 950-2181 Niigata (Japan)

2001-02-01

Flow field around a Darrieus wind turbine blade in dynamic stall is studied by flow visualization and particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement in stationary and rotating frames of reference. The experiment is carried out using the small-scale Darrieus wind turbine in a water tunnel. The unsteady nature of the dynamic stall observed by the flow visualization is quantitatively reproduced in the instantaneous velocity distributions by PIV measurement, which describes the successive shedding of two pairs of stall vortices from the blade moving upstream. The mechanism of dynamic stall is due to the successive generation of separation on the inner surface of the blade followed by the formation of roll-up vortices from the outer surface. Although the qualitative nature of the dynamic stall is independent of the tip-speed ratios, the blade angle for stall appearance and the growth rate of the stall vortices are influenced by the change in tip-speed ratios.

Fatigue Life of Wind Turbine Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thoft-Christensen, Palle

2010-01-01

The present paper analyses the possibility of reducing the expected damage accumulation during tower passage by modifying the wind turbine tower design from a traditional mono-tower to a tripod. Due to a narrow stagnation zone the stress reversals and hence the damage accumulation in the blades...

Reduction of Environmental Impact Effect of Disposing Wind Turbine Blades

OpenAIRE

Rahnama, Behzad

2011-01-01

Wind power industry is expected to be one of the fastest growing renewable energy sources inthe world. The growth specially focuses on growing industries and markets, because ofeconomical condition for wind power development besides political decisions.According to growth of wind turbine industries, wind turbine blades are growing fast in both sizeand number. The problem that now arises is how to deal with the blades at the end of their lifecycle. This Master Thesis describes existing methods...

Development of a structure-dependent material model for complex, high-temperature environments and stresses. Example: turbine blades, turbine discs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schubert, F.

1988-01-01

For the optimum use of new high-temperature superalloys for turbine discs and blades, it is necessary to develop new design concepts which, on the one hand, permit a quantitative allocation of the structural characteristics to the deformation behaviour and damage mechanisms and, on the other hand, take into account the real course of stress. It is planned to use PM-Udinet 700 as material for turbine discs and IN 738 LC with supplementary tests of IN 100 for turbine blades. For turbine discs, a probabilistic model is developed, for turbine blades, cooled at the interior, first a deterministic model is developed and then a probabilistic model is prepared. The concept for the development of the models is dealt with in detail. The project started in April 1987, therefore only first investigation results can be reported. (orig.) [de

Antenna Gain Impact on UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Shuai; Franek, Ondrej; Byskov, Claus

2018-01-01

Antenna gain impact on UWB wind turbine blade deflection sensing is studied in this paper. Simulations are applied with a 4.5-meter blade tip. The antennas with high gain (HG) and low gain (LG) in free space are simulated inside a blade. It is interesting to find that tip antennas with HG and LG...

Advanced multistage turbine blade aerodynamics, performance, cooling, and heat transfer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fleeter, S.; Lawless, P.B. [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)

1995-10-01

The gas turbine has the potential for power production at the highest possible efficiency. The challenge is to ensure that gas turbines operate at the optimum efficiency so as to use the least fuel and produce minimum emissions. A key component to meeting this challenge is the turbine. Turbine performance, both aerodynamics and heat transfer, is one of the barrier advanced gas turbine development technologies. This is a result of the complex, highly three-dimensional and unsteady flow phenomena in the turbine. Improved turbine aerodynamic performance has been achieved with three-dimensional highly-loaded airfoil designs, accomplished utilizing Euler or Navier-Stokes Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes. These design codes consider steady flow through isolated blade rows. Thus they do not account for unsteady flow effects. However, unsteady flow effects have a significant impact on performance. Also, CFD codes predict the complete flow field. The experimental verification of these codes has traditionally been accomplished with point data - not corresponding plane field measurements. Thus, although advanced CFD predictions of the highly complex and three-dimensional turbine flow fields are available, corresponding data are not. To improve the design capability for high temperature turbines, a detailed understanding of the highly unsteady and three-dimensional flow through multi-stage turbines is necessary. Thus, unique data are required which quantify the unsteady three-dimensional flow through multi-stage turbine blade rows, including the effect of the film coolant flow. This requires experiments in appropriate research facilities in which complete flow field data, not only point measurements, are obtained and analyzed. Also, as design CFD codes do not account for unsteady flow effects, the next logical challenge and the current thrust in CFD code development is multiple-stage analyses that account for the interactions between neighboring blade rows.

Further dual purpose evolutionary optimization of small wind turbine blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clifton-Smith, M J; Wood, D H

2007-01-01

Much work has been done to maximise the power extraction of wind turbine blades. However, small wind turbines are also required to be self starting and whilst blades designed for maximum power extraction can be optimised analytically, these blades often have poor starting performance. The numeric method of Differential Evolution is used here to maximise for both power and starting performance. Standard blade element theory is used to calculate the power coefficient, and a modified blade element method for starting time. The chord and twist of each blade element make up the genes for evolution. Starting times can be improved by a factor of 20 with only a small reduction in power coefficient. With the introduction of the tip speed ratio as an additional gene, up to 10% improvement in power coefficient was achieved. A second study was done in another case where analytical optimisation is not possible; the inclusion of tip losses. The inclusion resulted in only a small increase in the optimum chord in the tip region which becomes less noticeable at lower tip speed ratios

A smart rotor configuration with linear quadratic control of adaptive trailing edge flaps for active load alleviation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergami, Leonardo; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

2015-01-01

The paper proposes a smart rotor configuration where adaptive trailing edge flaps (ATEFs) are employed for active alleviation of the aerodynamic loads on the blades of the NREL 5 MW reference turbine. The flaps extend for 20% of the blade length and are controlled by a linear quadratic (LQ....... The effects of active flap control are assessed with aeroelastic simulations of the turbine in normal operation conditions, as prescribed by the International Electrotechnical Commission standard. The turbine lifetime fatigue damage equivalent loads provide a convenient summary of the results achieved...

Design of a 21 m blade with Risø-A1 airfoils for active stall controlled wind turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fuglsang, Peter; Sangill, O.; Hansen, P.

2002-01-01

This is the final report, from the project, "Design of a Rotor/Airfoil Family for Active Stall-regulated Wind Turbines by Use of Multi-point Optimization". It describes the full scale testing of a 21 m wind turbine blade specially designed for active stallregulation. Design objectives were...... increased ratio of produced energy to turbine loads and more stable power control characteristics. Both were taken directly into account during the design of the blade using numerical optimization. The blade used theRisø-A1 airfoil family, which was specially designed for operation on wind turbine blades....... The new blade was designed to replace the LM 21.0P blade. A measurement campaign was carried out simultaneously on two identical adjacent wind turbines where onehad the new blades and the other had LM 21.0P blades. Power and loads including blade section moments for the new blades were measured to assess...

Structural damage identification in wind turbine blades using piezoelectric active sensing with ultrasonic validation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Claytor, Thomas N [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Ammerman, Curtt N [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Park, Gyu Hae [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Farinholt, Kevin M [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Farrar, Charles R [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Atterbury, Marie K [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2010-01-01

This paper gives a brief overview of a new project at LANL in structural damage identification for wind turbines. This project makes use of modeling capabilities and sensing technology to understand realistic blade loading on large turbine blades, with the goal of developing the technology needed to automatically detect early damage. Several structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques using piezoelectric active materials are being investigated for the development of wireless, low power sensors that interrogate sections of the wind turbine blade using Lamb wave propagation data, frequency response functions (FRFs), and time-series analysis methods. The modeling and sensor research will be compared with extensive experimental testing, including wind tunnel experiments, load and fatigue tests, and ultrasonic scans - on small- to mid-scale turbine blades. Furthermore, this study will investigate the effect of local damage on the global response of the blade by monitoring low-frequency response changes.

Determination of Wind Turbine Near-Wake Length Based on Stability Analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Jens Nørkær; Mikkelsen, Robert Flemming; Sarmast, Sasan

2014-01-01

A numerical study on the wake behind a wind turbine is carried out focusing on determining the length of the near-wake based on the instability onset of the trailing tip vortices shed from the turbine blades. The numerical model is based on large-eddy simulations (LES) of the Navier-Stokes equati......A numerical study on the wake behind a wind turbine is carried out focusing on determining the length of the near-wake based on the instability onset of the trailing tip vortices shed from the turbine blades. The numerical model is based on large-eddy simulations (LES) of the Navier...... of the study it is found that the amplification of specific waves (traveling structures) along the tip vortex spirals is responsible for triggering the instability leading to wake breakdown. The presence of unstable modes in the wake is related to the mutual inductance (vortex pairing) instability where...

Torsional Performance of Wind Turbine Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Branner, Kim; Berring, Peter; Berggreen, Christian

2007-01-01

The present work investigates how well different finite element modeling techniques can predict bending and torsion behavior of a wind turbine blade. Two shell models are investigated. One model has element offsets and the other has the elements at the mid-thickness surfaces of the model. The las...

Prediction of Fatigue Crack Growth in Gas Turbine Engine Blades Using Acoustic Emission.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhiheng; Yang, Guoan; Hu, Kun

2018-04-25

Fatigue failure is the main type of failure that occurs in gas turbine engine blades and an online monitoring method for detecting fatigue cracks in blades is urgently needed. Therefore, in this present study, we propose the use of acoustic emission (AE) monitoring for the online identification of the blade status. Experiments on fatigue crack propagation based on the AE monitoring of gas turbine engine blades and TC11 titanium alloy plates were conducted. The relationship between the cumulative AE hits and the fatigue crack length was established, before a method of using the AE parameters to determine the crack propagation stage was proposed. A method for predicting the degree of crack propagation and residual fatigue life based on the AE energy was obtained. The results provide a new method for the online monitoring of cracks in the gas turbine engine blade.

Small wind turbines with timber blades for developing countries: Materials choice, development, installation and experiences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mishnaevsky, Leon; Freere, Peter; Sinha, Rakesh

2011-01-01

The low cost wind turbines with timber blades represent a good solution for the decentralized energy production in off-grid regions of developing countries. This paper summarizes the results of investigations on the mechanical testing and choice of timber for wind blades, testing of different...... of the blades and turbines. It was further demonstrated that the low cost wind turbines with timber blades represent a promising and viable option for the decentralized energy production in developing countries, which also opens new areas for businesses....

Lightning Damage to Wind Turbine Blades From Wind Farms in the U.S

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Candela Garolera, Anna; Madsen, Søren Find; Nissim, Maya

2016-01-01

, laminate structure, and lightning protection systems. The statistics consist of the distribution of lightning damage along the blade and classify the damage by severity. In addition, the frequency of lightning damage to more than one blade of a wind turbine after a thunderstorm is assessed. The results......This paper presents statistical data about lightning damage on wind turbine blades reported at different wind farms in the U.S. The analysis is based on 304 cases of damage due to direct lightning attachment on the blade surface. This study includes a large variety of blades with different lengths...

Design and optimization for strength and integrity of tidal turbine rotor blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Pengfei; Veitch, Brian

2012-01-01

Tidal turbine rotor blade fractures and failures have resulted in substantial damage and hence cost of repair and recovery. The present work presents a rotor blade design and optimization method to address the blade structural strength design problem. The generic procedure is applicable to both turbine rotors and propellers. The optimization method seeks an optimum blade thickness distribution across the span with a prescribed constant safety factor for all the blade sections. This optimization procedure serves two purposes: while maintaining the required structural strength and integrity for an ultimate inflow speed, it aims to reduce the material to a minimum and to maintain power generation efficiency or improve the hydrodynamic efficiency. The value of the chosen minimum safety factor depends on the actual working conditions of the turbine in which the sectional peak loading and frequency are used: the harsher the environment, the larger the required safety factor. An engineering software tool with both hydrodynamic and structural capabilities was required to predict the instantaneous loading acting on all the blade sections, as well as the strength of a local blade section with a given blade geometry and chosen material. A time-domain, 3D unsteady panel method was then implemented based on a marine propeller software tool and used to perform the optimization. A 3-blade 20-m tidal turbine that was prototyped in parallel with the current work for the Bay of Fundy was used as an example for optimization. The optimum thickness distribution for a required safety factor at the ultimate possible inflow speed resulted in 37.6% saving in blade material. The blade thickness and distribution as a function of a maximum inflow speed of 6 m/s is also presented. The blade material used in the example was taken as nickel–aluminium–bronze (NAB) but the procedure was developed to be applicable to propeller or turbine blades of basically any material. -- Highlights: ► A

UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing for Wind Energy Cost Reduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shuai; Jensen, Tobias Lindstrøm; Franek, Ondrej; Eggers, Patrick C F; Olesen, Kim; Byskov, Claus; Pedersen, Gert Frølund

2015-08-12

A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1-5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists of two UWB antennas at the blade root and one UWB antenna at the blade tip. The detailed topology and challenges of this deflection sensing system are addressed. Due to the complexity of the problem, this paper will first realize the on-blade UWB radio link in the simplest case, where the tip antenna is situated outside (and on the surface of) a blade tip. To investigate this case, full-blade time-domain measurements are designed and conducted under different deflections. The detailed measurement setups and results are provided. If the root and tip antenna locations are properly selected, the first pulse is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics on this application are listed finally.

Studi Eksperimental Perancangan Turbin Air Terapung Tipe Helical Blade

OpenAIRE

Muhammad, Andi Haris; Had, Abdul Latief; Terti, Wayan

2016-01-01

This research describes the design of floating helical water turbine for electric power generation in free flow and low head water operation. The design involves the use of strips attached to the blades of turbine. The efficiency of turbine (??) investigation was carried out using empirical formulas. The rotation of turbine (n) of the calculation with variation strips angles (450, 900, and 1350) were obtained through captive model tests carried out in towing tank. The result indicated the eff...

Measurements of UWB Pulse Propagation Along a Wind Turbine Blade at 1 to 20 GHz

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hejselbæk, Johannes; Syrytsin, Igor A.; Eggers, Patrick Claus F.

2018-01-01

This paper describes propagation measurements of an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) pulse along a full-scale wind turbine blade. The aim is to use the UWB channel characteristics to determine the deflection of the wind turbine blade under different wind loads. The frequency response is measured from 1 to 20...... the reflection originates a ray-tracing study incorporating a model of the curvature of the blade have been conducted. This showed the area causing the reflections depended highly on the placement of the antenna on the wind turbine blade....

Application of Computer Simulation to Identify Erosion Resistance of Materials of Wet-steam Turbine Blades

Science.gov (United States)

Korostelyov, D. A.; Dergachyov, K. V.

2017-10-01

A problem of identifying the efficiency of using materials, coatings, linings and solderings of wet-steam turbine rotor blades by means of computer simulation is considered. Numerical experiments to define erosion resistance of materials of wet-steam turbine blades are described. Kinetic curves for erosion area and weight of the worn rotor blade material of turbines K-300-240 LMP and atomic icebreaker “Lenin” have been defined. The conclusion about the effectiveness of using different erosion-resistant materials and protection configuration of rotor blades is also made.

Individual pitch control of NREL 5MW wind turbine blade for load reduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

La, Yo Han; Nam, Yoon Su; Hoon, Son Jae

2012-01-01

As the size of a wind turbine increases, the rotor diameter increases. Rotor blades experience mechanical loads caused by the wind shear and the tower shadow effect. These mechanical loads reduce the life of the wind turbine. Therefore, with increasing size of the wind turbine, wind turbine control system design for the mitigation of mechanical loads is important. In this study, Individual Pitch Control in introduced for reducing the mechanical loads of rotor blades, and a simulation for IPC performance verification is discussed

Numerical modeling of wind turbine aerodynamic noise in the time domain.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Seunghoon; Lee, Seungmin; Lee, Soogab

2013-02-01

Aerodynamic noise from a wind turbine is numerically modeled in the time domain. An analytic trailing edge noise model is used to determine the unsteady pressure on the blade surface. The far-field noise due to the unsteady pressure is calculated using the acoustic analogy theory. By using a strip theory approach, the two-dimensional noise model is applied to rotating wind turbine blades. The numerical results indicate that, although the operating and atmospheric conditions are identical, the acoustical characteristics of wind turbine noise can be quite different with respect to the distance and direction from the wind turbine.

The Effect of Shell Thickness, Insulation and Casting Temperature on Defects Formation During Investment Casting of Ni-base Turbine Blades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raza M.

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Turbine blades have complex geometries with free form surface. Blades have different thickness at the trailing and leading edges as well as sharp bends at the chord-tip shroud junction and sharp fins at the tip shroud. In investment casting of blades, shrinkage at the tip-shroud and cord junction is a common casting problem. Because of high temperature applications, grain structure is also critical in these castings in order to avoid creep. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of different process parameters, such as, shell thickness, insulation and casting temperature on shrinkage porosity and grain size. The test geometry used in this study was a thin-walled air-foil structure which is representative of a typical hot-gas-path rotating turbine component. It was observed that, in thin sections, increased shell thickness helps to increase the feeding distance and thus avoid interdendritic shrinkage. It was also observed that grain size is not significantly affected by shell thickness in thin sections. Slower cooling rate due to the added insulation and steeper thermal gradient at metal mold interface induced by the thicker shell not only helps to avoid shrinkage porosity but also increases fill-ability in thinner sections.

Test Rig for Evaluating Active Turbine Blade Tip Clearance Control Concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Lattime, Scott B.; Steinetz, Bruce M.; Robbie, Malcolm G.

2003-01-01

Improved blade tip sealing in the high pressure compressor and high pressure turbine can provide dramatic improvements in specific fuel consumption, time-on-wing, compressor stall margin and engine efficiency as well as increased payload and mission range capabilities of both military and commercial gas turbine engines. The preliminary design of a mechanically actuated active clearance control (ACC) system for turbine blade tip clearance management is presented along with the design of a bench top test rig in which the system is to be evaluated. The ACC system utilizes mechanically actuated seal carrier segments and clearance measurement feedback to provide fast and precise active clearance control throughout engine operation. The purpose of this active clearance control system is to improve upon current case cooling methods. These systems have relatively slow response and do not use clearance measurement, thereby forcing cold build clearances to set the minimum clearances at extreme operating conditions (e.g., takeoff, re-burst) and not allowing cruise clearances to be minimized due to the possibility of throttle transients (e.g., step change in altitude). The active turbine blade tip clearance control system design presented herein will be evaluated to ensure that proper response and positional accuracy is achievable under simulated high-pressure turbine conditions. The test rig will simulate proper seal carrier pressure and temperature loading as well as the magnitudes and rates of blade tip clearance changes of an actual gas turbine engine. The results of these evaluations will be presented in future works.

Definition of a 5MW/61.5m wind turbine blade reference model.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Resor, Brian Ray

2013-04-01

A basic structural concept of the blade design that is associated with the frequently utilized %E2%80%9CNREL offshore 5-MW baseline wind turbine%E2%80%9D is needed for studies involving blade structural design and blade structural design tools. The blade structural design documented in this report represents a concept that meets basic design criteria set forth by IEC standards for the onshore turbine. The design documented in this report is not a fully vetted blade design which is ready for manufacture. The intent of the structural concept described by this report is to provide a good starting point for more detailed and targeted investigations such as blade design optimization, blade design tool verification, blade materials and structures investigations, and blade design standards evaluation. This report documents the information used to create the current model as well as the analyses used to verify that the blade structural performance meets reasonable blade design criteria.

A Combined High and Low Cycle Fatigue Model for Life Prediction of Turbine Blades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shun-Peng Zhu

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Combined high and low cycle fatigue (CCF generally induces the failure of aircraft gas turbine attachments. Based on the aero-engine load spectrum, accurate assessment of fatigue damage due to the interaction of high cycle fatigue (HCF resulting from high frequency vibrations and low cycle fatigue (LCF from ground-air-ground engine cycles is of critical importance for ensuring structural integrity of engine components, like turbine blades. In this paper, the influence of combined damage accumulation on the expected CCF life are investigated for turbine blades. The CCF behavior of a turbine blade is usually studied by testing with four load-controlled parameters, including high cycle stress amplitude and frequency, and low cycle stress amplitude and frequency. According to this, a new damage accumulation model is proposed based on Miner’s rule to consider the coupled damage due to HCF-LCF interaction by introducing the four load parameters. Five experimental datasets of turbine blade alloys and turbine blades were introduced for model validation and comparison between the proposed Miner, Manson-Halford, and Trufyakov-Kovalchuk models. Results show that the proposed model provides more accurate predictions than others with lower mean and standard deviation values of model prediction errors.

Acoustic noise production of wind turbines in practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van der Borg, N.J.C.M.; Vink, P.W.

1994-10-01

Within the framework of national and European projects ECN has conducted various acoustic noise measurements on wind turbines. The measurements can be divided into the following two categories: (1) measurements of the total noise emitted by the turbine ('standard measurements') and (2) measurement of the noise emitted by different blades on the same rotor ('research measurements'). The applied procedures for the 'standard measurements' are given in IEA and IEC documents on wind turbine noise measurements. The applied procedures for the 'research measurements' are given in this paper. General results obtained with both kind of measurements are presented. The 'research measurements' have been performed on a limited number of turbines: the UNIWEX turbine in Germany and a commercial turbine in The Netherlands. The turbines were equipped with differently shaped blade tips or trailing edges on the same rotor. The experiments showed no large differences in the sound production of the different blades on the same rotor. The detailed information on the commercial wind turbine in The Netherlands is confidential. 9 figs., 2 tabs., 3 refs

Pose estimation for mobile robots working on turbine blade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ma, X.D.; Chen, Q.; Liu, J.J.; Sun, Z.G.; Zhang, W.Z. [Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

2009-03-11

This paper discussed a features point detection and matching task technique for mobile robots used in wind turbine blade applications. The vision-based scheme used visual information from the robot's surrounding environment to match successive image frames. An improved pose estimation algorithm based on a scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) was developed to consider the characteristics of local images of turbine blades, pose estimation problems, and conditions. The method included a pre-subsampling technique for reducing computation and bidirectional matching for improving precision. A random sample consensus (RANSAC) method was used to estimate the robot's pose. Pose estimation conditions included a wide pose range; the distance between neighbouring blades; and mechanical, electromagnetic, and optical disturbances. An experimental platform was used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm. 20 refs., 6 figs.

Achieving better cooling of turbine blades using numerical simulation methods

Science.gov (United States)

Inozemtsev, A. A.; Tikhonov, A. S.; Sendyurev, C. I.; Samokhvalov, N. Yu.

2013-02-01

A new design of the first-stage nozzle vane for the turbine of a prospective gas-turbine engine is considered. The blade's thermal state is numerically simulated in conjugate statement using the ANSYS CFX 13.0 software package. Critical locations in the blade design are determined from the distribution of heat fluxes, and measures aimed at achieving more efficient cooling are analyzed. Essentially lower (by 50-100°C) maximal temperature of metal has been achieved owing to the results of the performed work.

Nonlinear modeling of tuned liquid dampers (TLDs) in rotating wind turbine blades for damping edgewise vibrations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Zili; Nielsen, Søren R. K.; Basu, Biswajit

2015-01-01

Tuned liquid dampers (TLDs) utilize the sloshing motion of the fluid to suppress structural vibrations and become a natural candidate for damping vibrations in rotating wind turbine blades. The centrifugal acceleration at the tip of a wind turbine blade can reach a magnitude of 7–8g. This facilit......Tuned liquid dampers (TLDs) utilize the sloshing motion of the fluid to suppress structural vibrations and become a natural candidate for damping vibrations in rotating wind turbine blades. The centrifugal acceleration at the tip of a wind turbine blade can reach a magnitude of 7–8g...... free-surface elevation equally well, the one-mode model can still be utilized for the design of TLD. Parametric optimization of the TLD is carried out based on the one-mode model, and the optimized damper effectively improves the dynamic response of wind turbine blades....

Multi-objective shape optimization of runner blade for Kaplan turbine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Power machines LMZ, Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation))" data-affiliation=" (OJSC Power machines LMZ, Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation))" >Semenova, A; Power machines LMZ, Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation))" data-affiliation=" (OJSC Power machines LMZ, Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation))" >Pylev, I; Chirkov, D; Lyutov, A; Chemy, S; Skorospelov, V

2014-01-01

Automatic runner shape optimization based on extensive CFD analysis proved to be a useful design tool in hydraulic turbomachinery. Previously the authors developed an efficient method for Francis runner optimization. It was successfully applied to the design of several runners with different specific speeds. In present work this method is extended to the task of a Kaplan runner optimization. Despite of relatively simpler blade shape, Kaplan turbines have several features, complicating the optimization problem. First, Kaplan turbines normally operate in a wide range of discharges, thus CFD analysis of each variant of the runner should be carried out for several operation points. Next, due to a high specific speed, draft tube losses have a great impact on the overall turbine efficiency, and thus should be accurately evaluated. Then, the flow in blade tip and hub clearances significantly affects the velocity profile behind the runner and draft tube behavior. All these features are accounted in the present optimization technique. Parameterization of runner blade surface using 24 geometrical parameters is described in details. For each variant of runner geometry steady state three-dimensional turbulent flow computations are carried out in the domain, including wicket gate, runner, draft tube, blade tip and hub clearances. The objectives are maximization of efficiency in best efficiency and high discharge operation points, with simultaneous minimization of cavitation area on the suction side of the blade. Multiobjective genetic algorithm is used for the solution of optimization problem, requiring the analysis of several thousands of runner variants. The method is applied to optimization of runner shape for several Kaplan turbines with different heads

Multi-objective shape optimization of runner blade for Kaplan turbine

Science.gov (United States)

Semenova, A.; Chirkov, D.; Lyutov, A.; Chemy, S.; Skorospelov, V.; Pylev, I.

2014-03-01

Automatic runner shape optimization based on extensive CFD analysis proved to be a useful design tool in hydraulic turbomachinery. Previously the authors developed an efficient method for Francis runner optimization. It was successfully applied to the design of several runners with different specific speeds. In present work this method is extended to the task of a Kaplan runner optimization. Despite of relatively simpler blade shape, Kaplan turbines have several features, complicating the optimization problem. First, Kaplan turbines normally operate in a wide range of discharges, thus CFD analysis of each variant of the runner should be carried out for several operation points. Next, due to a high specific speed, draft tube losses have a great impact on the overall turbine efficiency, and thus should be accurately evaluated. Then, the flow in blade tip and hub clearances significantly affects the velocity profile behind the runner and draft tube behavior. All these features are accounted in the present optimization technique. Parameterization of runner blade surface using 24 geometrical parameters is described in details. For each variant of runner geometry steady state three-dimensional turbulent flow computations are carried out in the domain, including wicket gate, runner, draft tube, blade tip and hub clearances. The objectives are maximization of efficiency in best efficiency and high discharge operation points, with simultaneous minimization of cavitation area on the suction side of the blade. Multiobjective genetic algorithm is used for the solution of optimization problem, requiring the analysis of several thousands of runner variants. The method is applied to optimization of runner shape for several Kaplan turbines with different heads.

Wind turbine blades for harnessing energy from Malaysian low speed wind - manufacturing technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abas Abd Wahab; Azmin Shakrine

2000-01-01

Blades for wind turbine to harness energy in the Malaysia low speed winds have been designed. During wind tunnel testing, wind turbine model using this type of blades has cut in speed of 1.5 m/s and turned at 450 rpm at 4 m/s wind. The blades, due to their critical dimensions of 1.2 m length, 5 cm thickness, tapered and 15 degree twist, were difficult to produce especially in large number. Several production methods have been studied but for economical mass production, fibreglass blades using CNC cutting mould were chosen. The blade and mould designs and the manufacturing processes are briefly outlined in this paper. (Author)

100-kW hingeless metal wind turbine blade design, analysis and fabrication

Science.gov (United States)

Donham, R. E.; Schmidt, J.; Linscott, B. S.

1975-01-01

The design, fabrication and analysis of aluminum wind turbine rotor blades is discussed. The blades are designed to meet criteria established for a 100-kilowatt wind turbine generator operating between 8 and 60-mile-per-hour speeds at 40 revolutions per minute. The design wind speed is 18 miles per hour. Two rotor blades are used on a new facility which includes a hingeless hub and its shaft, gearbox, generator and tower. Experience shows that, for stopped rotors, safe wind speeds are strongly dependent on blade torsional and bending rigidities which the basic D spar structural blade design provides. The 0.25-inch-thick nose skin is brake/bump formed to provide the basic 'D' spar structure for the tapered, twisted blades. Adequate margins for flutter and divergence are predicted from the use of existing, correlated stopped rotor and helicopter rotor analysis programs.

Contactless Diagnostics of Turbine Blade Vibration and Damage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prochazka, Pavel; Vanek, Frantisek

2011-01-01

The study deals with the contactless diagnostic method used for the identification of steam turbine blade strain, vibration and damage. The tip-timing method based on the evaluation of time differences of blade passages in different rotor revolutions has been modified and improved to provide more precise and reliable results. A new approach to the analysis of the amplitude and time differences of impulse signals generated by a blade passage has been applied. Amplitudes and frequencies of vibrations and static position of blades ascertained by the diagnostic process are used to establish the state of blade damage. A contactless diagnostic system VDS-UT based on magneto-resistive sensors was developed in the Institute of Thermomechanics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The system provides on-line monitoring of vibration amplitudes and frequencies of all blades and notification of possible blade damage. Evaluation of the axial and circumferential components of the deflections by measuring the amplitude of blade impulse signals results in an overall improvement of the method. Using magneto-resistive sensors, blade elongation and untwisting can be determined as well.

Damage Detection Based on Static Strain Responses Using FBG in a Wind Turbine Blade.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Shaohua; Yang, Zhibo; Chen, Xuefeng; Xie, Yong

2015-08-14

The damage detection of a wind turbine blade enables better operation of the turbines, and provides an early alert to the destroyed events of the blade in order to avoid catastrophic losses. A new non-baseline damage detection method based on the Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in a wind turbine blade is developed in this paper. Firstly, the Chi-square distribution is proven to be an effective damage-sensitive feature which is adopted as the individual information source for the local decision. In order to obtain the global and optimal decision for the damage detection, the feature information fusion (FIF) method is proposed to fuse and optimize information in above individual information sources, and the damage is detected accurately through of the global decision. Then a 13.2 m wind turbine blade with the distributed strain sensor system is adopted to describe the feasibility of the proposed method, and the strain energy method (SEM) is used to describe the advantage of the proposed method. Finally results show that the proposed method can deliver encouraging results of the damage detection in the wind turbine blade.

Numerical Investigation of the Tip Vortex of a Straight-Bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with Double-Blades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanzhao Yang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Wind velocity distribution and the vortex around the wind turbine present a significant challenge in the development of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs. This paper is intended to investigate influence of tip vortex on wind turbine wake by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD simulations. In this study, the number of blades is two and the airfoil is a NACA0021 with chord length of c = 0.265 m. To capture the tip vortex characteristics, the velocity fields are investigated by the Q-criterion iso-surface (Q = 100 with shear-stress transport (SST k-ω turbulence model at different tip speed ratios (TSRs. Then, mean velocity, velocity deficit and torque coefficient acting on the blade in the different spanwise positions are compared. The wind velocities obtained by CFD simulations are also compared with the experimental data from wind tunnel experiments. As a result, we can state that the wind velocity curves calculated by CFD simulations are consistent with Laser Doppler Velocity (LDV measurements. The distribution of the vortex structure along the spanwise direction is more complex at a lower TSR and the tip vortex has a longer dissipation distance at a high TSR. In addition, the mean wind velocity shows a large value near the blade tip and a small value near the blade due to the vortex effect.

Blade Bearing Friction Estimation of Operating Wind Turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Perisic, Nevena; Pedersen, Bo Juul; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

2012-01-01

Blade root bearing on a wind turbine (WTG) enables pitching of blades for power control and rotor braking and is a WTG critical component. As the size of modern WTGs is constantly increasing, this leads to relatively less rigid bearings, more sensitive to deformations, thus WTG operational...... reliability can be increased by continuous monitoring of blade bearing. High blade bearing friction is undesirable, as it may be associated with excessive heating of the surfaces, damage and/or inefficient operation. Thus, continuous observation of bearing friction level is crucial for blade bearing health...... monitoring systems. A novel algorithm for online monitoring of bearing friction level is developed combining physical knowledge about pitch system dynamics with state estimator, i.e. observer theory and signal processing assuming realistic sensor availability. Results show estimation of bearing friction...

Probabilistic characterization of wind turbine blades via aeroelasticity and spinning finite element formulation

Science.gov (United States)

Velazquez, Antonio; Swartz, R. Andrew

2012-04-01

Wind energy is an increasingly important component of this nation's renewable energy portfolio, however safe and economical wind turbine operation is a critical need to ensure continued adoption. Safe operation of wind turbine structures requires not only information regarding their condition, but their operational environment. Given the difficulty inherent in SHM processes for wind turbines (damage detection, location, and characterization), some uncertainty in conditional assessment is expected. Furthermore, given the stochastic nature of the loading on turbine structures, a probabilistic framework is appropriate to characterize their risk of failure at a given time. Such information will be invaluable to turbine controllers, allowing them to operate the structures within acceptable risk profiles. This study explores the characterization of the turbine loading and response envelopes for critical failure modes of the turbine blade structures. A framework is presented to develop an analytical estimation of the loading environment (including loading effects) based on the dynamic behavior of the blades. This is influenced by behaviors including along and across-wind aero-elastic effects, wind shear gradient, tower shadow effects, and centrifugal stiffening effects. The proposed solution includes methods that are based on modal decomposition of the blades and require frequent updates to the estimated modal properties to account for the time-varying nature of the turbine and its environment. The estimated demand statistics are compared to a code-based resistance curve to determine a probabilistic estimate of the risk of blade failure given the loading environment.

Aeroelastic multidisciplinary design optimization of a swept wind turbine blade

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pavese, Christian; Tibaldi, Carlo; Zahle, Frederik

2017-01-01

Mitigating loads on a wind turbine rotor can reduce the cost of energy. Sweeping blades produces a structural coupling between flapwise bending and torsion, which can be used for load alleviation purposes. A multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) problem is formulated including the blade sweep...

Computational investigation of flow control by means of tubercles on Darrieus wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Sevinç, K.; Özdamar, G.; Şentürk, U.; Özdamar, A.

2015-09-01

This work presents the current status of the computational study of the boundary layer control of a vertical axis wind turbine blade by modifying the blade geometry for use in wind energy conversion. The control method is a passive method which comprises the implementation of the tubercle geometry of a humpback whale flipper onto the leading edge of the blades. The baseline design is an H-type, three-bladed Darrieus turbine with a NACA 0015 cross-section. Finite-volume based software ANSYS Fluent was used in the simulations. Using the optimum control parameters for a NACA 634-021 profile given by Johari et al. (2006), turbine blades were modified. Three dimensional, unsteady, turbulent simulations for the blade were conducted to look for a possible improvement on the performance. The flow structure on the blades was investigated and flow phenomena such as separation and stall were examined to understand their impact on the overall performance. For a tip speed ratio of 2.12, good agreement was obtained in the validation of the baseline model with a relative error in time- averaged power coefficient of 1.05%. Modified turbine simulations with a less expensive but less accurate turbulence model yielded a decrease in power coefficient. Results are shown comparatively.

Concepts for Reusing Composite Materials from Decommissioned Wind Turbine Blades in Affordable Housing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lawrence C. Bank

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The very rapid growth in wind energy technology in the last 15 years has led to a rapid growth in the amount of non-biodegradable, thermosetting fiber reinforced polymer (FRP composite materials used in wind turbine blades. This paper discusses conceptual architectural and structural options for recycling these blades by reusing parts of wind turbine blades in new or retrofitted housing projects. It focuses on large-sized FRP pieces that can be salvaged from the turbine blades and can potentially be useful in infrastructure projects where harsh environmental conditions (water and high humidity exist. Since reuse design should be for specific regional locations and architectural characteristics the designs presented in this paper are for the coastal regions of the Yucatan province in Mexico on the Gulf of Mexico where low-quality masonry block informal housing is vulnerable to severe hurricanes and flooding. To demonstrate the concept a prototype 100 m long wind blade model developed by Sandia National Laboratories is used to show how a wind blade can be broken down into parts, thus making it possible to envision architectural applications for the different wind blade segments for housing applications.

Stochastic models for strength of wind turbine blades using tests

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Toft, H.S.; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

2008-01-01

The structural cost of wind turbine blades is dependent on the values of the partial safety factors which reflect the uncertainties in the design values, including statistical uncertainty from a limited number of tests. This paper presents a probabilistic model for ultimate and fatigue strength...... of wind turbine blades especially considering the influence of prior knowledge and test results and how partial safety factors can be updated when additional full-scale tests are performed. This updating is performed by adopting a probabilistic design basis based on Bayesian statistical methods....

Potential Coir Fibre Composite for Small Wind Turbine Blade Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bakri Bakri

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Natural fibers have been developed as reinforcement of composite to shift synthetic fibers. One of potential natural fibers developed is coir fiber. This paper aims to describe potential coir fiber as reinforcement of composite for small wind turbine blade application. The research shows that mechanical properties ( tensile, impact, shear, flexural and compression strengths of coir fiber composite have really similar to wood properties for small wind turbine blade material, but inferior to glass fiber composite properties. The effect of weathering was also evaluated to coir fiber composite in this paper.

Niobium-Matrix-Composite High-Temperature Turbine Blades

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Richard B.; Tuffias, Robert H.; La Ferla, Raffaele; Heng, Sangvavann; Harding, John T.

1995-01-01

High-temperture composite-material turbine blades comprising mainly niobium matrices reinforced with refractory-material fibers being developed. Of refractory fibrous materials investigated, FP-AL(2)0(3), tungsten, and polymer-based SiC fibers most promising. Blade of this type hollow and formed in nearly net shape by wrapping mesh of reinforcing refractory fibers around molybdenum mandrel, then using thermal-gradient chemical-vapor infiltration (CVI) to fill interstices with niobium. CVI process controllable and repeatable, and kinetics of both deposition and infiltration well understood.

Multi-piece wind turbine rotor blades and wind turbines incorporating same

Science.gov (United States)

Moroz,; Mieczyslaw, Emilian [San Diego, CA

2008-06-03

A multisection blade for a wind turbine includes a hub extender having a pitch bearing at one end, a skirt or fairing having a hole therethrough and configured to mount over the hub extender, and an outboard section configured to couple to the pitch bearing.

Measurement of Unsteady Aerodynamics Load on the Blade of Field Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

Science.gov (United States)

Kamada, Yasunari; Maeda, Takao; Naito, Keita; Ouchi, Yuu; Kozawa, Masayoshi

This paper describes an experimental field study of the rotor aerodynamics of wind turbines. The test wind turbine is a horizontal axis wind turbine, or: HAWT with a diameter of 10m. The pressure distributions on the rotating blade are measured with multi point pressure transducers. Sectional aerodynamic forces are analyzed from pressure distribution. Blade root moments are measured simultaneously by a pair of strain gauges. The inflow wind is measured by a three component sonic anemometer, the local inflow of the blade section are measured by a pair of 7 hole Pitot tubes. The relation between the aerodynamic moments on the blade root from pressure distribution and the mechanical moment from strain gauges is discussed. The aerodynamic moments are estimated from the sectional aerodynamic forces and show oscillation caused by local wind speed and direction change. The mechanical moment shows similar oscillation to the aerodynamic excepting the short period oscillation of the blade first mode frequency. The fluctuation of the sectional aerodynamic force triggers resonant blade oscillations. Where stall is present along the blade section, the blade's first mode frequency is dominant. Without stall, the rotating frequency is dominant in the blade root moment.

Torsional Stiffness Effects on the Dynamic Stability of a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Min-Soo Jeong

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Aeroelastic instability problems have become an increasingly important issue due to the increased use of larger horizontal axis wind turbines. To maintain these large structures in a stable manner, the blade design process should include studies on the dynamic stability of the wind turbine blade. Therefore, fluid-structure interaction analyses of the large-scaled wind turbine blade were performed with a focus on dynamic stability in this study. A finite element method based on the large deflection beam theory is used for structural analysis considering the geometric nonlinearities. For the stability analysis, a proposed aerodynamic approach based on Greenberg’s extension of Theodorsen’s strip theory and blade element momentum method were employed in conjunction with a structural model. The present methods proved to be valid for estimations of the aerodynamic responses and blade behavior compared with numerical results obtained in the previous studies. Additionally, torsional stiffness effects on the dynamic stability of the wind turbine blade were investigated. It is demonstrated that the damping is considerably influenced by variations of the torsional stiffness. Also, in normal operating conditions, the destabilizing phenomena were observed to occur with low torsional stiffness.

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blade Design Methodologies for Efficiency Enhancement—A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shafiqur Rehman

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Among renewable sources of energy, wind is the most widely used resource due to its commercial acceptance, low cost and ease of operation and maintenance, relatively much less time for its realization from concept till operation, creation of new jobs, and least adverse effect on the environment. The fast technological development in the wind industry and availability of multi megawatt sized horizontal axis wind turbines has further led the promotion of wind power utilization globally. It is a well-known fact that the wind speed increases with height and hence the energy output. However, one cannot go above a certain height due to structural and other issues. Hence other attempts need to be made to increase the efficiency of the wind turbines, maintaining the hub heights to acceptable and controllable limits. The efficiency of the wind turbines or the energy output can be increased by reducing the cut-in-speed and/or the rated-speed by modifying and redesigning the blades. The problem is tackled by identifying the optimization parameters such as annual energy yield, power coefficient, energy cost, blade mass, and blade design constraints such as physical, geometric, and aerodynamic. The present paper provides an overview of the commonly used models, techniques, tools and experimental approaches applied to increase the efficiency of the wind turbines. In the present review work, particular emphasis is made on approaches used to design wind turbine blades both experimental and numerical, methodologies used to study the performance of wind turbines both experimentally and analytically, active and passive techniques used to enhance the power output from wind turbines, reduction in cut-in-speed for improved wind turbine performance, and lastly the research and development work related to new and efficient materials for the wind turbines.

Study on Unified Chaotic System-Based Wind Turbine Blade Fault Diagnostic System

Science.gov (United States)

Kuo, Ying-Che; Hsieh, Chin-Tsung; Yau, Her-Terng; Li, Yu-Chung

At present, vibration signals are processed and analyzed mostly in the frequency domain. The spectrum clearly shows the signal structure and the specific characteristic frequency band is analyzed, but the number of calculations required is huge, resulting in delays. Therefore, this study uses the characteristics of a nonlinear system to load the complete vibration signal to the unified chaotic system, applying the dynamic error to analyze the wind turbine vibration signal, and adopting extenics theory for artificial intelligent fault diagnosis of the analysis signal. Hence, a fault diagnostor has been developed for wind turbine rotating blades. This study simulates three wind turbine blade states, namely stress rupture, screw loosening and blade loss, and validates the methods. The experimental results prove that the unified chaotic system used in this paper has a significant effect on vibration signal analysis. Thus, the operating conditions of wind turbines can be quickly known from this fault diagnostic system, and the maintenance schedule can be arranged before the faults worsen, making the management and implementation of wind turbines smoother, so as to reduce many unnecessary costs.

Effect of Geometric Uncertainties on the Aerodynamic Characteristic of Offshore Wind Turbine Blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ernst, Benedikt; Schmitt, Henning; Seume, Jörg R

2014-01-01

Offshore wind turbines operate in a complex unsteady flow environment which causes unsteady aerodynamic loads. The unsteady flow environment is characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. In addition, geometry variations and material imperfections also cause uncertainties in the design process. Probabilistic design methods consider these uncertainties in order to reach acceptable reliability and safety levels for offshore wind turbines. Variations of the rotor blade geometry influence the aerodynamic loads which also affect the reliability of other wind turbine components. Therefore, the present paper is dealing with geometric uncertainties of the rotor blades. These can arise from manufacturing tolerances and operational wear of the blades. First, the effect of geometry variations of wind turbine airfoils on the lift and drag coefficients are investigated using a Latin hypercube sampling. Then, the resulting effects on the performance and the blade loads of an offshore wind turbine are analyzed. The variations of the airfoil geometry lead to a significant scatter of the lift and drag coefficients which also affects the damage-equivalent flapwise bending moments. In contrast to that, the effects on the power and the annual energy production are almost negligible with regard to the assumptions made

3D numerical analysis and optimization of aerodynamic performance of turbine blade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Dingbiao; Xie Wen; Zhou Junjie

2010-01-01

To reduce the stator profile loss and improve the efficiency of the industrial steam turbine, a numerical analysis and optimization of the data for the steam turbine stator blade are conducted by the NUMECA,a CFD software. The result shows that, compared with the original blade, the 'after loading' blade is with the best static pressure coefficient distribution, and effectively postpones the transition point position, reduces the radial pressure gradient of suction surface, and cut down the secondary flow loss effectively. The total pressure losses of the 'after loading' blade is 1.03%, which is the least, and the single-stage efficiency is 94.462%, which is the maximum and increases 14.33%. Thus, the aerodynamic performance of stage is improved obviously, the profile loss decreases through using the 'after loading' blade. (authors)

The effect of blade pitch in the rotor hydrodynamics of a cross-flow turbine

Science.gov (United States)

Somoano, Miguel; Huera-Huarte, Francisco

2016-11-01

In this work we will show how the hydrodynamics of the rotor of a straight-bladed Cross-Flow Turbine (CFT) are affected by the Tip Speed Ratio (TSR), and the blade pitch angle imposed to the rotor. The CFT model used in experiments consists of a three-bladed (NACA-0015) vertical axis turbine with a chord (c) to rotor diameter (D) ratio of 0.16. Planar Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) was used, with the laser sheet aiming at the mid-span of the blades, illuminating the inner part of the rotor and the near wake of the turbine. Tests were made by forcing the rotation of the turbine with a DC motor, which provided precise control of the TSR, while being towed in a still-water tank at a constant Reynolds number of 61000. A range of TSRs from 0.7 to 2.3 were covered for different blade pitches, ranging from 8° toe-in to 16° toe-out. The interaction between the blades in the rotor will be discussed by examining dimensionless phase-averaged vorticity fields in the inner part of the rotor and mean velocity fields in the near wake of the turbine. Supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Grant BES-2013-065366 and project DPI2015-71645-P.

Structural and mechanism design of an active trailing-edge flap blade

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lee, Jae Hwan; Natarajan, Balakumaran; Eun, Won Jong

2013-01-01

, as the blade is able to withstand increased centrifugal force. The cross-section of the active blade is designed first. A stress/strain recovery analysis is then conducted to verify its structural integrity. A one-dimensional beam analysis is also carried out to assist with the construction of the fan diagram...... of the rotor through modification of unsteady aerodynamic loads. Piezoelectric actuators installed inside the blade manipulate the motion of the trailing edge flap. The proposed blade rotates at higher speed and additional structures are included to support the actuators and the flap. This improves the design....... To select the actuator and design the flap actuation region, the flap hinge moment is estimated via a CFD analysis. To obtain the desired flap deflection of ±4°, three actuators are required. The design of the flap actuation region is validated using a test bed with a skin hinge. However, because the skin...

New Method for Dual-Axis Fatigue Testing of Large Wind Turbine Blades Using Resonance Excitation and Spectral Loading

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

White, D.

2004-04-01

The blades of a wind turbine are generally considered to be the most critical component of the wind turbine system. The fundamental purpose of performing fatigue tests on wind turbine blades is to demonstrate that a blade, when manufactured to a certain set of specifications, has the prescribed reliability and service life. The purpose of the research conducted for this project is the advancement of knowledge and capabilities in the area of wind turbine blade fatigue testing.

Mechanical Design, Analysis, and Testing of a Two-Bladed Wind Turbine Hub

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cotrell, J.

2002-06-01

Researchers at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) in Golden, Colorado, began performing the Unsteady Aerodynamics Experiment in 1993 to better understand the unsteady aerodynamics and structural responses of horizontal-axis wind turbines. The experiment consists of an extensively instrumented, downwind, three-bladed, 20-kilowatt wind turbine. In May 1995, I received a request from the NWTC to design a two-bladed hub for the experiment. For my thesis, I present the results of the mechanical design, analysis, and testing of the hub. The hub I designed is unique because it runs in rigid, teetering, or independent blade-flapping modes. In addition, the design is unusual because it uses two servomotors to pitch the blades independently. These features are used to investigate new load reduction, noise reduction, blade pitch optimization, and yaw control techniques for two-bladed turbines. I used a methodology by G. Phal and W. Bietz to design the hub. The hub meets all the performance specifications except that it achieves only 90% of the specified teeter range. In my thesis, I focus on the analysis and testing of the hub body. I performed solid-mechanics calculations, ran a finite-element analysis simulation, and experimentally investigated the structural integrity of the hub body.

Reliability-based design of wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

2011-01-01

Reliability-based design of wind turbine blades requires identification of the important failure modes/limit states along with stochastic models for the uncertainties and methods for estimating the reliability. In the present paper it is described how reliability-based design can be applied to wi...

Fluidic load control for wind turbines blades

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boeije, C.S.; Vries, de H.; Cleine, I.; Emden, van E.; Zwart, G.G.M.; Stobbe, H.; Hirschberg, A.; Hoeijmakers, H.W.M.; Maureen Hand, xx

2009-01-01

This paper describes the initial steps into the investigation of the possibility of reducing fatigue loads on wind turbine blades by the application of fluidic jets. This investigation involves static pressure measurements as well as numerical simulations for a non-rotating NACA-0018 airfoil. The

Review of the Phenomenon of Ice Shedding from Wind Turbine Blades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H Xue

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Wind power is a sustainable source of energy. However, there are certain challenges to be  overcome. One of the operational challenges is the phenomenon of ice shedding. Icing happens on wind turbine blades in cold regions. When ice grows to a certain size, it separates from the wind turbine blades resulting in the phenomenon of ice shedding. This phenomenon is of significantly dangerous for equipment and personnel in the region. Ice shedding may happen either because of vibrations or bending in blades. However, it was noticed by operators at Nygårdsfjell wind park, Narvik, Norway that ice shedding is more probable to happen when blades are stopped and turned back on. This observation reveals the fact that bending of blades (from loaded to unloaded positions allows the ice to separate and hence result in ice shedding. This can be linked to the phenomenon of icing, mechanical and adhesive properties of ice. This paper reviews above in detail.

Optimization of Savonius turbines using an obstacle shielding the returning blade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mohamed, M.H.; Janiga, G.; Pap, E.; Thevenin, D. [Lab. of Fluid Dynamics and Technical Flows, University of Magdeburg ' ' Otto von Guericke' ' (Germany)

2010-11-15

Due to the worldwide energy crisis, research and development activities in the field of renewable energy have been considerably increased in many countries. In Germany, wind energy is becoming particularly important. Although considerable progress has already been achieved, the available technical design is not yet adequate to develop reliable wind energy converters for conditions corresponding to low wind speeds and urban areas. The Savonius turbine appears to be particularly promising for such conditions, but suffers from a poor efficiency. The present study considers a considerably improved design in order to increase the output power of a Savonius turbine with either two or three blades. In addition, the improved design leads to a better self-starting capability. To achieve these objectives, the position of an obstacle shielding the returning blade of the Savonius turbine and possibly leading to a better flow orientation toward the advancing blade is optimized. This automatic optimization is carried out by coupling an in-house optimization library (OPAL) with an industrial flow simulation code (ANSYS-Fluent). The optimization process takes into account the output power coefficient as target function, considers the position and the angle of the shield as optimization parameters, and relies on Evolutionary Algorithms. A considerable improvement of the performance of Savonius turbines can be obtained in this manner, in particular a relative increase of the power output coefficient by more than 27%. It is furthermore demonstrated that the optimized configuration involving a two-blade rotor is better than the three-blade design. (author)

Relevance of aerodynamic modelling for load reduction control strategies of two-bladed wind turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Luhmann, B.; Cheng, P. W.

2014-06-01

A new load reduction concept is being developed for the two-bladed prototype of the Skywind 3.5MW wind turbine. Due to transport and installation advantages both offshore and in complex terrain two-bladed turbine designs are potentially more cost-effective than comparable three-bladed configurations. A disadvantage of two-bladed wind turbines is the increased fatigue loading, which is a result of asymmetrically distributed rotor forces. The innovative load reduction concept of the Skywind prototype consists of a combination of cyclic pitch control and tumbling rotor kinematics to mitigate periodic structural loading. Aerodynamic design tools must be able to model correctly the advanced dynamics of the rotor. In this paper the impact of the aerodynamic modelling approach is investigated for critical operational modes of a two-bladed wind turbine. Using a lifting line free wake vortex code (FVM) the physical limitations of the classical blade element momentum theory (BEM) can be evaluated. During regular operation vertical shear and yawed inflow are the main contributors to periodic blade load asymmetry. It is shown that the near wake interaction of the blades under such conditions is not fully captured by the correction models of BEM approach. The differing prediction of local induction causes a high fatigue load uncertainty especially for two-bladed turbines. The implementation of both cyclic pitch control and a tumbling rotor can mitigate the fatigue loading by increasing the aerodynamic and structural damping. The influence of the time and space variant vorticity distribution in the near wake is evaluated in detail for different cyclic pitch control functions and tumble dynamics respectively. It is demonstrated that dynamic inflow as well as wake blade interaction have a significant impact on the calculated blade forces and need to be accounted for by the aerodynamic modelling approach. Aeroelastic simulations are carried out using the high fidelity multi body

A study for soundness of turbine blade root using ultrasonic and phased array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gil, Doo Song; Park, Sang Ki; Cho, Yong Sang; Lee, Sang Gug; Huh, Kuang Bum

2003-01-01

Power plant is consisted of many component parts for the generation of the electricity and occasionally, turbine equipment may be caused in break-down because of the damage of the blade root. Phased array ultrasonic testing system has become available for power industry. This research describes the characteristics of phased array ultrasonic testing signal for various type of blade roots in thermal power plant turbines. This application of Phased array ultrasonic testing system has been promoted mainly to save inspection time and labor cost of turbine inspection. The characteristic of phased array ultrasonic testing signal for power plant component in very simple to understand but to difficult for perform the inspection. This paper is focused on the safety of the turbine equipment by the ultrasonic measurement and phased array analysis. As a result of the test through ultrasonic and phased array method, we have concluded that the main damage in these turbine blade roots parts could be generated by the concentrated stress and centrifugal force.

Composite material bend-twist coupling for wind turbine blade applications

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Justin M.

Current efforts in wind turbine blade design seek to employ bend-twist coupling of composite materials for passive power control by twisting blades to feather. Past efforts in this area of study have proved to be problematic, especially in formulation of the bend-twist coupling coefficient alpha. Kevlar/epoxy, carbon/epoxy and glass/epoxy specimens were manufactured to study bend-twist coupling, from which numerical and analytical models could be verified. Finite element analysis was implemented to evaluate fiber orientation and material property effects on coupling magnitude. An analytical/empirical model was then derived to describe numerical results and serve as a replacement for the commonly used coupling coefficient alpha. Through the results from numerical and analytical models, a foundation for aeroelastic design of wind turbines blades utilizing biased composite materials is provided.

Wind tunnel study of helical and straight-bladed vertical-axis wind turbine wakes

Science.gov (United States)

Bagheri, Maryam; Araya, Daniel

2017-11-01

It is hypothesized that blade curvature can serve as a passive means to control fluid entrainment and wake recovery in vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) arrays. We test this experimentally in a wind tunnel using two different VAWT configurations, one with straight blades and another with helical blades, keeping all other experimental parameters fixed. A small-scale, commercially available VAWT (15W max power) is used as the baseline wind tunnel model in each case. The commercial VAWT blades are replaced with either straight or helical blades that are 3D-printed extrusions of the same airfoil cross-section. Results from smoke flow visualization, three-component wake velocity measurements, and turbine power data are presented. These results give insight into the potential use of VAWTs with curved blades in utility-scale wind farms.

A Prescribed-Wake Vortex Line Method for Aerodynamic Analysis and Optimization of Multi-Rotor Wind Turbines

OpenAIRE

Rosenberg, Aaron; Sharma, Anupam

2015-01-01

The objective of this paper is to extend the xed wake vortex lattice method (VLM), used to evaluate the performance of single-rotor wind turbines (SRWT), for use in analyzing dual-rotor wind turbines (DRWT). VLM models wind turbine blades as bound vortex laments with helical trailing vortices. Using the Biot-Savart law, it is possible to calculate the induction in the plane of rotation allowing for a computationally inexpensive, yet accurate, prediction of blade loading and power performance....

Brazing and diffusion bonding processes as available repair techniques for gas turbine blades and nozzles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazur, Z.

1997-01-01

The conventionally welding methods are not useful for repair of heavily damaged gas turbine blades and nozzles. It includes thermal fatigue and craze cracks, corrosion, erosion and foreign object damage, which extend to the large areas. Because of required extensive heat input and couponing, it can cause severe distortion of the parts and cracks in the heat affected zone, and can made the repair costs high. For these cases, the available repair methods of gas turbine blades and nozzles, include brazing and diffusion bonding techniques are presented. Detailed analysis of the brazing and diffusion bonding processes applied for gas turbine blades repair with all elements which presented. Detailed analysis of the brazing and diffusion bonding processes applied for gas turbine blades repair with all elements which have influence to get sound joint is carried out. Depend of kind of blades and nozzle damage or deterioration registered a different methods of brazing and diffusion bonding applicability is presented. (Author) 65 refs

Multiscale modelling of single crystal superalloys for gas turbine blades

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tinga, T.

2009-01-01

Gas turbines are extensively used for power generation and for the propulsion of aircraft and vessels. Their most severely loaded parts, the turbine rotor blades, are manufactured from single crystal nickel-base superalloys. The superior high temperature behaviour of these materials is attributed to

Effect of Crystal Orientation on Fatigue Failure of Single Crystal Nickel Base Turbine Blade Superalloys

Science.gov (United States)

Arakere, Nagaraj K.; Swanson, Gregory R.

2000-01-01

High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) induced failures in aircraft gas-turbine engines is a pervasive problem affecting a wide range of components and materials. HCF is currently the primary cause of component failures in gas turbine aircraft engines. Turbine blades in high performance aircraft and rocket engines are increasingly being made of single crystal nickel superalloys. Single-crystal Nickel-base superalloys were developed to provide superior creep, stress rupture, melt resistance and thermomechanical fatigue capabilities over polycrystalline alloys previously used in the production of turbine blades and vanes. Currently the most widely used single crystal turbine blade superalloys are PWA 1480/1493 and PWA 1484. These alloys play an important role in commercial, military and space propulsion systems. PWA1493, identical to PWA1480, but with tighter chemical constituent control, is used in the NASA SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) alternate turbopump, a liquid hydrogen fueled rocket engine. Objectives for this paper are motivated by the need for developing failure criteria and fatigue life evaluation procedures for high temperature single crystal components, using available fatigue data and finite element modeling of turbine blades. Using the FE (finite element) stress analysis results and the fatigue life relations developed, the effect of variation of primary and secondary crystal orientations on life is determined, at critical blade locations. The most advantageous crystal orientation for a given blade design is determined. Results presented demonstrates that control of secondary and primary crystallographic orientation has the potential to optimize blade design by increasing its resistance to fatigue crack growth without adding additional weight or cost.

Airfoil family design for large offshore wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Méndez, B.; Munduate, X.; San Miguel, U.

2014-06-01

Wind turbine blades size has scaled-up during last years due to wind turbine platform increase especially for offshore applications. The EOLIA project 2007-2010 (Spanish Goverment funded project) was focused on the design of large offshore wind turbines for deep waters. The project was managed by ACCIONA Energia and the wind turbine technology was designed by ACCIONA Windpower. The project included the design of a wind turbine airfoil family especially conceived for large offshore wind turbine blades, in the order of 5MW machine. Large offshore wind turbines suffer high extreme loads due to their size, in addition the lack of noise restrictions allow higher tip speeds. Consequently, the airfoils presented in this work are designed for high Reynolds numbers with the main goal of reducing blade loads and mantainig power production. The new airfoil family was designed in collaboration with CENER (Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre). The airfoil family was designed using a evolutionary algorithm based optimization tool with different objectives, both aerodynamic and structural, coupled with an airfoil geometry generation tool. Force coefficients of the designed airfoil were obtained using the panel code XFOIL in which the boundary layer/inviscid flow coupling is ineracted via surface transpiration model. The desing methodology includes a novel technique to define the objective functions based on normalizing the functions using weight parameters created from data of airfoils used as reference. Four airfoils have been designed, here three of them will be presented, with relative thickness of 18%, 21%, 25%, which have been verified with the in-house CFD code, Wind Multi Block WMB, and later validated with wind tunnel experiments. Some of the objectives for the designed airfoils concern the aerodynamic behavior (high efficiency and lift, high tangential coefficient, insensitivity to rough conditions, etc.), others concern the geometry (good for structural design

Airfoil family design for large offshore wind turbine blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Méndez, B; Munduate, X; Miguel, U San

2014-01-01

Wind turbine blades size has scaled-up during last years due to wind turbine platform increase especially for offshore applications. The EOLIA project 2007-2010 (Spanish Goverment funded project) was focused on the design of large offshore wind turbines for deep waters. The project was managed by ACCIONA Energia and the wind turbine technology was designed by ACCIONA Windpower. The project included the design of a wind turbine airfoil family especially conceived for large offshore wind turbine blades, in the order of 5MW machine. Large offshore wind turbines suffer high extreme loads due to their size, in addition the lack of noise restrictions allow higher tip speeds. Consequently, the airfoils presented in this work are designed for high Reynolds numbers with the main goal of reducing blade loads and mantainig power production. The new airfoil family was designed in collaboration with CENER (Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre). The airfoil family was designed using a evolutionary algorithm based optimization tool with different objectives, both aerodynamic and structural, coupled with an airfoil geometry generation tool. Force coefficients of the designed airfoil were obtained using the panel code XFOIL in which the boundary layer/inviscid flow coupling is ineracted via surface transpiration model. The desing methodology includes a novel technique to define the objective functions based on normalizing the functions using weight parameters created from data of airfoils used as reference. Four airfoils have been designed, here three of them will be presented, with relative thickness of 18%, 21%, 25%, which have been verified with the in-house CFD code, Wind Multi Block WMB, and later validated with wind tunnel experiments. Some of the objectives for the designed airfoils concern the aerodynamic behavior (high efficiency and lift, high tangential coefficient, insensitivity to rough conditions, etc.), others concern the geometry (good for structural design

Modal analysis by holographic interferometry of a turbine blade for aircraft engines

Science.gov (United States)

Caponero, Michele A.; De Angelis, Alberto; Filetti, V. R.; Gammella, S.

1994-11-01

Within the planning stage devoted to realize an innovative turbine for an aircraft engine, an experimental prototype has been made. Several measurements have been carried out to experimentally verify the expected structural and dynamic features of such a prototype. Expected properties were worked out by finite elements method, using the well-known Nastran software package. Natural frequencies and vibration modes of the designed prototype were computed assuming the turbine being in both `dynamic condition' (rotating turbine at running speed and temperature), and in `static condition' (still turbine at room temperature). We present the experimental modal analysis carried out by time average holographic interferometry, being the prototype in `static condition;' results show the modal behavior of the prototype. Experimental and computed modal features are compared to evaluate the reliability of the finite elements model of the turbine used for computation by the Nastran package; reliability of the finite elements model must be checked to validate results computed assuming the turbine blade is in hostile environments, such as `dynamic condition,' which could hardly be tested by experimental measurements. A piezoelectric transducer was used to excite the turbine blade by sine variable pressure. To better estimate the natural vibration modes, two holographic interferograms have been made for each identified natural frequency, being the sensitivity vector directions of the two interferograms perpendicular to each other. The first ten lower natural frequencies and vibration modes of the blade have been analyzed; experimental and computed results are compared and discussed. Experimental and computed values of natural frequencies are in good agrement between each other. Several differences are present between experimental and computed modal patterns; a possible cause of such discrepancies is identified in wrong structural constraints imposed at nodes of the finite elements

Development of Self-Powered Wireless Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) for Wind Turbine Blades

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Dong-Won

Wind turbine blade failure can lead to unexpected power interruptions. Monitoring wind turbine blades is important to ensure seamless electricity delivery from power generation to consumers. Structural health monitoring (SHM) enables early recognition of structural problems so that the safety and reliability of operation can be enhanced. This dissertation focuses on the development of a wireless SHM system for wind turbine blades. The sensor is comprised of a piezoelectric energy harvester (EH) and a telemetry unit. The sensor node is mounted on the blade surface. As the blade rotates, the blade flexes, and the energy harvester captures the strain energy on the blade surface. Once sufficient electricity is captured, a pulse is sent from the sensing node to a gateway. Then, a central monitoring algorithm processes a series of pulses received from all three blades. This wireless SHM, which uses commercially available components, can be retrofitted to existing turbines. The harvested energy for sensing can be estimated in terms of two factors: the available strain energy and conversion efficiency. The available strain energy was evaluated using the FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence) simulator. The conversion efficiency was studied analytically and experimentally. An experimental set-up was designed to mimic the expected strain frequency and amplitude for rotor blades. From a series of experiments, the efficiency of a piezoelectric EH at a typical rotor speed (0.2 Hz) was approximately 0.5%. The power requirement for sending one measurement (280 muJ) can be achieved in 10 minutes. Designing a detection algorithm is challenging due to this low sampling rate. A new sensing approach-the timing of pulses from the transmitter-was introduced. This pulse timing, which is tied to the charging time, is indicative of the structural health. The SHM system exploits the inherent triple redundancy of the three blades. The timing data of the three blades are

Novel casting processes for single-crystal turbine blades of superalloys

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Dexin

2018-03-01

This paper presents a brief review of the current casting techniques for single-crystal (SC) blades, as well as an analysis of the solidification process in complex turbine blades. A series of novel casting methods based on the Bridgman process were presented to illustrate the development in the production of SC blades from superalloys. The grain continuator and the heat conductor techniques were developed to remove geometry-related grain defects. In these techniques, the heat barrier that hinders lateral SC growth from the blade airfoil into the extremities of the platform is minimized. The parallel heating and cooling system was developed to achieve symmetric thermal conditions for SC solidification in blade clusters, thus considerably decreasing the negative shadow effect and its related defects in the current Bridgman process. The dipping and heaving technique, in which thinshell molds are utilized, was developed to enable the establishment of a high temperature gradient for SC growth and the freckle-free solidification of superalloy castings. Moreover, by applying the targeted cooling and heating technique, a novel concept for the three-dimensional and precise control of SC growth, a proper thermal arrangement may be dynamically established for the microscopic control of SC growth in the critical areas of large industrial gas turbine blades.

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization for Glass-Fiber Epoxy-Matrix Composite 5 MW Horizontal-Axis Wind-Turbine Blades

Science.gov (United States)

Grujicic, M.; Arakere, G.; Pandurangan, B.; Sellappan, V.; Vallejo, A.; Ozen, M.

2010-11-01

A multi-disciplinary design-optimization procedure has been introduced and used for the development of cost-effective glass-fiber reinforced epoxy-matrix composite 5 MW horizontal-axis wind-turbine (HAWT) blades. The turbine-blade cost-effectiveness has been defined using the cost of energy (CoE), i.e., a ratio of the three-blade HAWT rotor development/fabrication cost and the associated annual energy production. To assess the annual energy production as a function of the blade design and operating conditions, an aerodynamics-based computational analysis had to be employed. As far as the turbine blade cost is concerned, it is assessed for a given aerodynamic design by separately computing the blade mass and the associated blade-mass/size-dependent production cost. For each aerodynamic design analyzed, a structural finite element-based and a post-processing life-cycle assessment analyses were employed in order to determine a minimal blade mass which ensures that the functional requirements pertaining to the quasi-static strength of the blade, fatigue-controlled blade durability and blade stiffness are satisfied. To determine the turbine-blade production cost (for the currently prevailing fabrication process, the wet lay-up) available data regarding the industry manufacturing experience were combined with the attendant blade mass, surface area, and the duration of the assumed production run. The work clearly revealed the challenges associated with simultaneously satisfying the strength, durability and stiffness requirements while maintaining a high level of wind-energy capture efficiency and a lower production cost.

EB-PVD process management for highly productive zirconia thermal barrier coating of turbine blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reinhold, E.; Botzler, P.; Deus, C.

1999-01-01

Zirconia thermal barrier coatings are well used in the turbine manufacturing industry because they ensure extended lifetimes of turbine blades. Compared with other techniques, EB-PVD processes are best suited for the deposition on turbine blades with regard to the layer properties. Therefore EB-PVD coaters for turbine blades are becoming increasingly interesting. The coating costs per component are mainly dependent on a highly productive solution for the deposition task. Thus the EB-PVD process management has to be optimized in order to meet the productivity requirements of the manufacturers. This includes the requirement of high deposition rates, large deposition areas, long time stable production cycles as well as a matched duration of preheating, deposition and cooling down per charge. Modern EB-PVD solutions to be introduced allow deposition rates on blades up to 7 μm/min. The consequences for the technological process management and plant design concerning long time stable coating cycles with high productivity will be discussed. (orig.)

Design, fabrication, and test of a steel spar wind turbine blade

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, T. L.; Sirocky, P. J., Jr.; Viterna, L. A.

1979-01-01

The design and fabrication of wind turbine blades based on 60 foot steel spars are discussed. Performance and blade load information is given and compared to analytical prediction. In addition, performance is compared to that of the original MOD-O aluminum blades. Costs for building the two blades are given, and a projection is made for the cost in mass production. Design improvements to reduce weight and improve fatigue life are suggested.

On Rotor-Blade Deterioration and Pressure Losses in a Gas-Turbine ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

blade deterioration and pressure losses in a gas-turbine plant. This was achieved ... Rotor-blade deterioration result in 1.2 percent drop in pressure ratio across the compressor, with a corresponding drop in isentropic efficiency from 0.83 to 0.72.

Aeroelastic analysis of an offshore wind turbine: Design and Fatigue Performance of Large Utility-Scale Wind Turbine Blades

OpenAIRE

Fossum, Peter Kalsaas

2012-01-01

Aeroelastic design and fatigue analysis of large utility-scale wind turbine blades are performed. The applied fatigue model is based on established methods and is incorporated in an iterative numerical design tool for realistic wind turbine blades. All aerodynamic and structural design properties are available in literature. The software tool FAST is used for advanced aero-servo-elastic load calculations and stress-histories are calculated with elementary beam theory.According to wind energy ...

Aerodynamic investigation of winglets on wind turbine blades using CFD

OpenAIRE

Johansen, Jeppe; Sørensen, Niels N.

2006-01-01

The present report describes the numerical investigation of the aerodynamics around a wind turbine blade with a winglet using Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD. Five winglets were investigated with different twist distribution and camber. Four of themwere pointing towards the pressure side (upstream) and one was pointing towards the suction side (downstream). Additionally, a rectangular modification of the original blade tip was designed with the same planform area as the blades with winglets...

Design optimization and analysis of vertical axis wind turbine blade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jarral, A.; Ali, M.; Sahir, M.H.

2013-01-01

Wind energy is clean and renwable source of energy and is also the world's fastest growing energy resource. Keeping in view power shortages and growing cost of energy, the low cost wind energy has become a primary solution. It is imperative that economies and individuals begin to conserve energy and focus on the production of energy from renewable sources. Present study describes a wind turbine blade designed with enhanced aerodynamic properties. Vertical axis turbine is chosen because of its easy installment, less noisy and having environmental friendly characteristics. Vertical axis wind turbines are thought to be ideal for installations where wind conditions are not consistent. The presented turbine blade is best suitable for roadsides where the rated speed due to vehicles is most /sup -1/ often 8 ms .To get an optimal shape design symmetrical profile NACA0025 has been considered which is then analyzed for stability and aerodynamic characteristics at optimal conditions using analysis tools ANSYS and CFD tools. (author)

Straight-bladed Darrieus wind turbines - A protagonist's view

Science.gov (United States)

Migliore, P. G.

The technology development and market penetration of Darrieus and propeller-type wind turbines is addressed. Important characteristics of competing configurations are compared, and it is claimed that aerodynamic efficiency is not a distinguishing feature. Advantages of the Darrieus machine include omni-directionality and self-limitation, but propeller types require less rotor length per unit swept area. It is argued that the straight-bladed Darrieus is much simpler than the curved-bladed and should be capable of comparable aerodynamic efficiency. Some of the problems of structural design, as well as blade induced drag losses and support-arm counter torque, diminish rapidly as machine size is increased. Taper ratio has similar beneficial effects.

Wind Turbine Load Mitigation based on Multivariable Robust Control and Blade Root Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Díaz de Corcuera, A.; Pujana-Arrese, A.; Ezquerra, J. M.; Segurola, E.; Landaluze, J.

2014-12-01

This paper presents two H∞ multivariable robust controllers based on blade root sensors' information for individual pitch angle control. The wind turbine of 5 MW defined in the Upwind European project is the reference non-linear model used in this research work, which has been modelled in the GH Bladed 4.0 software package. The main objective of these controllers is load mitigation in different components of wind turbines during power production in the above rated control zone. The first proposed multi-input multi-output (MIMO) individual pitch H" controller mitigates the wind effect on the tower side-to-side acceleration and reduces the asymmetrical loads which appear in the rotor due to its misalignment. The second individual pitch H" multivariable controller mitigates the loads on the three blades reducing the wind effect on the bending flapwise and edgewise momentums in the blades. The designed H" controllers have been validated in GH Bladed and an exhaustive analysis has been carried out to calculate fatigue load reduction on wind turbine components, as well as to analyze load mitigation in some extreme cases.

Identification and management of cracking in 410 stainless turbine blade roots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clark, M.A.; Lehockey, E.M.; Thompson, I.; Massey, R.

2003-01-01

Between April and June of 2002, cracks were discovered in the fir-tree roots of several row 10 low-pressure 410 martensitic stainless steel turbine blades from an operating CANDU station. In total, 9 blades were eventually identified by MPI to have flaw indications near the inlet face between the first and second serrations. Among the population of blades examined fractography revealed cracks propagated by two different mechanisms: fatigue and stress corrosion cracking. In 7 of the 9 blades, the fracture surface morphology confirmed crack propagation by high-cycle fatigue, as evidenced by the beachmarks and ratchet marks produced by multiple initiation sites An analysis of the beachmarks suggested that cracks propagated independently and subsequently coalesced into a unified crack front. No significant pitting or other corrosion was found to accompany these defects, which might suggest a corrosion fatigue mechanism. Likewise, no consistent spatial relationship could be established between the crack path and either prior austenite grain boundaries, MnS stringer inclusions, or other metallurgical anomalies, which indicates their role in crack nucleation was minimal. Although hardness values measured were generally consistent with OEM's specifications, some evidence for over-tempering was observed (ripening of grain boundary precipitates/carbides, etc.). However, the specific role of these factors in promoting the fatigue failure could not be conclusively identified. Spacing between beachmarks within cracks among the (7) fatigued blades appeared similar suggesting that these cracks propagated under the influence of a common stress regime. Furthermore, the bulk of crack advance appeared to have occurred primarily at operating speeds given the number of beachmarks present far exceeded that expected to evolve solely from the stress transients generated during start/stop cycles. By correlating the array of major beachmarks with operating history, it was tentatively

Aerodynamics and Optimal Design of Biplane Wind Turbine Blades

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Phillip

In order to improve energy capture and reduce the cost of wind energy, in the past few decades wind turbines have grown significantly larger. As their blades get longer, the design of the inboard region (near the blade root) becomes a trade-off between competing structural and aerodynamic requirements. State-of-the-art blades require thick airfoils near the root to efficiently support large loads inboard, but those thick airfoils have inherently poor aerodynamic performance. New designs are required to circumvent this design compromise. One such design is the "biplane blade", in which the thick airfoils in the inboard region are replaced with thinner airfoils in a biplane configuration. This design was shown previously to have significantly increased structural performance over conventional blades. In addition, the biplane airfoils can provide increased lift and aerodynamic efficiency compared to thick monoplane inboard airfoils, indicating a potential for increased power extraction. This work investigates the fundamental aerodynamic aspects, aerodynamic design and performance, and optimal structural design of the biplane blade. First, the two-dimensional aerodynamics of biplanes with relatively thick airfoils are investigated, showing unique phenomena which arise as a result of airfoil thickness. Next, the aerodynamic design of the full biplane blade is considered. Two biplane blades are designed for optimal aerodynamic loading, and their aerodynamic performance quantified. Considering blades with practical chord distributions and including the drag of the mid-blade joint, it is shown that biplane blades have comparable power output to conventional monoplane designs. The results of this analysis also show that the biplane blades can be designed with significantly less chord than conventional designs, a characteristic which enables larger blade designs. The aerodynamic loads on the biplane blades are shown to be increased in gust conditions and decreased under

Independent Blade Pitch Controller Design for a Three-Bladed Turbine Using Disturbance Accommodating Control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Na; Wright, Alan D.; Johnson, Kathryn E.

2016-08-01

Two independent pitch controllers (IPCs) based on the disturbance accommodating control (DAC) algorithm are designed for the three-bladed Controls Advanced Research Turbine to regulate rotor speed and to mitigate blade root flapwise bending loads in above-rated wind speed. One of the DAC-based IPCs is designed based on a transformed symmetrical-asymmetrical (TSA) turbine model, with wind disturbances being modeled as a collective horizontal component and an asymmetrical linear shear component. Another DAC-based IPC is designed based on a multiblade coordinate (MBC) transformed turbine model, with a horizontal component and a vertical shear component being modeled as step waveform disturbance. Both of the DAC-based IPCs are found via a regulation equation solved by Kronecker product. Actuator dynamics are considered in the design processes to compensate for actuator phase delay. The simulation study shows the effectiveness of the proposed DAC-based IPCs compared to a proportional-integral (PI) collective pitch controller (CPC). Improvement on rotor speed regulation and once-per-revolution and twice-per-revolution load reductions has been observed in the proposed IPC designs.

Wind turbine blade testing system using base excitation

Science.gov (United States)

Cotrell, Jason; Thresher, Robert; Lambert, Scott; Hughes, Scott; Johnson, Jay

2014-03-25

An apparatus (500) for fatigue testing elongate test articles (404) including wind turbine blades through forced or resonant excitation of the base (406) of the test articles (404). The apparatus (500) includes a testing platform or foundation (402). A blade support (410) is provided for retaining or supporting a base (406) of an elongate test article (404), and the blade support (410) is pivotally mounted on the testing platform (402) with at least two degrees of freedom of motion relative to the testing platform (402). An excitation input assembly (540) is interconnected with the blade support (410) and includes first and second actuators (444, 446, 541) that act to concurrently apply forces or loads to the blade support (410). The actuator forces are cyclically applied in first and second transverse directions. The test article (404) responds to shaking of its base (406) by oscillating in two, transverse directions (505, 507).

Microstructural evolution and deformation features in gas turbine blades operated in-service

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sun, Fei [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China); Tong, Jinyan [National Center for Materials Service Safety, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); Feng, Qiang [National Center for Materials Service Safety, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); Zhang, Jianxin [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China)

2015-01-05

Highlights: • Gas turbine blades operated in-service have been investigated. • Two primary MC decomposition reactions take place during servicing. • Deformation features during servicing have been analyzed. - Abstract: The nickel based superalloy GH4037 is employed in gas turbine blades because of its high temperature strength and oxidation resistance. Microstructural evolution and deformation features in gas turbine blades after 1600 h service have been investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The microstructure of blade changes according to complex and comprehensive temperature and stress fields applied on it. Microstructural observations show that minor carbide precipitates dispersedly precipitate in the matrix. Two MC decomposition reactions occur: MC + γ → M{sub 23}C{sub 6} + γ′ and MC + γ → M{sub 23}C{sub 6} + η. Blocky, closely spaced M{sub 23}C{sub 6} particles continuously distribute along grain boundaries. The main deformation features, such as slip bands, APB-coupled dislocation pairs, stacking faults bound by partial dislocations and deformation twinning, have also been analyzed in terms of fundamental deformation mechanisms and environmental effects.

Design Of Rotor Blade For Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Using Double Aerofoil

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chougule, Prasad; Ratkovich, Nicolas Rios; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

Nowadays, small vertical axis wind turbines are receiving more attention compared to horizontal wind turbines due to their suitability in urban use because they generate less noise, have bird free turbines and lower cost. There is few vertical axis wind turbines design with good power curve....... However, the efficiency of power extraction has not been improved. Therefore, an attempt has been made to utilize high lift technology in practice for vertical axis wind turbines in order to improve power efficiency. High lift is obtained by double aerofoil elements mainly used in aeroplane wing design....... In this current work two aerofoils are used to design a rotor blade for a vertical axis wind turbine to improve the power efficiency on the rotor. Double aerofoil blade design consists of a main aerofoil and a slat aerofoil. The parameters related to position and orientation of the slat aerofoil with respect...

Wind-induced response analysis of a wind turbine tower including the blade-tower coupling effect

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Xiao-bo CHEN; Jing LI; Jian-yun CHEN

2009-01-01

To analyze wind-induced response characteristics of a wind turbine tower more accurately, the blade-tower coupling effect was investigated. The mean wind velocity of the rotating blades and tower was simulated according to wind shear effects,and the fluctuating wind velocity time series of the wind turbine were simulated by a harmony superposition method. A dynamic finite element method (FEM) was used to calculate the wind-induced response of the blades and tower. Wind-induced responses of the tower were calculated in two cases (one included the blade-tower coupling effect, and the other only added the mass of blades and the hub at the top of the tower), and then the maximal displacements at the top of the tower of the tow cases were compared with each other. As a result of the influence of the blade-tower coupling effect and the total base shear of the blades, the maximal displacement of the first case increased nearly by 300% compared to the second case. To obtain more precise analysis, the blade-tower coupling effect and the total base shear of the blades should be considered simultaneously in the design of wind turbine towers.

Wind turbines and bat mortality: Doppler shift profiles and ultrasonic bat-like pulse reflection from moving turbine blades.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Chloe V; Flint, James A; Lepper, Paul A

2010-10-01

Bat mortality resulting from actual or near-collision with operational wind turbine rotors is a phenomenon that is widespread but not well understood. Because bats rely on information contained in high-frequency echoes to determine the nature and movement of a target, it is important to consider how ultrasonic pulses similar to those used by bats for echolocation may be interacting with operational turbine rotor blades. By assessing the characteristics of reflected ultrasonic echoes, moving turbine blades operating under low wind speed conditions (<6 m s(-1)) were found to produce distinct Doppler shift profiles at different angles to the rotor. Frequency shifts of up to ±700-800 Hz were produced, which may not be perceptible by some bat species. Monte Carlo simulation of bat-like sampling by echolocation revealed that over 50 rotor echoes could be required by species such as Pipistrellus pipistrellus for accurate interpretation of blade movement, which may not be achieved in the bat's approach time-window. In summary, it was found that echoes returned from moving blades had features which could render them attractive to bats or which might make it difficult for the bat to accurately detect and locate blades in sufficient time to avoid a collision.

Complementary Aerodynamic Performance Datasets for Variable Speed Power Turbine Blade Section from Two Independent Transonic Turbine Cascades

Science.gov (United States)

Flegel, Ashlie B.; Welch, Gerard E.; Giel, Paul W.; Ames, Forrest E.; Long, Jonathon A.

2015-01-01

Two independent experimental studies were conducted in linear cascades on a scaled, two-dimensional mid-span section of a representative Variable Speed Power Turbine (VSPT) blade. The purpose of these studies was to assess the aerodynamic performance of the VSPT blade over large Reynolds number and incidence angle ranges. The influence of inlet turbulence intensity was also investigated. The tests were carried out in the NASA Glenn Research Center Transonic Turbine Blade Cascade Facility and at the University of North Dakota (UND) High Speed Compressible Flow Wind Tunnel Facility. A large database was developed by acquiring total pressure and exit angle surveys and blade loading data for ten incidence angles ranging from +15.8deg to -51.0deg. Data were acquired over six flow conditions with exit isentropic Reynolds number ranging from 0.05×106 to 2.12×106 and at exit Mach numbers of 0.72 (design) and 0.35. Flow conditions were examined within the respective facility constraints. The survey data were integrated to determine average exit total-pressure and flow angle. UND also acquired blade surface heat transfer data at two flow conditions across the entire incidence angle range aimed at quantifying transitional flow behavior on the blade. Comparisons of the aerodynamic datasets were made for three "match point" conditions. The blade loading data at the match point conditions show good agreement between the facilities. This report shows comparisons of other data and highlights the unique contributions of the two facilities. The datasets are being used to advance understanding of the aerodynamic challenges associated with maintaining efficient power turbine operation over a wide shaft-speed range.

Thermal stress analysis and thermo-mechanical fatigue for gas turbine blade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyun, J. S.; Kim, B. S.; Kang, M. S.; Ha, J. S.; Lee, Y. S.

2002-01-01

The numerical analysis for gas turbine blades were carried out under several conditions by compounding temperature field, velocity field, thermal conduction of blade, and cooling heat transfer. The three types of 1,100 deg. C class 1st-stage gas turbine blades were analyzed. The analysis results are applied to the study on evaluating the remaining life for thermo-mechanical fatigue life. The thermo-mechanical fatigue experiments under out-of-phase and in-phase have been performed. The physical-based life prediction models which considered the contribution of different damage mechanisms have been applied. These models were applied to the temperature and strain rate dependences of isothermal cycling fatigue lives, and the strain-temperature history effect on the thermo-mechanical fatigue lives

Control of Flow Separation on a Turbine Blade by Utilizing Tail Extensions

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Murawski, C

1999-01-01

.... The axial chord of the blades was varied using tail extenders from 0% to 15% beyond design. The effects of Reynolds number on a low pressure turbine cascade blade with tail extensions was investigated...

Local fatigue behavior in tapered areas of large offshore wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raeis Hosseiny, Seyed Aydin; Jakobsen, Johnny

2016-01-01

failure of an entire blade structure. The local strength degradation under an ultimate static loading, subsequent to several years of fatigue, is predicted for an offshore wind turbine blade. Fatigue failure indexes of different damage modes are calculated using a sub-modeling approach. Multi axial...... knock-down factors for ply-drop effects in wind turbine blades under multi-axial static and fatigue loadings can be obtained.......Thickness transitions in load carrying elements lead to improved geometries and efficient material utilization. However, these transitions may introduce localized areas with high stress concentrations and may act as crack initiators that could potentially cause delamination and further catastrophic...

Crack of a first stage blade in a steam turbine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Nurbanasari

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The failure of the first stage blade in a steam turbine of 55 MW was investigated. The blade was made of 17-4 PH stainless steel and has been used for 12 years before failure. The current work aims to find out the main cause of the first stage blade failure. The methods for investigation were metallurgical analysis, chemical composition test, and hardness measurement. The result showed that there was no evidence the blade failure was due to material. The damage found on the blade namely crack on the blade root. Two locations of the crack observed at the blade root, which was at the tang and the fillet, with different failure modes. In general, the damage of the blade was started by the corrosion occurred on the blade root. The crack at the blade root tang was due to corrosion fatigue and the crack occurred at the blade root fillet owing to stress corrosion cracking.

Turbine airfoil fabricated from tapered extrusions

Science.gov (United States)

Marra, John J

2013-07-16

An airfoil (30) and fabrication process for turbine blades with cooling channels (26). Tapered tubes (32A-32D) are bonded together in a parallel sequence, forming a leading edge (21), a trailing edge (22), and pressure and suction side walls (23, 24) connected by internal ribs (25). The tapered tubes may be extruded without camber to simplify the extrusion process, then bonded along matching surfaces (34), forming a non-cambered airfoil (28), which may be cambered in a hot forming process and cut (48) to length. The tubes may have tapered walls that are thinner at the blade tip (T1) than at the base (T2), reducing mass. A cap (50) may be attached to the blade tip. A mounting lug (58) may be forged (60) on the airfoil base and then machined, completing the blade for mounting in a turbine rotor disk.

Experimental Evaluation of Cermet Turbine Stator Blades for Use at Elevated Gas Temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Chiarito, Patrick T.; Johnston, James R.

1959-01-01

The suitability of cermets for turbine stator blades of a modified turbojet engine was determined at an average turbine-inlet-gas temperature of 2000 F. Such an increase in temperature would yield a premium in thrust from a service engine. Because the cermet blades require no cooling, all the available compressor bleed air could be used to cool a turbine made from conventional ductile alloys. Cermet blades were first run in 100-hour endurance tests at normal gas temperatures in order to evaluate two methods for mounting them. The elevated gas-temperature test was then run using the method of support considered best for high-temperature operation. After 52 hours at 2000 F, one of the group of four cermet blades fractured probably because of end loads resulting from thermal distortion of the spacer band of the nozzle diaphragm. Improved design of a service engine would preclude this cause of premature failure.

Development and application of a dynamic stall model for rotating wind turbine blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, B F; Yuan, Y; Wang, T G

2014-01-01

In unsteady conditions of wind turbines, both the dynamic stall phenomenon and the three-dimensional (3D) rotational effect affect the rotor aerodynamics. The dynamic stall mechanism for rotating wind turbine blades is first investigated. Through the comparison of the aerodynamic data between the rotating blade and the two-dimensional (2D) airfoil, the normal force slope in the attached flow and the separation point expression in the separated flow are modified in the Beddoes-Leishman (B-L) dynamic stall model for rotating NREL wind turbine blades. The modified model is validated by the comparison between the calculation results and the experimental results of the lift and drag coefficients at different radial positions. Both the hysteresis loop shapes and the calculation values are closer to the experiment than the 2D dynamic stall model. The present dynamic stall model is then coupled to a free vortex wake model. The coupled model is used to calculate the unsteady blade aerodynamic loads and the low speed shaft torque of the NREL wind turbine in a yawed condition. The accuracy is greatly improved by the corrections presented in the paper

Investigation of the effect of bending twisting coupling on the loads in wind turbines with superelement blade definition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gözcü, M O; Kayran, A

2014-01-01

Bending-twisting coupling in the composite blades is exploited for load alleviation in the whole turbine system. For the purpose of the study, inverse design of a reference blade is performed such that sectional beam properties of the 3D blade design approximately match the sectional beam properties of NREL's 5MW turbine blade. In order to appropriately account for the bending-twisting coupling effect, dynamic superelement of the blade is created and introduced into the multi-body dynamic model of the wind turbine system. Initially, a comparative study is conducted on the performance of wind turbines which have blades defined as superelements and geometrically nonlinear beams, and conclusions are inferred with regard to the appropriateness of the use of superelement blade definition in the transient analysis of the 5MW wind turbine system that is set up in the present study. Multi-body dynamic simulations of the wind turbine system are performed for the power production load case with the constant wind and the normal turbulence model as external wind loadings. For the internal loads, fatigue damage equivalent load is used as the metric to assess the effect of bending-twisting coupling on the load alleviation in the whole wind turbine system. Results show that in the overall, through the bending-twisting coupling induced with the use of off-axis plies in the main spar caps of the blade, damage equivalent loads associated with the critical load components can be reduced in the wind turbine system

Aerodynamic Effects of Turbulence Intensity on a Variable-Speed Power-Turbine Blade with Large Incidence and Reynolds Number Variations

Science.gov (United States)

Flegel, Ashlie Brynn; Giel, Paul W.; Welch, Gerard E.

2014-01-01

The effects of inlet turbulence intensity on the aerodynamic performance of a variable speed power turbine blade are examined over large incidence and Reynolds number ranges. Both high and low turbulence studies were conducted in the NASA Glenn Research Center Transonic Turbine Blade Cascade Facility. The purpose of the low inlet turbulence study was to examine the transitional flow effects that are anticipated at cruise Reynolds numbers. The high turbulence study extends this to LPT-relevant turbulence levels while perhaps sacrificing transitional flow effects. Downstream total pressure and exit angle data were acquired for ten incidence angles ranging from +15.8 to 51.0. For each incidence angle, data were obtained at five flow conditions with the exit Reynolds number ranging from 2.12105 to 2.12106 and at a design exit Mach number of 0.72. In order to achieve the lowest Reynolds number, the exit Mach number was reduced to 0.35 due to facility constraints. The inlet turbulence intensity, Tu, was measured using a single-wire hotwire located 0.415 axial-chord upstream of the blade row. The inlet turbulence levels ranged from 0.25 - 0.4 for the low Tu tests and 8- 15 for the high Tu study. Tu measurements were also made farther upstream so that turbulence decay rates could be calculated as needed for computational inlet boundary conditions. Downstream flow field measurements were obtained using a pneumatic five-hole pitchyaw probe located in a survey plane 7 axial chord aft of the blade trailing edge and covering three blade passages. Blade and endwall static pressures were acquired for each flow condition as well. The blade loading data show that the suction surface separation that was evident at many of the low Tu conditions has been eliminated. At the extreme positive and negative incidence angles, the data show substantial differences in the exit flow field. These differences are attributable to both the higher inlet Tu directly and to the thinner inlet endwall

Analisa Bentuk Profile Dan Jumlah Blade Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Terhadap Putaran Rotor Untuk Menghasilkan Energi Listrik

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saiful Saiful Huda

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Turbin angin adalah suatu alat untuk mengkonversi energi angin menjadi energi mekanik yang kemudian dikonversi lagi menjadi energi listrik. Putaran pada poros turbin angin dihubungkan pada generator untuk menghasilkan energi listrik. Berdasarkan penelitian yang dilakukan sebelumnya, banyak jenis turbin angin yang ditemukan untuk meningkatkan effisiensi dan torsi yang dihasilkan salah satu contohnya adalah vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT. VAWT merupakan turbin angin dengan sumbu vertical atau tegak lurus terhadap tanah. Tujuan dari tugas akhir ini adalah mengetahui seberapa besar pengaruh peningkatan panjang chord, jumlah blade, sudut pitch dari blade terhadap torsi dan effisiensi yang dihasilkan oleh VAWT dengan pendekatan CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamic. Analisa yang dilakukan untuk melihat efek peningkatan panjang chord, jumlah blade dan sudt pitch dari blade. Setelah analisa berakhir kita membandingkan hasil analisa dalam grafik. Hasil dari analisa tersebut adalah torsi terbesar terdapat pada variasi panjang chord 1.5 m dengan sudut pitch 10o dan jumlah blade 4 buah dengan nilai 134.9452198   Nm.