WorldWideScience

Sample records for wind turbine loads

  1. Load Extrapolation During Operation for Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2008-01-01

    In the recent years load extrapolation for wind turbines has been widely considered in the wind turbine industry. Loads on wind turbines during operations are normally dependent on the mean wind speed, the turbulence intensity and the type and settings of the control system. All these parameters...... must be taken into account when characteristic load effects during operation are determined. In the wind turbine standard IEC 61400-1 a method for load extrapolation using the peak over threshold method is recommended. In this paper this method is considered and some of the assumptions are examined...

  2. Wind Climate Parameters for Wind Turbine Fatigue Load Assessment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Svenningsen, Lasse; Moser, Wolfgang

    2016-01-01

    Site-specific assessment of wind turbine design requires verification that the individual wind turbine components can survive the site-specific wind climate. The wind turbine design standard, IEC 61400-1 (third edition), describes how this should be done using a simplified, equivalent wind climate...... climate required by the current design standard by comparing damage equivalent fatigue loads estimated based on wind climate parameters for each 10 min time-series with fatigue loads estimated based on the equivalent wind climate parameters. Wind measurements from Boulder, CO, in the United States...

  3. Inverse load calculation procedure for offshore wind turbines and application to a 5-MW wind turbine support structure: Inverse load calculation procedure for offshore wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pahn, T. [Pahn Ingenieure, Am Seegraben 17b 03051 Cottbus Germany; Rolfes, R. [Institut f?r Statik und Dynamik, Leibniz Universit?t Hannover, Appelstra?e 9A 30167 Hannover Germany; Jonkman, J. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Parkway Golden Colorado 80401 USA

    2017-02-20

    A significant number of wind turbines installed today have reached their designed service life of 20 years, and the number will rise continuously. Most of these turbines promise a more economical performance if they operate for more than 20 years. To assess a continued operation, we have to analyze the load-bearing capacity of the support structure with respect to site-specific conditions. Such an analysis requires the comparison of the loads used for the design of the support structure with the actual loads experienced. This publication presents the application of a so-called inverse load calculation to a 5-MW wind turbine support structure. The inverse load calculation determines external loads derived from a mechanical description of the support structure and from measured structural responses. Using numerical simulations with the software fast, we investigated the influence of wind-turbine-specific effects such as the wind turbine control or the dynamic interaction between the loads and the support structure to the presented inverse load calculation procedure. fast is used to study the inverse calculation of simultaneously acting wind and wave loads, which has not been carried out until now. Furthermore, the application of the inverse load calculation procedure to a real 5-MW wind turbine support structure is demonstrated. In terms of this practical application, setting up the mechanical system for the support structure using measurement data is discussed. The paper presents results for defined load cases and assesses the accuracy of the inversely derived dynamic loads for both the simulations and the practical application.

  4. Operation and Equivalent Loads of Wind Turbines in Large Wind Farms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Soren Juhl; Sorensen, Jens Norkaer; Mikkelsen, Robert Flemming

    2017-11-01

    Wind farms continue to grow in size and as the technology matures, the design of wind farms move towards including dynamic effects besides merely annual power production estimates. The unsteady operation of wind turbines in large wind farms has been modelled with EllipSys3D(Michelsen, 1992, and Sørensen, 1995) for a number of different scenarios using a fully coupled large eddy simulations(LES) and aero-elastic framework. The turbines are represented in the flow fields using the actuator line method(Sørensen and Shen, 2002), where the aerodynamic forces and deflections are derived from an aero-elastic code, Flex5(Øye, 1996). The simulations constitute a database of full turbine operation in terms of both production and loads for various wind speeds, turbulence intensities, and turbine spacings. The operating conditions are examined in terms of averaged power production and thrust force, as well as 10min equivalent flapwise bending, yaw, and tilt moment loads. The analyses focus on how the performance and loads change throughout a given farm as well as comparing how various input parameters affect the operation and loads of the wind turbines during different scenarios. COMWIND(Grant 2104-09- 067216/DSF), Nordic Consortium on Optimization and Control of Wind Farms, Eurotech Greentech Wind project, Winds2Loads, and CCA LES. Ressources Granted on SNIC and JESS. The Vestas NM80 turbine has been used.

  5. Effects of Icing on Wind Turbine Fatigue Loads

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frohboese, Peter; Anders, Andreas

    2007-01-01

    The external conditions occurring at cold climate sites will affect wind turbines in different ways. The effects of ice accretion on wind turbines and the influence on the turbine fatigue loads are examined. The amount of icing prior to turbine installation needs to be estimated by using standard measurement data and considering the geometry of the proposed turbine. A procedure to calculate the expected ice accretion on wind turbines out of standard measurement data is explained and the results are discussed. Different parameters to describe the accreted ice on the turbine are examined separately in a fatigue load calculation. The results of the fatigue load calculation are discussed and selected cases are presented

  6. Design Load Basis for Offshore Wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Natarajan, Anand; Hansen, Morten Hartvig; Wang, Shaofeng

    2016-01-01

    DTU Wind Energy is not designing and manufacturing wind turbines and does therefore not need a Design Load Basis (DLB) that is accepted by a certification body. However, to assess the load consequences of innovative features and devices added to existing offshore turbine concepts or new offshore...... turbine concept developed in our research, it is useful to have a full DLB that follows the current design standard and is representative of a general DLB used by the industry. It will set a standard for the offshore wind turbine design load evaluations performed at DTU Wind Energy, which is aligned...... with the challenges faced by the industry and therefore ensures that our research continues to have a strong foundation in this interaction. Furthermore, the use of a full DLB that follows the current standard can improve and increase the feedback from the research at DTU Wind Energy to the international...

  7. Ultimate loading of wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Gunner Chr.; Ronold, K.; Ejsing Jørgensen, Hans

    1999-01-01

    An extreme loading study has been conducted comprising a general wind climate analysis as well as a wind turbine reliability study. In the wind climate analysis, the distribution of the (horizontal) turbulence standard deviation, conditioned on the meanwind speed, has been approximated by fitting......, a design turbulence intensity for off-shore application is proposed which, in the IEC code framework, is applicable for extreme as well as for fatigue loaddetermination. In order to establish a rational method to analyse wind turbine components with respect to failure in ultimate loading, and in addition...... a three parameter Weibull distribution to the measured on-shore and off-shore data for wind speed variations. Specific recommendations on off-shore design turbulence intensities are lacking in the presentIEC-code. Based on the present analysis of the off-shore wind climate on two shallow water sites...

  8. Effects of gain-scheduling methods in a classical wind turbine controller on wind turbine aeroservoelastic modes and loads

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tibaldi, Carlo; Henriksen, Lars Christian; Hansen, Morten Hartvig

    2014-01-01

    The eects of dierent gain-scheduling methods for a classical wind turbine controller, operating in full load region, on the wind turbine aeroservoelastic modes and loads are investigated in this work. The dierent techniques are derived looking at the physical problem to take into account the chan......The eects of dierent gain-scheduling methods for a classical wind turbine controller, operating in full load region, on the wind turbine aeroservoelastic modes and loads are investigated in this work. The dierent techniques are derived looking at the physical problem to take into account...

  9. Load alleviation of wind turbines by yaw misalignment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kragh, Knud Abildgaard; Hansen, Morten Hartvig

    2014-01-01

    Vertical wind shear is one of the dominating causes of load variations on the blades of a horizontal axis wind turbine. To alleviate the varying loads, wind turbine control systems have been augmented with sensors and actuators for individual pitch control. However, the loads caused by a vertical...... wind shear can also be affected through yaw misalignment. Recent studies of yaw control have been focused on improving the yaw alignment to increase the power capture at below rated wind speeds. In this study, the potential of alleviating blade load variations induced by the wind shear through yaw...... misalignment is assessed. The study is performed through simulations of a reference turbine. The study shows that optimal yaw misalignment angles for minimizing the blade load variations can be identified for both deterministic and turbulent inflows. It is shown that the optimal yaw misalignment angles can...

  10. Blade-Pitch Control for Wind Turbine Load Reductions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lio, Alan Wai Hou

    Large wind turbines are subjected to the harmful loads that arise from the spatially uneven and temporally unsteady oncoming wind. Such loads are the known sources of fatigue damage that reduce the turbine operational lifetime, ultimately increasing the cost of wind energy to the end-users. In re...

  11. Assessment of wind turbine load measurement instrumentation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morfiadakis, E; Papadopoulos, K [CRES (Greece); Borg, N van der [ECN, Petten (Netherlands); Petersen, S M [Risoe, Roskilde (Denmark); Seifert, H [DEWI, Wilhelmshaven (Germany)

    1999-03-01

    In the framework of Sub-Task3 `Wind turbine load measurement instrumentation` of EU-project `European Wind Turbine Testing Procedure Development`, the load measurement techniques have been assessed by laboratory, full scale and numerical tests. The existing methods have been reviewed with emphasis on the strain gage application techniques on composite materials and recommendations are provided for the optimisation of load measurement techniques. (au) EU. 14 refs.

  12. Load mitigation of unbalanced wind turbines using PI-R individual pitch control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Yunqian; Cheng, Ming; Chen, Zhe

    2015-01-01

    This study discusses the load mitigation of unbalanced wind turbines, including balanced and unbalanced loads. Regarding the wind turbine load reduction, it has been shown that individual pitch control (IPC) is more promising in comparison with collective pitch control. However, wind turbine......) controller and two resonant (R) compensators is presented. The PI-R regulator is implemented in the hub reference frame to reduce both the balanced and unbalanced loads of the turbine. The wind turbine code FAST (fatigue, aerodynamics, structures and turbulence) is used for the wind turbine load modelling....... The simulations are conducted on the NREL upwind 1.5 MW wind turbine model. Elimination of both the balanced and unbalanced loads of the wind turbine has been achieved, so that PI-R IPC is demonstrated as an effective means for load mitigation of unbalanced wind turbines....

  13. Preview-based Asymmetric Load Reduction of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Mathias; Filsø, Jakob; Soltani, Mohsen

    2012-01-01

    Controller (MPC) developed is based on a model with individual blade pitching to utilize the LIDAR measurements. The MPC must also maintain a given power reference while satisfying a set of actuator constraints. The designed controller was tested on a 5 MW wind turbine in the FAST simulator and compared......Fatigue loads on wind turbines caused by an asymmetric wind field become an increasing concern when the scale of wind turbines increases. This paper presents a model based predictive approach to reduce asymmetric loads by using Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) measurements. The Model Predictive...

  14. Assessment of Wind Parameter Sensitivity on Extreme and Fatigue Wind Turbine Loads

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robertson, Amy N [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sethuraman, Latha [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Jonkman, Jason [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Quick, Julian [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2018-01-12

    Wind turbines are designed using a set of simulations to ascertain the structural loads that the turbine could encounter. While mean hub-height wind speed is considered to vary, other wind parameters such as turbulence spectra, sheer, veer, spatial coherence, and component correlation are fixed or conditional values that, in reality, could have different characteristics at different sites and have a significant effect on the resulting loads. This paper therefore seeks to assess the sensitivity of different wind parameters on the resulting ultimate and fatigue loads on the turbine during normal operational conditions. Eighteen different wind parameters are screened using an Elementary Effects approach with radial points. As expected, the results show a high sensitivity of the loads to the turbulence standard deviation in the primary wind direction, but the sensitivity to wind shear is often much greater. To a lesser extent, other wind parameters that drive loads include the coherence in the primary wind direction and veer.

  15. Load prediction of stall regulated wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bjoerck, A.; Dahlberg, J.Aa. [Aeronautical Research Inst. of Sweden, Bromma (Sweden); Carlen, I. [Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Goeteborg (Sweden). Div. of Marine Structural Engineering; Ganander, H. [Teknikgruppen AB, Sollentua (Sweden)

    1996-12-01

    Measurements of blade loads on a turbine situated in a small wind farm shows that the highest blade loads occur during operation close to the peak power i.e. when the turbine operates in the stall region. In this study the extensive experimental data base has been utilised to compare loads in selected campaigns with corresponding load predictions. The predictions are based on time domain simulations of the wind turbine structure, performed by the aeroelastic code VIDYN. In the calculations a model were adopted in order to include the effects of dynamic stall. This paper describes the work carried out so far within the project and key results. 5 refs, 10 figs

  16. Comparison of loads for wind turbine down-regulation strategies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhu, Jiangsheng; Ma, Kuichao; N. Soltani, Mohsen

    2017-01-01

    For wind farm active power setpoint tracking, both farm level and turbine level down regulation strategies should to be optimized. Several down regulation strategies are chosen to analyse the wind turbine load performance according to different wind speed and power reference. In this paper we...... suggest appropriate down regulation strategy to control wind turbine for active power reference tracking. we compare four different control strategies, namely Const-Ω, Const-λ, Max-Ω and Min-Ct and discuss the loads on main components and downwind speed by presenting analysis of several wind scenarios...

  17. Assessment of Wind Parameter Sensitivity on Ultimate and Fatigue Wind Turbine Loads: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robertson, Amy N [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sethuraman, Latha [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Jonkman, Jason [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Quick, Julian [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2018-02-13

    Wind turbines are designed using a set of simulations to ascertain the structural loads that the turbine could encounter. While mean hub-height wind speed is considered to vary, other wind parameters such as turbulence spectra, sheer, veer, spatial coherence, and component correlation are fixed or conditional values that, in reality, could have different characteristics at different sites and have a significant effect on the resulting loads. This paper therefore seeks to assess the sensitivity of different wind parameters on the resulting ultimate and fatigue loads on the turbine during normal operational conditions. Eighteen different wind parameters are screened using an Elementary Effects approach with radial points. As expected, the results show a high sensitivity of the loads to the turbulence standard deviation in the primary wind direction, but the sensitivity to wind shear is often much greater. To a lesser extent, other wind parameters that drive loads include the coherence in the primary wind direction and veer.

  18. Performance Enhancement and Load Reduction on Wind Turbines Using Inflow Measurements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kragh, Knud Abildgaard

    . The load variations on a wind turbine can be alleviated using either yaw or pitch actuation. A method is presented for alleviating load variations using yaw control, and it is shown how the method can be efficiently applied for decreasing the load variations that are caused by a vertical wind shear...... wind energy research is focused on decreasing the cost of the energy that can be produced from the wind. The cost of energy can for example be decreased by ensuring that wind turbines are operated in a way that ensures that the maximum amount of energy is extracted, and that the turbines are not loaded...... excessively. The operation of a wind turbine is governed by a number of controllers that are based on a series of sensors and actuators. Classical wind turbine control utilizes sensors for measuring turbine parameters such as rotor speed, power and shaft torque, as well as actuators for applying generator...

  19. Monitoring fatigue loads on wind turbines using cycle counting data acquisition systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soeker, H; Seifert, H [Deutsches Windenergie-Institut (Germany); Fragoulis, A; Vionis, P; Foussekis, D [Center for Renewable Energy Sources (Greece); Dahlberg, J A; Poppen, M [The Aeronautical Research Institue of Sweden (Sweden)

    1996-09-01

    As in any industrial application, the duration of a wind turbine`s life is a key parameter for the evaluation of its economic potential. Assuming a service life of 20 years, components of the turbine have to withstand a number of load cycles of up to 10{sup 8}. Such numbers of load cycles impose high demands on the fatigue characteristics of both, the used materials and the design. Nevertheless, fatigue loading of wind turbine components still remains a parameter of high uncertainty in the design of wind turbines. The specific features of these fatigue loads can be expected to vary with the type of turbine and the site of operation. In order to ensure the reliability of the next generation of larger scale wind turbines improved load assumptions will be of vital importance. Within the scope of the presented research program DEWI, C.R.E.S. and FFA monitored fatigue loads of serial produced wind turbines by means of a monitoring method that uses on-line cycle counting techniques. The blade root bending moments of two pitch controlled, variable speed wind turbines operating in the Hamswehrum wind farm, and also that of a stall controlled, fixed speed wind turbine operating in CRES` complex terrain test site, were measured by DEWI and CRES. In parallel FFA used their database of time series measurements of blade root bending moments on a stall controlled, fixed speed turbine at Alsvik Windfarm in order to derive semi-empirical fatigue load data. The experience gained from application of the on-line measurement technique is discussed with respect to performance, data quality, reliability and cost effectiveness. Investigations on the effects of wind farm and complex terrain operation on the fatigue loads of wind turbine rotor blades are presented. (au)

  20. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Design Load Cases Investigation and Comparison with Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Galinos, Christos; Larsen, Torben J.; Aagaard Madsen, Helge

    2016-01-01

    The paper studies the applicability of the IEC 61400-1 ed.3, 2005 International Standard of wind turbine minimum design requirements in the case of an onshore Darrieus VAWT and compares the results of basic Design Load Cases (DLCs) with those of a 3-bladed HAWT. The study is based on aeroelastic...... computations using the HAWC2 aero-servo-elastic code A 2-bladed 5 MW VAWT rotor is used based on a modified version of the DeepWind rotor For the HAWT simulations the NREL 3-bladed 5 MW reference wind turbine model is utilized Various DLCs are examined including normal power production, emergency shut down...... and parked situations, from cut-in to cut-out and extreme wind conditions. The ultimate and 1 Hz equivalent fatigue loads of the blade root and turbine base bottom are extracted and compared in order to give an insight of the load levels between the two concepts. According to the analysis the IEC 61400-1 ed...

  1. Grid faults' impact on wind turbine structural loads

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hansen, A.D.; Cutululis, N.A.; Soerensen, P.; Larsen, T.J. [Risoe National Lab., DTU, Wind Energy Dept. (Denmark); Iov, F.

    2007-11-15

    The objective of this work is to illustrate the impact of the grid faults on the wind turbine structural loads. Grid faults are typically in detailed power system simulation tools, which by applying simplified mechanical models, are not able to provide a throughout insight on the structural loads caused by sudden disturbances on the grid. On the other hand, structural loads of the wind turbine are typically assessed in advanced aeroelastic computer codes, which by applying simplified electrical models do not provide detailed electrical insight. This paper presents a simulation strategy, where the focus is on how to access a proper combination of two complementary simulation tools, such as the advanced aeroelastic computer code HAWC2 and the detailed power system simulation tool DIgSILENT, in order to provide a whole overview of both the structural and the electrical behaviour of the wind turbine during grid faults. The effect of a grid fault on the wind turbine flexible structure is assessed for a typical fixed speed wind turbine, equipped with an induction generator. (au)

  2. Load calculation methods for offshore wind turbine foundations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Passon, Patrik; Branner, Kim

    2014-01-01

    Calculation of design loads for offshore wind turbine (OWT) foundations is typically performed in a joint effort between wind turbine manufactures and foundation designers (FDs). Ideally, both parties would apply the same fully integrated design tool and model for that purpose. However, such solu...

  3. CFD-based design load analysis of 5MW offshore wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tran, T. T.; Ryu, G. J.; Kim, Y. H.; Kim, D. H.

    2012-11-01

    The structure and aerodynamic loads acting on NREL 5MW reference wind turbine blade are calculated and analyzed based on advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and unsteady Blade Element Momentum (BEM). A detailed examination of the six force components has been carried out (three force components and three moment components). Structure load (gravity and inertia load) and aerodynamic load have been obtained by additional structural calculations (CFD or BEM, respectively,). In CFD method, the Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes approach was applied to solve the continuity equation of mass conservation and momentum balance so that the complex flow around wind turbines was modeled. Written in C programming language, a User Defined Function (UDF) code which defines transient velocity profile according to the Extreme Operating Gust condition was compiled into commercial FLUENT package. Furthermore, the unsteady BEM with 3D stall model has also adopted to investigate load components on wind turbine rotor. The present study introduces a comparison between advanced CFD and unsteady BEM for determining load on wind turbine rotor. Results indicate that there are good agreements between both present methods. It is importantly shown that six load components on wind turbine rotor is significant effect under Extreme Operating Gust (EOG) condition. Using advanced CFD and additional structural calculations, this study has succeeded to construct accuracy numerical methodology to estimate total load of wind turbine that compose of aerodynamic load and structure load.

  4. 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

  5. Loads on Wind Turbines Access Platforms with Gratings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Thomas Lykke; Frigaard, Peter; Rasmussen, Michael R.

    2011-01-01

    The present paper deals with loads on wind turbine access platforms. The many planned new wind turbine parks together with the observed damages on platforms in several existing parks make the topic very important. The paper gives an overview of recently developed design formulae for different types...

  6. Load and Flicker Mitigation of Grid-Connected Wind Turbines with DFIG

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Yunqian

    power will result in the flicker emission in the power network, causing consumer annoyance and complaint. These issues make the study on the wind turbine load reduction and the flicker mitigation necessary and imperative. The research documented in this thesis addresses wind turbine load reduction under...... both balanced and unbalanced conditions and flicker mitigation issues of wind turbines system. To reduce the wind turbine loads, PI control based individual pitch control (IPC) scheme is presented. The PI IPC scheme is developed to reduce not only the loads on the blade, but also the loads on the rotor...... the balanced loads but also the unbalanced loads. Flicker emission which is harmful to the power system is induced by voltage fluctuations which are caused by load flow changes in the grid. One way for flicker mitigation is to reduce the power fluctuation from the fluctuation source. Individual pitch control...

  7. Assessment of the impact of frequency support on DFIG wind turbine loads

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barahona Garzón, Braulio; You, Rui; Hansen, Anca Daniela

    2013-01-01

    This study presents models and tools for the assessment of the impact that providing frequency support has on doubly-fed generator (DFIG) wind turbine structural loads and drive train. The focus is on primary frequency support, aiming at quantifying the impact on wind turbines acting as frequency...... code and electrical models. In this simulation framework, the impact that power system conditions can have on wind turbines, and vice versa the support that wind turbines can offer to the power system can be investigated....... containment reserve and providing inertial response. The sensitivity of wind turbine load indicators—load duration- distribution and maximum load values—to inertial response control actions and different torsional models of drive train is investigated. The analysis is done by co-simulations of an aeroelastic...

  8. 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.

  9. Reducing Turbine Mechanical Loads Using Flow Model-Based Wind Farm Controller

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kazda, Jonas; Cutululis, Nicolaos Antonio

    Cumulated O&M costs of offshore wind farms are comparable with wind turbine CAPEX of such wind farm. In wind farms, wake effects can result in up to 80% higher fatigue loads at downstream wind turbines [1] and consequently larger O&M costs. The present work therefore investigates to reduce...... these loads during the provision of grid balancing services using optimal model-based wind farm control. Wind farm controllers coordinate the operating point of wind turbines in a wind farm in order to achieve a given objective. The investigated objective of the control in this work is to follow a total wind...... farm power reference while reducing the tower bending moments of the turbines in the wind farm. The wind farm controller is tested on a 8 turbine array, which is representative of a typical offshore wind farm. The operation of the wind farm is simulated using the dynamic wind farm simulation tool S imWind...

  10. Full-load converter connected asynchronous generators for MW class wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Akhmatov, Vladislav

    2005-06-15

    Wind turbines equipped with full-load converter-connected asynchronous generators are a known concept. These have rating up to hundreds of kW and are a feasible concept for MW class wind turbines and may have advantages when compared to conventional wind turbines with directly connected generators. The concept requires the use of full-scale frequency converters, but the mechanical gearbox is smaller than in conventional wind turbines of the same rating. Application of smaller gearbox may reduce the no-load losses in the wind turbines, which is why such wind turbines with converter connected generators may start operation at a smaller wind speed. Wind turbines equipped with such converted connected asynchronous generators are pitch-controlled and variable-speed. This allows better performance and control. The converter control may be applied to support the grid voltage at short-circuit faults and to improve the fault-ride-through capability of the wind turbines, which makes the concepts relevant for large wind farms. The Danish transmission system operator Energinet-DK has implemented the general model of wind turbines equipped with converter connected asynchronous generators with the simulation tool Powerfactory (DlgSilent). The article presents Energinet-DK's experience of modeling this feasible wind turbine concept. (Author)

  11. Mitigation of mechanical loads of NREL 5MW wind turbine tower

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nam, Yoonsu; Im, Chang Hee

    2012-01-01

    As the size of a wind turbine increases, the mechanical structure has to have an increasing mechanical stiffness that is sufficient to withstand mechanical fatigue loads over a lifespan of more than 20 years. However, this leads to a heavier mechanical design, which means a high material cost during wind turbine manufacturing. Therefore, lightweight design of a wind turbine is an important design constraint. Usually, a lightweight mechanical structure has low damping. Therefore, if it is subjected to a disturbance, it will oscillate continuously. This study deals with the active damping control of a wind turbine tower. An algorithm that mitigates the mechanical loads of a wind turbine tower is introduced. The effectiveness of this algorithm is verified through a numerical simulation using GH Bladed, which is a commercial aero elastic code for wind turbines

  12. Active load control techniques for wind turbines.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    van Dam, C.P. (University of California, Davis, CA); Berg, Dale E.; Johnson, Scott J. (University of California, Davis, CA)

    2008-07-01

    This report provides an overview on the current state of wind turbine control and introduces a number of active techniques that could be potentially used for control of wind turbine blades. The focus is on research regarding active flow control (AFC) as it applies to wind turbine performance and loads. The techniques and concepts described here are often described as 'smart structures' or 'smart rotor control'. This field is rapidly growing and there are numerous concepts currently being investigated around the world; some concepts already are focused on the wind energy industry and others are intended for use in other fields, but have the potential for wind turbine control. An AFC system can be broken into three categories: controls and sensors, actuators and devices, and the flow phenomena. This report focuses on the research involved with the actuators and devices and the generated flow phenomena caused by each device.

  13. Performance enhancement and load reduction on wind turbines using inflow measurements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abildgaard Kragh, K.

    2013-06-15

    Wind energy is being applied at a larger and larger scale worldwide, and is one of the technologies eligible for accommodating the increasing demand for renewable energy. However, wind energy is still not competitive compared to technologies that are based on fossil energy sources. Therefore, much wind energy research is focused on decreasing the cost of the energy that can be produced from the wind. The cost of energy can for example be decreased by ensuring that wind turbines are operated in a way that ensures that the maximum amount of energy is extracted, and that the turbines are not loaded excessively. The operation of a wind turbine is governed by a number of controllers that are based on a series of sensors and actuators. Classical wind turbine control utilizes sensors for measuring turbine parameters such as rotor speed, power and shaft torque, as well as actuators for applying generator torque and collective pitch angle changes. Thus, classical wind turbine control schemes are based on measurements of the effects of the inflow on the turbine. Therefore, the reactions of the control system to the inflow changes are inherently delayed compared to the actual inflow changes. Because of the inherent delay of the control system, the ability of the system to react promptly to inflow changes is limited. Control schemes that are based on inflow measurements have been developed to overcome the limitations of the classical wind turbine control system. By measuring the inflow directly, actuation can be initiated instantly as the inflow changes. If the inflow is measured upstream of the turbine, actuation can be initiated prior to the occurrence of a wind speed change at the turbine. Hereby, even the actuator delay can be compensated for. Upstream inflow measurements could for example be acquired using ''Light Detection and Ranging''. In this thesis, the potentials for improving the power production and decreasing the load variations of horizontal axis upwind turbines

  14. H∞ Based Control for Load Mitigation in Wind Turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aron Pujana-Arrese

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available This article demonstrates a strategy to design multivariable and multi-objective controllers based on the H∞ norm reduction applied to a wind turbine. The wind turbine model has been developed in the GH Bladed software and it is based on a 5 MW wind turbine defined in the Upwind European project. The designed control strategy works in the above rated power production zone and performs generator speed control and load reduction on the drive train and tower. In order to do this, two robust H∞ MISO (Multi-Input Single-Output controllers have been developed. These controllers generate collective pitch angle and generator torque set-point values to achieve the imposed control objectives. Linear models obtained in GH Bladed 4.0 are used, but the control design methodology can be used with linear models obtained from any other modelling package. Controllers are designed by setting out a mixed sensitivity problem, where some notch filters are also included in the controller dynamics. The obtained 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. The analysis compares the proposed control strategy based on H∞ controllers to a baseline control strategy designed using the classical control methods implemented on the present wind turbines.

  15. Wake Influence on Dynamic Load Characteristics of Offshore Floating Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jeon, Minu; Lee, Soogab; Kim, Taeseong

    2016-01-01

    Because the flow conditions of an offshore floating wind turbine and onshore fixed wind turbine differ, it is debatable whether the aerodynamic load predictions of an offshore floating wind turbine using the conventional blade-element momentum theory, which does not consider the dynamic wake effe...

  16. A wind-tunnel investigation of wind-turbine wakes in different yawed and loading conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastankhah, Majid; Porté-Agel, Fernando

    2015-04-01

    Wind-turbine wakes have negative effects on wind-farm performance. They are associated with: (a) the velocity deficit, which reduces the generated power of downwind turbines; and (b) the turbulence level, which increases the fatigue loads on downwind turbines. Controlling the yaw angle of turbines can potentially improve the performance of wind farms by deflecting the wake away from downwind turbines. However, except for few studies, wakes of yawed turbines still suffer from the lack of systematic research. To fill this research gap, we performed wind-tunnel experiments in the recirculating boundary-layer wind tunnel at the WIRE Laboratory of EPFL to better understand the wakes of yawed turbines. High-resolution stereoscopic particle image-velocimetry (S-PIV) was used to measure three velocity components in a horizontal plane located downwind of a horizontal-axis, three-blade model turbine. A servo-controller was connected to the DC generator of the turbine, which allowed us to apply different loadings. The power and thrust coefficients of the turbine were also measured for each case. These power and thrust measurements together with the highly-resolved flow measurements enabled us to study different wake characteristics such as the energy entrainment from the outer flow into the wake, the wake deflection and the helicoidal tip vortices for yawed turbines.

  17. On Space-Time Resolution of Inflow Representations for Wind Turbine Loads Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lance Manuel

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Efficient spatial and temporal resolution of simulated inflow wind fields is important in order to represent wind turbine dynamics and derive load statistics for design. Using Fourier-based stochastic simulation of inflow turbulence, we first investigate loads for a utility-scale turbine in the neutral atmospheric boundary layer. Load statistics, spectra, and wavelet analysis representations for different space and time resolutions are compared. Next, large-eddy simulation (LES is employed with space-time resolutions, justified on the basis of the earlier stochastic simulations, to again derive turbine loads. Extreme and fatigue loads from the two approaches used in inflow field generation are compared. On the basis of simulation studies carried out for three different wind speeds in the turbine’s operating range, it is shown that inflow turbulence described using 10-meter spatial resolution and 1 Hz temporal resolution is adequate for assessing turbine loads. Such studies on the investigation of adequate filtering or resolution of inflow wind fields help to establish efficient strategies for LES and other physical or stochastic simulation needed in turbine loads studies.

  18. The Load Level of Modern Wind Turbines according to IEC 61400-1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freudenreich, K; Argyriadis, K

    2007-01-01

    The paper describes some effects on the load level of state-of-the art multi megawatt wind turbines introduced by the new edition of the standard IEC 61400-1:2005 W ind Turbines - Part 1: Design requirements . Compared to the previous edition, especially the extreme load determination has been modified by applying stochastic and statistical analyses. Within this paper the effect on the overall load level of wind turbines is demonstrated and occurring problems are discussed. Load simulations have been carried out for four state-of-the-art multi-megawatt wind turbines of different design concepts and from different manufacturers. The blade root bending moments and tip deflection have been determined by applying different extrapolation methods. Advantages and disadvantages of these methods and tail fittings for different load components and wind turbine technologies are discussed and interpreted. Further on, the application of the extreme turbulence model is demonstrated. The dependence of the load level on the turbulence intensity and control system, as well as the interaction with extrapolated loads is discussed and limitations outlined. The obtained load level is compared to the overall load level of the turbines according to the previous edition of the standard, IEC 61400-1:1999

  19. Adaptive pitch control for load mitigation of wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Yuan; Tang, J.

    2015-04-01

    In this research, model reference adaptive control is examined for the pitch control of wind turbines that may suffer from reduced life owing to extreme loads and fatigue when operated under a high wind speed. Specifically, we aim at making a trade-off between the maximum energy captured and the load induced. The adaptive controller is designed to track the optimal generator speed and at the same time to mitigate component loads under turbulent wind field and other uncertainties. The proposed algorithm is tested on the NREL offshore 5-MW baseline wind turbine, and its performance is compared with that those of the gain scheduled proportional integral (GSPI) control and the disturbance accommodating control (DAC). The results show that the blade root flapwise load can be reduced at a slight expense of optimal power output. The generator speed regulation under adaptive controller is better than DAC.

  20. A systematic hub loads model of a horizontal wind turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kazacoks, Romans; Jamieson, Peter

    2014-01-01

    The wind turbine industry has focused offshore on increasing the capacity of a single unit through up-scaling their machines. There is however a lack of systematic studies on how loads vary due to properties of a wind turbine and scaling of wind turbines. The purpose of this paper is to study how applied blade modifications, with similarities such as mass, stiffness and dimensions, influence blade root moments and lifetime damage equivalent loads (DELs) of the rotor blades. In order to produce fatigue load blade root moment trends based on the applied modifications. It was found that a linear trend of lifetime DELs based on the applied modifications of blades, which have effect on the natural frequency of blade of the original or reference model. As the control system was tuned for the specific frequency of the reference model. The linear trend of lifetime DELs was generated as long as the natural frequency of the reference model was preserved. For larger modifications of the wind turbine the controller would need retuning

  1. Influence of wind conditions on wind turbine loads and measurement of turbulence using lidars

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sathe, A.R.

    2012-01-01

    Variations in wind conditions influence the loads on wind turbines significantly. In order to determine these loads it is important that the external conditions are well understood. Wind lidars are well developed nowadays to measure wind profiles upwards from the surface. But how turbulence can be

  2. The nature of wind turbine fatigue loads in wind farms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Gunner Chr.; Larsen, Torben J.; Aagaard Madsen, Helge

    2013-01-01

    The aim of the present paper is to further validate the predictive capability of the DWM/HAWC2 package for simulation of structural loadings in wind farms. The validation in particular focus on tower fatigue loading characteristics (i.e. equivalent moments) as function of turbine relative positio...

  3. Turbulence and turbulence-generated structural loading in wind turbine clusters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frandsen, Sten Tronæs

    2007-01-01

    of the model is that it became part of the Danish standard for wind turbine design DS 472 (2001) in August 2001 and it is part of the corresponding international standard, IEC61400-1 (2005). Also, extreme loading under normal operation for wake conditions and the efficiency of very large wind farms......Turbulence - in terms of standard deviation of wind speed fluctuations - and other flow characteristics are different in the interior of wind farms relative to the free flow and action must be taken to ensure sufficient structural sustainability of the wind turbines exposed to “wind farm flow......”. The standard deviation of wind speed fluctuations is a known key parameter for both extreme- and fatigue loading, and it is argued and found to be justified that a model for change in turbulence intensity alone may account for increased fatigue loading in wind farms. Changes in scale of turbulence...

  4. Analysis of extreme wind events at Høvsøre and the effect on wind turbine loads

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hannesdóttir, Ásta; Kelly, Mark C.; Mann, Jakob

    used to simulate wind turbine response in time domain. The simulations are made for the DTU 10 MW reference wind turbine. Load analysis shows that the maximum tilt moment on the tower yaw bearing correlates well with the wind shear of the measurements. When these loads are compared with the extreme...... wind shear load case of the IEC standards, it is seen that they are of similar magnitude and in one case even higher....

  5. Assessment of wind turbine drive-train fatigue loads under torsional excitation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gallego Calderon, Juan Felipe; Natarajan, Anand

    2015-01-01

    allows the computation of the bearing and gear-mesh loads. The proposed models are validated by experiments from a 750 kW test-rig. The drive-train model is configured for a 5 MW power capacity and coupled to the corresponding wind turbine and load simulations are carried out under turbulent wind...... model is used in comparison to a simplified approach for load calculation. It is found that some of the wind turbine modes can have negative consequences on the life-time of the planetary bearings. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved....

  6. Gearbox Fatigue Load Estimation for Condition Monitoring of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

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

    2012-01-01

    control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. Estimated loads can be further used for prediction of remaining operating lifetime of turbine components, detection of high stress level or fault detection. An augmented Kalman filter is chosen as the fatigue load estimator because its characteristics well suit......The focus of the paper is on a design of a fatigue load estimator for predictive condition monitoring systems (CMS) of wind turbines. In order to avoid high-price measurement equipment required for direct load measuring, an indirect approach is suggested using only measurements from supervisory...... for the real time application. This paper presents results of the estimation of the gearbox fatigue load, often called shaft torque, using simulated data of wind turbine. Noise sensitivity of the algorithm is investigated by assuming different levels of measurement noise. Shaft torque estimations are compared...

  7. Model Predictive Control for Load Frequency Control with Wind Turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi Zhang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Reliable load frequency (LFC control is crucial to the operation and design of modern electric power systems. Considering the LFC problem of a four-area interconnected power system with wind turbines, this paper presents a distributed model predictive control (DMPC based on coordination scheme. The proposed algorithm solves a series of local optimization problems to minimize a performance objective for each control area. The scheme incorporates the two critical nonlinear constraints, for example, the generation rate constraint (GRC and the valve limit, into convex optimization problems. Furthermore, the algorithm reduces the impact on the randomness and intermittence of wind turbine effectively. A performance comparison between the proposed controller with and that without the participation of the wind turbines is carried out. Good performance is obtained in the presence of power system nonlinearities due to the governors and turbines constraints and load change disturbances.

  8. Grid Faults Impact on the Mechanical Loads of Active Stall Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Iov, Florin; Cutululis, Nicolaos A.; Hansen, Anca D.

    2008-01-01

    Emphasis in this paper is on the fault ride-through operation impact on the wind turbines structural loads. Grid faults are typically simulated in power system simulation tools using simplified drive train mechanical model, approach which doesn't allow a thorough investigation of structural loads...... as the electrical design of the wind turbine response during grid faults. The two-step simulation procedure is assessed by means of a simulation example. The effect of a grid fault on the structural part of a typical fixed speed wind turbine, equipped with an induction generator, is assessed....

  9. Grid faults' impact on wind turbine structural loads

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Anca Daniela; Cutululis, Nicolaos Antonio; Iov, F.

    2007-01-01

    The objective of this work is to illustrate the impact of the grid faults on the wind turbine structural loads. Grid faults are typically simulated in detailed power system simulation tools, which by applying simplified mechanical models, are not able to provide a throughout insight...... on the structural loads caused by sudden disturbances on the grid. On the other hand, structural loads of the wind turbine are typically assessed in advanced aerolastic computer codes, which by applying simplified electrical models do not provide detailed electrical insight. This paper presents a simulation...... strategy, where the focus is on how to access a proper combination of two complimentary simulations tools, such as the advanced aeroelastic computer code HAWC2 and the detailed power system simulation tool DIgSILENT, in order to provide a whole overview of both the structural and the electrical behaviour...

  10. 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

  11. Aerodynamic load control strategy of wind turbine in microgrid

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiangming; Liu, Heshun; Chen, Yanfei

    2017-12-01

    A control strategy is proposed in the paper to optimize the aerodynamic load of the wind turbine in micro-grid. In grid-connection mode, the wind turbine adopts a new individual variable pitch control strategy. The pitch angle of the blade is rapidly given by the controller, and the pitch angle of each blade is fine tuned by the weight coefficient distributor. In islanding mode, according to the requirements of energy storage system, a given power tracking control method based on fuzzy PID control is proposed. Simulation result shows that this control strategy can effectively improve the axial aerodynamic load of the blade under rated wind speed in grid-connection mode, and ensure the smooth operation of the micro-grid in islanding mode.

  12. Dynamic Loads and Wake Prediction for Large Wind Turbines Based on Free Wake Method

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Cao Jiufa; Wang Tongguang; Long Hui; Ke Shitang; Xu Bofeng

    2015-01-01

    With large scale wind turbines ,the issue of aerodynamic elastic response is even more significant on dy-namic behaviour of the system .Unsteady free vortex wake method is proposed to calculate the shape of wake and aerodynamic load .Considering the effect of aerodynamic load ,inertial load and gravity load ,the decoupling dy-namic equations are established by using finite element method in conjunction of the modal method and equations are solved numerically by Newmark approach .Finally ,the numerical simulation of a large scale wind turbine is performed through coupling the free vortex wake modelling with structural modelling .The results show that this coupling model can predict the flexible wind turbine dynamic characteristics effectively and efficiently .Under the influence of the gravitational force ,the dynamic response of flapwise direction contributes to the dynamic behavior of edgewise direction under the operational condition of steady wind speed .The difference in dynamic response be-tween the flexible and rigid wind turbines manifests when the aerodynamics/structure coupling effect is of signifi-cance in both wind turbine design and performance calculation .

  13. Dependence of offshore wind turbine fatigue loads on atmospheric stratification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hansen, K S; Larsen, G C; Ott, S

    2014-01-01

    The stratification of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is classified in terms of the M-O length and subsequently used to determine the relationship between ABL stability and the fatigue loads of a wind turbine located inside an offshore wind farm. Recorded equivalent fatigue loads, representing blade-bending and tower bottom bending, are combined with the operational statistics from the instrumented wind turbine as well as with meteorological statistics defining the inflow conditions. Only a part of all possible inflow conditions are covered through the approximately 8200 hours of combined measurements. The fatigue polar has been determined for an (almost) complete 360° inflow sector for both load sensors, representing mean wind speeds below and above rated wind speed, respectively, with the inflow conditions classified into three different stratification regimes: unstable, neutral and stable conditions. In general, impact of ABL stratification is clearly seen on wake affected inflow cases for both blade and tower fatigue loads. However, the character of this dependence varies significantly with the type of inflow conditions – e.g. single wake inflow or multiple wake inflow

  14. Database on wind characteristics - Analyses of wind turbine design loads

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Larsen, G.C.; Hansen, K.S.

    2004-06-01

    The main objective of IEA R and D Wind Annex XVII - Database on Wind Characteristics - has been to provide wind energy planners, designers and researchers, as well as the international wind engineering community in general, with a source of actual wind field data (time series and resource data) observed in a wide range of different wind climates and terrain types. Connected to an extension of the initial Annex period, the scope for the continuation was widened to include also support to the international wind turbine standardisation efforts.. The project partners are Sweden, Norway, U.S.A., The Netherlands and Denmark, with Denmark as the Operating Agent. The reporting of the continuation of Annex XVII falls in two separate parts. Part one accounts in details for the available data in the established database bank, and part two describes various data analyses performed with the overall purpose of improving the design load cases with relevance for to wind turbine structures. The present report constitutes the second part of the Annex XVII reporting. Both fatigue and extreme load aspects are dealt with, however, with the main emphasis on the latter. The work has been supported by The Ministry of Environment and Energy, Danish Energy Agency, The Netherlands Agency for Energy and the Environment (NOVEM), The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Administration (NVE), The Swedish National Energy Administration (STEM) and The Government of the United States of America. (au)

  15. Fatigue Load Modeling and Control for Wind Turbines based on Hysteresis Operators

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barradas Berglind, Jose de Jesus; Wisniewski, Rafal; Soltani, Mohsen

    2015-01-01

    method based on hysteresis operators, which can be used in control loops. Furthermore, we propose a model predictive control (MPC) strategy that incorporates the online fatigue estimation through the objective function, where the ultimate goal in mind is to reduce the fatigue load of the wind turbine......The focus of this work is on fatigue load modeling and controller design for the wind turbine level. The main purpose is to include a model of the damage effects caused by the fatigue of the wind turbine components in the controller design process. This paper addresses an online fatigue estimation...

  16. Turbulence and wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brand, Arno J.; Peinke, Joachim; Mann, Jakob

    2011-01-01

    The nature of turbulent flow towards, near and behind a wind turbine, the effect of turbulence on the electricity production and the mechanical loading of individual and clustered wind turbines, and some future issues are discussed.......The nature of turbulent flow towards, near and behind a wind turbine, the effect of turbulence on the electricity production and the mechanical loading of individual and clustered wind turbines, and some future issues are discussed....

  17. Probabilistic Design of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard

    During the last decades, wind turbines have been continuously developed with the aim of maximizing the life cycle benefits (production of electricity) minus the costs of planning, materials, installation, operation & maintenance as well as possible failure. In order to continue this development...... turbines and the central topics considered are statistical load extrapolation of extreme loads during operation and reliability assessment of wind turbine blades. Wind turbines differ from most civil engineering structures by having a control system which highly influences the loading. In the literature......, methods for estimating the extreme load-effects on a wind turbine during operation, where the control system is active, have been proposed. But these methods and thereby the estimated loads are often subjected to a significant uncertainty which influences the reliability of the wind turbine...

  18. 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

  19. Sensor comparison study for load alleviating wind turbine pitch control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kragh, Knud Abildgaard; Hansen, Morten Hartvig; Henriksen, Lars Christian

    2014-01-01

    As the size of wind turbines increases, the load alleviating capabilities of the turbine controller are becoming increasingly important. Load alleviating control schemes have traditionally been based on feedback from load sensor; however, recent developments of measurement technologies have enabled...... control on the basis of preview measurements of the inflow acquired using, e.g., light detection and ranging. The potential of alleviating load variations that are caused by mean wind speed changes through feed-forward control have been demonstrated through both experiments and simulations in several...... studies, whereas the potential of preview control for alleviating the load variations caused by azimuth dependent inflow variations is less described. Individual or cyclic pitch is required to alleviate azimuth dependent load variations and is traditionally applied through feedback control of the blade...

  20. Validation of Simplified Load Equations Through Loads Measurement and Modeling of a Small Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine Tower

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dana, Scott [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Van Dam, Jeroen J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Damiani, Rick R [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2018-04-24

    As part of an ongoing effort to improve the modeling and prediction of small wind turbine dynamics, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) tested a small horizontal-axis wind turbine in the field at the National Wind Technology Center. The test turbine was a 2.1-kW downwind machine mounted on an 18-m multi-section fiberglass composite tower. The tower was instrumented and monitored for approximately 6 months. The collected data were analyzed to assess the turbine and tower loads and further validate the simplified loads equations from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61400-2 design standards. Field-measured loads were also compared to the output of an aeroelastic model of the turbine. In particular, we compared fatigue loads as measured in the field, predicted by the aeroelastic model, and calculated using the simplified design equations. Ultimate loads at the tower base were assessed using both the simplified design equations and the aeroelastic model output. The simplified design equations in IEC 61400-2 do not accurately model fatigue loads and a discussion about the simplified design equations is discussed.

  1. Validated Loads Prediction Models for Offshore Wind Turbines for Enhanced Component Reliability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koukoura, Christina

    To improve the reliability of offshore wind turbines, accurate prediction of their response is required. Therefore, validation of models with site measurements is imperative. In the present thesis a 3.6MW pitch regulated-variable speed offshore wind turbine on a monopole foundation is built...... are used for the modification of the sub-structure/foundation design for possible material savings. First, the background of offshore wind engineering, including wind-wave conditions, support structure, blade loading and wind turbine dynamics are presented. Second, a detailed description of the site...

  2. Model of wind shear conditional on turbulence and its impact on wind turbine loads

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dimitrov, Nikolay Krasimirov; Natarajan, Anand; Kelly, Mark C.

    2015-01-01

    proposed for flat terrain and that can significantly decrease the uncertainty associated with fatigue load predictions for wind turbines with large rotors. An essential contribution is the conditioning of wind shear on the 90% quantile of wind turbulence, such that the appropriate magnitude of the design...... fatigue load is achieved. The proposed wind shear model based on the wind measurements is thereby probabilistic in definition, with shear jointly distributed with wind turbulence. A simplified model for the wind shear exponent is further derived from the full stochastic model. The fatigue loads over...... is most pronounced on the blade flap loads. It is further shown that under moderate wind turbulence, the wind shear exponents may be over-specified in the design standards, and a reduction of wind shear exponent based on the present measurements can contribute to reduced fatigue damage equivalent loads...

  3. Toward Isolation of Salient Features in Stable Boundary Layer Wind Fields that Influence Loads on Wind Turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinkyoo Park

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Neutral boundary layer (NBL flow fields, commonly used in turbine load studies and design, are generated using spectral procedures in stochastic simulation. For large utility-scale turbines, stable boundary layer (SBL flow fields are of great interest because they are often accompanied by enhanced wind shear, wind veer, and even low-level jets (LLJs. The generation of SBL flow fields, in contrast to simpler stochastic simulation for NBL, requires computational fluid dynamics (CFD procedures to capture the physics and noted characteristics—such as shear and veer—that are distinct from those seen in NBL flows. At present, large-eddy simulation (LES is the most efficient CFD procedure for SBL flow field generation and related wind turbine loads studies. Design standards, such as from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC, provide guidance albeit with simplifying assumptions (one such deals with assuming constant variance of turbulence over the rotor and recommend standard target turbulence power spectra and coherence functions to allow NBL flow field simulation. In contrast, a systematic SBL flow field simulation procedure has not been offered for design or for site assessment. It is instructive to compare LES-generated SBL flow fields with stochastic NBL flow fields and associated loads which we evaluate for a 5-MW turbine; in doing so, we seek to isolate distinguishing characteristics of wind shear, wind veer, and turbulence variation over the rotor plane in the alternative flow fields and in the turbine loads. Because of known differences in NBL-stochastic and SBL-LES wind fields but an industry preference for simpler stochastic simulation in design practice, this study investigates if one can reproduce stable atmospheric conditions using stochastic approaches with appropriate corrections for shear, veer, turbulence, etc. We find that such simple tuning cannot consistently match turbine target SBL load statistics, even though

  4. Proportional resonant individual pitch control for mitigation of wind turbines loads

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Yunqian; Chen, Zhe; Cheng, Ming

    2013-01-01

    attenuation. The individual pitch control (IPC) is a promising way to reduce the wind turbine loads. This study presents a proportional resonant (PR) IPC, which does not need the measurement of blade azimuth angle and multiple complex Coleman transformations between rotational coordinate frame and stationary...... coordinate frame. The new strategy can attenuate the 1p and higher harmonics on the wind turbine blades as well as 3p on the hub without any filters. The wind turbine code fatigue, aerodynamics, structures and turbulence is applied to a doubly fed induction generator-based wind power generation system....... The simulations are performed on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 1.5 MW upwind reference wind turbine model. The simulation results are presented and discussed to demonstrate the capability and effectiveness of the proposed PR IPC method....

  5. On Advanced Control Methods toward Power Capture and Load Mitigation in Wind Turbines

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yuan Yuan; Jiong Tang

    2017-01-01

    This article provides a survey of recently emerged methods for wind turbine control.Multivariate control approaches to the optimization of power capture and the reduction of loads in components under time-varying turbulent wind fields have been under extensive investigation in recent years.We divide the related research activities into three categories:modeling and dynamics of wind turbines,active control of wind turbines,and passive control of wind turbines.Regarding turbine dynamics,we discuss the physical fundamentals and present the aeroelastic analysis tools.Regarding active control,we review pitch control,torque control,and yaw control strategies encompassing mathematical formulations as well as their applications toward different objectives.Our survey mostly focuses on blade pitch control,which is considered one of the key elements in facilitating load reduction while maintaining power capture performance.Regarding passive control,we review techniques such as tuned mass dampers,smart rotors,and microtabs.Possible future directions are suggested.

  6. 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.

  7. On Small-Signal Stability of Wind Power System with Full-Load Converter Interfaced Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knüppel, Thyge; Akhmatov, Vladislav; Nielsen, Jørgen Nygård

    2010-01-01

    the impact of full-load converter interfaced wind turbines on power system small-signal stability. The study is based on a 7 generator network with lightly damped inter-area modes. A detailed wind turbine model with all grid relevant control functions is used in the study. Furthermore is the wind power plant......Small-signal stability analysis of power system oscillations is a well established field within power system analysis, but not much attention has yet been paid to systems with a high penetration of wind turbines and with large wind power plants. In this paper an analysis is presented which assess...... (WPP) equipped with a WPP voltage controller and comparisons are presented. The models of wind turbine and WPP voltage controller are kindly provided by Siemens Wind Power A/S for this work. The study is based on modal analysis which are complemented with simulations on the nonlinear system....

  8. 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...

  9. Parameterized Disturbance Observer Based Controller to Reduce Cyclic Loads of Wind Turbine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raja M. Imran

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper is concerned with bump-less transfer of parameterized disturbance observer based controller with individual pitch control strategy to reduce cyclic loads of wind turbine in full load operation. Cyclic loads are generated due to wind shear and tower shadow effects. Multivariable disturbance observer based linear controllers are designed with objective to reduce output power fluctuation, tower oscillation and drive-train torsion using optimal control theory. Linear parameterized controllers are designed by using a smooth scheduling mechanism between the controllers. The proposed parameterized controller with individual pitch was tested on nonlinear Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence (FAST code model of National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL’s 5 MW wind turbine. The closed-loop system performance was assessed by comparing the simulation results of proposed controller with a fixed gain and parameterized controller with collective pitch for full load operation of wind turbine. Simulations are performed with step wind to see the behavior of the system with wind shear and tower shadow effects. Then, turbulent wind is applied to see the smooth transition of the controllers. It can be concluded from the results that the proposed parameterized control shows smooth transition from one controller to another controller. Moreover, 3p and 6p harmonics are well mitigated as compared to fixed gain DOBC and parameterized DOBC with collective pitch.

  10. NWTC Researchers Field-Test Advanced Control Turbine Systems to Increase Performance, Decrease Structural Loading of Wind Turbines and Plants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2015-08-01

    Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) are studying component controls, including new advanced actuators and sensors, for both conventional turbines as well as wind plants. This research will help develop innovative control strategies that reduce aerodynamic structural loads and improve performance. Structural loads can cause damage that increase maintenance costs and shorten the life of a turbine or wind plant.

  11. Turbulence and turbulence-generated structural loading in wind turbine clusters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Frandsen, Sten

    2007-01-15

    Turbulence, in terms of standard deviation of wind speed fluctuations, and other flow characteristics are different in the interior of wind farms relative to the free flow and action must be taken to ensure sufficient structural sustainability of the wind turbines exposed to 'wind farm flow'. The standard deviation of wind speed fluctuations is a known key parameter for both extreme- and fatigue loading, and it is argued and found to be justified that a model for change in turbulence intensity alone may account for increased fatigue loading in wind farms. Changes in scale of turbulence and horizontal flow-shear also influence the dynamic response and thus fatigue loading. However, these parameters are typically negatively or positively correlated with the standard deviation of wind speed fluctuations, which therefore can, if need be, represent these other variables. Thus, models for spatially averaged turbulence intensity inside the wind farm and direct-wake turbulence intensity are being devised and a method to combine the different load situations is proposed. The combination of the load cases implies a weighting method involving the slope of the considered material's Woehler curve. In the context, this is novel and necessary to avoid excessive safety for fatigue estimation of the structure's steel components, and non-conservatism for fibreglass components. The proposed model offers significant reductions in computational efforts in the design process. The status for the implementation of the model is that it became part of the Danish standard for wind turbine design DS 472 (2001) in August 2001 and it is part of the corresponding international standard, IEC61400-1 (2005). Also, extreme loading under normal operation for wake conditions and the efficiency of very large wind farms are discussed. (au)

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

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

    2014-01-01

    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

  13. Shear and Turbulence Estimates for Calculation of Wind Turbine Loads and Responses Under Hurricane Strength Winds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosovic, B.; Bryan, G. H.; Haupt, S. E.

    2012-12-01

    Schwartz et al. (2010) recently reported that the total gross energy-generating offshore wind resource in the United States in waters less than 30m deep is approximately 1000 GW. Estimated offshore generating capacity is thus equivalent to the current generating capacity in the United States. Offshore wind power can therefore play important role in electricity production in the United States. However, most of this resource is located along the East Coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico, areas frequently affected by tropical cyclones including hurricanes. Hurricane strength winds, associated shear and turbulence can affect performance and structural integrity of wind turbines. In a recent study Rose et al. (2012) attempted to estimate the risk to offshore wind turbines from hurricane strength winds over a lifetime of a wind farm (i.e. 20 years). According to Rose et al. turbine tower buckling has been observed in typhoons. They concluded that there is "substantial risk that Category 3 and higher hurricanes can destroy half or more of the turbines at some locations." More robust designs including appropriate controls can mitigate the risk of wind turbine damage. To develop such designs good estimates of turbine loads under hurricane strength winds are essential. We use output from a large-eddy simulation of a hurricane to estimate shear and turbulence intensity over first couple of hundred meters above sea surface. We compute power spectra of three velocity components at several distances from the eye of the hurricane. Based on these spectra analytical spectral forms are developed and included in TurbSim, a stochastic inflow turbulence code developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, http://wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/preprocessors/turbsim/). TurbSim provides a numerical simulation including bursts of coherent turbulence associated with organized turbulent structures. It can generate realistic flow conditions that an operating turbine

  14. RBI Optimization of Offshore Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ramírez, José G. Rangel; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2009-01-01

    methods for oil & gas installations, a framework for optimal inspection and maintenance planning of offshore wind turbines is presented. Special aspects for offshore wind turbines considered are the fatigue loading characteristics where usually the wind loading are dominating the wave loading, wake......Wind turbines for electricity production have increased significantly the last years both in production capability and size. This development is expected to continue also in the coming years. Offshore wind turbines with an electricity production of 5-10 MW are planned. Typically, the wind turbine...... support structure is a steel structure consisting of a tower and a monopile, tripod or jacket type foundation. This paper considers aspects of inspection and maintenance planning of fatigue prone details in jacket and tripod type of wind turbine support structures. Based on risk-based inspection planning...

  15. Multi-objective Extremum Seeking Control for Enhancement of Wind Turbine Power Capture with Load Reduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Yan; Li, Yaoyu; Rotea, Mario A.

    2016-09-01

    The primary objective in below rated wind speed (Region 2) is to maximize the turbine's energy capture. Due to uncertainty, variability of turbine characteristics and lack of inexpensive but precise wind measurements, model-free control strategies that do not use wind measurements such as Extremum Seeking Control (ESC) have received significant attention. Based on a dither-demodulation scheme, ESC can maximize the wind power capture in real time despite uncertainty, variabilities and lack of accurate wind measurements. The existing work on ESC based wind turbine control focuses on power capture only. In this paper, a multi-objective extremum seeking control strategy is proposed to achieve nearly optimum wind energy capture while decreasing structural fatigue loads. The performance index of the ESC combines the rotor power and penalty terms of the standard deviations of selected fatigue load variables. Simulation studies of the proposed multi-objective ESC demonstrate that the damage-equivalent loads of tower and/or blade loads can be reduced with slight compromise in energy capture.

  16. WindPACT Reference Wind Turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dykes, Katherine L [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Rinker, Jennifer [Former National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) employee

    2018-04-02

    To fully understand how loads and turbine cost scale with turbine size, it is necessary to have identical turbine models that have been scaled to different rated powers. The report presents the WindPACT baseline models, which are a series of four baseline models that were designed to facilitate investigations into the scalings of loads and turbine cost with size. The models have four different rated powers (750 kW, 1.5 MW, 3.0 MW, and 5.0 MW), and each model was designed to its specified rated power using the same design methodology. The models were originally implemented in FAST_AD, the predecessor to NREL's open-source wind turbine simulator FAST, but have yet to be implemented in FAST. This report contains the specifications for all four WindPACT baseline models - including structural, aerodynamic, and control specifications - along with the inherent assumptions and equations that were used to calculate the model parameters. It is hoped that these baseline models will serve as extremely useful resources for investigations into the scalings of costs, loads, or optimization routines.

  17. 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

  18. Small-Signal Stability of Wind Power System With Full-Load Converter Interfaced Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knüppel, Thyge; Nielsen, Jørgen Nygaard; Jensen, Kim Høj

    2012-01-01

    Small-signal stability analysis of power system oscillations is a well established field within power system analysis, but not much attention has yet been paid to systems with a high penetration of wind turbines and with large wind power plants (WPP). In this paper a comprehensive analysis...... is presented which assesses the impact of full-load converter interfaced wind turbines on power system small-signal stability. The study is based on a 7 generator network with lightly damped inter-area modes. A detailed wind turbine (WT) model with all grid relevant control functions is used in the study....... The WT is, furthermore, equipped with a park level WPP voltage controller and comparisons are presented. The WT model for this work is a validated dynamic model of the 3.6 MW Siemens Wind Power WT. The study is based on modal analysis which is complemented with time domain simulations on the nonlinear...

  19. Wind turbine optimal control during storms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petrović, V; Bottasso, C L

    2014-01-01

    This paper proposes a control algorithm that enables wind turbine operation in high winds. With this objective, an online optimization procedure is formulated that, based on the wind turbine state, estimates those extremal wind speed variations that would produce maximal allowable wind turbine loads. Optimization results are compared to the actual wind speed and, if there is a danger of excessive loading, the wind turbine power reference is adjusted to ensure that loads stay within allowed limits. This way, the machine can operate safely even above the cut-out wind speed, thereby realizing a soft envelope-protecting cut-out. The proposed control strategy is tested and verified using a high-fidelity aeroservoelastic simulation model

  20. Effects of normal and extreme turbulence spectral parameters on wind turbine loads

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dimitrov, Nikolay Krasimirov; Natarajan, Anand; Mann, Jakob

    2017-01-01

    the recommended values in the IEC 61400-1 Ed.3 that is used for wind turbine design. The present paper investigates the impact of Mann turbulence model parameter variations on the design loads envelope for 5 MW and 10 MW reference wind turbines. Specific focus is made on the blade root loads, tower top moments...... of design loads is investigated with a focus on the commonly used Mann turbulence model. Quantification of the Mann model parameters is made through wind measurements acquired from the Høvsøre site. The parameters of the Mann model fitted to site specific observations can differ significantly from...... and tower base loads under normal turbulence and extreme turbulence, whereby the change in operating extreme and fatigue design loads obtained through turbulence model parameter variations is compared with corresponding variations obtained from random seeds of turbulence. The investigations quantify...

  1. Validation of SWAY Wind Turbine Response in FAST, with a Focus on the Influence of Tower Wind Loads: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koh, J. H.; Robertson, A.; Jonkman, J.; Driscoll, R.; Yin Kwee Ng, E.

    2015-04-23

    Need to modify simulated system behavior to the measured data, but the tower wind loads improved the comparison for nonoperating conditions. the SWAY system in both turbine operating and nonoperating conditions. Mixed results were observed when comparing the simulated system behavior to the measured data, but the tower wind loads improved the comparison for nonoperating conditions. without the new tower-load capability to examine its influence on the response characteristics of the system. This is important in situations when the turbine is parked in survival conditions. The simulation results were then compared to measured data from the SWAY system in both turbine operating and nonoperating conditions. Mixed results were observed when comparing the simulated system behavior to the measured data, but the tower wind loads improved the comparison for nonoperating conditions.

  2. Wind Turbine Pitch Control and Load Mitigation Using an L1 Adaptive Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danyong Li

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We present an application of L1 adaptive output feedback control design to wind turbine collective pitch control and load mitigation. Our main objective is the design of an L1 output feedback controller without wind speed estimation, ensuring that the generator speed tracks the reference trajectory with robustness to uncertain parameters and time-varying disturbances (mainly the uniform wind disturbance across the wind turbine rotor. The wind turbine model CART (controls advanced research turbine developed by the national renewable energy laboratory (NREL is used to validate the performance of the proposed L1 adaptive controller using the FAST (fatigue, aerodynamics, structures, and turbulence code. A comparative study is also conducted between the proposed controller and the most popular methods in practice: gain scheduling PI (GSPI controls and disturbance accommodating control (DAC methods. The results show better performance of L1 output feedback controller over the other two methods. Moreover, based on the FAST software and LQR analysis in the reference model selection of L1 adaptive controller, tradeoff can be achieved between control performance and loads mitigation.

  3. Active aerodynamic load control on wind turbines : Aeroservoelastic modeling and wind tunnel

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Barlas, A.

    2011-01-01

    This thesis investigates particular concepts and technologies that can alleviate fatigue loads on wind turbines by using distributed active aerodynamic devices on the blades, a concept briefly referred to as `smart blades'. Firstly, published research work on smart control devices is reviewed, and

  4. Database on wind characteristics - Analyses of wind turbine design loads

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Gunner Chr.; Hansen, K.S.

    2004-01-01

    the design load cases with relevance for to wind turbine structures. The present report constitutes thesecond part of the Annex XVII reporting. Both fatigue and extreme load aspects are dealt with, however, with the main emphasis on the latter. The work has been supported by The Ministry of Environment...... and Energy, Danish Energy Agency, The NetherlandsAgency for Energy and the Environment (NOVEM), The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Administration (NVE), The Swedish National Energy Administration (STEM) and The Government of the United States of America....

  5. Frequency-domain characteristics of aerodynamic loads of offshore floating vertical axis wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borg, Michael; Collu, M.

    2015-01-01

    The re-emerging interest in vertical axis wind turbines for floating offshore applications has led to a need to investigate the relatively complex dynamics of such floating offshore structures. Through the use of a coupled model of dynamics this article investigates the frequency......-domain characteristics of floating vertical axis wind turbine aerodynamic loads. The impact of platform induced motion on aerodynamic loads is discussed in detail, with results indicating an increase in aerodynamic loads of several orders of magnitude over the range of frequencies usually containing significant wave...

  6. Dependence of offshore wind turbine fatigue loads on atmospheric stratification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Kurt Schaldemose; Larsen, Gunner Chr.; Ott, Søren

    2014-01-01

    The stratification of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is classified in terms of the M-O length and subsequently used to determine the relationship between ABL stability and the fatigue loads of a wind turbine located inside an offshore wind farm. Recorded equivalent fatigue loads, representi...... conditions. In general, impact of ABL stratification is clearly seen on wake affected inflow cases for both blade and tower fatigue loads. However, the character of this dependence varies significantly with the type of inflow conditions – e.g. single wake inflow or multiple wake inflow....

  7. Material matters: Controllable rubber trailing edge flap regulates load on wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard Madsen, Helge

    2010-01-01

    In wind farms, nearby wind turbines exert considerable influence and generate turbulence on turbine blades. Because the blades are so long, there can be considerable differences in localized loading from the gusts along the blade. The Risø DTU researchers has developed a controllable rubber trail...... in an open jet wind tunnel shows promising results. In the wind tunnel, it is possible to regulate the wind speed as well as turn the blade profile to simulate a change in wind direction in relation to the profile....

  8. Using wind speed from a blade-mounted flow sensor for power and load assessment on modern wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Mads M.; Larsen, Torben J.; Madsen, Helge Aa

    2017-01-01

    In this paper an alternative method to evaluate power performance and loads on wind turbines using a blade-mounted flow sensor is investigated. The hypothesis is that the wind speed measured at the blades has a high correlation with the power and loads such that a power or load assessment can...... be performed from a few hours or days of measurements. In the present study a blade-mounted five-hole pitot tube is used as the flow sensor as an alternative to the conventional approach, where the reference wind speed is either measured at a nearby met mast or on the nacelle using lidar technology or cup...... anemometers. From the flow sensor measurements, an accurate estimate of the wind speed at the rotor plane can be obtained. This wind speed is disturbed by the presence of the wind turbine, and it is therefore different from the free-flow wind speed. However, the recorded wind speed has a high correlation...

  9. Structural Load Analysis of a Wind Turbine under Pitch Actuator and Controller Faults

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Etemaddar, Mahmoud; Gao, Zhen; Moan, Torgeir

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate the characteristics of a wind turbine under blade pitch angle and shaft speed sensor faults as well as pitch actuator faults. A land-based NREL 5MW variable speed pitch reg- ulated wind turbine is considered as a reference. The conventional collective blade pitch angle controller strategy with independent pitch actuators control is used for load reduction. The wind turbine class is IEC-BII. The main purpose is to investigate the severity of end effects on structural loads and responses and consequently identify the high-risk components according to the type and amplitude of fault using a servo-aero-elastic simulation code, HAWC2. Both transient and steady state effects of faults are studied. Such information is useful for wind turbine fault detection and identification as well as system reliability analysis. Results show the effects of faults on wind turbine power output and responses. Pitch sensor faults mainly affects the vibration of shaft main bearing, while generator power and aerodynamic thrust are not changed significantly, due to independent pitch actuator control of three blades. Shaft speed sensor faults can seriously affect the generator power and aerodynamic thrust. Pitch actuator faults can result in fully pitching of the blade, and consequently rotor stops due to negative aerodynamic torque

  10. Damping Wind and Wave Loads on a Floating Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Søren; Bak, Thomas; Knudsen, Torben

    2013-01-01

    Offshore wind energy capitalizes on the higher and less turbulent wind speeds at sea. To enable deployment of wind turbines in deep-water locations, structures are being explored, where wind turbines are placed on a floating platform. This combined structure presents a new control problem, due......, and we show the influence that both wind speed, wave frequencies and misalignment between wind and waves have on the system dynamics. A new control model is derived that extends standard turbine models to include the hydrodynamics, additional platform degrees of freedom, the platform mooring system...

  11. Impacts of Providing Inertial Response on Dynamic Loads of Wind Turbine Drivetrains: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Girsang, I. P.; Dhupia, J.; Singh, M.; Gevorgian, V.; Muljadi, E.; Jonkman, J.

    2014-09-01

    There has been growing demand from the power industry for wind power plants to support power system operations. One such requirement is for wind turbines to provide ancillary services in the form of inertial response. When the grid frequency drops, it is essential for wind turbine generators (WTGs) to inject kinetic energy stored in their inertia into the grid to help arrest the frequency decline. However, the impacts of inertial response on the structural loads of the wind turbine have not been given much attention. To bridge this gap, this paper utilizes a holistic model for both fixed-speed and variable-speed WTGs by integrating the aeroelastic wind turbine model in FAST, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, with the electromechanical drivetrain model in SimDriveline and SimPowerSystems.

  12. New guidelines for wind turbine gearboxes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McNiff, B. [McNiff Light Industry, Blue Hill, ME (United States); Errichello, R. [GEARTECH, Townsend, MT (United States)

    1997-12-31

    The American Gear Manufacturers Association in cooperation with the American Wind Energy Association will soon be publishing AGMA/AWEA 921-A97 {open_quotes}Recommended Practices for Design and Specification of Gearboxes for Wind Turbine Generator Systems.{close_quotes} Much has been learned about the unique operation and loading of gearboxes in wind turbine applications since the burgeoning of the modern wind turbine industry in the early 1980`s. AGMA/AWEA 921-A97 documents this experience in a manner that provides valuable information to assist gear manufacturers and wind turbine designers, operators, and manufacturers in developing reliable wind turbine gearboxes. The document provides information on procurement specification development, wind turbine architecture, environmental considerations, and gearbox load determination, as well as the design, manufacturing, quality assurance, lubrication, operation and maintenance of wind turbine gearboxes. This paper presents the salient parts of the practices recommended in AGMA/AWEA 921-A97.

  13. Application of two passive strategies on the load mitigation of large offshore wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirzadeh, Rasoul; Kühn, Martin

    2016-09-01

    This study presents the numerical results of two passive strategies to reduce the support structure loads of a large offshore wind turbine. In the first approach, an omnidirectional tuned mass damper is designed and implemented in the tower top to alleviate the structural vibrations. In the second approach, a viscous fluid damper model which is diagonally attached to the tower at two points is developed. Aeroelastic simulations are performed for the offshore 10MW INNWIND.EU reference wind turbine mounted on a jacket structure. Lifetime damage equivalent loads are evaluated at the tower base and compared with those for the reference wind turbine. The results show that the integrated design can extend the lifetime of the support structure.

  14. Minimum Thrust Load Control for Floating Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Søren; Bak, Thomas; Knudsen, Torben

    2012-01-01

    — Offshore wind energy capitalizes on the higher and less turbulent wind at sea. Shallow water sites are profitable for deployment of monopile wind turbines at water depths of up to 30 meters. Beyond 30 meters, the wind is even stronger and less turbulent. At these depths, floating wind turbines be...... and power stability when using the new control strategy.......— Offshore wind energy capitalizes on the higher and less turbulent wind at sea. Shallow water sites are profitable for deployment of monopile wind turbines at water depths of up to 30 meters. Beyond 30 meters, the wind is even stronger and less turbulent. At these depths, floating wind turbines...... presents a new minimum thrust control strategy capable of stabilizing a floating wind turbine. The new control strategy explores the freedom of variable generator speed above rated wind speed. A comparison to the traditional constant speed strategy, shows improvements in structural fore-aft oscillations...

  15. Predicting the Extreme Loads on a Wind Turbine Considering Uncertainty in Airfoil Data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abdallah, Imad; Natarajan, Anand; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2014-01-01

    The sources contributing to uncertainty in a wind turbine blade static airfoil data include wind tunnel testing, CFD calculations, 3D rotational corrections based on CFD or emprircal models, surface roughness corrections, Reynolds number corrections, expansion to the full 360-degree angle of attack...... range, validation by full scale measurements, and geometric distortions of the blade during manufacturing and under loading. In this paper a stochastic model of the static airfoil data is proposed to supplement the prediction of extreme loads effects for large wind turbines. It is shown...... that the uncertainty in airfoil data can have e significant impact on the prediction of extreme loads effects depending on the component, and the correlation along the span of the blade....

  16. Mitigation of Fatigue Loads Using Individual Pitch Control of Wind Turbines Based on FAST

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Yunqian; Chen, Zhe; Cheng, Ming

    2011-01-01

    moments and fatigue. The loading transfer from rotational coordinate system to the fixed coordinate system of the wind turbine is analyzed. In order to make the simulation results more reliable, the wind turbine code FAST is applied to doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based power system...

  17. Pitchcontrol of wind turbines using model free adaptivecontrol based on wind turbine code

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Yunqian; Chen, Zhe; Cheng, Ming

    2011-01-01

    value is only based on I/O data of the wind turbine is identified and then the wind turbine system is replaced by a dynamic linear time-varying model. In order to verify the correctness and robustness of the proposed model free adaptive pitch controller, the wind turbine code FAST which can predict......As the wind turbine is a nonlinear high-order system, to achieve good pitch control performance, model free adaptive control (MFAC) approach which doesn't need the mathematical model of the wind turbine is adopted in the pitch control system in this paper. A pseudo gradient vector whose estimation...... the wind turbine loads and response in high accuracy is used. The results show that the controller produces good dynamic performance, good robustness and adaptability....

  18. Calculation and characteristics analysis of blade pitch loads for large scale wind turbines

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2010-01-01

    Based on the electric pitch system of large scale horizontal-axis wind turbines,the blade pitch loads coming mainly from centrifugal force,aerodynamic force and gravity are analyzed,and the calculation models for them are established in this paper.For illustration,a 1.2 MW wind turbine is introduced as a practical sample,and its blade pitch loads from centrifugal force,aerodynamic force and gravity are calculated and analyzed separately and synthetically.The research results showed that in the process of rotor rotating 360o,the fluctuation of blade pitch loads is similar to cosine curve when the rotor rotational speed,in-flow wind speed and pitch angle are constant.Furthermore,the amplitude of blade pitch load presents quite a difference at a different pitch angle.The ways of calculation for blade pitch loads are of the universality,and are helpful for further research of the individual pitch control system.

  19. Assessing Fatigue and Ultimate Load Uncertainty in Floating Offshore Wind Turbines Due to Varying Simulation Length

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stewart, G.; Lackner, M.; Haid, L.; Matha, D.; Jonkman, J.; Robertson, A.

    2013-07-01

    With the push towards siting wind turbines farther offshore due to higher wind quality and less visibility, floating offshore wind turbines, which can be located in deep water, are becoming an economically attractive option. The International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) 61400-3 design standard covers fixed-bottom offshore wind turbines, but there are a number of new research questions that need to be answered to modify these standards so that they are applicable to floating wind turbines. One issue is the appropriate simulation length needed for floating turbines. This paper will discuss the results from a study assessing the impact of simulation length on the ultimate and fatigue loads of the structure, and will address uncertainties associated with changing the simulation length for the analyzed floating platform. Recommendations of required simulation length based on load uncertainty will be made and compared to current simulation length requirements.

  20. Small-Signal Stability Analysis of Full-Load Converter Interfaced Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knüppel, Thyge; Akhmatov, Vladislav; Nielsen, Jørgen Nygård

    2009-01-01

    focus since the share of wind power increases substituting power generation from conventional power plants. Here, a study based on modal analysis is presented which investigate the effect of large scale integration of full-load converter interfaced wind turbines on inter-area oscillations in a three...... generator network. A detailed aggregated wind turbine model is employed which includes all necessary control functions. It is shown that the wind urbines have very low participation in the inter-area power oscillation.......Power system stability investigations of wind farms often cover the tasks of low-voltage-fault-ride-through, voltage and reactive power control, and power balancing, but not much attention has yet been paid to the task of small-signal stability. Small-signal stability analysis needs increasing...

  1. Concurrent Aeroservoelastic Design and Optimization of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tibaldi, Carlo

    This work develops and investigates methods to integrate controllers in the wind turbine design process and to perform wind turbine optimization. These techniques can exploit the synergy between wind turbine components and generate new design solutions. Two frameworks to perform wind turbine...... optimization design are presented. These tools handle workflows to model a wind turbine and to evaluate loads and performances under specific conditions. Three approaches to evaluate loads are proposed and integrated in the optimization codes. The first method is based on time domain simulations, the second...... simulations, allows the selection of any controller parameter. The methods to evaluate loads and the pole-placement technique are then employed to carry out wind turbine optimization design from an aeroservoelastic prospective. Several analysis of the NREL 5 MW Reference Wind Turbine and the DTU 10 MW...

  2. Load alleviation on wind turbine blades using variable airfoil geometry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Basualdo, S.

    2005-03-01

    A two-dimensional theoretical study of the aeroelastic behaviour of an airfoil has been performed, whose geometry can be altered using a rear-mounted flap. This device is governed by a controller, whose objective is to reduce the airfoil displacements and, therefore, the stresses present in a real blade. The aerodynamic problem was solved numerically by a panel method using the potential theory, suitable for modelling attached flows. It is therefore mostly applicable for Pitch Regulated Variable Speed (PRVS) wind turbines, which mainly operate under this flow condition. The results show evident reductions in the airfoil displacements by using simple control strategies having the airfoil position and its first and second derivatives as input, especially at the system's eigenfrequency. The use of variable airfoil geometry is an effective means of reducing the vibration magnitudes of an airfoil that represents a section of a wind turbine blade, when subject to stochastic wind signals. The results of this investigation encourage further investigations with 3D aeroelastic models to predict the reduction in loads in real wind turbines. (author)

  3. Wind-wave induced dynamic response analysis for motions and mooring loads of a spar-type offshore floating wind turbine

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    马钰; 肖龙飞; 胡志强

    2014-01-01

    Due to the energy crisis and the environmental issues like pollution and global warming, the exploration for renewable and clean energies becomes crucial. The offshore floating wind turbines (OFWTs) draw a great deal of attention recently as a means to exploit the steadier and stronger wind resources available in deep water seas. This paper studies the hydrodynamic characteristics of a spar-type wind turbine known as the OC3-Hywind concept and the dynamic responses of the turbine. Response characteristics of motions and mooring loads of the system under different sea states are evaluated and the effects of the loads induced by the wind and the wave on the system are discussed. The calculations are carried out with the numerical simulation code FAST in the time domain and the frequency analysis is made by using the FFT method. The results and the conclusions from this paper might help better understand the behavior characteristics of the floating wind turbine system under actual ocean environments and provide valuable data in design and engineering practice.

  4. Cost optimization of wind turbines for large-scale offshore wind farms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fuglsang, P.; Thomsen, K.

    1998-02-01

    This report contains a preliminary investigation of site specific design of off-shore wind turbines for a large off-shore wind farm project at Roedsand that is currently being proposed by ELKRAFT/SEAS. The results were found using a design tool for wind turbines that involve numerical optimization and aeroelastic calculations of response. The wind climate was modeled in detail and a cost function was used to estimate costs from manufacture and installation. Cost of energy is higher for off-shore installations. A comparison of an off-shore wind farm site with a typical stand alone on-shore site showed an increase of the annual production of 28% due to the difference in wind climate. Extreme loads and blade fatigue loads were nearly identical, however,fatigue loads on other main components increased significantly. Optimizations were carried out to find the optimum overall off-shore wind turbine design. A wind turbine for the off-shore wind farm should be different compared with a stand-alone on-shore wind turbine. The overall design changed were increased swept area and rated power combined with reduced rotor speed and tower height. Cost was reduced by 12% for the final 5D/14D off-shore wind turbine from 0.306 DKr/kWh to 0.270 DKr/kWh. These figures include capital costs from manufacture and installation but not on-going costs from maintenance. These results make off-shore wind farms more competitive and comparable to the reference on-shore stand-alone wind turbine. A corresponding reduction of cost of energy could not be found for the stand alone on-shore wind turbine. Furthermore the fatigue loads on wind turbines in on-shore wind farms will increase and cost of energy will increase in favor of off-shore wind farms. (au) EFP-95; EU-JOULE-3; 21 tabs., 7 ills., 8 refs

  5. Nonlinear Dynamics of Wind Turbine Wings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Jesper Winther

    , large wind turbines become increasingly flexible and dynamically sensitive. This project focuses on the structural analysis of highly flexible wind turbine wings, and the aerodynamic loading of wind turbine wings under large changes in flow field due to elastic deformations and changing wind conditions....

  6. Modeling of quasi-static thrust load of wind turbines based on 1 s SCADA data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Noppe

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available A reliable load history is crucial for a fatigue assessment of wind turbines. However, installing strain sensors on every wind turbine is not economically feasible. In this paper, a technique is proposed to reconstruct the thrust load history of a wind turbine based on high-frequency Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA data. Strain measurements recorded during a short period of time are used to train a neural network. The selection of appropriate input parameters is performed based on Pearson correlation and mutual information. Once the training is done, the model can be used to predict the thrust load based on SCADA data only. The technique is validated on two different datasets, one consisting of simulation data (using the software FAST v8, created by Jonkman and Jonkman, 2016 obtained in a controllable environment and one consisting of measurements taken at an offshore wind turbine. In general, the relative error between simulated or measured and predicted thrust load barely exceeds 15 % during normal operation.

  7. Wave loads on offshore wind turbines: Accurate tools and structural response

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bredmose, Henrik

    2014-01-01

    Can the design models for offshore wind turbine wave loads be improved? And how will that change the overall load picture? Core questions of the Wave Loads project which was finalised in 2013 with two PhD theses, response calculations for jackets and monopiles, a detailed set of experiments and a3D...... coupled CFD wave solver...

  8. Calculating the sensitivity of wind turbine loads to wind inputs using response surfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rinker, Jennifer M.

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a methodology to calculate wind turbine load sensitivities to turbulence parameters through the use of response surfaces. A response surface is a highdimensional polynomial surface that can be calibrated to any set of input/output data and then used to generate synthetic data at a low computational cost. Sobol sensitivity indices (SIs) can then be calculated with relative ease using the calibrated response surface. The proposed methodology is demonstrated by calculating the total sensitivity of the maximum blade root bending moment of the WindPACT 5 MW reference model to four turbulence input parameters: a reference mean wind speed, a reference turbulence intensity, the Kaimal length scale, and a novel parameter reflecting the nonstationarity present in the inflow turbulence. The input/output data used to calibrate the response surface were generated for a previous project. The fit of the calibrated response surface is evaluated in terms of error between the model and the training data and in terms of the convergence. The Sobol SIs are calculated using the calibrated response surface, and the convergence is examined. The Sobol SIs reveal that, of the four turbulence parameters examined in this paper, the variance caused by the Kaimal length scale and nonstationarity parameter are negligible. Thus, the findings in this paper represent the first systematic evidence that stochastic wind turbine load response statistics can be modeled purely by mean wind wind speed and turbulence intensity. (paper)

  9. Unbalanced voltage faults: the impact on structural loads of doubly fed asynchronous generator wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barahona Garzón, Braulio; Cutululis, Nicolaos Antonio; Hansen, Anca Daniela

    2014-01-01

    This paper investigates the impact that unbalanced voltage faults have on wind turbine structural loads. In such cases, electromagnetic torque oscillations occur at two times the supply voltage frequency. The objectives of this work are to quantify wind turbine structural loads induced...... by unbalanced voltage faults relative to those during normal operation; and to evaluate the potential for reducing structural loads with the control of the generator. The method applied is integrated dynamic analysis. Namely, dynamic analysis with models that consider the most important aeroelastic, electrical...

  10. Optimized Control Strategy For Over Loaded Offshore Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Odgaard, Peter Fogh; Knudsen, Torben; Wisniewski, Rafal

    2015-01-01

    controller tuning for a given wind turbine. It also enables a very safe and robust comparison between a new control strategy and the present one. Main body of abstract Is it true that power de-rating indeed the best way to reduce loads? The power de-rating approach has the drawback of only indirectly...

  11. LIDAR Wind Speed Measurement Analysis and Feed-Forward Blade Pitch Control for Load Mitigation in Wind Turbines: January 2010--January 2011

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dunne, F.; Simley, E.; Pao, L.Y.

    2011-10-01

    This report examines the accuracy of measurements that rely on Doppler LIDAR systems to determine their applicability to wind turbine feed-forward control systems and discusses feed-forward control system designs that use preview wind measurements. Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems are able to measure the speed of incoming wind before it interacts with a wind turbine rotor. These preview wind measurements can be used in feed-forward control systems designed to reduce turbine loads. However, the degree to which such preview-based control techniques can reduce loads by reacting to turbulence depends on how accurately the incoming wind field can be measured. The first half of this report examines the accuracy of different measurement scenarios that rely on coherent continuous-wave or pulsed Doppler LIDAR systems to determine their applicability to feed-forward control. In particular, the impacts of measurement range and angular offset from the wind direction are studied for various wind conditions. A realistic case involving a scanning LIDAR unit mounted in the spinner of a wind turbine is studied in depth with emphasis on choices for scan radius and preview distance. The effects of turbulence parameters on measurement accuracy are studied as well. Continuous-wave and pulsed LIDAR models based on typical commercially available units were used in the studies present in this report. The second half of this report discusses feed-forward control system designs that use preview wind measurements. Combined feedback/feed-forward blade pitch control is compared to industry standard feedback control when simulated in realistic turbulent above-rated winds. The feed-forward controllers are designed to reduce fatigue loads, increasing turbine lifetime and therefore reducing the cost of energy. Three feed-forward designs are studied: non-causal series expansion, Preview Control, and optimized FIR filter. The input to the feed-forward controller is a measurement of

  12. Numerical Investigation of Aerodynamic Performance and Loads of a Novel Dual Rotor Wind Turbine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Behnam Moghadassian

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to numerically investigate the effects of the atmospheric boundary layer on the aerodynamic performance and loads of a novel dual-rotor wind turbine (DRWT. Large eddy simulations are carried out with the turbines operating in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL and in a uniform inflow. Two stability conditions corresponding to neutral and slightly stable atmospheres are investigated. The turbines are modeled using the actuator line method where the rotor blades are modeled as body forces. Comparisons are drawn between the DRWT and a comparable conventional single-rotor wind turbine (SRWT to assess changes in aerodynamic efficiency and loads, as well as wake mixing and momentum and kinetic energy entrainment into the turbine wake layer. The results show that the DRWT improves isolated turbine aerodynamic performance by about 5%–6%. The DRWT also enhances turbulent axial momentum entrainment by about 3.3 %. The highest entrainment is observed in the neutral stability case when the turbulence in the ABL is moderately high. Aerodynamic loads for the DRWT, measured as out-of-plane blade root bending moment, are marginally reduced. Spectral analyses of ABL cases show peaks in unsteady loads at the rotor passing frequency and its harmonics for both rotors of the DRWT.

  13. Wind turbine improvements by wind-lidar-based preview and control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mikkelsen, Torben

    2014-01-01

    Wind turbines equipped with laser prevision hold potential for up to 6+ years lifetime extension. Forward looking wind lidars integrated within operational wind turbines providing feed-forward control can reduce the daily operation loads. The turbine lifetime may in this way be extended by up to 30...

  14. Probabilistic model for multi-axial load combinations for wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dimitrov, Nikolay Krasimirov

    2016-01-01

    into a periodic part and a perturbation term, where each part has a known probability distribution. The proposed model shows good agreement with simulated data under stationary conditions, and a design load envelope based on this model is comparable to the load envelope estimated using the standard procedure...... for determining contemporaneous loads. Using examples with simulated loads on a 10 MW wind turbine,the behavior of the bending moments acting on a blade section is illustrated under different conditions.The loading direction most critical for material failure is determined using a finite-element model...

  15. Assessment of extreme design loads for modern wind turbines using the probabilistic approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abdallah, Imad

    There is a large drive to reduce the cost of energy of wind energy generators. Various tracks are being considered such as enhanced O&M strategies through condition monitoring, increased manufacturing efficiency through higher production volumes and increased automation, improved resource...... and drag coefficients showed (a) a tangible reduction in the load partial safety factor for a blade and (b) generally a larger impact on extreme loads during power production compared to stand-still. Therefore, the way forward is for wind turbine manufactures to further update the stochastic model...... assessment through turbine-mounted real-time site assessment technologies, improved components reliability by increased laboratory testing, increased number of prototype test turbines before serial production, larger rotor and tower concepts for both onshore and offshore installations, advanced drive train...

  16. On the Use of Coupled Wind, Wave, and Current Fields in the Simulation of Loads on Bottom-Supported Offshore Wind Turbines during Hurricanes: March 2012 - September 2015

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Eungsoo [Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States); Manuel, Lance [Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States); Curcic, Milan [Univ. of Miami, Coral Gables, FL (United States); Chen, Shuyi S. [Univ. of Miami, Coral Gables, FL (United States); Phillips, Caleb [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Veers, Paul [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2016-06-01

    In the United States, potential offshore wind plant sites have been identified along the Atlantic seaboard and in the Gulf of Mexico. It is imperative that we define external conditions associated with hurricanes and severe winter storms and consider load cases for which wind turbines may need to be designed. We selected two hurricanes, Ike (2008) and Sandy (2012), and investigated the effect these tropical storms would have on bottom-supported offshore wind turbines that were hypothetically in or close to their path as they made landfall. For realistic turbine loads assessment, it is important that the coupled influences of the changing wind, wave, and current fields are simulated throughout the evolution of the hurricanes. We employed a coupled model--specifically, the University of Miami Coupled Model (UMCM)--that integrates atmospheric, wave, and ocean components to produce needed wind, wave, and current data. The wind data are used to generate appropriate vertical wind profiles and full wind velocity fields including turbulence; the current field over the water column is obtained by interpolated discrete output current data; and short-crested irregular second-order waves are simulated using output directional wave spectra from the coupled model. We studied two monopile-supported offshore wind turbines sited in 20 meters of water in the Gulf of Mexico to estimate loads during Hurricane Ike, and a jacket space-frame platform-supported offshore wind turbine sited in 50 meters of water in the mid-Atlantic region to estimate loads during Hurricane Sandy. In this report we discuss in detail how the simulated hurricane wind, wave, and current output data are used in turbine loads studies. In addition, important characteristics of the external conditions are studied, including the relative importance of swell versus wind seas, aerodynamic versus hydrodynamic forces, current velocity effects, yaw control options for the turbine, hydrodynamic drag versus inertia forces

  17. Dynamic modeling and analysis of load sharing characteristics of wind turbine gearbox

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pengxing Yi

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available A coupled dynamic model, which contains helical gears-shafts-bearings for a wind turbine gearbox transmission system, was built considering nonlinear factors of the time-varying mesh stiffness, the external varying load, and the dynamic transmission error at first. The model is confirmed to be right after comparing the theoretical data with the experimental load sharing values, and also it is found that the static load sharing is conservative to evaluate the non-equilibrium effect of a planetary gear system. Besides, the analyzing results of the influence of average error and amplitude error on the load sharing show that the load sharing could be decreased if the error goes up a little. Then, by means of treating the static tracing point as the dynamic initial values, we analyzed the initial position’s influence on the load sharing of transmission system to provide a theoretical basis of load sharing control. Furthermore, we explored the influence of high-speed shaft position angle on the load sharing and the dynamic load factor of gears fixed on the parallel shafts. The results provide useful theoretical guidelines for the design of parallel shaft gear system in the wind turbines.

  18. Fully vs. Sequentially Coupled Loads Analysis of Offshore Wind Turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Damiani, Rick; Wendt, Fabian; Musial, Walter; Finucane, Z.; Hulliger, L.; Chilka, S.; Dolan, D.; Cushing, J.; O' Connell, D.; Falk, S.

    2017-06-19

    The design and analysis methods for offshore wind turbines must consider the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loads and response of the entire system (turbine, tower, substructure, and foundation) coupled to the turbine control system dynamics. Whereas a fully coupled (turbine and support structure) modeling approach is more rigorous, intellectual property concerns can preclude this approach. In fact, turbine control system algorithms and turbine properties are strictly guarded and often not shared. In many cases, a partially coupled analysis using separate tools and an exchange of reduced sets of data via sequential coupling may be necessary. In the sequentially coupled approach, the turbine and substructure designers will independently determine and exchange an abridged model of their respective subsystems to be used in their partners' dynamic simulations. Although the ability to achieve design optimization is sacrificed to some degree with a sequentially coupled analysis method, the central question here is whether this approach can deliver the required safety and how the differences in the results from the fully coupled method could affect the design. This work summarizes the scope and preliminary results of a study conducted for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement aimed at quantifying differences between these approaches through aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulations of two offshore wind turbines on a monopile and jacket substructure.

  19. Model-Based Control of a Ballast-Stabilized Floating Wind Turbine Exposed to Wind and Waves

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Søren

    2013-01-01

    wind turbine, for water depths beyond 50 meters where winds are stronger and less turbulent. A floating wind turbine is subject to not only aerodynamics and wind induced loads, but also to hy-drodynamics and wave induced loads. In contrast to a bottom fixed wind turbine, the floating structure......, the hydrodynamics and the loads change the dynamic behavior of a floating wind turbine. Consequently, conventional wind turbine control cause instabilities on floating wind turbines. This work addresses the control of a floating spar buoy wind turbine, and focuses on the impact of the additional platform dynamics....... A time varying control model is presented based on the wind speed and wave frequency. Estimates of the wind speed and wave frequency are used as scheduling variables in a gain scheduled linear quadratic controller to improve the electrical power production while reducing fatigue. To address the problem...

  20. Application of Load Carrying Sandwich Elements in Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jacob Fisker; Schultz, Jacob Pagh; Berggreen, Carl Christian

    2005-01-01

    The present work investigates the possibilities and drawbacks when applying sandwich as opposed to single skin composites in the flanges of the load carrying spar in a future 180 m wind turbine rotor. FEA is applied to investigate two basic designs with single skin and sandwich flanges respectively...

  1. Structural Load Alleviation Applied to Next Generation Aircraft and Wind Turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frost, Susan

    2011-01-01

    Reducing the environmental impact of aviation is a goal of the Subsonic Fixed Wing Project under the Fundamental Aeronautics Program of NASAs Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. Environmental impact of aviation is being addressed by novel aircraft configurations and materials that reduce aircraft weight and increase aerodynamic efficiency. NASA is developing tools to address the challenges of increased airframe flexibility created by wings constructed with reduced structural material and novel light-weight materials. This talk will present a framework and demonstration of a flight control system using optimal control allocation with structural load feedback and constraints to achieve safe aircraft operation. As wind turbines age, they become susceptible to many forms of blade degradation. Results will be presented on work in progress that uses adaptive contingency control for load mitigation in a wind turbine simulation with blade damage progression modeled.

  2. Operation Design of Wind Turbines in Strong Wind Conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shen, Wen Zhong; Montes, Melissa Barroso; Odgaard, Peter Fogh

    2012-01-01

    and variable speed pitch regulated wind turbines. The variable speed design is more suitable for wind turbines to run at very high wind speeds which can help the turbine braking system to stop the turbine at the new "cut-out" wind speed. Reference power, rotational speed and pitch angle have been designed...... optimally. In order to reduce the possible increased loading, fatigue due to the wind gusts, control strategies have been considered for both constant sped and variable speed pitch regulated wind turbines. The control study shows that the designed controllers can reduce the standard deviations efficiently......In order to reduce the impact on the electrical grid from the shutdown of MW wind turbines at wind speeds higher than the cut-out wind speed of 25 m/s, we propose in this paper to run the turbines at high wind speeds up to 40 m/s. Two different operation designs are made for both constant speed...

  3. Integrated analysis of wind turbines - The impact of power systems on wind turbine design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barahona Garzón, Braulio

    Megawatt-size wind turbines nowadays operate in very complex environmental conditions, and increasingly demanding power system requirements. Pursuing a cost-effective and reliable wind turbine design is a multidisciplinary task. However nowadays, wind turbine design and research areas...... conditions that stem from disturbances in the power system. An integrated simulation environment, wind turbine models, and power system models are developed in order to take an integral perspective that considers the most important aeroelastic, structural, electrical, and control dynamics. Applications...... of the integrated simulation environment are presented. The analysis of an asynchronous machine, and numerical simulations of a fixedspeed wind turbine in the integrated simulation environment, demonstrate the effects on structural loads of including the generator rotor fluxes dynamics in aeroelastic studies. Power...

  4. Reliability Analysis of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2008-01-01

    In order to minimise the total expected life-cycle costs of a wind turbine it is important to estimate the reliability level for all components in the wind turbine. This paper deals with reliability analysis for the tower and blades of onshore wind turbines placed in a wind farm. The limit states...... consideres are in the ultimate limit state (ULS) extreme conditions in the standstill position and extreme conditions during operating. For wind turbines, where the magnitude of the loads is influenced by the control system, the ultimate limit state can occur in both cases. In the fatigue limit state (FLS......) the reliability level for a wind turbine placed in a wind farm is considered, and wake effects from neighbouring wind turbines is taken into account. An illustrative example with calculation of the reliability for mudline bending of the tower is considered. In the example the design is determined according...

  5. Experimental investigation on the wake interference among wind turbines sited in atmospheric boundary layer winds

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    W. Tian; A. Ozbay; X. D. Wang; H.Hu

    2017-01-01

    We examined experimentally the effects of incom-ing surface wind on the turbine wake and the wake interfer-ence among upstream and downstream wind turbines sited in atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) winds. The experi-ment was conducted in a large-scale ABL wind tunnel with scaled wind turbine models mounted in different incom-ing surface winds simulating the ABL winds over typical offshore/onshore wind farms. Power outputs and dynamic loadings acting on the turbine models and the wake flow char-acteristics behind the turbine models were quantified. The results revealed that the incoming surface winds significantly affect the turbine wake characteristics and wake interference between the upstream and downstream turbines. The velocity deficits in the turbine wakes recover faster in the incoming surface winds with relatively high turbulence levels. Varia-tions of the power outputs and dynamic wind loadings acting on the downstream turbines sited in the wakes of upstream turbines are correlated well with the turbine wakes charac-teristics. At the same downstream locations, the downstream turbines have higher power outputs and experience greater static and fatigue loadings in the inflow with relatively high turbulence level, suggesting a smaller effect of wake inter-ference for the turbines sited in onshore wind farms.

  6. Structural investigation of composite wind turbine blade considering various load cases and fatigue life

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kong, C.; Bang, J.; Sugiyama, Y.

    2005-01-01

    This study proposes a structural design for developing a medium scale composite wind turbine blade made of E-glass/epoxy for a 750 kW class horizontal axis wind turbine system. The design loads were determined from various load cases specified at the IEC61400-1 international specification and GL regulations for the wind energy conversion system. A specific composite structure configuration, which can effectively endure various loads such as aerodynamic loads and loads due to accumulation of ice, hygro-thermal and mechanical loads, was proposed. To evaluate the proposed composite wind turbine blade, structural analysis was performed by using the finite element method. Parametric studies were carried out to determine an acceptable blade structural design, and the most dominant design parameters were confirmed. In this study, the proposed blade structure was confirmed to be safe and stable under various load conditions, including the extreme load conditions. Moreover, the blade adapted a new blade root joint with insert bolts, and its safety was verified at design loads including fatigue loads. The fatigue life of a blade that has to endure for more than 20 years was estimated by using the well-known S-N linear damage theory, the service load spectrum, and the Spera's empirical equations. With the results obtained from all the structural design and analysis, prototype composite blades were manufactured. A specific construction process including the lay-up molding method was applied to manufacturing blades. Full-scale static structural test was performed with the simulated aerodynamic loads. From the experimental results, it was found that the designed blade had structural integrity. In addition, the measured results of deflections, strains, mass, and radial center of gravity agreed well with the analytical results. The prototype blade was successfully certified by an international certification institute, GL (Germanisher Lloyd) in Germany

  7. Some aspects on wind turbines monitoring. General considerations and loads on horizontal wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cuerva, A.

    1996-12-01

    The concept Monitoring applied to the Wind Energy technology is similar to the definition used in other branches of Science or Engineering, this is knowing values of variables which have to do with a mechanic system, in our case a wind turbine. These mentioned parameters may have different relationships to our wind turbine; some of them come from the environment the machine is operating in, others, are a measure of how properly the machine is working, and finally, the rest are an assessment of the ``system`s health`` during its ``life``. In this chapter we will answer questions such as: What do we need to measure? Why is Monitoring mandatory (from the different points of view of people involved in this world)? How can we measure a wind turbine depending on our objectives (Technic, tools, guidance, recommendations, etc)? And finally What can we expect in the near future?. The author wants the reader to keep the idea in mind that Monitoring means the richest and most accurate knowledge on wind turbine`s operation (Its environment, performances of health). This is the first step that allows us to optimize the operation mode of the machine and improve it (design, manufacturing, even the used modeling tools). When there is so much money involved, this fact becomes a must. (Author)

  8. Design Loads on Platforms on Offshore wind Turbine Foundations with Respect to Vertical Wave Run-up

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damsgaard, Mathilde L.; Gravesen, Helge; Andersen, Thomas Lykke

    2007-01-01

    reduction in the loads by up to 75%. Furthermore it is indicated, that the fact that offshore wind turbines often are placed on limited water depths thereby increasing the amount of (nearly) breaking waves, seems to increase the run-up height and thereby the pressures on the structure.......Experiences have shown that the vertical run-up generated by waves meeting the offshore wind turbine foundations, can result in rather vigorous loads on appurtenances and platform structures. This study aims to provide a qualitative method of determining run-up height and the following loads...

  9. Real-time simulation of aeroelastic rotor loads for horizontal axis wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marnett, M; Wellenberg, S; Schröder, W

    2014-01-01

    Wind turbine drivetrain research and test facilities with hardware-in-the-loop capabilities require a robust and accurate aeroelastic real-time rotor simulation environment. Recent simulation environments do not guarantee a computational response at real-time. Which is why a novel simulation tool has been developed. It resolves the physical time domain of the turbulent wind spectra and the operational response of the turbine at real-time conditions. Therefore, there is a trade-off between accuracy of the physical models and the computational costs. However, the study shows the possibility to preserve the necessary computational accuracy while simultaneously granting dynamic interaction with the aeroelastic rotor simulation environment. The achieved computational costs allow a complete aeroelastic rotor simulation at a resolution frequency of 100 Hz on standard computer platforms. Results obtained for the 5-MW reference wind turbine by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are discussed and compared to NREL's fatigue, aerodynamics, structures, and turbulence (FAST)- Code. The rotor loads show a convincing match. The novel simulation tool is applied to the wind turbine drivetrain test facility at the Center for Wind Power Drives (CWD), RWTH Aachen University to show the real-time hardware-in-the-loop capabilities

  10. 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....

  11. 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.

  12. Long-term global response analysis of a vertical axis wind turbine supported on a semi-submersible floating platform: Comparison between operating and non-operating wind turbine load cases

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Collu, Maurizio; Manuel, Lance; Borg, Michael

    2015-01-01

    This study continues [1] the examination of the long-term global response of a floating vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) situated off the Portuguese coast in the Atlantic Ocean. The VAWT, which consists of a 5-MW 3-bladed H-type rotor developed as part of the EU-FP7 H2OCEAN project, is assumed...... is adopted, as well as also taking into account the drag generated by the wind turbine tower. Short-term turbine load and platform motion statistics are established for individual sea states that are analysed. The long-term reliability yields estimates of 50-year loads and platform motions that takes...... to be mounted on the OC4 semi-submersible floating platform. Adding a non-operational load case (wind speed 35m/s), the sea states identified are used to carry out coupled dynamics simulations using the FloVAWT design tool, for which an improved wave elevation and relative force/moment time signals approach...

  13. Along-wind response of a wind turbine tower with blade coupling subjected to rotationally sampled wind loading

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murtagh, P J; Basu, B; Broderick, B M [Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland)

    2005-07-15

    This paper proposes an approach to investigate the along-wind forced vibration response of a wind turbine tower and rotating blades assembly subjected to rotationally sampled stationary wind loading. The wind turbine assembly consists of three rotating rotor blades connected to the top of a flexible annular tower, constituting a multi-body dynamic entity. The tower and rotating blades are each modelled as discretized multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) entities, allowing the free vibration characteristics of each to be obtained using a discrete parameter approach. The free vibration properties of the tower include the effect of a rigid mass at the top, representing the nacelle, and those of the blade include the effects of centrifugal stiffening due to rotation and blade gravity loadings. The blades are excited by drag force time-histories derived from discrete Fourier transform (DFT) representations of rotationally sampled wind turbulence spectra. Blade response time-histories are obtained using the mode acceleration method, which allows for the quantification of base shear forces due to flapping for the three blades to be obtained. This resultant base shear is imparted into the top of the tower. Wind drag loading on the tower is also considered, with a series of spatially correlated nodal force time-histories being derived using DFTs of wind force spectra. The tower/nacelle is then coupled with the rotating blades by combining their equations of motion and solving for the displacement at the top of the tower under compatibility conditions in the frequency domain. An inverse Fourier transform of the frequency domain response yields the response time-history of the coupled system. The response of an equivalent system that does not consider the blade/tower interaction is also investigated, and the results are compared. (Author)

  14. Operation and control of large wind turbines and wind farms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soerensen, Poul; Hansen, Anca D.; Thomsen, Kenneth (and others)

    2005-09-01

    This report is the final report of a Danish research project 'Operation and control of large wind turbines and wind farms'. The objective of the project has been to analyse and assess operational strategies and possibilities for control of different types of wind turbines and different wind farm concepts. The potentials of optimising the lifetime/energy production ratio by means of using revised operational strategies for the individual wind turbines are investigated. Different strategies have been simulated, where the power production is decreased to an optimum when taking loads and actual price of produced electricity into account. Dynamic models and control strategies for the wind farms have also been developed, with the aim to optimise the operation of the wind farms considering participation in power system control of power (frequency) and reactive power (voltage), maximise power production, keep good power quality and limit mechanical loads and life time consumption. The project developed models for 3 different concepts for wind farms. Two of the concepts use active stall controlled wind turbines, one with AC connection and one with modern HVDC/VSC connection of the wind farm. The third concept is based on pitch controlled wind turbines using doubly fed induction generators. The models were applied to simulate the behaviour of the wind farm control when they were connected to a strong grid, and some initial simulations were performed to study the behaviour of the wind farms when it was isolated from the main grid on a local grid. Also the possibility to use the available information from the wind turbine controllers to predict the wind speed has been investigated. The main idea has been to predict the wind speed at a wind turbine using up-wind measurements of the wind speed in another wind turbine. (au)

  15. 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

  16. Some aspects on wind turbines monitoring. General considerations and loads on horizontal wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cuerva, A.

    1996-01-01

    The concept Monitoring applied to the Wind Energy technology is similar to the definition used in other branches of Science or Engineering, this is knowing values of variables which have to do with a mechanic system, in our case a wind turbine. These mentioned parameters may have different relationships to our wind turbine; some of them come from the environment the machine is operating in, others, are a measure of how properly the machine is working, and finally, the rest are an assessment of the systems health during its life. In this chapter we will answer questions such as: What do we need to measure? Why is Monitoring mandatory (from the different points of view of people involved in this world)? How can we measure a wind turbine depending on our objectives (Technic, tools, guidance, recommendations, etc.)? And finally What can we expect in the near future? The author wants the reader to keep the idea in mind that Monitoring means the richest and most accurate knowledge on wind turbine's operation (Its environment, performances or health). This is the first step that allows us to optimize the operation mode of the machine and improve it (design, manufacturing, even the used modeling tools). When there is so much money involved, this fact becomes a must. (Author)

  17. Performance and load data from Mod-0A and Mod-1 wind turbine generators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spera, D. A.; Janetzke, D. C.

    1982-01-01

    Experimental data, together with supporting analysis, are presented on the power conversion performance and blade loading of large, horizontal-axis wind turbines tested at electric utility sites in the U.S. Four turbine rotor configurations, from 28 to 61 meters in diameter, and data from five test sites are included. Performance data are presented in the form of graphs of power and system efficiency versus free-stream wind speed. Deviations from theoretical performance are analyzed statistically. Power conversion efficiency averaged 0.34 for all tests combined, compared with 0.31 predicted. Round blade tips appeared to improve performance significantly. Cyclic blade loads were normalized to develop load factors which can be used in the design of rotors with rigid hubs.

  18. Reliability assessment of Wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2015-01-01

    Wind turbines can be considered as structures that are in between civil engineering structures and machines since they consist of structural components and many electrical and machine components together with a control system. Further, a wind turbine is not a one-of-a-kind structure...... but manufactured in series production based on many component tests, some prototype tests and zeroseries wind turbines. These characteristics influence the reliability assessment where focus in this paper is on the structural components. Levelized Cost Of Energy is very important for wind energy, especially when...... comparing to other energy sources. Therefore much focus is on cost reductions and improved reliability both for offshore and onshore wind turbines. The wind turbine components should be designed to have sufficient reliability level with respect to both extreme and fatigue loads but also not be too costly...

  19. Directionality Effects of Aligned Wind and Wave Loads on a Y-Shape Semi-Submersible Floating Wind Turbine under Rated Operational Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shengtao Zhou

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The Y-shape (triangular semi-submersible foundation has been adopted by most of the built full-scale floating wind turbines, such as Windfloat, Fukushima Mirai and Shimpuu. Considering the non-fully-symmetrical shape and met-ocean condition, the foundation laying angle relative to wind/wave directions will not only influence the downtime and power efficiency of the floating turbine, but also the strength and fatigue safety of the whole structure. However, the dynamic responses induced by various aligned wind and wave load directions have scarcely been investigated comparatively before. In our study, the directionality effects are investigated by means of combined wind and wave tests and coupled multi-body simulations. By comparing the measured data in three load directions, it is found that the differences of platform motions are mainly derived from the wave loads and larger pitch motion can always be observed in one of the directions. To make certain the mechanism underlying the observed phenomena, a coupled multi-body dynamic model of the floating wind turbine is established and validated. The numerical results demonstrate that the second-order hydrodynamic forces contribute greatly to the directionality distinctions for surge and pitch, and the first-order hydrodynamic forces determine the variations of tower base bending moments and nacelle accelerations. These findings indicate the directionality effects should be predetermined comprehensively before installation at sea, which is important for the operation and maintenance of the Y-shape floating wind turbines.

  20. Extreme Response for Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2009-01-01

    The characteristic load on wind turbines during operation are among others dependent on the mean wind speed, the turbulence intensity and type and settings of the control system. The characteristic load during operation is normally estimated by statistical extrapolation of a limited number...... of simulated 10min time series of the response according to the wind turbine standard IEC 61400-1. However, this method assumes that the individual 10min time series and the extracted peaks from the time series are independent. In the present paper is this assumption investigated based on field measurements...

  1. Lidar-Enhanced Wind Turbine Control: Past, Present, and Future

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scholbrock, Andrew; Fleming, Paul; Schlipf, David; Wright, Alan; Johnson, Kathryn; Wang, Na

    2016-08-01

    The main challenges in harvesting energy from the wind arise from the unknown incoming turbulent wind field. Balancing the competing interests of reduction in structural loads and increasing energy production is the goal of a wind turbine controller to reduce the cost of producing wind energy. Conventional wind turbines use feedback methods to optimize these goals, reacting to wind disturbances after they have already impacted the wind turbine. Lidar sensors offer a means to provide additional inputs to a wind turbine controller, enabling new techniques to improve control methods, allowing a controller to actuate a wind turbine in anticipation of an incoming wind disturbance. This paper will look at the development of lidar-enhanced controls and how they have been used for various turbine load reductions with pitch actuation, as well as increased energy production with improved yaw control. Ongoing work will also be discussed to show that combining pitch and torque control using feedforward nonlinear model predictive control can lead to both reduced loads and increased energy production. Future work is also proposed on extending individual wind turbine controls to the wind plant level and determining how lidars can be used for control methods to further lower the cost of wind energy by minimizing wake impacts in a wind farm.

  2. Smart Wind Turbine: Analysis and Autonomous Flap

    OpenAIRE

    Bernhammer, L.O.

    2015-01-01

    Wind turbines convert kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. Unfortunately, this process is everything but constant, as the wind source shows large fluctuations with high and low frequencies. This turbulence, together with the wind shear and yawed inflow, excites the turbine structure, thereby driving the loads and the design of turbines in general and blades in particular. In response to this, several control mechanisms have been applied to wind turbines since the generation of s...

  3. Offshore Wind Turbine Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frandsen, Sten; Hansen, Erik Asp; Ibsen, Lars Bo

    2006-01-01

    Current offshore wind turbine design methods have matured to a 1st generation state, manifested in the draft of a possible standard, IEC 61400-3 (2005). It is now time to investigate the possibilities of improving existing methods. To do so in an efficient manner a clear identification of the most...... important uncertainty drivers specific for offshore wind turbine design loads is required. Describing the initial efforts in a Danish research project, the paper points to focal points for research and development. These are mainly: soil-structure interaction, improved modelling of wave loads from deep...

  4. Power and loads for wind turbines in yawed conditions. Analysis of field measurements and aerodynamic predictions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boorsma, K. [ECN Wind Energy, Petten (Netherlands)

    2012-11-15

    A description is given of the work carried out within the framework of the FLOW (Far and Large Offshore Wind) project on single turbine performance in yawed flow conditions. Hereto both field measurements as well as calculations with an aerodynamic code are analyzed. The rotors of horizontal axis wind turbines follow the changes in the wind direction for optimal performance. The reason is that the power is expected to decrease for badly oriented rotors. So, insight in the effects of the yaw angle on performance is important for optimization of the yaw control of each individual turbine. The effect of misalignment on performance and loads of a single 2.5 MW wind turbine during normal operation is investigated. Hereto measurements at the ECN Wind Turbine Test Site Wieringermeer (EWTW) are analyzed from December 2004 until April 2009. Also, the influence of yaw is studied using a design code and results from this design code are compared with wind tunnel measurements.

  5. A wind turbine hybrid simulation framework considering aeroelastic effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Wei; Su, Weihua

    2015-04-01

    In performing an effective structural analysis for wind turbine, the simulation of turbine aerodynamic loads is of great importance. The interaction between the wake flow and the blades may impact turbine blades loading condition, energy yield and operational behavior. Direct experimental measurement of wind flow field and wind profiles around wind turbines is very helpful to support the wind turbine design. However, with the growth of the size of wind turbines for higher energy output, it is not convenient to obtain all the desired data in wind-tunnel and field tests. In this paper, firstly the modeling of dynamic responses of large-span wind turbine blades will consider nonlinear aeroelastic effects. A strain-based geometrically nonlinear beam formulation will be used for the basic structural dynamic modeling, which will be coupled with unsteady aerodynamic equations and rigid-body rotations of the rotor. Full wind turbines can be modeled by using the multi-connected beams. Then, a hybrid simulation experimental framework is proposed to potentially address this issue. The aerodynamic-dominant components, such as the turbine blades and rotor, are simulated as numerical components using the nonlinear aeroelastic model; while the turbine tower, where the collapse of failure may occur under high level of wind load, is simulated separately as the physical component. With the proposed framework, dynamic behavior of NREL's 5MW wind turbine blades will be studied and correlated with available numerical data. The current work will be the basis of the authors' further studies on flow control and hazard mitigation on wind turbine blades and towers.

  6. 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...

  7. Aerodynamic loads calculation and analysis for large scale wind turbine based on combining BEM modified theory with dynamic stall model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dai, J.C. [College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha (China); School of Electromechanical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan (China); Hu, Y.P.; Liu, D.S. [School of Electromechanical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan (China); Long, X. [Hara XEMC Windpower Co., Ltd., Xiangtan (China)

    2011-03-15

    The aerodynamic loads for MW scale horizontal-axis wind turbines are calculated and analyzed in the established coordinate systems which are used to describe the wind turbine. In this paper, the blade element momentum (BEM) theory is employed and some corrections, such as Prandtl and Buhl models, are carried out. Based on the B-L semi-empirical dynamic stall (DS) model, a new modified DS model for NACA63-4xx airfoil is adopted. Then, by combing BEM modified theory with DS model, a set of calculation method of aerodynamic loads for large scale wind turbines is proposed, in which some influence factors such as wind shear, tower, tower and blade vibration are considered. The research results show that the presented dynamic stall model is good enough for engineering purpose; the aerodynamic loads are influenced by many factors such as tower shadow, wind shear, dynamic stall, tower and blade vibration, etc, with different degree; the single blade endures periodical changing loads but the variations of the rotor shaft power caused by the total aerodynamic torque in edgewise direction are very small. The presented study approach of aerodynamic loads calculation and analysis is of the university, and helpful for thorough research of loads reduction on large scale wind turbines. (author)

  8. Extreme Design Loads Calibration of Offshore Wind Turbine Blades through Real Time Measurements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Natarajan, Anand; Vesth, Allan; Lamata, Rebeca Rivera

    2014-01-01

    Blade Root flap and Edge moments are measured on the blades of a 3.6MW offshore wind turbine in normal operation. Ten minute maxima of the measurements are sampled to determine the extreme blade root flap moment, edge moment and resultant moment over six month duration. A random subset of the mea......Blade Root flap and Edge moments are measured on the blades of a 3.6MW offshore wind turbine in normal operation. Ten minute maxima of the measurements are sampled to determine the extreme blade root flap moment, edge moment and resultant moment over six month duration. A random subset...... of the measurements over a week is taken as input to stochastic load extrapolation whereby the one year extrapolated design extreme is obtained, which are then compared with the maximum extremes obtained from direct measurements over a six month period to validate the magnification in the load levels for the blade...... root flap moment, edge moment obtained by extrapolation. The validation yields valuable information on prescribing the slope of the local extrapolation curve at each mean wind speed. As an alternative to determining the contemporaneous loads for each primary extrapolated load, the blade root resultant...

  9. Active load reduction by means of trailing edge flaps on a wind turbine blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Couchman, Ian; Castaignet, Damien; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents the blade fatigue load reduction achieved with a trailing edge flap during a full scale test on a Vestas V27 wind turbine. A frequency-weighted linear model predictive control (MPC) is tuned to decrease flapwise blade root fatigue loads at the frequencies where most of the blade...... damage occurs, i.e. the 1P and 2P frequencies (respectively 1 and 2 events per revolution). Frequency-weighted MPC is chosen for its ability to handle constraints on the trailing edge flap deflection and to optimise its actuation in order to decrease wear and tear of the actuator. The controller...... was first tested in aero-servo-elastic simulations, before being implemented on a Vestas V27 wind turbine. Consistent load reduction is achieved during the full-scale test. An average of 14% flapwise blade root fatigue load reduction is measured....

  10. Grid fault and design-basis for wind turbines. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hansen, A.D.; Cutululis, N.A.; Markou, H.; Soerensen, Poul; Iov, F.

    2010-01-15

    This is the final report of a Danish research project 'Grid fault and design-basis for wind turbines'. The objective of this project has been to assess and analyze the consequences of the new grid connection requirements for the fatigue and ultimate structural loads of wind turbines. The fulfillment of the grid connection requirements poses challenges for the design of both the electrical system and the mechanical structure of wind turbines. The development of wind turbine models and novel control strategies to fulfill the TSO's requirements are of vital importance in this design. Dynamic models and different fault ride-through control strategies have been developed and assessed in this project for three different wind turbine concepts (active stall wind turbine, variable speed doublyfed induction generator wind turbine, variable speed multipole permanent magnet wind turbine). A computer approach for the quantification of the wind turbines structural loads caused by the fault ride-through grid requirement, has been proposed and exemplified for the case of an active stall wind turbine. This approach relies on the combination of knowledge from complimentary simulation tools, which have expertise in different specialized design areas for wind turbines. In order to quantify the impact of the grid faults and grid requirements fulfillment on wind turbines structural loads and thus on their lifetime, a rainflow and a statistical analysis for fatigue and ultimate structural loads, respectively, have been performed and compared for two cases, i.e. one when the turbine is immediately disconnected from the grid when a grid fault occurs and one when the turbine is equipped with a fault ride-through controller and therefore it is able to remain connected to the grid during the grid fault. Different storm control strategies, that enable variable speed wind turbines to produce power at wind speeds higher than 25m/s and up to 50m/s without substantially increasing

  11. Breaking phase focused wave group loads on offshore wind turbine monopiles

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ghadirian, Amin; Bredmose, Henrik; Dixen, M.

    2016-01-01

    The current method for calculating extreme wave loads on offshore wind turbine structures is based on engineering models for non-breaking regular waves. The present article has the aim of validating previously developed models at DTU, namely the OceanWave3D potential flow wave model and a coupled...

  12. Structural Reliability Aspects in Design of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2007-01-01

    Reliability assessment, optimal design and optimal operation and maintenance of wind turbines are an area of significant interest for the fast growing wind turbine industry for sustainable production of energy. Offshore wind turbines in wind farms give special problems due to wake effects inside...... the farm. Reliability analysis and optimization of wind turbines require that the special conditions for wind turbine operation are taken into account. Control of the blades implies load reductions for large wind speeds and parking for high wind speeds. In this paper basic structural failure modes for wind...... turbines are described. Further, aspects are presented related to reliability-based optimization of wind turbines, assessment of optimal reliability level and operation and maintenance....

  13. Probabilistic Modeling of Wind Turbine Drivetrain Components

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rafsanjani, Hesam Mirzaei

    Wind energy is one of several energy sources in the world and a rapidly growing industry in the energy sector. When placed in offshore or onshore locations, wind turbines are exposed to wave excitations, highly dynamic wind loads and/or the wakes from other wind turbines. Therefore, most components...... in a wind turbine experience highly dynamic and time-varying loads. These components may fail due to wear or fatigue, and this can lead to unplanned shutdown repairs that are very costly. The design by deterministic methods using safety factors is generally unable to account for the many uncertainties. Thus......, a reliability assessment should be based on probabilistic methods where stochastic modeling of failures is performed. This thesis focuses on probabilistic models and the stochastic modeling of the fatigue life of the wind turbine drivetrain. Hence, two approaches are considered for stochastic modeling...

  14. Mapping of grid faults and grid codes[Wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Iov, F. [Aalborg Univ., Inst. of Energy Technology (Denmark); Hansen, Anca D.; Soerensen, Poul; Cutululis, N.A. [Risoe National Lab. - DTU, Wind Enegy Dept., Roskilde (Denmark)

    2007-06-15

    The objective of this project is to investigate into the consequences of the new grid connection requirements for the fatigue and extreme loads of wind turbines. The goal is also to clarify and define possible new directions in the certification process of power plant wind turbines, namely wind turbines, which participate actively in the stabilisation of power systems. Practical experience shows that there is a need for such investigations. The grid connection requirements for wind turbines have increased significantly during the last 5-10 years. Especially the requirements for wind turbines to stay connected to the grid during and after voltage sags, imply potential challenges in the design of wind turbines. These requirements pose challenges for the design of both the electrical system and the mechanical structure of wind turbines. An overview over the frequency of grid faults and the grid connection requirements in different relevant countries is done in this report. The most relevant study cases for the quantification of the loads' impact on the wind turbines' lifetime are defined. The goal of this report is to present a mapping of different grid fault types and their frequency in different countries. The report provides also a detailed overview of the Low Voltage Ride-Through Capabilities for wind turbines in different relevant countries. The most relevant study cases for the quantification of the loads' impact on the wind turbines' lifetime are defined. (au)

  15. Design of a new urban wind turbine airfoil using a pressure-load inverse method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Henriques, J.C.C.; Gato, L.M.C. [IDMEC, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Marques da Silva, F. [LNEC - Laboratorio Nacional de Engenharia Civil, Av. Brasil, 101, 1700-066 Lisboa (Portugal); Estanqueiro, A.I. [INETI - Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovacao Estrada do Paco do Lumiar, 1649-038 Lisboa (Portugal)

    2009-12-15

    This paper presents the design methodology of a new wind turbine airfoil that achieves high performance in urban environment by increasing the maximum lift. For this purpose, an inverse method was applied to obtain a new wind turbine blade section with constant pressure-load along the chord, at the design inlet angle. In comparison with conventional blade section designs, the new airfoil has increased maximum lift, reduced leading edge suction peak and controlled soft-stall behaviour, due to a reduction of the adverse pressure gradient on the suction side. Wind tunnel experimental results confirmed the computational results. (author)

  16. Calculation of design load for the MOD-5A 7.3 mW wind turbine system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirandy, L.; Strain, J. C.

    1995-01-01

    Design loads are presented for the General Electric MOD-SA wind turbine. The MOD-SA system consists of a 400 ft. diameter, upwind, two-bladed, teetered rotor connected to a 7.3 mW variable-speed generator. Fatigue loads are specified in the form of histograms for the 30 year life of the machine, while limit (or maximum) loads have been derived from transient dynamic analysis at critical operating conditions. Loads prediction was accomplished using state of the art aeroelastic analyses developed at General Electric. Features of the primary predictive tool - the Transient Rotor Analysis Code (TRAC) are described in the paper. Key to the load predictions are the following wind models: (1) yearly mean wind distribution; (2) mean wind variations during operation; (3) number of start/shutdown cycles; (4) spatially large gusts; and (5) spatially small gusts (local turbulence). The methods used to develop statistical distributions from load calculations represent an extension of procedures used in past wind programs and are believed to be a significant contribution to Wind Turbine Generator analysis. Test/theory correlations are presented to demonstrate code load predictive capability and to support the wind models used in the analysis. In addition MOD-5A loads are compared with those of existing machines. The MOD-5A design was performed by the General Electric Company, Advanced Energy Program Department, under Contract DEN3-153 with NASA Lewis Research Center and sponsored by the Department of Energy.

  17. Comparison of Second-Order Loads on a Tension-Leg Platform for Wind Turbines: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gueydon, S.; Wuillaume, P.; Jonkman, J.; Robertson, A.; Platt, A.

    2015-03-01

    The first objective of this work is to compare the two floating offshore wind turbine simulation packages {DIFFRAC+aNySIM} and {WAMIT+FAST}. The focus is on second-order wave loads, and so first- and second-order wave loads are applied to a structure sequentially for a detailed comparison and a more precise analysis of the effects of the second-order loads. aNySIM does not have the capability to model flexible bodies, and so the simulations performed in this tool are done assuming a rigid body. FAST also assumes that the platform is rigid, but can account for the flexibility of the tower. The second objective is to study the effects of the second-order loads on the response of a TLP floating wind turbine. The flexibility of the tower must be considered for this investigation, and therefore only FAST is used.

  18. Model-based control of a ballast-stabilized floating wind turbine exposed to wind and waves

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Christiansen, Soeren

    2013-01-15

    The wind turbine is a commercial product which is competing against other sources of energy, such as coal and gas. This competition drives a constant development to reduce costs and improve efficiency in order to reduce the total cost of the energy. The latest offshore development is the floating wind turbine, for water depths beyond 50 meters where winds are stronger and less turbulent. A floating wind turbine is subject to not only aerodynamics and wind induced loads, but also to hydrodynamics and wave induced loads. In contrast to a bottom fixed wind turbine, the floating structure, the hydrodynamics and the loads change the dynamic behavior of a floating wind turbine. Consequently, conventional wind turbine control cause instabilities on floating wind turbines. This work addresses the control of a floating spar buoy wind turbine, and focuses on the impact of the additional platform dynamics. A time varying control model is presented based on the wind speed and wave frequency. Estimates of the wind speed and wave frequency are used as scheduling variables in a gain scheduled linear quadratic controller to improve the electrical power production while reducing fatigue. To address the problem of negative damped fore-aft tower motion, additional control loops are suggested which stabilize the response of the onshore controller and reduce the impact of the wave induced loads. This research is then extended to model predictive control, to further address wave disturbances. In the context of control engineering, the dynamics and disturbances of a floating wind turbine have been identified and modeled. The objectives of maximizing the production of electrical power and minimizing fatigue have been reached by using advanced methods of estimation and control. (Author)

  19. A comparison of measured wind park load histories with the WISPER and WISPERX load spectra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelley, N. D.

    1995-01-01

    The blade-loading histories from two adjacent Micon 65/13 wind turbines are compared with the variable-amplitude test-loading histories known as the WISPER and WISPERX spectra. These standardized loading sequences were developed from blade flapwise load histories taken from nine different horizontal-axis wind turbines operating under a wide range of conditions in Europe. The subject turbines covered a broad spectrum of rotor diameters, materials, and operating environments. The final loading sequences were developed as a joint effort of thirteen different European organizations. The goal was to develop a meaningful loading standard for horizontal-axis wind turbine blades that represents common interaction effects seen in service. In 1990, NREL made extensive load measurements on two adjacent Micon 65/13 wind turbines in simultaneous operation in the very turbulent environment of a large wind park. Further, before and during the collection of the loads data, comprehensive measurements of the statistics of the turbulent environment were obtained at both the turbines under test and at two other locations within the park. The trend to larger but lighter wind turbine structures has made an understanding of the expected lifetime loading history of paramount importance. Experience in the US has shown that the turbulence-induced loads associated with multi-row wind parks in general are much more severe than for turbines operating individually or within widely spaced environments. Multi-row wind parks are much more common in the US than in Europe. In this paper we report on our results in applying the methodology utilized to develop the WISPER and WISPERX standardized loading sequences using the available data from the Micon turbines. While the intended purpose of the WISPER sequences were not to represent a specific operating environment, we believe the exercise is useful, especially when a turbine design is likely to be installed in a multi-row wind park.

  20. Model Development and Loads Analysis of an Offshore Wind Turbine on a Tension Leg Platform with a Comparison to Other Floating Turbine Concepts: April 2009

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matha, D.

    2010-02-01

    This report presents results of the analysis of a 5-MW wind turbine located on a floating offshore tension leg platform (TLP) that was conducted using the fully coupled time-domain aero-hydro-servo-elastic design code FAST with AeroDyn and HydroDyn. The report also provides a description of the development process of the TLP model. The model has been verified via comparisons to frequency-domain calculations. Important differences have been identified between the frequency-domain and time-domain simulations, and have generated implications for the conceptual design process. An extensive loads and stability analysis for ultimate and fatigue loads according to the procedure of the IEC 61400-3 offshore wind turbine design standard was performed with the verified TLP model. This report compares the loads for the wind turbine on the TLP to those of an equivalent land-based turbine. Major instabilities for the TLP are identified and described.

  1. Floating wind turbine system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viterna, Larry A. (Inventor)

    2009-01-01

    A floating wind turbine system with a tower structure that includes at least one stability arm extending therefrom and that is anchored to the sea floor with a rotatable position retention device that facilitates deep water installations. Variable buoyancy for the wind turbine system is provided by buoyancy chambers that are integral to the tower itself as well as the stability arm. Pumps are included for adjusting the buoyancy as an aid in system transport, installation, repair and removal. The wind turbine rotor is located downwind of the tower structure to allow the wind turbine to follow the wind direction without an active yaw drive system. The support tower and stability arm structure is designed to balance tension in the tether with buoyancy, gravity and wind forces in such a way that the top of the support tower leans downwind, providing a large clearance between the support tower and the rotor blade tips. This large clearance facilitates the use of articulated rotor hubs to reduced damaging structural dynamic loads. Major components of the turbine can be assembled at the shore and transported to an offshore installation site.

  2. Investigation of Wind Turbine Rotor Concepts for Offshore Wind Farms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ceyhan, Özlem; Grasso, Francesco

    2014-01-01

    Current plans in offshore wind energy developments call for further reduction of cost of energy. In order to contribute to this goal, several wind turbine rotor concepts have been investigated. Assuming the future offshore wind turbines will operate only in the offshore wind farms, the rotor concepts are not only evaluated for their stand-alone performances and their potential in reducing the loads, but also for their performance in an offshore wind farm. In order to do that, the 10MW reference wind turbine designed in Innwind.EU project is chosen as baseline. Several rotor parameters have been modified and their influences are investigated for offshore wind turbine design purposes. This investigation is carried out as a conceptual parametrical study. All concepts are evaluated numerically with BOT (Blade optimisation tool) software in wind turbine level and with Farmflow software in wind farm level for two wind farm layouts. At the end, all these concepts are compared with each other in terms of their advantages and disadvantages

  3. Optimal Risk-Based Inspection Planning for Offshore Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rangel-Ramirez, Jose G.; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2008-01-01

    , inspection and maintenance activities are developed. This paper considers aspects of inspection and maintenance planning of fatigue prone details in jacket and tripod types of wind turbine support structures. Based oil risk-based inspection planning methods used for oil & gas installations, a framework......Wind turbines for electricity production have increased significantly the last years both in production capability and size. This development is expected to continue also in the coining years. The Support structure for offshore wind turbines is typically a steel structure consisting of a tower...... for optimal inspection and maintenance planning of offshore wind turbines is presented. Special aspects for offshore wind turbines are considered: usually the wind loading are dominating the wave loading, wake effects in wind farms are important and the reliability level is typically significantly lower than...

  4. 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...

  5. Effect of Coupled Non linear Wave Kinematics and Soil Flexibility on the Design Loads of Offshore Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kim, Taeseong; Natarajan, Anand

    2013-01-01

    The design driving loads on offshore wind turbine monopile support structures at water depths of 35m, which are beyond current monopile installation depths, are derived based on fully coupled aerohydroelastic simulations of the wind turbine in normal operation and in storm conditions in the prese...

  6. 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...

  7. Dynamic Analysis of Wind Turbines Including Soil-Structure Interaction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harte, M.; Basu, B.; Nielsen, Søren R.K.

    2012-01-01

    This paper investigates the along-wind forced vibration response of an onshore wind turbine. The study includes the dynamic interaction effects between the foundation and the underlying soil, as softer soils can influence the dynamic response of wind turbines. A Multi-Degree-of-Freedom (MDOF......) horizontal axes onshore wind turbine model is developed for dynamic analysis using an Euler–Lagrangian approach. The model is comprised of a rotor blade system, a nacelle and a flexible tower connected to a foundation system using a substructuring approach. The rotor blade system consists of three rotating...... for displacement of the turbine system are obtained and the modal frequencies of the combined turbine-foundation system are estimated. Simulations are presented for the MDOF turbine structure subjected to wind loading for different soil stiffness conditions. Steady state and turbulent wind loading, developed using...

  8. Coordination of Voltage and Frequency Feedback in Load-Frequency Control Capability of Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hoseinzadeh, Bakhtyar; Silva, Filipe Faria Da; Bak, Claus Leth

    2014-01-01

    In close future, with high Wind Energy (WE) penetration in the power system, the burden of Load-Frequency Control (LFC) is gradually shifted to Variable Speed Wind Turbines (VSWTs). In order to equip the VSWT with LFC capability to support the grid during sudden variation in generation or load...... regulation. The proposed scheme demonstrates remarkable improvement transient state of both voltage and frequency profiles in comparison with conventional LFC designs provided by Central Power Plants (CPP) or Wind Power Plants (WPP). Numerical simulations carried out in DigSilent Power- Factory confirm...

  9. An Integrated Structural Strength Analysis Method for Spar Type Floating Wind Turbine

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    胡志强; 刘毅; 王晋

    2016-01-01

    An integrated structural strength analysis method for a Spar type floating wind turbine is proposed in this paper, and technical issues related to turbine structure modeling and stress combination are also addressed. The NREL-5MW “Hywind” Spar type wind turbine is adopted as study object. Time-domain dynamic coupled simulations are performed by a fully-coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic tool, FAST, on the purpose of obtaining the dynamic characteristics of the floating wind turbine, and determining parameters for design load cases of finite element calculation. Then design load cases are identified, and finite element analyses are performed for these design load cases. The structural stresses due to wave-induced loads and wind-induced loads are calculated, and then combined to assess the structural strength of the floating wind turbine. The feasibility of the proposed structural strength analysis method for floating wind turbines is then validated.

  10. Probabilistic Meteorological Characterization for Turbine Loads

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kelly, Mark C.; Larsen, Gunner Chr.; Dimitrov, Nikolay Krasimirov

    2014-01-01

    Beyond the existing, limited IEC prescription to describe fatigue loads on wind turbines, we look towards probabilistic characterization of the loads via analogous characterization of the atmospheric flow, particularly for today's "taller" turbines with rotors well above the atmospheric surface...

  11. Estimation of the wind turbine yaw error by support vector machines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sheibat-Othman, Nida; Othman, Sami; Tayari, Raoaa

    2015-01-01

    Wind turbine yaw error information is of high importance in controlling wind turbine power and structural load. Normally used wind vanes are imprecise. In this work, the estimation of yaw error in wind turbines is studied using support vector machines for regression (SVR). As the methodology...... is data-based, simulated data from a high fidelity aero-elastic model is used for learning. The model simulates a variable speed horizontal-axis wind turbine composed of three blades and a full converter. Both partial load (blade angles fixed at 0 deg) and full load zones (active pitch actuators...

  12. Small Wind Research Turbine: Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Corbus, D.; Meadors, M.

    2005-10-01

    The Small Wind Research Turbine (SWRT) project was initiated to provide reliable test data for model validation of furling wind turbines and to help understand small wind turbine loads. This report will familiarize the user with the scope of the SWRT test and support the use of these data. In addition to describing all the testing details and results, the report presents an analysis of the test data and compares the SWRT test data to simulation results from the FAST aeroelastic simulation model.

  13. Iterative data-driven load control for flexible wind turbine rotors

    OpenAIRE

    Navalkar, S.T.

    2016-01-01

    Wind energy has reached a high degree ofmaturity: for wind-rich onshore locations, it is already competitive with conventional energy sources. However, for low-wind, remote and offshore regions, research efforts are still required to enhance its economic viability. While it is possible to reduce the cost of energy by upscaling wind turbines, it is believed that we may be approaching a plateau in turbine size. Beyond this plateau, the material costs associated with the high dynamic turbine loa...

  14. Feasibility of generating electricity for clinics using wind turbines

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Szewczuk, S

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available is small wind turbines used in residential settings that are installed using net metering to supply energy directly to the home. Excess energy is sold back to the supplying utility. Farm, business and small industrial wind applications are used..., businesses are not eligible for net metering applications thus the commercial loads must use most of the power from the turbine. “Small-scale” community wind is a system using wind turbines to power grid-connected loads such as schools, public lighting...

  15. Data Driven Modelling of the Dynamic Wake Between Two Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Torben; Bak, Thomas

    2012-01-01

    turbine. This paper establishes flow models relating the wind speeds at turbines in a farm. So far, research in this area has been mainly based on first principles static models and the data driven modelling done has not included the loading of the upwind turbine and its impact on the wind speed downwind......Wind turbines in a wind farm, influence each other through the wind flow. Downwind turbines are in the wake of upwind turbines and the wind speed experienced at downwind turbines is hence a function of the wind speeds at upwind turbines but also the momentum extracted from the wind by the upwind....... This paper is the first where modern commercial mega watt turbines are used for data driven modelling including the upwind turbine loading by changing power reference. Obtaining the necessary data is difficult and data is therefore limited. A simple dynamic extension to the Jensen wake model is tested...

  16. Analysis on relationship between wake and fatigue load of wind turbines%风电机组尾流与疲劳载荷关系分析

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    邓英; 李嘉楠; 刘河生; 庞辉庆; 田德

    2017-01-01

    With the continuous development of wind power industry, the power record of single wind turbine is constantly expanded, and the scale of wind power generation is becoming larger and larger. For large wind turbines, the wake effect cannot be ignored. It has an important influence on the fatigue load of the wind turbine, and also has a significant impact on the output power characteristics of the wind turbine. In order to study the influence of wind turbine wake on the load of the downstream wind turbine, several important wake parameters such as upstream and downstream wind turbine spacing, upstream wind turbine thrust coefficient and nature wind speed are assumed according to the theoretical results of some researchers. The physical quantity of wake region can be obtained according to the momentum theory. The relation between the natural wind speed, the wind speed and the thrust coefficient can be obtained by calculating the axial thrust based on the Bates' theory. The wind speed increases linearly with the natural wind speed, but with the increase of the thrust coefficient, the wind speed of the wind rotor will gradually decrease. When the natural wind speed is fixed, with the increase of thrust coefficient, the wind speed of the wind turbine will be reduced, and if the thrust coefficient can be large enough, then the wind speed of the wind rotor will tend to 0. However, there will be no thrust coefficient greater than or equal to 1 in the actual operation of the wind turbine. Use GH Bladed software to build a model of FL1500/701.5 and 3.0 MW doubly-fed wind turbine, and calculate the load response of the wake model to the downstream wind turbine. The conclusions are obtained by analyzing the calculation results which are as follows: 1) When the natural wind speed is constant, the wind speed at the wind rotor will decrease nonlinearly with the increase of thrust coefficient. The wake wind speed increases with the distance between 2 wind turbines, but the trend is

  17. A zero torsional stiffness twist morphing blade as a wind turbine load alleviation device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lachenal, X.; Daynes, S.; Weaver, P. M.

    2013-06-01

    This paper presents the design, analysis and realization of a zero stiffness twist morphing wind turbine blade. The morphing blade is designed to actively twist as a means of alleviating the gust loads which reduce the fatigue life of wind turbine blades. The morphing structure exploits an elastic strain energy balance within the blade to enable large twisting deformations with modest actuation requirements. While twist is introduced using the warping of the blade skin, internal pre-stressed members ensure that a constant strain energy balance is achieved throughout the deformation, resulting in a zero torsional stiffness structure. The torsional stability of the morphing blade is characterized by analysing the elastic strain energy in the device. Analytical models of the skin, the pre-stressed components and the complete blade are compared to their respective finite element models as well as experimental results. The load alleviation potential of the adaptive structure is quantified using a two-dimensional steady flow aerodynamic model which is experimentally validated with wind tunnel measurements.

  18. Mitigation of Wind Turbine/Vortex Interaction Using Disturbance Accommodating Control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hand, M. M.

    2003-12-01

    Wind turbines, a competitive source of emission-free electricity, are being designed with diameters and hub heights approaching 100 m, to further reduce the cost of the energy they produce. At this height above the ground, the wind turbine is exposed to atmospheric phenomena such as low-level jets, gravity waves, and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, which are not currently modeled in wind turbine design codes. These atmospheric phenomena can generate coherent turbulence that causes high cyclic loads on wind turbine blades. These fluctuating loads lead to fatigue damage accumulation and blade lifetime reduction. Advanced control was used to mitigate vortex-induced blade cyclic loading. A full-state feedback controller that incorporates more detailed vortex inputs achieved significantly greater blade load reduction. Blade loads attributed to vortex passage, then, can be reduced through advanced control, and further reductions appear feasible.

  19. Starting-up sequence of the AWEC-60 wind turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avia, F.; Cruz, M. de la.

    1991-01-01

    One of the most critical status of the wind turbines operation is the starting-up sequence and the connection to the grid, due to the actuating loads that could be several times the loads during operation at rated conditions. Due to this fact, the control strategy is very important during the starting-up sequence in order to minimize the loads on the machine. For this purpose it is necessary to analyze the behaviour of the wind turbine during that sequence in different wind conditions and machine conditions. This report shows the graphic information about fifty starting-up sequences of the AWEC-60 wind turbine of 60 m. diameter and 1200 kW of rated power, recorded in April 1991 and cut-out wind speed. (author)

  20. Light Rotor: The 10-MW reference wind turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bak, Christian; Bitsche, Robert; Yde, Anders

    2012-01-01

    design show a rather well performing wind turbine both in terms of power and loads, but in the further work towards the final design the challenges in the control needs to be solved and the balance between power performance and loads and between structural performance and mass will be investigated......This paper describes the design of a rotor and a wind turbine for an artificial 10-MW wind turbine carried out in the Light Rotor project. The turbine called the Light Rotor 10-MW Reference Wind Turbine (LR10-MW RWT), is designed with existing methods and techniques and serves as a reference...... like the determination of the specific power and upscaling of the turbine. The design of Iteration #2 of the LR10-MW RWT is carried out in a sequence between aerodynamic rotor design, structural design and aero-servo-elastic design. Each of these topics is described. The results from the Iteration #2...

  1. Effects of extreme wind shear on aeroelastic modal damping of wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skjoldan, P.F.; Hansen, Morten Hartvig

    2013-01-01

    Wind shear is an important contributor to fatigue loads on wind turbines. Because it causes an azimuthal variation in angle of attack, it can also affect aerodynamic damping. In this paper, a linearized model of a wind turbine, based on the nonlinear aeroelastic code BHawC, is used to investigate...

  2. European wind turbine standards 2 (EWTS-2)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pierik, J T.G.; Dekker, J W.M.; Braam, H [and others

    1999-03-01

    A summary is given of the main results of the European Wind Turbine Standards II project. EWTS-II was completed in 1998 and included investigations on: 1) wind farms-wind field and turbine loading; 2) complex terrain and fatigue loading; 3) extreme wind conditions; 4) quantification of failure probabilities; 5) integration of blade tests in design; 6) power performance in complex terrain; 7) site evaluation. In addition to these scientific evaluations, the EWTS-II participants established an organization of qualified measuring institute in the field of wind energy, the MEASNET organization. MEASNET unified measurement procedures of the participating institutes and guarantees qualified measurements and mutual acceptance among its members. (LN)

  3. Small Wind Turbine Applications: Current Practice in Colorado

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Green, Jim

    1999-01-01

    Numerous small wind turbines are being used by homeowners in Colorado. Some of these installations are quite recent while others date back to the federal tax-credit era of the early 1980s. Through visits with small wind turbine owners in Colorado, I have developed case studies of six small wind energy applications focusing on the wind turbine technology, wind turbine siting, the power systems and electric loads, regulatory issues, and motivations about wind energy. These case studies offer a glimpse into the current state-of-the-art of small-scale wind energy and provide some insight into issues affecting development of a wider market

  4. Simulation of a flexible wind turbine response to a grid fault

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Anca Daniela; Cutululis, Nicolaos Antonio; Sørensen, Poul Ejnar

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of this work is to illustrate the impact of a grid fault on the mechanical loads of a wind turbine. Grid faults generate transients in the generator electromagnetic torque, which are propagated in the wind turbine, stressing its mechanical components. Grid faults are normally simulated...... in power system simulation tools applying simplified mechanical models of the drive train. This paper presents simulations of the wind turbine load response to grid faults with an advanced aeroelastic computer code (HAWC2). The core of this code is an advanced model for the flexible structure of the wind...... turbines, taking the flexibility of the tower, blades and other components of the wind turbines into account. The effect of a grid fault on the wind turbine flexible structure is assessed for a typical fixed speed wind turbine, equipped with an induction generator....

  5. Mechanical Loads Test Report for the U.S. Department of Energy 1.5-Megawatt Wind Turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos, Rick [Santos Wind Engineering Technologies, Inc., Portland, ME (United States); van Dam, Jeroen [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2015-07-16

    The objective of the test was to obtain a baseline characterization of the mechanical loads of the DOE 1.5 wind turbine located at NREL. The test was conducted in accordance with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Specification, IEC 61400-13 Wind Turbine Generator Systems – Part 13: Measurement of mechanical loads; First Edition 2001-06 [1]. The National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) at NREL conducted this test in accordance with its quality system procedures so that the final test report meets the full requirements of its accreditation by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA). NREL’s quality system requires that all applicable requirements specified by A2LA and International Standards Organization/IEC 17025 be met or to note any exceptions in the test report.

  6. 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.

  7. Calculating the sensitivity of wind turbine loads to wind inputs using response surfaces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rinker, Jennifer M.

    2016-01-01

    at a low computational cost. Sobol sensitivity indices (SIs) can then be calculated with relative ease using the calibrated response surface. The proposed methodology is demonstrated by calculating the total sensitivity of the maximum blade root bending moment of the WindPACT 5 MW reference model to four......This paper presents a methodology to calculate wind turbine load sensitivities to turbulence parameters through the use of response surfaces. A response surface is a high-dimensional polynomial surface that can be calibrated to any set of input/output data and then used to generate synthetic data...... turbulence input parameters: a reference mean wind speed, a reference turbulence intensity, the Kaimal length scale, and a novel parameter reflecting the nonstationarity present in the inflow turbulence. The input/output data used to calibrate the response surface were generated for a previous project...

  8. Grid integration impacts on wind turbine design and development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Anca Daniela; Cutululis, Nicolaos Antonio; Sørensen, Poul Ejnar

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents an overall perspective on contemporary issues like wind power plants and grid integration. The purpose is to present and discuss the impacts of emerging new grid connection requirements on modern wind turbines. The grid integration issue has caused several new challenges......, the grid integration aspect has also an effect on wind turbines' role in the power system, on wind turbine technologies' survival on the market, as well as on the wind turbines' loads. Over the last years, it became obviously, that there it is an increasing need for design and research of wind turbines...... to the wind turbine design and development. The survival of different wind turbine concepts and controls is strongly conditioned by their ability to comply with stringent grid connection requirements, imposed by utility companies. Beside its impact on the mechanical design and control of wind turbines...

  9. Modeling of the UAE Wind Turbine for Refinement of FAST{_}AD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jonkman, J. M.

    2003-12-01

    The Unsteady Aerodynamics Experiment (UAE) research wind turbine was modeled both aerodynamically and structurally in the FAST{_}AD wind turbine design code, and its response to wind inflows was simulated for a sample of test cases. A study was conducted to determine why wind turbine load magnitude discrepancies-inconsistencies in aerodynamic force coefficients, rotor shaft torque, and out-of-plane bending moments at the blade root across a range of operating conditions-exist between load predictions made by FAST{_}AD and other modeling tools and measured loads taken from the actual UAE wind turbine during the NASA-Ames wind tunnel tests. The acquired experimental test data represent the finest, most accurate set of wind turbine aerodynamic and induced flow field data available today. A sample of the FAST{_}AD model input parameters most critical to the aerodynamics computations was also systematically perturbed to determine their effect on load and performance predictions. Attention was focused on the simpler upwind rotor configuration, zero yaw error test cases. Inconsistencies in input file parameters, such as aerodynamic performance characteristics, explain a noteworthy fraction of the load prediction discrepancies of the various modeling tools.

  10. Site-specific design optimization of wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fuglsang, P.; Bak, C.; Schepers, J.G.

    2002-01-01

    This article reports results from a European project, where site characteristics were incorporated into the design process of wind turbines, to enable site-specific design. Two wind turbines of different concept were investigated at six different sites comprising normal flat terrain, offshore...... and complex terrain wind farms. Design tools based on numerical optimization and aeroelastic calculations were combined with a cost model to allow optimization for minimum cost of energy. Different scenarios were optimized ranging from modifications of selected individual components to the complete design...... of a new wind turbine. Both annual energy yield and design-determining loads depended on site characteristics, and this represented a potential for site-specific design. The maximum variation in annual energy yield was 37% and the maximum variation in blade root fatigue loads was 62%. Optimized site...

  11. On long-term fatigue damage and reliability analysis of gears under wind loads in offshore wind turbine drivetrains

    OpenAIRE

    Rasekhi Nejad, Amir; Gao, Zhen; Moan, Torgeir

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, a long-term fatigue damage analysis method for gear tooth root bending in wind turbine’s drivetrains is presented. The proposed method is established based on the ISO gear design codes which are basically developed for gears in general applications, not specifically for wind turbine gears. The ISO procedure is adapted and further improved to include the long-term fatigue damage of wind turbine’s gears. The load duration distribution (LDD) method is used to obtain the short-term...

  12. Effect of topography on wind turbine power and load fluctuations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santoni, Christian; Ciri, Umberto; Leonardi, Stefano

    2015-11-01

    Onshore wind turbines produce more than 17 GW in the US, which constitutes 4 . 4 % of all the energy produced. Sites selection is mostly determined by the atmospheric conditions and the topographical characteristics of the region. While the effect of the atmospheric boundary layer had been widely studied, less attention has been given to the effect of the topography on the wind turbine aerodynamics. To address how the topography affects the flow, Large Eddy Simulations of the flow over a wind turbine placed over wavy wall are performed. The wavelength of the wavy terrain, λ, is 1 . 7 D where D is the turbine rotor diameter. Two different values of the height of the wavy wall, a / D = 0 . 05 and a / D = 0 . 10 have been considered. In addition, two positions of the turbine with respect to the wavy wall had been studied, on the crest and trough of the wavy wall and compared with a wind turbine over a flat wall. For the turbine located at the crest, the pressure gradient due to the wavy wall caused a recirculation behind the wind tower 2 . 5 D larger than that of the smooth wall. When placed at the trough of the wavy terrain, the favorable pressure gradient increases the wake velocity near the wall and promotes entrainment into the turbine wake. Numerical simulations were performed on XSEDE TACC, Grant CTS070066. This work was supported by the NSF, grant IIA-1243482 (WINDINSPIRE).

  13. Review of laterally loaded monopiles employed as the foundation for offshore wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hyldal Soerensen, S.P.; Thoustrup Broedbaek, K.; Moeller, Martin; Hust Augustesen, A.

    2012-03-15

    The monopiles foundation concept is often employed as the foundation for offshore wind turbine converters. These piles are highly subjected to lateral loads and overturning moments due to wind and wave forces. Typically monopiles with diameters of 4 to 6 m and embedded pile lengths of 15 to 30 m are necessary. In current practice these piles are normally designed by use of the p-y curve method although the method is developed and verified for small-diameter, slender piles. In the present paper a review of the existing p-y curve formulations for piles in sand is presented. Based on numerical and experimental studies presented in the literature, advances and limitations of the current p-y curve formulations are outlined. The review focuses on the design of monopile foundations for offshore wind turbine converters. (Author)

  14. Wind Turbines Adaptation to the Variability of the Wind Field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulianov, Yuriy; Martynenko, Gennadii; Misaylov, Vitaliy; Soliannikova, Iuliia

    2010-05-01

    including combined RF-acoustic antenna installed coaxially with the gondola of the wind power turbine. The work of the technique is synchronized with rotation of blades to eliminate their shielding action. Dangerous in terms of dynamic strength is the wind load pulse, the rise time which is comparable with the period of the natural frequency of the wind turbine elements (blade, tower, rotor, etc.). The amplitude decay of resonant vibrations at critical values of the speed of rotation can be realized through the use of mechanical elastic supports with nonlinear artificial dampers. They have a high coefficient of resistance, but may cause self-excited oscillations. We propose the way to deal with raised vibration of wind turbine elements at the expense of short-term increase of damping in the range of critical rotary axis speeds or during impulsive effects of wind loadings (wind gusts). This is possible through the use of non-linear electromagnetic dampers or active magnetic bearings. Their feature is the possibility of varying the mechanical stiffness and damping properties by changing the electrical parameters of electromagnets. The controlling of these parameters is carried out by the control system (CS) with the information feedback on the spatial-temporal structure of the wind field obtained from IRASS. In the composition of the CS can also be included the rotational speed sensor of the WPT rotor. This approach to the adaptation of wind turbines will allow to reduce vibration and to perform early compensation of the load on their components, which arise under the wind gusts. In addition, corrections about the wind field obtained with IRASS, would increase the mean power of WPT.

  15. Model predictive control of trailing edge flaps on a wind turbine blade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Castaignet, Damien Bruno

    of the wind turbine fatigue and extreme loads. This potential was confirmed with wind tunnel tests made on blade sections with trailing edge flaps and on a scaled two-bladed wind turbine in a wind tunnel. The work presented in this thesis includes a full-scale test run on a Vestas V27 wind turbine equipped...... fatigue loads by 23%, but also the main shaft and the tower fatigue loads by up to 32%. Extreme loads during normal production also benefit from the trailing edge flaps. At last, the same controller was run on the Vestas V27 wind turbine located at the Risø Campus of the Technical University of Denmark......Trailing edge flaps on wind turbine blades have been investigated for several years. Aero-servoelastic simulations carried out with different simulation tools, trailing edge flaps configurations and controller designs proved that trailing edge flaps are a suitable solution for reducing some...

  16. Wind Turbine Contingency Control Through Generator De-Rating

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frost, Susan; Goebel, Kai; Balas, Mark

    2013-01-01

    Maximizing turbine up-time and reducing maintenance costs are key technology drivers for wind turbine operators. Components within wind turbines are subject to considerable stresses due to unpredictable environmental conditions resulting from rapidly changing local dynamics. In that context, systems health management has the aim to assess the state-of-health of components within a wind turbine, to estimate remaining life, and to aid in autonomous decision-making to minimize damage to the turbine. Advanced contingency control is one way to enable autonomous decision-making by providing the mechanism to enable safe and efficient turbine operation. The work reported herein explores the integration of condition monitoring of wind turbines with contingency control to balance the trade-offs between maintaining system health and energy capture. The contingency control involves de-rating the generator operating point to achieve reduced loads on the wind turbine. Results are demonstrated using a high fidelity simulator of a utility-scale wind turbine.

  17. Estimating Wind and Wave Induced Forces On a Floating Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Henriksen, Lars Christian; Natarajan, Anand; Kim, Taeseong

    2013-01-01

    -principles derived state space model of the floating wind turbine. The ability to estimate aero- and hydrodynamic states could prove crucial for the performance of model-based control methods applied on floating wind turbines. Furthermore, two types of water kinematics have been compared two determine whether......In this work, the basic model for a spar buoy floating wind turbine [1], used by an extended Kalman filter, is presented and results concerning wind speed and wave force estimations are shown. The wind speed and aerodynamic forces are estimated using an extended Kalman filter based on a first...... or not linear and nonlinear water kinematics lead to significantly different loads....

  18. A zero torsional stiffness twist morphing blade as a wind turbine load alleviation device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lachenal, X; Daynes, S; Weaver, P M

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents the design, analysis and realization of a zero stiffness twist morphing wind turbine blade. The morphing blade is designed to actively twist as a means of alleviating the gust loads which reduce the fatigue life of wind turbine blades. The morphing structure exploits an elastic strain energy balance within the blade to enable large twisting deformations with modest actuation requirements. While twist is introduced using the warping of the blade skin, internal pre-stressed members ensure that a constant strain energy balance is achieved throughout the deformation, resulting in a zero torsional stiffness structure. The torsional stability of the morphing blade is characterized by analysing the elastic strain energy in the device. Analytical models of the skin, the pre-stressed components and the complete blade are compared to their respective finite element models as well as experimental results. The load alleviation potential of the adaptive structure is quantified using a two-dimensional steady flow aerodynamic model which is experimentally validated with wind tunnel measurements. (paper)

  19. Mean load effects on the fatigue life of offshore wind turbine monopile foundations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blasques, José Pedro Albergaria Amaral; Natarajan, Anand

    2013-01-01

    This paper discusses the importance of mean load effects on the estimation of the fatigue damage in offshore wind turbine monopile foundations. The mud line bending moment time series are generated using a fully coupled aero-hydro-elastic model accounting for non-linear water waves and sea current....... The fatigue damage is analysed in terms of the lifetime fatigue damage equivalent bending moment. Three different mean value correction techniques are considered, namely, Goodman, Walker, and mean sensitivity factor. An increase in the lifetime fatigue damage equivalent bending moment between 6% (mean...... of the fatigue life of offshore wind turbine monopile foundations. Moreover, it is shown that a nonlinear hydrodynamic model is required in order to correctly account for the effect of the current....

  20. Experiences and results from Elkraft 1 MW wind turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Raben, N; Jensen, F V [SEAS Distribution A.m.b.A., Wind Power Dept., Haslev (Denmark); Oeye, S [DTU, Inst. for Energiteknik, Lyngby (Denmark); Markkilde Petersen, S; Antoniou, I [Risoe National Lab., Wind Energy and Atmospheric Physics Dept., Roskilde (Denmark)

    1999-03-01

    The Elkraft 1 MW Demonstration wind turbine was at the time of installation in 1993 the largest stall controlled wind turbine in the world. It was constructed to allow accurate comparison of two different forms of operation: pitch control and stall control. A comprehensive programme for the investigation of the two operation modes was established. This paper presents the main experiences from five years of operation and measurements. For a three-year period the wind turbine was in operation in stall controlled mode. During this period the turbine faced problems of various significance. Especially lightning strikes and unusually poor wind conditions caused delays of the project. In early 1997, the wind turbine was modified to enable pitch controlled operation. The gearbox ratio was changed in order to allow higher rotor speed, the hydraulic system was altered and new control software was installed. Tests were carried out successfully during the spring of 1997 and the wind turbine has since been operating as a pitch controlled wind turbine. The most significant events and problems are presented and commented in this paper along with results from the measurement programme. The results cover both stall and pitch controlled operation and include power curves, annual energy production, structural loads, fatigue loads etc. (au) 10 refs.

  1. Analysis of the effect of curtailment on power and fatigue loads of two aligned wind turbines using an actuator disc approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martinen, Silke; Nilsson, Karl; Breton, Simon-Philippe; Ivanell, Stefan; Carlén, Ingemar

    2014-01-01

    To study the effects of curtailment on both power production and fatigue loading, actuator disc (ACD) simulations of two turbines aligned in the wind direction are performed with the EllipSys3D code developed at DTU/Risø. A simple non-aeroelastic fatigue load evaluation method for ACD simulations is developed. Blade loads, extracted along a line that rotates in the rotor plane with the rotational velocity of the respective turbine, are used to calculate flapwise bending moments. After applying a rainflow counting algorithm an equivalent moment is calculated. Power curtailment is introduced by increasing the blade pitch angle of the first turbine. Evaluation is made with regards to fatigue load reduction at the second turbine and the change in the total production. Further parameters investigated are the spacing between the two turbines and the level of imposed pre-generated turbulence. The aeroelastic code Vidyn, Ganander [1], is used for validation of the ACD load evaluation method. For this purpose, the EllipSys3D simulations are rerun without the second turbine. Time series of cross sectional velocity fields are extracted at positions corresponding to the former placement of the downstream turbine and used as input for aeroelastic turbine load calculations in Vidyn. The results from Vidyn and the results based on the ACD loads show similar trends. Fatigue loads at the downwind turbine are clearly decreasing as the blade pitch angle of the upstream turbine is increasing. The achievable amount of fatigue load reduction depends on the level of the imposed pre-generated turbulence as well as the spacing between the turbines. The presented method is intended for further development of wind park optimization strategies

  2. Fatigue and extreme wave loads on bottom fixed offshore wind turbines. Effects from fully nonlinear wave forcing on the structural dynamics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schløer, Signe

    2013-01-01

    wind farms. As wind farms are being moved further offshore the wave loads become larger compared to the wind loads and therefore more important in the design of offshore wind turbines. Yet, the water depth is still only shallow or intermediate where the waves should be described by nonlinear irregular...

  3. Operating wind turbines in strong wind conditions by using feedforward-feedback control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng, Ju; Sheng, Wen Zhong

    2014-01-01

    Due to the increasing penetration of wind energy into power systems, it becomes critical to reduce the impact of wind energy on the stability and reliability of the overall power system. In precedent works, Shen and his co-workers developed a re-designed operation schema to run wind turbines in strong wind conditions based on optimization method and standard PI feedback control, which can prevent the typical shutdowns of wind turbines when reaching the cut-out wind speed. In this paper, a new control strategy combing the standard PI feedback control with feedforward controls using the optimization results is investigated for the operation of variable-speed pitch-regulated wind turbines in strong wind conditions. It is shown that the developed control strategy is capable of smoothening the power output of wind turbine and avoiding its sudden showdown at high wind speeds without worsening the loads on rotor and blades

  4. Using wind speed from a blade-mounted flow sensor for power and load assessment on modern wind turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. M. Pedersen

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper an alternative method to evaluate power performance and loads on wind turbines using a blade-mounted flow sensor is investigated. The hypothesis is that the wind speed measured at the blades has a high correlation with the power and loads such that a power or load assessment can be performed from a few hours or days of measurements.In the present study a blade-mounted five-hole pitot tube is used as the flow sensor as an alternative to the conventional approach, where the reference wind speed is either measured at a nearby met mast or on the nacelle using lidar technology or cup anemometers. From the flow sensor measurements, an accurate estimate of the wind speed at the rotor plane can be obtained. This wind speed is disturbed by the presence of the wind turbine, and it is therefore different from the free-flow wind speed. However, the recorded wind speed has a high correlation with the actual power production as well as the flap-wise loads as it is measured close to the blade where the aerodynamic forces are acting.Conventional power curves are based on at least 180 h of 10 min mean values, but using the blade-mounted flow sensor both the observation average time and the overall assessment time can potentially be shortened. The basis for this hypothesis is that the sensor is able to provide more observations with higher accuracy, as the sensor follows the rotation of the rotor and because of the high correlation between the flow at the blades and the power production. This is the research question addressed in this paper.The method is first tested using aeroelastic simulations where the dependence of the radial position and effect of multiple blade-mounted flow sensors are also investigated. Next the method is evaluated on the basis of full-scale measurements on a pitch-regulated, variable-speed 3.6 MW wind turbine.It is concluded that the wind speed derived from the blade-mounted flow sensor is highly correlated with the

  5. 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 ...

  6. A Case for Including Atmospheric Thermodynamic Variables in Wind Turbine Fatigue Loading Parameter Identification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kelley, Neil D.

    1999-01-01

    This paper makes the case for establishing efficient predictor variables for atmospheric thermodynamics that can be used to statistically correlate the fatigue accumulation seen on wind turbines. Recently, two approaches to this issue have been reported. One uses multiple linear-regression analysis to establish the relative causality between a number of predictors related to the turbulent inflow and turbine loads. The other approach, using many of the same predictors, applies the technique of principal component analysis. An examination of the ensemble of predictor variables revealed that they were all kinematic in nature; i.e., they were only related to the description of the velocity field. Boundary-layer turbulence dynamics depends upon a description of the thermal field and its interaction with the velocity distribution. We used a series of measurements taken within a multi-row wind farm to demonstrate the need to include atmospheric thermodynamic variables as well as velocity-related ones in the search for efficient turbulence loading predictors in various turbine-operating environments. Our results show that a combination of vertical stability and hub-height mean shearing stress variables meet this need over a period of 10 minutes

  7. Thermal loading of wind power converter considering dynamics of wind speed

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Baygildina, Elvira; Peltoniemi, Pasi; Pyrhönen, Olli

    2013-01-01

    The thermal loading of power semiconductors is a crucial performance related to the reliability and cost of the wind power converter. However, the thermal loading impacts by the variation of wind speeds have not yet been clarified, especially when considering the aerodynamic behavior of the wind...... turbines. In this paper, the junction temperatures in the wind power converter are studied under not only steady state, but also turbulent wind speed conditions. The study is based on a 1.5 MW direct-driven turbine system with aerodynamic model described by Unsteady Blade Element Momentum Method (BEMM......), and the thermal stress of power devices is investigated from the frequency spectrum point of view of wind speed. It is concluded that because of the strong inertia effects by the aerodynamic behavior of wind turbines, thermal stress of the semiconductors is relatively more stable and only influenced by the low...

  8. Simulation of a 5MW wind turbine in an atmospheric boundary layer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meister, Konrad; Lutz, Thorsten; Krämer, Ewald

    2014-01-01

    This article presents detached eddy simulation (DES) results of a 5MW wind turbine in an unsteady atmospheric boundary layer. The evaluation performed in this article focuses on turbine blade loads as well as on the influence of atmospheric turbulence and tower on blade loads. Therefore, the turbulence transport of the atmospheric boundary layer to the turbine position is analyzed. To determine the influence of atmospheric turbulence on wind turbines the blade load spectrum is evaluated and compared to wind turbine simulation results with uniform inflow. Moreover, the influences of different frequency regimes and the tower on the blade loads are discussed. Finally, the normal force coefficient spectrum is analyzed at three different radial positions and the influence of tower and atmospheric turbulence is shown

  9. Wind turbines, is it just wind?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boiteux, M.

    2012-01-01

    The author first outlines that wind energy is not only random, but almost absent in extreme situations when it would be needed (for example and notably, very cold weather without wind). He suggests the association of a gas turbine to each wind turbine, so that the gas turbine will replace non operating wind turbines. He notices that wind turbines are not proximity energy as they were said to be, and that profitability in fact requires tens of grouped giant wind turbines. He also outlines the high cost of construction of grids for the connection of these wind turbines. Thus, he states that wind energy is far from being profitable in the present conditions of electricity tariffs in France

  10. Extreme Value Predictions for Wave- and Wind-induced Loads on Floating Offshore Wind Turbines using FORM

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Joensen, Sunvard; Jensen, Jørgen Juncher; Mansour, Alaa E.

    2007-01-01

    duration of the time domain simulations needed (typically 60-300s to cover the hy-drodynamic memory effects in the response) the calcu-lation of the mean out-crossing rates of a given response are very fast. Thus complicated non-linear effects can be included. The FORM analysis also identifies the most...... probable wave episodes leading to given re-sponses. As an example the motions of floating foundations for offshore wind turbines are analysed taking into consid-eration both the wave and wind induced loads and con-sidering different mooring systems. The possible large horizontal motions make it important...

  11. Influence of the control system on wind turbine loads during power production in extreme turbulence: Structural reliability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abdallah, Imad; Natarajan, Anand; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2016-01-01

    structural reliability are assessed when the extreme turbulence model is uncertain. The structural reliability is assessed for the wind turbine when three configurations of an industrial grade load alleviation control system of increasing complexity and performance are used. The load alleviation features......The wind energy industry is continuously researching better computational models of wind inflow and turbulence to predict extreme loading (the nature of randomness) and their corresponding probability of occurrence. Sophisticated load alleviation control systems are increasingly being designed...... and deployed to specifically reduce the adverse effects of extreme load events resulting in lighter structures. The main objective herein is to show that despite large uncertainty in the extreme turbulence models, advanced load alleviation control systems yield both a reduction in magnitude and scatter...

  12. Grid Simulator for Testing a Wind Turbine on Offshore Floating Platform

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gevorgian, V.

    2012-02-01

    An important aspect of such offshore testing of a wind turbine floating platform is electrical loading of the wind turbine generator. An option of interconnecting the floating wind turbine with the onshore grid via submarine power cable is limited by many factors such as costs and associated environmental aspects (i.e., an expensive and lengthy sea floor study is needed for cable routing, burial, etc). It appears to be a more cost effective solution to implement a standalone grid simulator on a floating platform itself for electrical loading of the test wind turbine. Such a grid simulator must create a stable fault-resilient voltage and frequency bus (a micro grid) for continuous operation of the test wind turbine. In this report, several electrical topologies for an offshore grid simulator were analyzed and modeled.

  13. Cross-Wind Modal Properties of Offshore Wind Turbines Identified by Full Scale Testing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damgaard, Mads; Ibsen, Lars Bo; Andersen, Lars Vabbersgaard

    2013-01-01

    -2011, the paper evaluates the first natural frequency and modal damping of the structures. In addition, fitting of theoretical energy spectra to measured response spectra of operating turbines is presented as an alternative method of determining the system damping. Analyses show distinctly time-dependent cross......Cross-wind vibrations due to wave loading misaligned with wind turbulence are often a design driver for offshore wind turbine foundations. The phenomenon is characterised by increasing fatigue loads compared to the fore-aft fatigue and a small amount of system damping since almost no aerodynamic...

  14. Unsteady aerodynamic analysis for offshore floating wind turbines under different wind conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2015-02-28

    A free-vortex wake (FVW) model is developed in this paper to analyse the unsteady aerodynamic performance of offshore floating wind turbines. A time-marching algorithm of third-order accuracy is applied in the FVW model. Owing to the complex floating platform motions, the blade inflow conditions and the positions of initial points of vortex filaments, which are different from the fixed wind turbine, are modified in the implemented model. A three-dimensional rotational effect model and a dynamic stall model are coupled into the FVW model to improve the aerodynamic performance prediction in the unsteady conditions. The effects of floating platform motions in the simulation model are validated by comparison between calculation and experiment for a small-scale rigid test wind turbine coupled with a floating tension leg platform (TLP). The dynamic inflow effect carried by the FVW method itself is confirmed and the results agree well with the experimental data of a pitching transient on another test turbine. Also, the flapping moment at the blade root in yaw on the same test turbine is calculated and compares well with the experimental data. Then, the aerodynamic performance is simulated in a yawed condition of steady wind and in an unyawed condition of turbulent wind, respectively, for a large-scale wind turbine coupled with the floating TLP motions, demonstrating obvious differences in rotor performance and blade loading from the fixed wind turbine. The non-dimensional magnitudes of loading changes due to the floating platform motions decrease from the blade root to the blade tip. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  15. Transient Thunderstorm Downbursts and Their Effects on Wind Turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hieu H. Nguyen

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC Standard 61400-1 for the design of wind turbines does not explicitly address site-specific conditions associated with anomalous atmospheric events or conditions. Examples of off-standard atmospheric conditions include thunderstorm downbursts, hurricanes, tornadoes, low-level jets, etc. The simulation of thunderstorm downbursts and associated loads on a utility-scale wind turbine is the focus of this study. Since the problem has not received sufficient attention, especially in terms of design, we thus focus in this paper on practical aspects. A wind field model that incorporates component non-turbulent and turbulent parts is described and employed in inflow simulations. The non-turbulent part is based on an available analytical model with some modifications, while the turbulent part is simulated as a stochastic process using standard turbulence power spectral density functions and coherence functions whose defining parameters are related to the downburst characteristics such as the storm translation velocity. Available information on recorded downbursts is used to define two storm scenarios that are studied. Rotor loads are generated using stochastic simulation of the aeroelastic response of a model of a utility-scale 5-MW turbine. An illustrative single storm simulation and the associated turbine response are used to discuss load characteristics and to highlight storm-related and environmental parameters of interest. Extensive simulations for two downbursts are then conducted while varying the storm’s location and track relative to the turbine. Results suggest that wind turbine yaw and pitch control systems clearly influence overall system response. Results also highlight the important effects of both the turbulence as well as the downburst mean wind profiles on turbine extreme loads.

  16. Modern Control Design for Flexible Wind Turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wright, A. D.

    2004-07-01

    Control can improve energy capture and reduce dynamic loads in wind turbines. In the 1970s and 1980s, wind turbines used classical control designs to regulate power and speed. The methods used, however, were not always successful. Modern turbines are larger, mounted on taller towers, and more dynamically active than their predecessors. Control systems to regulate turbine power and maintain stable, closed-loop behavior in the presence of turbulent wind inflow will be critical for these designs. This report applies modern state-space control design methods to a two-bladed teetering hub upwind machine at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC), which is managed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. The design objective is to regulate turbine speed and enhance damping in several low-damped flexible modes of the turbine. Starting with simple control algorithms based on linear models, complexity is added incrementally until the desired performance is firmly established.

  17. Starting-up sequence of the AWEC-6 0 wind turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avia, F.; Cruz, M. de la

    1991-01-01

    One of the most critical status of the wind turbines operation is the starting-up sequence and the connection to the grid, due to the actuating loads that could be several times the loads during operation at rated conditions. Due to this fact, the control strategy is very important during the starting-up sequence in order to minimize the loads on the machine. For this purpose it is necessary to analyze the behaviour of the wind turbine during that sequence in different wind conditions and machine conditions This report shows the graphic Information about fifty starting-up sequences of the AWEC-60 wind turbine of 60 m diameter and 1200 kW of rated power, recorded in April 1991 and covering all the operation range between cut-in and cut-out wind speed. (Author) 2 refs

  18. Advanced Offshore Wind Turbine/Foundation Concept for the Great Lakes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Afjeh, Abdollah A. [Univ. of Toledo, OH (United States); Windpower, Nautica [Nautica Windpower, Olmsted Falls, OH (United States); Marrone, Joseph [OCC COWI, Vancouver (Canada); Wagner, Thomas [Nautica Windpower, Olmsted Falls, OH (United States)

    2013-08-29

    This project investigated a conceptual 2-bladed rotor wind turbine design and assessed its feasibility for installation in the Great Lakes. The levelized cost of energy was used for this purpose. A location in Lake Erie near the coast of Cleveland, Ohio was selected as the application site. The loading environment was defined using wind and wave data collected at a weather station in Lake Erie near Cleveland. In addition, the probability distributions of the annual significant wave height and wind speed were determined. A model of the dependence of the above two quantities was also developed and used in the study of wind turbine system loads. Loads from ice floes and ridges were also included.The NREL 5 MW 3-bladed rotor wind turbine concept was used as the baseline design. The proposed turbine design employs variable pitch blade control with tip-brakes and a teeter mechanism. The rotor diameter, rated power and the tower dimensions were selected to closely match those of the NREL 5 MW wind turbine.A semi-floating gravity base foundation was designed for this project primarily to adapt to regional logistical constraints to transport and install the gravity base foundation. This foundation consists of, from bottom to top, a base plate, a buoyancy chamber, a taper zone, a column (with ice cone), and a service platform. A compound upward-downward ice cone was selected to secure the foundation from moving because of ice impact.The turbine loads analysis was based on International ElectroTechnical Committee (IEC) Standard 61400-1, Class III winds. The NREL software FAST was the primary computational tool used in this study to determine all design load cases. An initial set of studies of the dynamics of wind turbines using Automatic Dynamic Analysis of Mechanical Systems (ADAMS) demonstrated that FAST and ADAMS load predictions were comparable. Because of its relative simplicity and short run times, FAST was selected for this study. For ice load calculations, a method

  19. Aeroservoelasticity of wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Skovmose Kallesoee, B.

    2007-12-14

    This thesis deals with the fundamental aeroelastic interaction between structural motion, Pitch action and control for a wind turbine blade. As wind turbines become larger, the interaction between pitch action, blade motion, aerodynamic forces, and control become even more important to understand and address. The main contribution of this thesis is the development of an aeroelastic blade model which on the one hand includes the important effects of steady state blade deformation, gravity and pitch action, and on the other it is transparent, suitable for analytical analysis and parameter studies, and furthermore linear and therefore suitable for control design. The development of the primary aeroelastic blade model is divided into four steps: 1) Nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) of structural blade motion are derived together with equations of pitch action and rotor speed; the individual terms in these equations are discussed and given physical interpretations; 2) Steady state blade deformation and induced velocities are computed by combining the PDEs with a steady state aerodynamic model; 3) Aeroelastic modes of motion are computed by combining the linearized PDEs with a linear unsteady aerodynamic model; this model is used to analyze how blade deformation effects the modes of motion; and 4) the linear aeroelastic blade model is derived by a modal expansion of the linearized PDEs combined with a linear unsteady aerodynamic model. The aeroelastic blade model has many similarities to a 2D blade section model, and it can be used instead of this in many applications, giving a transparent connection to a real wind turbine blade. In this work the aeroelastic blade model is used to analyze interaction between pitch action, blade motion and wind speed variations. Furthermore the model is used to develop a state estimator for estimating the wind speed and wind shear, and to suggest a load reducing controller. The state estimator estimates the wind shear very

  20. Aeroelastic analysis of large horizontal wind turbine baldes?

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Di TANG; Zhiliang LU; Tongqing GUO

    2016-01-01

    A nonlinear aeroelastic analysis method for large horizontal wind turbines is described. A vortex wake method and a nonlinear ?nite element method (FEM) are coupled in the approach. The vortex wake method is used to predict wind turbine aero-dynamic loads of a wind turbine, and a three-dimensional (3D) shell model is built for the rotor. Average aerodynamic forces along the azimuth are applied to the structural model, and the nonlinear static aeroelastic behaviors are computed. The wind rotor modes are obtained at the static aeroelastic status by linearizing the coupled equations. The static aeroelastic performance and dynamic aeroelastic responses are calculated for the NH1500 wind turbine. The results show that structural geometrical nonlinearities signi?cantly reduce displacements and vibration amplitudes of the wind turbine blades. Therefore, structural geometrical nonlinearities cannot be neglected both in the static aeroelastic analysis and dynamic aeroelastic analysis.

  1. Structural Dynamic Behavior of Wind Turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thresher, Robert W.; Mirandy, Louis P.; Carne, Thomas G.; Lobitz, Donald W.; James, George H. III

    2009-01-01

    The structural dynamicist s areas of responsibility require interaction with most other members of the wind turbine project team. These responsibilities are to predict structural loads and deflections that will occur over the lifetime of the machine, ensure favorable dynamic responses through appropriate design and operational procedures, evaluate potential design improvements for their impact on dynamic loads and stability, and correlate load and control test data with design predictions. Load prediction has been a major concern in wind turbine designs to date, and it is perhaps the single most important task faced by the structural dynamics engineer. However, even if we were able to predict all loads perfectly, this in itself would not lead to an economic system. Reduction of dynamic loads, not merely a "design to loads" policy, is required to achieve a cost-effective design. The two processes of load prediction and structural design are highly interactive: loads and deflections must be known before designers and stress analysts can perform structural sizing, which in turn influences the loads through changes in stiffness and mass. Structural design identifies "hot spots" (local areas of high stress) that would benefit most from dynamic load alleviation. Convergence of this cycle leads to a turbine structure that is neither under-designed (which may result in structural failure), nor over-designed (which will lead to excessive weight and cost).

  2. Low-order aeroelastic models of wind turbines for controller design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sønderby, Ivan Bergquist

    Wind turbine controllers are used to optimize the performance of wind turbines such as to reduce power variations and fatigue and extreme loads on wind turbine components. Accurate tuning and design of modern controllers must be done using low-order models that accurately captures the aeroelastic...... response of the wind turbine. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the necessary model complexity required in aeroelastic models used for controller design and to analyze and propose methods to design low-order aeroelastic wind turbine models that are suited for model-based control design....... The thesis contains a characterization of the dynamics that influence the open-loop aeroelastic frequency response of a modern wind turbine, based on a high-order aeroelastic wind turbine model. One main finding is that the transfer function from collective pitch to generator speed is affected by two low...

  3. Torque- and Speed Control of a Pitch Regulated Wind Turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rasila, Mika

    2003-07-01

    Variable speed operated wind turbines has the potential to reduce fatigue loads, compared to fixed speed wind turbines. With pitch controllable rotor blades limitation of the power at high wind speeds is obtained. The thesis describes different controlling aspects concerning wind turbines and how these together can be used to optimize the system's performance. Torque control is used in order to achieve reduction on the mechanical loads on the drive-train for low wind speeds and limitation of power output for high wind speeds. In the high wind speed interval torque control is effective in order to limit the output power if a sufficiently fast pitch actuator is used. In the middle wind speed interval filter utilization can be used to give a reference signal to the controller in order to reduce speed and torque variations.

  4. Reduction of fatigue loads on jacket substructure through blade design optimization for multimegawatt wind turbines at 50 m water depths

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    NJOMO WANDJI, Wilfried; Pavese, Christian; Natarajan, Anand

    2016-01-01

    This paper addresses the reduction of the fore-aft damage equivalent moment at the tower base for multi-megawatt offshore wind turbines mounted on jacket type substructures at 50 m water depths. The study investigates blade design optimization of a reference 10 MW wind turbine under standard wind...... conditions of onshore sites. The blade geometry and structure is optimized to yield a design that minimizes tower base fatigue loads without significant loss of power production compared to that of the reference setup. The resulting blade design is then mounted on a turbine supported by a jacket and placed...

  5. On the modelling and partial-load control of variable-speed wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Novak, P [Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Goeteborg (Sweden). School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    1996-12-31

    The focus of this thesis is on modelling and variable-speed control of wind turbines. A physical model structure including the fundamental drive-train mode is derived and validated by system-identification experiments on a full-scale wind turbine. The resulting, parametrized model has been used as a basis for an evaluation of controllers for partial-load operation, validated by non-linear simulations. This evaluation, including several controller concepts, verifies that a sophisticated controller becomes necessary, when stretching the limits in power-loss minimization. This control strategy also demands the sampling frequency to be pushed to a high level. As a consequence, the angular-position measurements become time correlated and, in the limit, periodic. It is shown in the thesis how the resulting, operating-point-dependent effects on the measurement errors influence the estimation quality, using a stationary Kalman filter as an example. A gain-scheduling estimation approach is shown to improve the performance. 39 refs, 63 figs, 2 tabs

  6. Yawing characteristics during slippage of the nacelle of a multi MW wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, M.-G.; Dalhoff, P. H.; Gust, P.

    2016-09-01

    High aerodynamic yaw loads coupled with electrical failures in the wind turbine can result to a slippage of the nacelle, due to limited braking capabilities of the yaw system. A slippage on the other hand can lead to a mechanical malfunction of the yaw system. To analyse the yawing characteristics of a wind turbine during nacelle slippage situations, a detailed multibody system model of the yaw system has been developed and incorporated in a multibody system model of a wind turbine based on a 3.3 MW turbine. Extreme load cases which lead to a nacelle slippage have been simulated. The dynamics and loads on different wind turbine components are presented and discussed. First results show minimal load increases of the rotor torque and the bending moments of the blade root sections during slippage but unfavourable rotational speeds of the yaw drives.

  7. O?shore ?oating wind turbine and its dynamic problems?

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Renchuan ZHU; Guoping MIAO; Ju FAN; Hua LIU

    2016-01-01

    Green energy sources and ocean wind power are plentiful in deep sea. More and more o?shore wind power plants are constructed in the deep water over hundred meters below the surface. While o?shore ?oating wind turbine system is working, wind turbine, ?oating foundation, and mooring system a?ect each other with wind, waves, and currents acting on them. Various o?shore ?oating wind turbine systems and the encoun-tered environmental loads are brie?y reviewed and discussed. It is di?cult and crucial to comprehensively analyze the aerodynamic-hydrodynamic-service system-structure un-der the coupling e?ect of o?shore ?oating wind turbine system. The environmental ?ow ?eld, structure scale, and rational applications of theories and approaches should be well considered in advance.

  8. Fully Coupled Three-Dimensional Dynamic Response of a Tension-Leg Platform Floating Wind Turbine in Waves and Wind

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kumari Ramachandran, Gireesh Kumar Vasanta; Bredmose, Henrik; Sørensen, Jens Nørkær

    2014-01-01

    , which is a consequence of the wave-induced rotor dynamics. Loads and coupled responses are predicted for a set of load cases with different wave headings. Further, an advanced aero-elastic code, Flex5, is extended for the TLP wind turbine configuration and the response comparison with the simpler model......A dynamic model for a tension-leg platform (TLP) floating offshore wind turbine is proposed. The model includes three-dimensional wind and wave loads and the associated structural response. The total system is formulated using 17 degrees of freedom (DOF), 6 for the platform motions and 11...... for the wind turbine. Three-dimensional hydrodynamic loads have been formulated using a frequency-and direction-dependent spectrum. While wave loads are computed from the wave kinematics using Morison's equation, the aerodynamic loads are modeled by means of unsteady blade-element-momentum (BEM) theory...

  9. Operation and control of large wind turbines and wind farms. Final report

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Poul Ejnar; Hansen, Anca Daniela; Thomsen, Kenneth

    2005-01-01

    good power quality and limit mechanical loads and life time consumption. The projectdeveloped models for 3 different concepts for wind farms. Two of the concepts use active stall controlled wind turbines, one with AC connection and one with modern HVDC/VSC connection of the wind farm. The third concept...... is based on pitch controlled windturbines using doubly fed induction generators. The models were applied to simulate the behaviour of the wind farm control when they were connected to a strong grid, and some initial simulations were performed to study the behaviour of the wind farms whenit was isolated...... concepts. The potentials of optimising the lifetime/energy production ratio by means of using revised operational strategies for the individual wind turbines are investigated. Different strategies have beensimulated, where the power production is decreased to an optimum when taking loads and actual price...

  10. Structural Optimization of an Innovative 10 MW Wind Turbine Nacelle

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dabrowski, Dariusz; Natarajan, Anand; Stehouwer, Ewoud

    2015-01-01

    For large wind turbine configurations of 10 MW and higher capacities, direct-drives present a more compact solution over conventional geared drivetrains. Further, if the generator is placed in front of the wind turbine rotor, a compact “king-pin” drive is designed, that allows the generator...... to be directly coupled to the hub. In presented study, the structural re-design of the innovative 10 MW nacelle was made using extreme loads obtained from a 10 MW reference wind turbine. On the basis of extreme loads the ultimate stresses on critical nacelle components were determined to ensure integrity...

  11. Potentials for site-specific design of MW sized wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, K.; Fuglsang, P.; Schepers, G.

    2001-01-01

    The potential for site specific design of MW sized wind turbines is quantified by comparing design loads for wind turbines installed at a range of different sites. The sites comprise on-shore normal flat terrain stand-alone conditions and wind farm conditions together with offshore and mountainous...

  12. 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.

  13. 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...

  14. Quantifying the hurricane risk to offshore wind turbines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Stephen; Jaramillo, Paulina; Small, Mitchell J; Grossmann, Iris; Apt, Jay

    2012-02-28

    The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that if the United States is to generate 20% of its electricity from wind, over 50 GW will be required from shallow offshore turbines. Hurricanes are a potential risk to these turbines. Turbine tower buckling has been observed in typhoons, but no offshore wind turbines have yet been built in the United States. We present a probabilistic model to estimate the number of turbines that would be destroyed by hurricanes in an offshore wind farm. We apply this model to estimate the risk to offshore wind farms in four representative locations in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal waters of the United States. In the most vulnerable areas now being actively considered by developers, nearly half the turbines in a farm are likely to be destroyed in a 20-y period. Reasonable mitigation measures--increasing the design reference wind load, ensuring that the nacelle can be turned into rapidly changing winds, and building most wind plants in the areas with lower risk--can greatly enhance the probability that offshore wind can help to meet the United States' electricity needs.

  15. Implementation of internal model based control and individual pitch control to reduce fatigue loads and tower vibrations in wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammadi, Ebrahim; Fadaeinedjad, Roohollah; Moschopoulos, Gerry

    2018-05-01

    Vibration control and fatigue loads reduction are important issues in large-scale wind turbines. Identifying the vibration frequencies and tuning dampers and controllers at these frequencies are major concerns in many control methods. In this paper, an internal model control (IMC) method with an adaptive algorithm is implemented to first identify the vibration frequency of the wind turbine tower and then to cancel the vibration signal. Standard individual pitch control (IPC) is also implemented to compare the performance of the controllers in term of fatigue loads reduction. Finally, the performance of the system when both controllers are implemented together is evaluated. Simulation results demonstrate that using only IMC or IPC alone has advantages and can reduce fatigue loads on specific components. IMC can identify and suppress tower vibrations in both fore-aft and side-to-side directions, whereas, IPC can reduce fatigue loads on blades, shaft and yaw bearings. When both IMC and IPC are implemented together, the advantages of both controllers can be used. The aforementioned analysis and comparisons were not studied in literature and this study fills this gap. FAST, AreoDyn and Simulink are used to simulate the mechanical, aerodynamic and electrical aspects of wind turbine.

  16. Decoupled simulations of offshore wind turbines with reduced rotor loads and aerodynamic damping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Schafhirt

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Decoupled load simulations are a computationally efficient method to perform a dynamic analysis of an offshore wind turbine. Modelling the dynamic interactions between rotor and support structure, especially the damping caused by the rotating rotor, is of importance, since it influences the structural response significantly and has a major impact on estimating fatigue lifetime. Linear damping is usually used for this purpose, but experimentally and analytically derived formulas to calculate an aerodynamic damping ratio often show discrepancies to measurement and simulation data. In this study decoupled simulation methods with reduced and full rotor loads are compared to an integrated simulation. The accuracy of decoupled methods is evaluated and an optimization is performed to obtain aerodynamic damping ratios for different wind speeds that provide the best results with respect to variance and equivalent fatigue loads at distinct output locations. Results show that aerodynamic damping is not linear, but it is possible to match desired output using decoupled models. Moreover, damping ratios obtained from the empirical study suggest that aerodynamic damping increases for higher wind speeds.

  17. State of the art and prospectives of smart rotor control for wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barlas, T K; Kuik, G A M van

    2007-01-01

    The continued reduction in cost of energy of wind turbines, especially with the increasingly upscaling of the rotor, will require contribution from technology advances in many areas. Reducing loads on the rotor can offer great reduction to the total cost of wind turbines. With the increasing size of wind turbine blades, the need for more sophisticated load control techniques has induced the interest for locally distributed aerodynamic control systems with built-in intelligence on the blades. Such concepts are often named in popular terms 'smart structures' or 'smart rotor control'. This paper focuses on research regarding active rotor control and smart structures for load reduction. It presents an overview of available knowledge and future concepts on the application of active aerodynamic control and smart structures for wind turbine applications. The goal of the paper is to provide a perspective on the current status and future directions of the specific area of research. It comprises a novel attempt to summarize and analyze possible advanced control systems for future wind turbines. The overview builds on existing research on helicopter rotors and expands similar concepts for wind turbine applications, based on ongoing research in the field. Research work has been analyzed through UPWIND project's work package on Smart Rotor Blades and Rotor Control. First, the specifications of unsteady loads, the state of the art of modern control for load reduction and the need for more advanced and detailed active aerodynamic control are analyzed. Also, overview of available knowledge in application of active aerodynamic control on rotating blades, from helicopter research, is provided. Concepts, methods, and achieved results are presented. Furthermore, R and D so far and up-to-date ongoing progress of similar applications for wind turbines are presented. Feasibility studies for wind turbine applications, preliminary performance evaluation and novel computational and

  18. Optimum Parameters of a Tuned Liquid Column Damper in a Wind Turbine Subject to Stochastic Load

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alkmim, M. H.; de Morais, M. V. G.; Fabro, A. T.

    2017-12-01

    Parameter optimization for tuned liquid column dampers (TLCD), a class of passive structural control, have been previously proposed in the literature for reducing vibration in wind turbines, and several other applications. However, most of the available work consider the wind excitation as either a deterministic harmonic load or random load with white noise spectra. In this paper, a global direct search optimization algorithm to reduce vibration of a tuned liquid column damper (TLCD), a class of passive structural control device, is presented. The objective is to find optimized parameters for the TLCD under stochastic load from different wind power spectral density. A verification is made considering the analytical solution of undamped primary system under white noise excitation by comparing with result from the literature. Finally, it is shown that different wind profiles can significantly affect the optimum TLCD parameters.

  19. Simulation of Mechanical Behavior and Damage of a Large Composite Wind Turbine Blade under Critical Loads

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarfaoui, M.; Nachtane, M.; Khadimallah, H.; Saifaoui, D.

    2018-04-01

    Issues such as energy generation/transmission and greenhouse gas emissions are the two energy problems we face today. In this context, renewable energy sources are a necessary part of the solution essentially winds power, which is one of the most profitable sources of competition with new fossil energy facilities. This paper present the simulation of mechanical behavior and damage of a 48 m composite wind turbine blade under critical wind loads. The finite element analysis was performed by using ABAQUS code to predict the most critical damage behavior and to apprehend and obtain knowledge of the complex structural behavior of wind turbine blades. The approach developed based on the nonlinear FE analysis using mean values for the material properties and the failure criteria of Tsai-Hill to predict failure modes in large structures and to identify the sensitive zones.

  20. Comparison of wind turbines based on power curve analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-02-01

    In the study measured power curves for 46 wind turbines were analyzed with the purpose to establish the basis for a consistent comparison of the efficiency of the wind turbines. Emphasis is on wind turbines above 500 kW rated power, with power curves measured after 1994 according to international recommendations. The available power curves fulfilling these requirements were smoothened according to a procedure developed for the purpose in such a way that the smoothened power curves are equally representative as the measured curves. The resulting smoothened power curves are presented in a standardized format for the subsequent processing. Using wind turbine data from the power curve documentation the analysis results in curves for specific energy production (kWh/M{sup 2}/yr) versus specific rotor load (kW/M{sup 2}) for a range of mean wind speeds. On this basis generalized curves for specific annual energy production versus specific rotor load are established for a number of generalized wind turbine concepts. The 46 smoothened standardized power curves presented in the report, the procedure developed to establish them, and the results of the analysis based on them aim at providers of measured power curves as well as users of them including manufacturers, advisors and decision makers. (au)

  1. Investigation on wind turbine wakes: wind tunnel tests and field experiments with LIDARs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iungo, Giacomo; Wu, Ting; Cöeffé, Juliette; Porté-Agel, Fernando; WIRE Team

    2011-11-01

    An investigation on the interaction between atmospheric boundary layer flow and wind turbines is carried out with wind tunnel and LIDAR measurements. The former were carried out using hot-wire anemometry and multi-hole pressure probes in the wake of a three-bladed miniature wind turbine. The wind turbine wake is characterized by a strong velocity defect in the proximity of the rotor, and its recovery is found to depend on the characteristics of the incoming atmospheric boundary layer (mean velocity and turbulence intensity profiles). Field experiments were performed using three wind LIDARs. Bi-dimensional scans are performed in order to analyse the wake wind field with different atmospheric boundary layer conditions. Furthermore, simultaneous measurements with two or three LIDARs allow the reconstruction of multi-component velocity fields. Both LIDAR and wind tunnel measurements highlight an increased turbulence level at the wake boundary for heights comparable to the top-tip of the blades; this flow feature can produce dangerous fatigue loads on following wind turbines.

  2. Model of analysis of maximum loads in wind generators produced by extreme winds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herrera – Sánchez, Omar; Schellong, Wolfgang; González – Fernández, Vladimir

    2010-01-01

    The use of the wind energy by means of the wind turbines in areas of high risk of occurrence of Hurricanes comes being an important challenge for the designers of wind farm at world for some years. The wind generator is not usually designed to support this type of phenomena, for this reason the areas of high incidence of tropical hurricanes of the planning are excluded, that which, in occasions disables the use of this renewable source of energy totally, either because the country is very small, or because it coincides the area of more potential fully with that of high risk. To counteract this situation, a model of analysis of maxims loads has been elaborated taken place the extreme winds in wind turbines of great behavior. This model has the advantage of determining, in a chosen place, for the installation of a wind farm, the micro-areas with higher risk of wind loads above the acceptable for the standard classes of wind turbines. (author)

  3. Improved reliability of wind turbine towers with active tuned mass dampers (ATMDs)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fitzgerald, Breiffni; Sarkar, Saptarshi; Staino, Andrea

    2018-04-01

    Modern multi-megawatt wind turbines are composed of slender, flexible, and lightly damped blades and towers. These components exhibit high susceptibility to wind-induced vibrations. As the size, flexibility and cost of the towers have increased in recent years, the need to protect these structures against damage induced by turbulent aerodynamic loading has become apparent. This paper combines structural dynamic models and probabilistic assessment tools to demonstrate improvements in structural reliability when modern wind turbine towers are equipped with active tuned mass dampers (ATMDs). This study proposes a multi-modal wind turbine model for wind turbine control design and analysis. This study incorporates an ATMD into the tower of this model. The model is subjected to stochastically generated wind loads of varying speeds to develop wind-induced probabilistic demand models for towers of modern multi-megawatt wind turbines under structural uncertainty. Numerical simulations have been carried out to ascertain the effectiveness of the active control system to improve the structural performance of the wind turbine and its reliability. The study constructs fragility curves, which illustrate reductions in the vulnerability of towers to wind loading owing to the inclusion of the damper. Results show that the active controller is successful in increasing the reliability of the tower responses. According to the analysis carried out in this paper, a strong reduction of the probability of exceeding a given displacement at the rated wind speed has been observed.

  4. Wind Turbine Loads Induced by Terrain and Wakes: An Experimental Study through Vibration Analysis and Computational Fluid Dynamics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesco Castellani

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available A wind turbine is a very well-known archetype of energy conversion system working at non-stationary regimes. Despite this, a deep mechanical comprehension of wind turbines operating in complicated conditions is still challenging, especially as regards the analysis of experimental data. In particular, wind turbines in complex terrain represent a very valuable testing ground because of the possible combination of wake effects among nearby turbines and flow accelerations caused by the terrain morphology. For these reasons, in this work, a cluster of four full-scale wind turbines from a very complex site is studied. The object of investigation is vibrations, at the level of the structure (tower and drive-train. Data collected by the on-board condition monitoring system are analyzed and interpreted in light of the knowledge of wind conditions and operating parameters collected by the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA. A free flow Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD simulation is also performed, and it allows one to better interpret the vibration analysis. The main outcome is the interpretation of how wakes and flow turbulences appear in the vibration signals, both at the structural level and at the drive-train level. Therefore, this wind to gear approach builds a connection between flow phenomena and mechanical phenomena in the form of vibrations, representing a precious tool for assessing loads in different working conditions.

  5. 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...

  6. Wake-Effect Minimising Optimal Control of Wind Farms, with Load Reduction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borchersen, Anders Bech; Larsen, Jesper Abildgaard; Sivabalan, Senthuran

    2014-01-01

    A power generating wind turbine causes a speed reduction and an added turbulence to the wind. Wind turbines in wind farms are often caught in these wakes and are found to have a higher structural load than non affected wind turbines. This article investigates the possibility of designing a contro...

  7. Advanced Load Alleviation for Wind Turbines using Adaptive Trailing Edge Flaps: Sensoring and Control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Peter Bjørn

    The purpose of wind turbines and their predecessors the windmill, is to convert the energy in the wind to usable energy forms. Whereas windmills of the past focused on the conversion of wind power to torque for grinding, pumping and winching, modern wind turbines convert the wind energy...... into electric power. They do so through incorporation of generators, which convert mechanical torque into electricity. Wind turbines are designed to keep the overall cost per produced Kilo Watt hour as low as possible. One way of improving the performance and lifetime of the wind turbine is through active flow...

  8. Flow field and load characteristics of the whole MEXICO wind turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Xu, Haoran; Yang, Hua; Liu, Chao

    2017-01-01

    CFD(Computational Fluid Dynamics) method was used to perform steady numerical simulation investigation on the flow field and load characteristics of MEXICO(Model EXperiment In Controlled cOnditions) wind turbine under non-yawed condition. Circumferentially-Averaged method was used to extract...... characteristics around the blade was analyzed and the points of flow separation were found along the blade, the results show that the points of flow separation move towards trailing edge with the increase of radius. The distribution of vorticity in the wake of MEXICO rotor was also analyzed. The distribution...

  9. Recommendation for an European wind turbine safety standard

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hjuler Jensen, P.; Hauge Madsen, P.; Winther-Jensen, M.; Machielse, L.; Stam, W.; Einsfeld, V.; Woelfel, E.; Elliot, G.; Wilde, L. de

    1988-09-15

    The objective is to establish an European standard for wind safety which should apply for all member countries of the European Communities. The document contains a list of recommended safety requirements in relation to the system, structure, electrical installations, operation and maintenance of wind turbines. The recommended safety standards cover electricity producing wind turbines connected to electricity grids in both single and cluster applications and with a swept area in excess of 25 square meters and/or a rated power of 10kW. The document should be used in combination with The European Standards for Wind Turbine Loads and other relevant European Standards. Environmental condition, with the emphasis of wind conditions and more extreme climatic conditions, are also considered in relation to safety requirements. (AB).

  10. State of the art of aerolastic codes for wind turbine calculations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maribo Pedersen, B [ed.

    1996-09-01

    The technological development of modern wind turbines has been dependent on the parallel development of the computational skills of the designers. The combination of the calculation of the flow field around the wind turbine rotor - both far field and near field - and the calculation of the response of the wind turbine structure to the resulting, non-stationary air loads, also known as aero-elastic calculations have now reached a reasonable degree of maturity. At this expert meeting two main points may be clarified. To what level of accuracy can we now determine the behaviour of the different elements of a wind turbine, i.e. how well are we able to compute deflections, fluctuating loads and power output. Which are the main outstanding areas upon which our next research efforts should be focused. (EG)

  11. A model for Quick Load Analysis for monopile-type offshore wind turbine substructures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schløer, Signe; Castillo, Laura Garcia; Fejerskov, Morten

    2016-01-01

    A model for Quick Load Analysis, QuLA, of an offshore wind turbine substructure is presented. The aerodynamic rotor loads and damping are precomputed for a load-based configuration. The dynamic structural response is represented by the first global fore-aft mode only and is computed...... in the frequency domain using the equation of motion. The model is compared against the state of the art aeroelastic code, Flex5, and both life time fatigue and extreme loads are considered in the comparison. In general there is good similarity between the two models. Some derivation for the sectional forces...... are explained in terms of the model simplifications. The difference in the sectional moments are found to be within 14% for the fatigue load case and 10% for the extreme load condition....

  12. Fully Coupled Three-Dimensional Dynamic Response of a TLP Floating Wind Turbine in Waves and Wind

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ramachandran, Gireesh Kumar V.R.; Bredmose, Henrik; Sørensen, Jens Nørkær

    2013-01-01

    is a consequence of the wave-induced rotor dynamics. In the absence of a controller scheme for the wind turbine, the rotor torque fluctuates considerably, which induces a growing roll response especially when the wind turbine is operated nearly at the rated wind speed. This can be eliminated either...... by appropriately adjusting the controller so as to regulate the torque or by optimizing the floater or tendon dimensions, thereby limiting the roll motion. Loads and coupled responses are predicted for a set of load cases with different wave headings. Based on the results, critical load cases are identified...

  13. A Wind Farm Controller for Load and Power Optimization in a Farm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Soleimanzadeh, Maryam; Brand, Arno; Wisniewski, Rafal

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes the design procedure of an optimal wind farm controller. The controller optimizes the structural load and power production simultaneously, on the basis of an analytical wind farm model. The farm model delivers maps of wind, loads and energy in the wind farm. Moreover, the model...... computes the wind speed at the turbines, turbine bending moments and aerodynamic power and torque. The optimal control problem is formulated based on the model for two different wind directions. The controller determines the reference signals for each individual wind turbine controller in two scenarios...... based on low and high wind speed. In low wind speed, the reference signals for rotor speed are adjusted, taking the trade-off between power maximization and load minimization into account. In high wind speed, the power and pitch angle reference signals are determined while structural loads are minimized....

  14. An optimization approach for wind turbine commitment and dispatch in a wind park

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moyano, Carlos F. [School of Engineering Systems, Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001 (Australia); Pecas Lopes, Joao A. [Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores do Porto (Portugal); Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Campus da FEUP, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 378 4200-465 Porto (Portugal)

    2009-01-15

    This paper describes an operational optimization strategy to be adopted at the wind park control level, that enables defining the commitment of wind turbines and their active and reactive power outputs following requests from Wind Park Dispatch Centers, assuming that individual wind turbines short-term wind speed forecasts are known and are expressed as power availability. This operational strategy was also developed with a concern on the minimization of the connection/disconnection changes of the individual wind generators, for a given time horizon. When identifying the active/reactive dispatching policies, wind generators loading capabilities are also taken in account. This optimization tool is especially suited to manage large wind parks. (author)

  15. Fatigue Analysis of Large-scale Wind turbine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhu Yongli

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper does research on top flange fatigue damage of large-scale wind turbine generator. It establishes finite element model of top flange connection system with finite element analysis software MSC. Marc/Mentat, analyzes its fatigue strain, implements load simulation of flange fatigue working condition with Bladed software, acquires flange fatigue load spectrum with rain-flow counting method, finally, it realizes fatigue analysis of top flange with fatigue analysis software MSC. Fatigue and Palmgren-Miner linear cumulative damage theory. The analysis result indicates that its result provides new thinking for flange fatigue analysis of large-scale wind turbine generator, and possesses some practical engineering value.

  16. Wind Speed Preview Measurement and Estimation for Feedforward Control of Wind Turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simley, Eric J.

    Wind turbines typically rely on feedback controllers to maximize power capture in below-rated conditions and regulate rotor speed during above-rated operation. However, measurements of the approaching wind provided by Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) can be used as part of a preview-based, or feedforward, control system in order to improve rotor speed regulation and reduce structural loads. But the effectiveness of preview-based control depends on how accurately lidar can measure the wind that will interact with the turbine. In this thesis, lidar measurement error is determined using a statistical frequency-domain wind field model including wind evolution, or the change in turbulent wind speeds between the time they are measured and when they reach the turbine. Parameters of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 5-MW reference turbine model are used to determine measurement error for a hub-mounted circularly-scanning lidar scenario, based on commercially-available technology, designed to estimate rotor effective uniform and shear wind speed components. By combining the wind field model, lidar model, and turbine parameters, the optimal lidar scan radius and preview distance that yield the minimum mean square measurement error, as well as the resulting minimum achievable error, are found for a variety of wind conditions. With optimized scan scenarios, it is found that relatively low measurement error can be achieved, but the attainable measurement error largely depends on the wind conditions. In addition, the impact of the induction zone, the region upstream of the turbine where the approaching wind speeds are reduced, as well as turbine yaw error on measurement quality is analyzed. In order to minimize the mean square measurement error, an optimal measurement prefilter is employed, which depends on statistics of the correlation between the preview measurements and the wind that interacts with the turbine. However, because the wind speeds encountered by

  17. Heat and Flux. Enabling the Wind Turbine Controller

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schaak, P. [ECN Wind Energy, Petten (Netherlands)

    2006-09-15

    In the years 1999-2003 ECN invented and patented the technique 'Heat and Flux'. The idea behind Heat and Flux is that tuning turbines at the windward side of a wind farm more transparent than usual, i.e. realising an axial induction factor below the Lanchester-Betz optimum of 1/3, should raise net farm production and lower mechanical turbine loading without causing draw-backs. For scaled farms in a boundary layer wind tunnel this hypothesis has been proved in previous projects. To enable alternative turbine transparencies, the wind turbine controller must support the additional control aim 'desired transparency'. During this study we have determined a general method to design a transparency control algorithm. This method has been implemented in ECN's 'Control Tool' for designing wind turbine control algorithms. The aero-elastic wind turbine code Phatas has been used to verify the resulting control algorithm. Heat and Flux does not fundamentally change the control of horizontal axis variable speed wind turbines. The axial induction can be reduced by an offset on blade pitch or generator torque. Weighing reliability against performance profits, it appeared to be advisable to adapt only blade angle control.

  18. Performance testing of a small vertical-axis wind turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bravo, R.; Tullis, S.; Ziada, S. [McMaster Univ., Hamilton, ON (Canada). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

    2007-07-01

    Full-scale wind tunnel testing of a prototype 3.5 kW vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) was conducted in a low speed wind tunnel in Ottawa. The tests were conducted to determine nominal power curves as well as the system's structural integrity, safety and operational characteristics. Dimensionless power curves were used to assess the relation between the wind turbine's rotary speed and the produced power for various wind speeds. Tests began at the lowest wind speed and revolutions per minute (RPM) and were gradually increased. A proximity sensor was used to determine the passing frequency of spaced bolts. The aerodynamic performance of the turbine was evaluated using a servo-controlled mechanical variable load with a disc brake calliper and electro-hydraulic servo-actuator. A load cell was used to measure torque produced by the turbine. An active closed loop speed control system was used to regulate the rotary speed of the turbine. The system used a high gain proportional control law to guarantee stability. Calculated power was based on the average rotary speed measurement. Results of the study suggested that the dimensional power performance of the turbine could be predicted from the curve for all rotary speeds and for wind speeds between 8 and 16 m/s. The maximum power coefficient of 0.3 occurred at a tip speed ratio of 1.6. Test results demonstrated that the turbine reached its rated power at 14 m/s. However, the range of tip speed ratios for power production were lower than the range for most other small VAWT. 2 refs., 3 figs.

  19. Comparison of the lifting-line free vortex wake method and the blade-element-momentum theory regarding the simulated loads of multi-MW wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hauptmann, S; Bülk, M; Cheng, P W; Schön, L; Erbslöh, S; Boorsma, K; Grasso, F; Kühn, M

    2014-01-01

    Design load simulations for wind turbines are traditionally based on the blade- element-momentum theory (BEM). The BEM approach is derived from a simplified representation of the rotor aerodynamics and several semi-empirical correction models. A more sophisticated approach to account for the complex flow phenomena on wind turbine rotors can be found in the lifting-line free vortex wake method. This approach is based on a more physics based representation, especially for global flow effects. This theory relies on empirical correction models only for the local flow effects, which are associated with the boundary layer of the rotor blades. In this paper the lifting-line free vortex wake method is compared to a state- of-the-art BEM formulation with regard to aerodynamic and aeroelastic load simulations of the 5MW UpWind reference wind turbine. Different aerodynamic load situations as well as standardised design load cases that are sensitive to the aeroelastic modelling are evaluated in detail. This benchmark makes use of the AeroModule developed by ECN, which has been coupled to the multibody simulation code SIMPACK

  20. Comparison of the lifting-line free vortex wake method and the blade-element-momentum theory regarding the simulated loads of multi-MW wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hauptmann, S.; Bülk, M.; Schön, L.; Erbslöh, S.; Boorsma, K.; Grasso, F.; Kühn, M.; Cheng, P. W.

    2014-12-01

    Design load simulations for wind turbines are traditionally based on the blade- element-momentum theory (BEM). The BEM approach is derived from a simplified representation of the rotor aerodynamics and several semi-empirical correction models. A more sophisticated approach to account for the complex flow phenomena on wind turbine rotors can be found in the lifting-line free vortex wake method. This approach is based on a more physics based representation, especially for global flow effects. This theory relies on empirical correction models only for the local flow effects, which are associated with the boundary layer of the rotor blades. In this paper the lifting-line free vortex wake method is compared to a state- of-the-art BEM formulation with regard to aerodynamic and aeroelastic load simulations of the 5MW UpWind reference wind turbine. Different aerodynamic load situations as well as standardised design load cases that are sensitive to the aeroelastic modelling are evaluated in detail. This benchmark makes use of the AeroModule developed by ECN, which has been coupled to the multibody simulation code SIMPACK.

  1. Development of SMA Actuated Morphing Airfoil for Wind Turbine Load Alleviation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karakalas, A.; Machairas, T.; Solomou, A.; Riziotis, V.; Saravanos, D.

    Wind turbine rotor upscaling has entered a range of rotor diameters where the blade structure cannot sustain the increased aerodynamic loads without novel load alleviation concepts. Research on load alleviation using morphing blade sections is presented. Antagonistic shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators are implemented to deflect the section trailing edge (TE) to target shapes and target time-series relating TE movement with changes in lift coefficient. Challenges encountered by the complex thermomechanical response of morphing section and the enhancement of SMA transient response to achieve frequencies meaningful for aerodynamic load alleviation are addressed. Using a recently developed finite element for SMA actuators [1], actuator configurations are considered for fast cooling and heating cycles. Numerical results quantify the attained ranges of TE angle movement, the moving time period and the developed stresses. Estimations of the attained variations of lift coefficient vs. time are also presented to assess the performance of the morphing section.

  2. Superconducting Wind Turbine Generators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yunying Pan

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Wind energy is well known as a renewable energy because its clean and less polluted characteristic, which is the foundation of development modern wind electricity. To find more efficient wind turbine is the focus of scientists around the world. Compared from conventional wind turbines, superconducting wind turbine generators have advantages at zero resistance, smaller size and lighter weight. Superconducting wind turbine will inevitably become the main trends in this area. This paper intends to introduce the basic concept and principle of superconductivity, and compare form traditional wind turbine to obtain superiority, then to summary three proposed machine concept.While superconductivity have difficulty  in modern technology and we also have proposed some challenges in achieving superconducting wind turbine finally.

  3. Vortex system studies on small wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Montgomerie, Bjoern; Dahlberg, Jan-Aake [Swedish Defence Research Agency, Stockholm (Sweden). Div. of Aeronautics, FFA

    2003-10-01

    The wind tunnel experiment reported included a small wind turbine setup and smoke to visualize the trailing tip vortices for different wind turbine configurations. Several combinations of tunnel wind speeds and tip speed ratios generated a database where the end result functions were radius and pitch, of the tip vortex spirals, versus the downstream coordinate. The Reynolds number in the experiment was very low compared to that of full size turbines. The results should therefore be seen as valid only for low Reynolds numbers. The models were 18 and 25 cm diameter turbines. This is thought to be complementary to the information obtained in similar wind tunnel investigations for much larger models. The database is meant to be a fundamental tool for the construction of practical aerodynamic induction methods. Such methods typically employ the Biot-Savart law has been shown to lead to a flow field, which deviates considerably from that of reality. E.g. concentration into tip vortices does not happen when the flow is simulated with Biot-Savart law only. Thus, a combination of the induction method and its modification, based on investigations such as the one reported, is foreseen to replace the widely used Blade Element Momentum method for wind turbine loads and performance prediction.

  4. Robust Model Predictive Control of a Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mirzaei, Mahmood; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad; Niemann, Hans Henrik

    2012-01-01

    In this work the problem of robust model predictive control (robust MPC) of a wind turbine in the full load region is considered. A minimax robust MPC approach is used to tackle the problem. Nonlinear dynamics of the wind turbine are derived by combining blade element momentum (BEM) theory...... of the uncertain system is employed and a norm-bounded uncertainty model is used to formulate a minimax model predictive control. The resulting optimization problem is simplified by semidefinite relaxation and the controller obtained is applied on a full complexity, high fidelity wind turbine model. Finally...... and first principle modeling of the turbine flexible structure. Thereafter the nonlinear model is linearized using Taylor series expansion around system operating points. Operating points are determined by effective wind speed and an extended Kalman filter (EKF) is employed to estimate this. In addition...

  5. Fatigue loading on a 5MW offshore wind turbine due to the combined action of waves and current

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peeringa, Johan M

    2014-01-01

    In the design of an offshore wind turbine the natural frequencies of the structure are of importance. In the design of fixed offshore wind turbine support structures it cannot be avoided that the first eigenmode of the structure lies in the frequency band of wave excitation. This study indicates that wave-current interaction should be taken into account for support structure design load calculations. Wave-current interaction changes the shape of the wave spectrum and the energy content in the wave frequency range of 0.2 – 0.35Hz. This is in the range of natural frequencies fixed offshore wind turbine structures are designed for. The waves are affected by the current in two ways. First there is a frequency shift, Doppler effect, for the fixed observer when the wave travels on a current. Second the shape of the wave is modified in case the wave travels from an area without current into an area with current. Due to wave-current interaction the wave height and wave length change. For waves on an opposing current the wave energy content increases, while for wave on a following current the wave energy content slightly reduces. Simulations of normal production cases between cut-in and cut-out wind speed are performed for a 5MW wind turbine in 20m water depth including waves with 1) a following current, 2) an opposing current and 3) no current present. In case of waves having an opposing current, the 1Hz equivalent fore-aft tower bending moment at the seabed is about 10% higher compared to load cases with waves only

  6. Strategies for Refining IEC 61400-2: Wind Turbine Generator Systems - Part 2: Safety of Small Wind Turbines: Preprint

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    van Dam, J. J. D.; Forsyth, T. L.; Hansen, A. C.

    2001-01-01

    This paper provides a status of the changes currently being made by IEC Maintenance Team 02 (MT02) to the existing IEC 61400-2 ''Safety of small wind turbines.'' In relation to the work done by IEC MT02, work has been done by NREL and Windward Engineering under the DOE/NREL Small Wind Turbine (SWT) Project. Aeroelastic models were built and measurements taken on a Whisper H40 turbine and an AOC 15/50. Results from this study were used to verify the simple design equations. This verification will be used to evaluate how changes made in the design load estimation section of the standard work out for a broad range of turbine configurations. The work presented here builds on work performed by Van Hulle (1996)

  7. Forces and Moments on Flat Plates of Small Aspect Ratio with Application to PV Wind Loads and Small Wind Turbine Blades

    OpenAIRE

    Xavier Ortiz; David Rival; David Wood

    2015-01-01

    To improve knowledge of the wind loads on photovoltaic structures mounted on flat roofs at the high angles required in high latitudes, and to study starting flow on low aspect ratio wind turbine blades, a series of wind tunnel tests were undertaken. Thin flat plates of aspect ratios between 0.4 and 9.0 were mounted on a sensitive three-component instantaneous force and moment sensor. The Reynolds numbers varied from 6 × 10 4 to 2 × 10 5 . Measurements were made for angles of attack between 0°...

  8. Floating axis wind turbines for offshore power generation—a conceptual study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akimoto, Hiromichi; Tanaka, Kenji; Uzawa, Kiyoshi

    2011-01-01

    The cost of energy produced by offshore wind turbines is considered to be higher than land based ones because of the difficulties in construction, operation and maintenance on offshore sites. To solve the problem, we propose a concept of a wind turbine that is specially designed for an offshore environment. In the proposed concept, a floater of revolutionary shape supports the load of the wind turbine axis. The floater rotates with the turbine and the turbine axis tilts to balance the turbine thrust, buoyancy and gravity. The tilt angle is passively adjustable to wind force. The angle is 30° at rated power. The simplicity of the system leads to further cost reduction of offshore power generation.

  9. 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.

  10. A process for providing positive primary control power by wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marschner, V.; Michael, J.; Liersch, J.

    2014-12-01

    Due to the increasing share of wind energy in electricity generation, wind turbines have to fulfil additional requirements in the context of grid integration. The paper examines to which extent wind turbines can provide positive control power following the related grid code. The additional power has to be obtained from the rotating flywheel mass of the wind turbine's rotor. A simple physical model is developed that allows to draw conclusions about appropriate concepts by means of a dynamic simulation of the variables rotational speed, torque, power output and rotor power. The paper discusses scenarios to provide control power. The supply of control power at partial load is examined in detail using simulations. Under partial load conditions control power can be fed into the grid for a short time. Thereby the rotational speed drops so that aerodynamic efficiency decreases and feed-in power is below the initial value after the control process. In this way an unfavourable situation for the grid control is produced, therefore the paper proposes a modified partial load condition with a higher rotational speed. By providing primary control power the rotor is delayed to the optimum rotational speed so that more rotational energy can be fed in and fed-in power can be increased persistently. However, as the rotor does not operate at optimum speed, a small amount of the energy yield is lost. Finally, the paper shows that a wind farm can combine these two concepts: A part of the wind turbines work under modified partial load conditions can compensate the decrease of power of the wind turbines working under partial load conditions. Therefore the requested control power is provided and afterwards the original value of power is maintained.

  11. Loading Analysis of Composite Wind Turbine Blade for Fatigue Life Prediction of Adhesively Bonded Root Joint

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salimi-Majd, Davood; Azimzadeh, Vahid; Mohammadi, Bijan

    2015-06-01

    Nowadays wind energy is widely used as a non-polluting cost-effective renewable energy resource. During the lifetime of a composite wind turbine which is about 20 years, the rotor blades are subjected to different cyclic loads such as aerodynamics, centrifugal and gravitational forces. These loading conditions, cause to fatigue failure of the blade at the adhesively bonded root joint, where the highest bending moments will occur and consequently, is the most critical zone of the blade. So it is important to estimate the fatigue life of the root joint. The cohesive zone model is one of the best methods for prediction of initiation and propagation of debonding at the root joint. The advantage of this method is the possibility of modeling the debonding without any requirement to the remeshing. However in order to use this approach, it is necessary to analyze the cyclic loading condition at the root joint. For this purpose after implementing a cohesive interface element in the Ansys finite element software, one blade of a horizontal axis wind turbine with 46 m rotor diameter was modelled in full scale. Then after applying loads on the blade under different condition of the blade in a full rotation, the critical condition of the blade is obtained based on the delamination index and also the load ratio on the root joint in fatigue cycles is calculated. These data are the inputs for fatigue damage growth analysis of the root joint by using CZM approach that will be investigated in future work.

  12. On Usage of Pareto curves to Select Wind Turbine Controller Tunings to the Wind Turbulence Level

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Odgaard, Peter Fogh

    2015-01-01

    Model predictive control has in recently publications shown its potential for lowering of cost of energy of modern wind turbines. Pareto curves can be used to evaluate performance of these controllers with multiple conflicting objectives of power and fatigue loads. In this paper an approach...... to update an model predictive wind turbine controller tuning as the wind turbulence increases, as increased turbulence levels results in higher loads for the same controller tuning. In this paper the Pareto curves are computed using an industrial high fidelity aero-elastic model. Simulations show...

  13. Reliability Analysis of Fatigue Failure of Cast Components for Wind Turbines

    OpenAIRE

    Hesam Mirzaei Rafsanjani; John Dalsgaard Sørensen

    2015-01-01

    Fatigue failure is one of the main failure modes for wind turbine drivetrain components made of cast iron. The wind turbine drivetrain consists of a variety of heavily loaded components, like the main shaft, the main bearings, the gearbox and the generator. The failure of each component will lead to substantial economic losses such as cost of lost energy production and cost of repairs. During the design lifetime, the drivetrain components are exposed to variable loads from winds and waves an...

  14. Wind Turbine Generator System Acoustic Noise Test Report for the Gaia Wind 11-kW Wind Turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huskey, A.

    2011-11-01

    This report details the acoustic noise test conducted on the Gaia-Wind 11-kW wind turbine at the National Wind Technology Center. The test turbine is a two- bladed, downwind wind turbine with a rated power of 11 kW. The test turbine was tested in accordance with the International Electrotechnical Commission standard, IEC 61400-11 Ed 2.1 2006-11 Wind Turbine Generator Systems -- Part 11 Acoustic Noise Measurement Techniques.

  15. Lidar-Enhanced Wind Turbine Control: Past, Present, and Future: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scholbrock, Andrew; Fleming, Paul; Wright, Alan; Wang, Na; Schlipf, David; Johnson, Kathryn

    2016-07-01

    This paper will look at the development of lidar-enhanced controls and how they have been used for turbine load reduction with pitch actuation, as well as increased energy production with improved yaw control. Ongoing work will also be discussed to show that combining pitch and torque control using feedforward nonlinear model predictive control can lead to both reduced loads and increased energy production. Future work is also proposed on extending individual wind turbine controls to the wind plant level and determining how lidars can be used for control methods to further lower the cost of wind energy by minimizing wake impacts in a wind farm.

  16. Model predictive control of trailing edge flaps on a wind turbine blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Castaignet, D.B.

    2011-11-15

    Trailing edge flaps on wind turbine blades have been investigated for several years. Aero-servoelastic simulations carried out with different simulation tools, trailing edge flaps configurations and controller designs proved that trailing edge flaps are a suitable solution for reducing some of the wind turbine fatigue and extreme loads. This potential was confirmed with wind tunnel tests made on blade sections with trailing edge flaps and on a scaled two-bladed wind turbine in a wind tunnel. The work presented in this thesis includes a full-scale test run on a Vestas V27 wind turbine equipped with three trailing edge flaps on one blade, located on DTU's Risoe Campus in Roskilde, Denmark. This thesis is divided into three parts: the controller design, results from simulations, and results from the experiments. The trailing edge flaps controller designed for this project is based on a frequency-weighted model predictive control, tuned in order to target only the flapwise blade root loads at the frequencies contributing the most to blade root fatigue damage (the 1P, 2P and 3P frequencies), and to avoid unnecessary wear and tear of the actuators at high frequencies. A disturbance model consisting in periodic disturbances at the rotor speed harmonic frequencies and a quasi-steady input disturbance is aggregated to an analytical model of a spinning blade with trailing edge flaps. Simulations on a multi-megawatt wind turbine show the potential of the trailing edge flaps to reduce the flapwise blade root fatigue loads by 23%, but also the main shaft and the tower fatigue loads by up to 32%. Extreme loads during normal production also benefit from the trailing edge flaps. At last, the same controller was run on the Vestas V27 wind turbine located at the Risoe Campus of the Technical University of Denmark, in Roskilde, Denmark. One blade of the turbine was equipped with three independent trailing edge flaps. In spite of the failure of several sensors and actuators, the

  17. Modelling and Measuring Flow and Wind Turbine Wakes in Large Wind Farms Offshore

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barthelmie, Rebecca Jane; Hansen, Kurt Schaldemose; Frandsen, Sten Tronæs

    2009-01-01

    power losses due to wakes and loads. The research presented is part of the EC-funded UpWind project, which aims to radically improve wind turbine and wind farm models in order to continue to improve the costs of wind energy. Reducing wake losses, or even reduce uncertainties in predicting power losses...

  18. A ``Cyber Wind Facility'' for HPC Wind Turbine Field Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brasseur, James; Paterson, Eric; Schmitz, Sven; Campbell, Robert; Vijayakumar, Ganesh; Lavely, Adam; Jayaraman, Balaji; Nandi, Tarak; Jha, Pankaj; Dunbar, Alex; Motta-Mena, Javier; Craven, Brent; Haupt, Sue

    2013-03-01

    The Penn State ``Cyber Wind Facility'' (CWF) is a high-fidelity multi-scale high performance computing (HPC) environment in which ``cyber field experiments'' are designed and ``cyber data'' collected from wind turbines operating within the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) environment. Conceptually the ``facility'' is akin to a high-tech wind tunnel with controlled physical environment, but unlike a wind tunnel it replicates commercial-scale wind turbines operating in the field and forced by true atmospheric turbulence with controlled stability state. The CWF is created from state-of-the-art high-accuracy technology geometry and grid design and numerical methods, and with high-resolution simulation strategies that blend unsteady RANS near the surface with high fidelity large-eddy simulation (LES) in separated boundary layer, blade and rotor wake regions, embedded within high-resolution LES of the ABL. CWF experiments complement physical field facility experiments that can capture wider ranges of meteorological events, but with minimal control over the environment and with very small numbers of sensors at low spatial resolution. I shall report on the first CWF experiments aimed at dynamical interactions between ABL turbulence and space-time wind turbine loadings. Supported by DOE and NSF.

  19. Measuring power output intermittency and unsteady loading in a micro wind farm model

    OpenAIRE

    Bossuyt, Juliaan; Howland, Michael; Meneveau, Charles; Meyers, Johan

    2016-01-01

    In this study porous disc models are used as a turbine model for a wind-tunnel wind farm experiment, allowing the measurement of the power output, thrust force and spatially averaged incoming velocity for every turbine. The model's capabilities for studying the unsteady turbine loading, wind farm power output intermittency and spatio temporal correlations between wind turbines are demonstrated on an aligned wind farm, consisting of 100 wind turbine models.

  20. Baseline Design of a Hurricane-Resilient Wind Turbine (Poster)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Damiani, R.; Robertson, A.; Schreck, S.; Maples, B.; Anderson, M.; Finucane, Z.; Raina, A.

    2014-10-01

    Under U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored research FOA 415, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory led a team of research groups to produce a complete design of a large wind turbine system to be deployable in the western Gulf of Mexico region. As such, the turbine and its support structure would be subjected to hurricane-loading conditions. Among the goals of this research was the exploration of advanced and innovative configurations that would help decrease the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of the design, and the expansion of the basic IEC design load cases (DLCs) to include hurricane environmental conditions. The wind turbine chosen was a three-bladed, downwind, direct-drive, 10-MW rated machine. The rotor blade was optimized based on an IEC load suite analysis. The drivetrain and nacelle components were scaled up from a smaller sized turbine using industry best practices. The tubular steel tower was sized using ultimate load values derived from the rotor optimization analysis. The substructure is an innovative battered and raked jacket structure. The innovative turbine has also been modeled within an aero-servo-hydro-elastic tool, and future papers will discuss results of the dynamic response analysis for select DLCs. Although multiple design iterations could not be performed because of limited resources in this study, and are left to future research, the obtained data will offer a good indication of the expected LCOE for large offshore wind turbines to be deployed in subtropical U.S. waters, and the impact design innovations can have on this value.

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. Wind Turbine Technologies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Anca Daniela

    2017-01-01

    , and with or without gearboxes, using the latest in power electronics, aerodynamics, and mechanical drive train designs [4]. The main differences between all wind turbine concepts developed over the years, concern their electrical design and control. Today, the wind turbines on the market mix and match a variety......, the design of wind turbines has changed from being convention driven to being optimized driven within the operating regime and market environment. Wind turbine designs have progressed from fixed speed, passive controlled and with drive trains with gearboxes, to become variable speed, active controlled......,6] and to implement modern control system strategies....

  4. AC-DC integrated load flow calculation for variable speed offshore wind farms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhao, Menghua; Chen, Zhe; Blaabjerg, Frede

    2005-01-01

    This paper proposes a sequential AC-DC integrated load flow algorithm for variable speed offshore wind farms. In this algorithm, the variable frequency and the control strategy of variable speed wind turbine systems are considered. In addition, the losses of wind turbine systems and the losses...... of converters are also integrated into the load flow algorithm. As a general algorithm, it can be applied to different types of wind farm configurations, and the load flow is related to the wind speed....

  5. Aero-acoustic Computations of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shen, Wen Zhong; Michelsen, Jess; Sørensen, Jens Nørkær

    2002-01-01

    A numerical algorithm for acoustic noise generation is extended to 3D flows. The approach involves two parts comprising a viscous incompressible flow part and an inviscid acoustic part. In order to simulate noise generated from a wind turbine, the incompressible and acoustic equations are written...... in polar coordinates. The developed algorithm is combined with a so-called actuator-line technique in which the loading is distributed along lines representing the blade forces. Computations are carried out for the 500kW Nordtank wind turbine equipped with three LM19 blades. ©2001 The American Institute...

  6. Planetary Load Sharing in Three-Point Mounted Wind Turbine Gearboxes: A Design and Test Comparison

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Keller, Jonathan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Guo, Yi [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Zhang, Zhiwei [Romax InSight, Nottingham, (United Kingdom); Lucas, Doug [The Timken Company, Jackson Township, OH (United States)

    2017-04-06

    This work compares the planetary load-sharing characteristics of wind turbine gearboxes supported by cylindrical roller bearings (CRBs) and preloaded tapered roller bearings (TRBs) when subjected to rotor moments. Planetary bearing loads were measured in field-representative dynamometer tests and compared to loads predicted by finite-element models. Preloaded TRBs significantly improved load sharing. In pure torque conditions, the upwind planet bearing load in the gearbox with preloaded TRBs was only 14% more than the assumed load compared to 47% more for the gearbox with CRBs. Consequently, the predicted fatigue life of the complete set of planetary bearings for the gearbox with preloaded TRBs is 3.5 times greater than that of the gearbox with CRBs.

  7. Coupled Dynamic Modeling of Floating Wind Turbine Systems: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wayman, E. N.; Sclavounos, P. D.; Butterfield, S.; Jonkman, J.; Musial, W.

    2006-03-01

    This article presents a collaborative research program that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have undertaken to develop innovative and cost-effective floating and mooring systems for offshore wind turbines in water depths of 10-200 m. Methods for the coupled structural, hydrodynamic, and aerodynamic analysis of floating wind turbine systems are presented in the frequency domain. This analysis was conducted by coupling the aerodynamics and structural dynamics code FAST [4] developed at NREL with the wave load and response simulation code WAMIT (Wave Analysis at MIT) [15] developed at MIT. Analysis tools were developed to consider coupled interactions between the wind turbine and the floating system. These include the gyroscopic loads of the wind turbine rotor on the tower and floater, the aerodynamic damping introduced by the wind turbine rotor, the hydrodynamic damping introduced by wave-body interactions, and the hydrodynamic forces caused by wave excitation. Analyses were conducted for two floater concepts coupled with the NREL 5-MW Offshore Baseline wind turbine in water depths of 10-200 m: the MIT/NREL Shallow Drafted Barge (SDB) and the MIT/NREL Tension Leg Platform (TLP). These concepts were chosen to represent two different methods of achieving stability to identify differences in performance and cost of the different stability methods. The static and dynamic analyses of these structures evaluate the systems' responses to wave excitation at a range of frequencies, the systems' natural frequencies, and the standard deviations of the systems' motions in each degree of freedom in various wind and wave environments. This article in various wind and wave environments. This article explores the effects of coupling the wind turbine with the floating platform, the effects of water depth, and the effects of wind speed on the systems' performance. An economic feasibility analysis of

  8. Calculation of wind turbine aeroelastic behaviour. The Garrad Hassan approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Quarton, D C [Garrad Hassan and Partners Ltd., Bristol (United Kingdom)

    1996-09-01

    The Garrad Hassan approach to the prediction of wind turbine loading and response has been developed over the last decade. The goal of this development has been to produce calculation methods that contain realistic representation of the wind, include sensible aerodynamic and dynamic models of the turbine and can be used to predict fatigue and extreme loads for design purposes. The Garrad Hassan calculation method is based on a suite of four key computer programs: WIND3D for generation of the turbulent wind field; EIGEN for modal analysis of the rotor and support structure; BLADED for time domain calculation of the structural loads; and SIGNAL for post-processing of the BLADED predictions. The interaction of these computer programs is illustrated. A description of the main elements of the calculation method will be presented. (au)

  9. Active structural control of a floating wind turbine with a stroke-limited hybrid mass damper

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Yaqi; He, Erming

    2017-12-01

    Floating wind turbines are subjected to more severe structural loads than fixed-bottom wind turbines due to additional degrees of freedom (DOFs) of their floating foundations. It's a promising way of using active structural control method to improve the structural responses of floating wind turbines. This paper investigates an active vibration control strategy for a barge-type floating wind turbine by setting a stroke-limited hybrid mass damper (HMD) in the turbine's nacelle. Firstly, a contact nonlinear modeling method for the floating wind turbine with clearance between the HMD and the stroke limiters is presented based on Euler-Lagrange's equations and an active control model of the whole system is established. The structural parameters are validated for the active control model and an equivalent load coefficient method is presented for identifying the wind and wave disturbances. Then, a state-feedback linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller is designed to reduce vibration and loads of the wind turbine, and two optimization methods are combined to optimize the weighting coefficients when considering the stroke of the HMD and the active control power consumption as constraints. Finally, the designed controllers are implemented in high fidelity simulations under five typical wind and wave conditions. The results show that active HMD control strategy is shown to be achievable and the designed controllers could further reduce more vibration and loads of the wind turbine under the constraints of stroke limitation and power consumption. "V"-shaped distribution of the TMD suppression effect is inconsistent with the Weibull distribution in practical offshore floating wind farms, and the active HMD control could overcome this shortcoming of the passive TMD.

  10. 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...

  11. Variability of extreme flap loads during turbine operation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ronold, K O [Det Norske Veritas, Hoevik (Norway); Larsen, G C [Risoe National Lab., Wind Energy and Atmospheric Physics Dept., Roskilde (Denmark)

    1999-03-01

    The variability of extreme flap loads is of utmost importance for design of wind-turbine rotor blades. The flap loads of interest consist of the flap-wise bendin moment response at the blade root whose variability in the short-term, for a given wind climate, can be represented by a stationary process. A model for the short-term bending moment process is presented, and the distribution of its associated maxima is derived. A model for the wind climate is given in terms of the probability distributions for the 10-minute mean wind speed and the standard deviation of the arbitrary wind speed. This is used to establish the distribution of the largest flap-wise bending moment in a specific reference period, and it is outlined how a characteristic bending moment for use in design can be extracted from this distribution. The application of the presented distribution models is demonstrated by a numerical example for a site-specific wind turbine. (au)

  12. Coherence Effects on the Power and Tower Loads of a 7 × 2 MW Multi-Rotor Wind Turbine System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shigeo Yoshida

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available A multi-rotor system (MRS, in which multiple wind turbines are placed on one tower, is a promising concept for super-large wind turbines at over 10 MW due to the cost and weight advantages. The coherence effects on an MRS were investigated in this study. Although a wide range of coherences were measured so far, a decay constant of C = 12 is recommended in the IEC61400-1 standard. Dynamic simulations were performed for a 14-MW MRS, which consists of seven 2-MW turbines and includes wind models with three different coherences. Although the results show that a larger coherence increases the output power and the collective loads due to tower base fore-aft bending, it reduces the differential loads due to tower-base torque and tower-top nodding. The most significant case is the fatigue damage due to tower base fore-aft bending, which was more than doubled between the decay constants of C = 6 and C = 12. The present results indicate that the coherence should be defined carefully in the design of large-scale MRSs because its effect on them is not straightforward.

  13. Iterative tuning of feedforward IPC for two-bladed wind turbines

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mulders, S.P.; van Solingen, E.; van Wingerden, J.W.; Beerens, J; Bossanyi, E.; Chaviaropoulos, T.; Cheng, P.W.

    2016-01-01

    At present, the cost of offshore wind energy does not meet the level of onshore wind and fossil-based energy sources. One way to extend the turbine lifetime, and thus reduce cost, is by reduction of the fatigue loads of blades and other turbine parts using Individual Pitch Control (IPC). This type

  14. Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Martin Otto Laver

    Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines is the established essential text for the fundamental solutions to efficient wind turbine design. Now in its second edition, it has been entirely updated and substantially extended to reflect advances in technology, research into rotor aerodynamics and the structural...... response of the wind turbine structure. Topics covered include increasing mass flow through the turbine, performance at low and high wind speeds, assessment of the extreme conditions under which the turbine will perform and the theory for calculating the lifetime of the turbine. The classical Blade Element...... Momentum method is also covered, as are eigenmodes and the dynamic behavior of a turbine. The new material includes a description of the effects of the dynamics and how this can be modeled in an aeroelastic code, which is widely used in the design and verification of modern wind turbines. Further...

  15. Evaluation of wind turbine gearboxes; Evaluering af vindmoellegear

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2003-08-15

    A wind turbine's gearbox is the single component in which failures with risk of breakdown occur. The problems typically occur in the form of pitting damages in cogwheels and breakdown in bearings. The number of gearbox problems are increasing especially in 600 and 750 kW wind turbines. This project comprises a failure detection and analysis system, a gearbox calculation program, load monitoring, and finally dynamics of the mechanical transmission system. (BA)

  16. Application of model predictive control for optimal operation of wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Yuan; Cao, Pei; Tang, J.

    2017-04-01

    For large-scale wind turbines, reducing maintenance cost is a major challenge. Model predictive control (MPC) is a promising approach to deal with multiple conflicting objectives using the weighed sum approach. In this research, model predictive control method is applied to wind turbine to find an optimal balance between multiple objectives, such as the energy capture, loads on turbine components, and the pitch actuator usage. The actuator constraints are integrated into the objective function at the control design stage. The analysis is carried out in both the partial load region and full load region, and the performances are compared with those of a baseline gain scheduling PID controller. The application of this strategy achieves enhanced balance of component loads, the average power and actuator usages in partial load region.

  17. Load flow analysis for variable speed offshore wind farms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chen, Zhe; Zhao, Menghua; Blaabjerg, Frede

    2009-01-01

    factors such as the different wind farm configurations, the control of wind turbines and the power losses of pulse width modulation converters are considered. The DC/DC converter model is proposed and integrated into load flow algorithm by modifying the Jacobian matrix. Two iterative methods are proposed...... and integrated into the load flow algorithm: one takes into account the control strategy of converters and the other considers the power losses of converters. In addition, different types of variable speed wind turbine systems with different control methods are investigated. Finally, the method is demonstrated......A serial AC-DC integrated load flow algorithm for variable speed offshore wind farms is proposed. It divides the electrical system of a wind farm into several local networks, and different load flow methods are used for these local networks sequentially. This method is fast, more accurate, and many...

  18. Dynamic response of wind turbine towers in warm permafrost

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Benjamin Still; ZhaoHui Joey Yang; Simon Evans; FuJun Niu

    2014-01-01

    Wind is a great source of renewable energy in western Alaska. Consistent winds blow across the barren tundra underlain by warm permafrost in the winter season, when the energy demand is the highest. Foundation engineering in warm permafrost has always been a challenge in wind energy development. Degrading warm permafrost poses engineering issues to design, construction, and operation of wind turbines. This paper describes the foundation design of a wind turbine built in western Alaska. It presents a sys-tem for response monitoring and load assessment, and data collected from September 2013 to March 2014. The dynamic proper-ties are assessed based on the monitoring data, and seasonal changes in the dynamic properties of the turbine tower-foundation system and likely resonance between the spinning blades and the tower structure are discussed. These analyses of a wind turbine in warm permafrost are valuable for designing or retrofitting of foundations in warm permafrost.

  19. Adaptive Backstepping Control of Lightweight Tower Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Galeazzi, Roberto; Borup, Kasper Trolle; Niemann, Hans Henrik

    2015-01-01

    the angular deflection of the tower with respect to the vertical axis in response to variations in wind speed. The controller is shown to guarantee asymptotic tracking of the reference trajectory. The performance of the control system is evaluated through deterministic and stochastic simulations including......This paper investigates the feasibility of operating a wind turbine with lightweight tower in the full load region exploiting an adaptive nonlinear controller that allows the turbine to dynamically lean against the wind while maintaining nominal power output. The use of lightweight structures...... for towers and foundations would greatly reduce the construction cost of the wind turbine, however extra features ought be included in the control system architecture to avoid tower collapse. An adaptive backstepping collective pitch controller is proposed for tower point tracking control, i.e. to modify...

  20. Wind conditions for wind turbine design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maribo Pedersen, B.

    1999-04-01

    Delegates from Europe and USA attended the meeting and discussed general aspects of wind conditions for wind turbine design. The subjects and the presented papers covered a very broad range of aspects of wind conditions and related influence on the wind turbine. (EHS)

  1. Wind Turbines Wake Aerodynamics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vermeer, L.; Sørensen, Jens Nørkær; Crespo, A.

    2003-01-01

    The aerodynamics of horizontal axis wind turbine wakes is studied. The contents is directed towards the physics of power extraction by wind turbines and reviews both the near and the far wake region. For the near wake, the survey is restricted to uniform, steady and parallel flow conditions......, thereby excluding wind shear, wind speed and rotor setting changes and yawed conditions. The emphasis is put on measurements in controlled conditions.For the far wake, the survey focusses on both single turbines and wind farm effects, and the experimental and numerical work are reviewed; the main interest...... is to study how the far wake decays downstream, in order to estimate the effect produced in downstream turbines.The article is further restricted to horizontal axis wind turbines and excludes all other types of turbines....

  2. Advanced load alleviation for wind turbines using adaptive trailing edge flaps: Sensoring and control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Andersen, Peter Bjoern

    2010-02-15

    The purpose of wind turbines and their predecessors the windmill, is to convert the energy in the wind to usable energy forms. Whereas windmills of the past focused on the conversion of wind power to torque for grinding, pumping and winching, modern wind turbines convert the wind energy into electric power. They do so through incorporation of generators, which convert mechanical torque into electricity. Wind turbines are designed to keep the overall cost per produced Kilo Watt hour as low as possible. One way of improving the performance and lifetime of the wind turbine is through active flow control. Active control is often considered costly but if the lifespan of the components can be increased it could be justifiable. This thesis covers various aspects of 'smart control' such as control theory, sensoring, optimization, experiments and numerical modeling. (author)

  3. Noise measurements in 4 wind turbine farms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Zuylen, E.J.; Koerts, M.

    1993-02-01

    The title wind turbine arrays are situated in Herbayum (Newinco 23PI250), Callantsoog (Bouma 160/20), Noordoostpolder (Windmaster WM300), and Ulketocht (Newinco 500 kW). Measurements were carried out by means of the so-called Ecofys Correlating Noise Meter to determine the source level of the wind turbines. The resulting source level as a function of the wind speed is interpolated to a source level for a wind speed of 8 m/s at 10 m height, on the basis of which the noise contours can be calculated. The noise contours are determined to analyze the noise load for people living in the neighbourhood of the wind parks. The source levels are compared with values as indicated in certificates, which are granted on the basis of a so-called Restricted Quality Certificate (BKC, abbreviated in Dutch) or the new standard NNI 6096/2 for the above-mentioned wind turbines. In general the results of this study agree quite well with the certified values. 12 figs., 7 tabs., 6 refs

  4. Cascade Analysis of a Floating Wind Turbine Rotor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eliassen, Lene; Jakobsen, Jasna B; Knauer, Andreas; Nielsen, Finn Gunnar

    2014-01-01

    Mounting a wind turbine on a floating foundation introduces more complexity to the aerodynamic loading. The floater motion contains a wide range of frequencies. To study some of the basic dynamic load effect on the blades due to these motions, a two-dimensional cascade approach, combined with a potential vortex method, is used. This is an alternative method to study the aeroelastic behavior of wind turbines that is different from the traditional blade element momentum method. The analysis tool demands little computational power relative to a full three dimensional vortex method, and can handle unsteady flows. When using the cascade plane, a ''cut'' is made at a section of the wind turbine blade. The flow is viewed parallel to the blade axis at this cut. The cascade model is commonly used for analysis of turbo machineries. Due to the simplicity of the code it requires little computational resources, however it has limitations in its validity. It can only handle two-dimensional potential flow, i.e. including neither three-dimensional effects, such as the tip loss effect, nor boundary layers and stall effects are modeled. The computational tool can however be valuable in the overall analysis of floating wind turbines, and evaluation of the rotor control system. A check of the validity of the vortex panel code using an airfoil profile is performed, comparing the variation of the lift force, to the theoretically derived Wagner function. To analyse the floating wind turbine, a floating structure with hub height 90 m is chosen. An axial motion of the rotor is considered

  5. Wind turbine with automatic pitch and yaw control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheney, Jr., Marvin Chapin; Spierings, Petrus A. M.

    1978-01-01

    A wind turbine having a flexible central beam member supporting aerodynamic blades at opposite ends thereof and fabricated of uni-directional high tensile strength material bonded together into beam form so that the beam is lightweight, and has high tensile strength to carry the blade centrifugal loads, low shear modulus to permit torsional twisting thereof for turbine speed control purposes, and adequate bending stiffness to permit out-of-plane deflection thereof for turbine yard control purposes. A selectively off-set weighted pendulum member is pivotally connected to the turbine and connected to the beam or blade so as to cause torsional twisting thereof in response to centrifugal loading of the pendulum member for turbine speed control purposes.

  6. Uncertainty propagation through an aeroelastic wind turbine model using polynomial surrogates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Murcia Leon, Juan Pablo; Réthoré, Pierre-Elouan; Dimitrov, Nikolay Krasimirov

    2018-01-01

    of the uncertainty in annual energy production due to wind resource variability and/or robust wind power plant layout optimization. It can be concluded that it is possible to capture the global behavior of a modern wind turbine and its uncertainty under realistic inflow conditions using polynomial response surfaces......Polynomial surrogates are used to characterize the energy production and lifetime equivalent fatigue loads for different components of the DTU 10 MW reference wind turbine under realistic atmospheric conditions. The variability caused by different turbulent inflow fields are captured by creating......-alignment. The methodology presented extends the deterministic power and thrust coefficient curves to uncertainty models and adds new variables like damage equivalent fatigue loads in different components of the turbine. These surrogate models can then be implemented inside other work-flows such as: estimation...

  7. A local-circulation model for Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masse, B.

    1986-04-01

    A new computational model for the aerodynamics of the vertical-axis wind turbine is presented. Based on the local-circulation method generalized for curved blades, combined with a wake model for the vertical-axis wind turbine, it differs markedly from current models based on variations in the streamtube momentum and vortex models using the lifting-line theory. A computer code has been developed to calculate the loads and performance of the Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbine. The results show good agreement with experimental data and compare well with other methods.

  8. Wind inflow observation from load harmonics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Bertelè

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The wind field leaves its fingerprint on the rotor response. This fact can be exploited by using the rotor as a sensor: by looking at the rotor response, in the present case in terms of blade loads, one may infer the wind characteristics. This paper describes a wind state observer that estimates four wind parameters, namely the vertical and horizontal shears and the yaw and upflow misalignment angles, from out-of-plane and in-plane blade bending moments. The resulting observer provides on-rotor wind inflow characteristics that can be exploited for wind turbine and wind farm control. The proposed formulation is evaluated through extensive numerical simulations in turbulent and nonturbulent wind conditions using a high-fidelity aeroservoelastic model of a multi-MW wind turbine.

  9. Determination of the wind power systems load to achieve operation in the maximum energy area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chioncel, C. P.; Tirian, G. O.; Spunei, E.; Gillich, N.

    2018-01-01

    This paper analyses the operation of the wind turbine, WT, in the maximum power point, MPP, by linking the load of the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator, PMSG, with the wind speed value. The load control methods at wind power systems aiming an optimum performance in terms of energy are based on the fact that the energy captured by the wind turbine significantly depends on the mechanical angular speed of the wind turbine. The presented control method consists in determining the optimal mechanical angular speed, ωOPTIM, using an auxiliary low power wind turbine, WTAUX, operating without load, at maximum angular velocity, ωMAX. The method relies on the fact that the ratio ωOPTIM/ωMAX has a constant value for a given wind turbine and does not depend on the time variation of the wind speed values.

  10. Voltage control of a variable speed wind turbine connected to an isolated load: Experimental study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Masmoudi, Abdelkarim; Krichen, Lotfi; Ouali, Abderrazak

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► We develop an experimental test bench of a wind energy conversion system. ► A DC motor is emulating a variable speed wind turbine using a DS1104 card. ► The production unit is supplying a three-phase load. ► A voltage control is established in order to regulate the DC bus voltage and the line-to-line voltages. - Abstract: This study is interested in the development of an experimental test bench of an autonomous wind energy conversion system (WECS) based on a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). After the description of the test bench, the elements constituting the WECS are presented. Then, a real time model implemented under a digital signal processor (DSP) system is established. The first objective of this work is to validate the functionality of the test bench leading to experiment some principles developed in theory. The second objective is to control the load connection voltages and the DC bus voltage. For the first control, two resonant controllers are used and for the second one, a dump load, connected to the DC bus, offers the possibility to maintain a balance between production and consumption in spite of wind fluctuations and load variations. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the test bench trying out in real time the behavior of a WECS supplying an isolated load.

  11. Discord amongst the wind turbine buyers with regard to Dutch wind turbine manufacturers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Janse, F.

    1992-01-01

    In the Netherlands two medium-large manufacturers of wind turbines exist: NedWind (Hollandia Kloos) and Windmaster Nederland (Begemann Groep). Also Lagerwey, which constructs wind turbines for the private market (farmers, cooperatives), is important for the Dutch market and successfull in Germany. There is a tendency amongst the Dutch energy utilities, which cooperate in the foundation WindPlan, to buy wind turbines from foreign manufacturers. Some energy utilities want to take advantage of the most attractive offers, while others want to cooperate in building up a Dutch wind turbine industry. 5 ills

  12. Aerodynamic and aeroacoustic for wind turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mohamed, Maizi [Centre de Développement des Energies Renouvelables (cder). Alger (Algeria); Rabah, Dizene [Université des Sciences et de Technologie Haouari Boumdienne (USTHB). Alger (Algeria)

    2015-03-10

    This paper describes a hybrid approach forpredicting noise radiated from the rotating Wind Turbine (HAWT) blades, where the sources are extracted from an unsteady Reynolds-Averaged-Navier Stocks (URANS) simulation, ANSYS CFX 11.0, was used to calculate The near-field flow parameters around the blade surface that are necessary for FW-H codes. Comparisons with NREL Phase II experimental results are presented with respect to the pressure distributions for validating a capacity of the solver to calculate the near-field flow on and around the wind turbine blades, The results show that numerical data have a good agreement with experimental. The acoustic pressure, presented as a sum of thickness and loading noise components, is analyzed by means of a discrete fast Fourier transformation for the presentation of the time acoustic time histories in the frequency domain. The results convincingly show that dipole source noise is the dominant noise source for this wind turbine.

  13. Design and simulation of Macro-Fiber composite based serrated microflap for wind turbine blade fatigue load reduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Xiao; Dai, Qingli; Bilgen, Onur

    2018-05-01

    A Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC) based active serrated microflap is designed in this research for wind turbine blades. Its fatigue load reduction potential is evaluated in normal operating conditions. The force and displacement output of the MFC-based actuator are simulated using a bimorph beam model. The work done by the aerodynamic, centripetal and gravitational forces acting on the microflap were calculated to determine the required capacity of the MFC-based actuator. MFC-based actuators with a lever mechanical linkage are designed to achieve the required force and displacement to activate the microflap. A feedback control scheme is designed to control the microflap during operation. Through an aerodynamic-aeroelastic time marching simulation with the designed control scheme, the time responses of the wind turbine blades are obtained. The fatigue analysis shows that the serrated microflap can reduce the standard deviation of the blade root flapwise bending moment and the fatigue damage equivalent loads.

  14. Miniature horizontal axis wind turbine system for multipurpose application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, F.J.; Yuan, F.G.; Hu, J.Z.; Qiu, Y.P.

    2014-01-01

    A MWT (miniature wind turbine) has received great attention recently for powering WISP (Wireless Intelligent Sensor Platform). In this study, two MHAWTs (miniature horizontal axis wind turbines) with and without gear transmission were designed and fabricated. A physics-based model was proposed and the optimal load resistances of the MHAWTs were predicted. The open circuit voltages, output powers and net efficiencies were measured under various ambient winds and load resistances. The experimental results showed the optimal load resistances matched well with the predicted results; the MHAWT without gear obtained higher output power at the wind speed of 2 m/s to 6 m/s, while the geared MHAWT exhibited better performance at the wind speed higher than 6 m/s. In addition, a DCM (discontinuous conduction mode) buck-boost converter was adopted as an interface circuit to maximize the charging power from MHAWTs to rechargeable batteries, exhibiting maximum efficiencies above 85%. The charging power reached about 8 mW and 36 mW at the wind speeds of 4 m/s and 6 m/s respectively, which indicated that the MHAWTs were capable for sufficient energy harvesting for powering low-power electronics continuously. - Highlights: • Performance of the miniature wind turbines with and without gears was compared. • The physics-based model was established and proved successfully. • The interface circuit with efficiency of more than 85% was designed

  15. 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

  16. 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...

  17. Wind turbines and infrasound

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howe, B.

    2006-01-01

    This paper provided the results of a study conducted to assess the impacts of wind farm-induced infrasound on nearby residences and human populations. Infrasound occurs at frequencies below those considered as detectable by human hearing. Infrasonic levels caused by wind turbines are often similar to ambient levels of 85 dBG or lower that are caused by wind in the natural environment. This study examined the levels at which infrasound poses a threat to human health or can be considered as an annoyance. The study examined levels of infrasound caused by various types of wind turbines, and evaluated acoustic phenomena and characteristics associated with wind turbines. Results of the study suggested that infrasound near modern wind turbines is typically not perceptible to humans through either auditory or non-auditory mechanisms. However, wind turbines often create an audible broadband noise whose amplitude can be modulated at low frequencies. A review of both Canadian and international studies concluded that infrasound generated by wind turbines should not significantly impact nearby residences or human populations. 17 refs., 2 tabs., 4 figs

  18. Repetitive model predictive approach to individual pitch control of wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Adegas, Fabiano Daher; Stoustrup, Jakob; Odgaard, Peter Fogh

    2011-01-01

    prediction. As a consequence, individual pitch feed-forward control action is generated by the controller, taking ”future” wind disturbance into account. Information about the estimated wind spatial distribution one blade experience can be used in the prediction model to better control the next passing blade......Wind turbines are inherently exposed to nonuniform wind fields with of wind shear, tower shadow, and possible wake contributions. Asymmetrical aerodynamic rotor loads are a consequence of such periodic, repetitive wind disturbances experienced by the blades. A controller may estimate and use...... this peculiar disturbance pattern to better attenuate loads and regulate power by controlling the blade pitch angles individually. A novel model predictive (MPC) approach for individual pitch control of wind turbines is proposed in this paper. A repetitive wind disturbance model is incorporated into the MPC...

  19. Design and Analysis of Wind Turbine Blade Hub using Aluminium Alloy AA 6061-T6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravikumar, S.; Jaswanthvenkatram, V.; Sai kumar, Y. J. N. V.; Sohaib, S. Md.

    2017-05-01

    This work presents the design and analysis of horizontal axis wind turbine blade hub using different material. The hub is very crucial part of the wind turbine, which experience the loads from the blades and the loads were transmitted to the main shaft. At present wind turbine is more expensive and weights more than a million pounds, with the nacelle, rotor hub and blades accounting for most of the weight. In this work Spheroidal graphite cast iron GGG 40.3 is replaced by aluminium alloy 6061-T6 to enhance the casting properties and also to improve the strength-weight ratio. This transition of material leads to reduction in weight of the wind turbine. All the loads caused by wind and extreme loads on the blades are transferred to the hub. Considering the IEC 61400-1 standard for defining extreme loads on the hub the stress and deflection were calculated on the hub by using Finite element Analysis. Result obtained from ANSYS is compared and discussed with the existing design.

  20. Planetary Load Sharing in Three-Point- Mounted Wind Turbine Gearboxes: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guo, Yi [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Keller, Jonathan A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2017-09-15

    Wind turbine gearboxes do not achieve their expected design life. The cost of gearbox replacements and rebuilds and the downtime associated with these failures increase the cost of wind energy. In 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy established the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Gearbox Reliability Collaborative (GRC). Its goals are to understand the root causes of premature gearbox failures and improve their reliability. To date, the GRC has focused on a 750-kW drivetrain with a three-stage, three-point-mounted gearbox. A nonproprietary version of the gearbox containing CRBs with C3 clearances in the planetary stage was customized. Two of these gearboxes, GB1 and GB2, were manufactured and then tested in the National Wind Technology Center's 2.5-MW dynamometer and in the field. Major GRC findings include the detrimental effect of rotor moments on planetary load sharing and predicted fatigue, and the risk of bearing sliding in low-torque conditions for three-point configuration drivetrains. Based on the knowledge gained from testing and analysis of the original design, the GRC gearbox was redesigned to improve its load-sharing characteristics and predicted fatigue. This new gearbox is named GB3. As shown in Figure 1, its key improvement is the incorporation of preloaded TRBs that support the planet carrier and planets. Roller loads can be optimized and bearing life maximized with a small preload [4]. These preloaded bearings, along with interference-fitted planet pins, improve alignments and load-sharing characteristics. A semi-integrated planet bearing design also increases capacity and eliminates outer race fretting. Romax Technology, with Powertrain Engineers and the Timken Company (Timken), completed the redesign. Timken manufactured and instrumented the planet gears and bearings. Brad Foote Gearing manufactured the other gearing and assembled the gearbox.

  1. Draft-circular on wind turbines. Concept-circulaire wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1983-01-01

    Criteria for providing licenses to build and operate a wind turbine are surveyed. Factors to consider are: characteristics of the landscape, density of population, town and country planning, environmental aspects (birds), safety and nuisance. National regulations for wind turbines will simplify licensing procedures and improve legal security.

  2. Consequences of variations in spatial turbulence characteristics for fatigue life time of wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Larsen, G.C.

    1998-09-01

    The fatigue loading of turbines situated in complex terrain is investigated in order to determine the crucial parameters in the spatial structure of the turbulence in such situations. The parameter study is performed by means of numerical calculations, and it embraces three different wind turbine types, representing a pitch controlled concept, a stall controlled concept, and a stall controlled concept with an extremely flexible tower. For each of the turbine concepts, the fatigue load sensibility to the selected turbulence characteristics are investigated for three different mean wind speeds at hub height. The selected mean wind speeds represent the linear-, the stall-, and the post stall aerodynamic region for the stall controlled turbines and analogously the unregulated-, the partly regulated-, and the fully regulated regime for the pitch controlled turbine. Denoting the turbulence component in the mean wind direction by u, the lateral turbulence component by v, and the vertical turbulence component by w, the selected turbulence characteristics comprise the u-turbulence length scale, the ratio between the v- and w-turbulence intensities and the u-turbulence intensity, the uu-coherence decay factor, and finally the u-v and u-w cross-correlations. The turbulence length scale in the mean wind direction gives rise to significant modification of the fatigue loading on all the investigated wind turbine concepts, but for the other selected parameter variations, large individual differences exists between the turbines. With respect to sensitivity to the performed parameter variations, the Vestas V39 wind turbine is the most robust of the investigated turbines. The Nordtank 500/37 turbine, equipped with the (artificial) soft tower, is by far the most sensitive of the investigated turbine concepts - also much more sensitive than the conventional Nordtank 500/37 turbine equipped with a traditional tower. (au) 2 tabs., 43 ills., 7 refs.

  3. Wind turbines and idiopathic symptoms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blanes-Vidal, Victoria; Schwartz, Joel

    2016-01-01

    Whether or not wind turbines pose a risk to human health is a matter of heated debate. Personal reactions to other environmental exposures occurring in the same settings as wind turbines may be responsible of the reported symptoms. However, these have not been accounted for in previous studies. We...... investigated whether there is an association between residential proximity to wind turbines and idiopathic symptoms, after controlling for personal reactions to other environmental co-exposures. We assessed wind turbine exposures in 454 residences as the distance to the closest wind turbine (Dw) and number...... of wind turbines

  4. Scale Adaptive Simulation Model for the Darrieus Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rogowski, K.; Hansen, Martin Otto Laver; Maroński, R.

    2016-01-01

    Accurate prediction of aerodynamic loads for the Darrieus wind turbine using more or less complex aerodynamic models is still a challenge. One of the problems is the small amount of experimental data available to validate the numerical codes. The major objective of the present study is to examine...... the scale adaptive simulation (SAS) approach for performance analysis of a one-bladed Darrieus wind turbine working at a tip speed ratio of 5 and at a blade Reynolds number of 40 000. The three-dimensional incompressible unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are used. Numerical results of aerodynamic loads...

  5. Toward Development of a Stochastic Wake Model: Validation Using LES and Turbine Loads

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jae Sang Moon

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Wind turbines within an array do not experience free-stream undisturbed flow fields. Rather, the flow fields on internal turbines are influenced by wakes generated by upwind unit and exhibit different dynamic characteristics relative to the free stream. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC standard 61400-1 for the design of wind turbines only considers a deterministic wake model for the design of a wind plant. This study is focused on the development of a stochastic model for waked wind fields. First, high-fidelity physics-based waked wind velocity fields are generated using Large-Eddy Simulation (LES. Stochastic characteristics of these LES waked wind velocity field, including mean and turbulence components, are analyzed. Wake-related mean and turbulence field-related parameters are then estimated for use with a stochastic model, using Multivariate Multiple Linear Regression (MMLR with the LES data. To validate the simulated wind fields based on the stochastic model, wind turbine tower and blade loads are generated using aeroelastic simulation for utility-scale wind turbine models and compared with those based directly on the LES inflow. The study’s overall objective is to offer efficient and validated stochastic approaches that are computationally tractable for assessing the performance and loads of turbines operating in wakes.

  6. Wind turbine reliability :understanding and minimizing wind turbine operation and maintenance costs.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Walford, Christopher A. (Global Energy Concepts. Kirkland, WA)

    2006-03-01

    Wind turbine system reliability is a critical factor in the success of a wind energy project. Poor reliability directly affects both the project's revenue stream through increased operation and maintenance (O&M) costs and reduced availability to generate power due to turbine downtime. Indirectly, the acceptance of wind-generated power by the financial and developer communities as a viable enterprise is influenced by the risk associated with the capital equipment reliability; increased risk, or at least the perception of increased risk, is generally accompanied by increased financing fees or interest rates. This paper outlines the issues relevant to wind turbine reliability for wind turbine power generation projects. The first sections describe the current state of the industry, identify the cost elements associated with wind farm O&M and availability and discuss the causes of uncertainty in estimating wind turbine component reliability. The latter sections discuss the means for reducing O&M costs and propose O&M related research and development efforts that could be pursued by the wind energy research community to reduce cost of energy.

  7. Influence of flexible pin for planets on service life of wind turbine gearboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Young Jun; Lee, Geun Ho; Nam, Yong Yun; Kim, Jeong Kil

    2012-01-01

    An overhung mounted carrier with flexible pins is applied to the planetary gear train of a wind turbine gearbox to investigate the influence of the self aligning effect by means of the deflection of the planet spindle and the flexible pin on the lifetime of the planet gear for a wind turbine gearbox. To analyze the load distribution of planet gears, both Euler theory and commercial software are employed. By applying an overhung mounted carrier with flexible pins in the wind turbine gearbox, we can improve the misalignment performance, face load factor, and service life of the planet gears. In particular, it was confirmed that a service life of more than 20 years could be realized for wind turbine gearboxes by applying a flexible pin to overhung mounted carrier

  8. Wind turbine wake characterization using long-range Doppler lidar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aitken, M.; Lundquist, J. K.; Hestmark, K.; Banta, R. M.; Pichugina, Y.; Brewer, A.

    2012-12-01

    Wind turbines extract energy from the freestream flow, resulting in a waked region behind the rotor which is characterized by reduced wind speed and increased turbulence. The velocity deficit in the wake diminishes with distance, as faster-moving air outside is gradually entrained. In a concentrated group of turbines, then, downwind machines experience very different inflow conditions compared to those in the front row. As utility-scale turbines rarely exist in isolation, detailed knowledge of the mean flow and turbulence structure inside wakes is needed to correctly model both power production and turbine loading at modern wind farms. To this end, the Turbine Wake and Inflow Characterization Study (TWICS) was conducted in the spring of 2011 to determine the reduction in wind speeds downstream from a multi-MW turbine located at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) near Boulder, Colorado. Full-scale measurements of wake dynamics are hardly practical or even possible with conventional sensors, such as cup anemometers mounted on meteorological (met) masts. Accordingly, the High Resolution Doppler Lidar (HRDL) developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory was employed to investigate the formation and propagation of wakes under varying levels of ambient wind speed, shear, atmospheric stability, and turbulence. HRDL remotely senses line-of-sight wind velocities and has been used in several previous studies of boundary layer aerodynamics. With a fully steerable beam and a maximum range up to about 5 km, depending on atmospheric conditions, HRDL performed a comprehensive survey of the wind flow in front of and behind the turbine to study the shape, meandering, and attenuation of wakes. Due in large part to limited experimental data availability, wind farm wake modeling is still subject to an unacceptable amount of uncertainty, particularly in complex terrain. Here, analytical

  9. Wind Turbine Generator System Power Performance Test Report for the ARE442 Wind Turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    van Dam, J.; Jager, D.

    2010-02-01

    This report summarizes the results of a power performance test that NREL conducted on the ARE 442 wind turbine. This test was conducted in accordance with the International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) standard, Wind Turbine Generator Systems Part 12: Power Performance Measurements of Electricity Producing Wind Turbines, IEC 61400-12-1 Ed.1.0, 2005-12. However, because the ARE 442 is a small turbine as defined by IEC, NREL also followed Annex H that applies to small wind turbines. In these summary results, wind speed is normalized to sea-level air density.

  10. Wind Farm Active Power Dispatch for Output Power Maximizing Based on a Wind Turbine Control Strategy for Load Minimizing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Baohua; Hu, Weihao; Hou, Peng

    2015-01-01

    Inclusion of the wake effect in the wind farm control design (WF) can increase the total captured power by wind turbines (WTs), which is usually implemented by derating upwind WTs. However, derating the WT without a proper control strategy will increase the structural loads, caused by operation...... in stall mode. Therefore, the WT control strategy for derating operation should be considered in the attempt at maximizing the total captured power while reducing structural loads. Moreover, electrical power loss on the transmission system inside a WF is also not negligible for maximizing the total output...... power of the WF. In this paper, an optimal active power dispatch strategy based on a WT derating strategy and considering the transmission loss is proposed for maximizing the total output power. The active power reference of each WT is chosen as the optimization variable. A partial swarm optimizing...

  11. Aerodynamics of wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Martin Otto Laver

    Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines is the established essential text for the fundamental solutions to efficient wind turbine design. Now in its third edition, it has been substantially updated with respect to structural dynamics and control. The new control chapter now includes details on how to design...... Turbines (VAWT). Topics covered include increasing mass flow through the turbine, performance at low and high wind speeds, assessment of the extreme conditions under which the turbine will perform and the theory for calculating the lifetime of the turbine. The classical Blade Element Momentum method...... is also covered, as are eigenmodes and the dynamic behaviour of a turbine. The book describes the effects of the dynamics and how this can be modelled in an aeroelastic code, which is widely used in the design and verification of modern wind turbines. Furthermore, it examines how to calculate...

  12. An Optimization Framework for Load and Power Distribution in Wind Farms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Soleimanzadeh, Maryam; Wisniewski, Rafal; Kanev, Stoyan

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to develop a controller for wind farms to optimize the load and power distribution. In this regard, the farm controller calculates the power reference signals for individual wind turbine controllers such that the sum of the power references tracks the power demanded...... by a system operator. Moreover, the reference signals are determined to reduce the load acting on wind turbines at low frequencies. Therefore, a trade-off is made for load and power control, which is formulated as an optimization problem. Afterwards, the optimization problem for the wind farm modeled...

  13. A Wind Farm Active Power Dispatch Strategy for Fatigue Load Reduction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Baohua; N. Soltani, Mohsen; Hu, Weihao

    2016-01-01

    One of the biggest challenges in wind farm management is to cope with requirements from the grid companies and to optimize efficiency and minimize wear on wind turbines. This paper addresses an optimized active power dispatch strategy of a wind farm to reduce the fatigue load of wind turbines, wh...

  14. Modal Analysis on Fluid-Structure Interaction of MW-Level Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Tower

    OpenAIRE

    Tan Jiqiu; Zhong Dingqing; Wang Qiong

    2014-01-01

    In order to avoid resonance problem of MW-level vertical axis wind turbine induced by wind, a flow field model of the MW-level vertical axis wind turbine is established by using the fluid flow control equations, calculate flow’s velocity and pressure of the MW-level vertical axis wind turbine and load onto tower’s before and after surface, study the Modal analysis of fluid-structure interaction of MW-level vertical axis wind turbine tower. The results show that fluid-structure interaction fie...

  15. Fatigue load reductions in co-located wind-wave arrays

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clark, Caitlyn; Velarde, Joey; Nielsen, Jannie Sønderkær

    2018-01-01

    As offshore wind turbines (OWTs) increase in size and are placed farther offshore, hydrodynamic loads have increased contribution to total load, resulting in fatigue limit states becoming more important to consider in structural design. Previous literature shows that placing wave energy converters...... is investigated. A method for quantifying relative sea state reductions from WECs are applied, and fully-coupled time-domain fatigue analyses are performed for a 10 MW reference offshore wind turbine. Results indicate that a single WEC and a WEC array can lead to 8% and 10% fatigue load reduction, respectively....

  16. Optimal Control and Operation Strategy for Wind Turbines Contributing to Grid Primary Frequency Regulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mun-Kyeom Kim

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This study introduces a frequency regulation strategy to enable the participation of wind turbines with permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs. The optimal strategy focuses on developing the frequency support capability of PMSGs connected to the power system. Active power control is performed using maximum power point tracking (MPPT and de-loaded control to supply the required power reserve following a disturbance. A kinetic energy (KE reserve control is developed to enhance the frequency regulation capability of wind turbines. The coordination with the de-loaded control prevents instability in the PMSG wind system due to excessive KE discharge. A KE optimization method that maximizes the sum of the KE reserves at wind farms is also adopted to determine the de-loaded power reference for each PMSG wind turbine using the particle swarm optimization (PSO algorithm. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed optimal control and operation strategy, three different case studies are conducted using the PSCAD/EMTDC simulation tool. The results demonstrate that the optimal strategy enhances the frequency support contribution from PMSG wind turbines.

  17. Potential health impact of wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-05-01

    In response to public health concerns about wind turbines, a study was conducted to review the scientific evidence on the potential health effects of wind turbines. Several research questions were examined, including scientific evidence on the potential health impacts of wind turbines; the relationship between wind turbine noise and health; the relationship between low frequency sound, infrasound and health; assessment of exposure to wind turbines; wind turbine health and safety hazards and Ontario wind turbine setbacks; community consultation prior to wind farm construction and data gaps and research needs. The study showed that although some people living near wind turbines reported symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, and sleep disturbance, the scientific evidence available to date does not demonstrate a direct causal link between wind turbine noise and adverse health effects. The sound level from wind turbines at common residential setbacks is not sufficient to cause hearing impairment or other direct health effects, although some people may find it annoying. 41 refs., 1 appendix.

  18. Extended onshore control of a floating wind turbine with wave disturbance reduction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, S.; Knudsen, T.; Bak, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    Reaching for higher wind resources floating wind turbines are being investigated. Wave induced loads significantly increase for floating wind turbines, and applying conventional onshore control strategies to floating wind turbines has been shown to impose negative damped oscillations in fore......-aft due to the low natural frequency of the floating structure. We suggest a control loop extension of the onshore controller which stabilizes the system and reduces the wave disturbance. The result is improved performance in power fluctuations, blade pitch activity, and platform oscillations...

  19. Experimental Study on New Multi-Column Tension-Leg-Type Floating Wind Turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yong-sheng; She, Xiao-he; He, Yan-ping; Yang, Jian-min; Peng, Tao; Kou, Yu-feng

    2018-04-01

    Deep-water regions often have winds favorable for offshore wind turbines, and floating turbines currently show the greatest potential to exploit such winds. This work established proper scaling laws for model tests, which were then implemented in the construction of a model wind turbine with optimally designed blades. The aerodynamic, hydrodynamic, and elastic characteristics of the proposed new multi-column tension-leg-type floating wind turbine (WindStar TLP system) were explored in the wave tank testing of a 1:50 scale model at the State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Tests were conducted under conditions of still water, white noise waves, irregular waves, and combined wind, wave, and current loads. The results established the natural periods of the motion, damping, motion response amplitude operators, and tendon tensions of the WindStar TLP system under different environmental conditions, and thus could serve as a reference for further research. Key words: floating wind turbine, model test, WindStar TLP, dynamic response

  20. Study on Load-Bearing Characteristics of a New Pile Group Foundation for an Offshore Wind Turbine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruiqing Lang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Because offshore wind turbines are high-rise structures, they transfer large horizontal loads and moments to their foundations. One of the keys to designing a foundation is determining the sensitivities and laws affecting its load-bearing capacity. In this study, this procedure was carried out for a new high-rise cap pile group foundation adapted to the loading characteristics of offshore wind turbines. The sensitivities of influential factors affecting the bearing properties were determined using an orthogonal test. Through a combination of numerical simulations and model tests, the effects of the inclination angle, length, diameter, and number of side piles on the vertical bearing capacity, horizontal bearing capacity, and bending bearing capacity were determined. The results indicate that an increase in the inclination angle of the side piles will increase the vertical bearing capacity, horizontal bearing capacity, and bending bearing capacity. An increase in the length of the side piles will increase the vertical bearing capacity and bending bearing capacity. When the length of the side piles is close to the central pile, the increase is more apparent. Finally, increasing the number of piles will increase the horizontal bearing capacity; however, the growth rate is small because of the pile group effect.

  1. Study on load-bearing characteristics of a new pile group foundation for an offshore wind turbine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Ruiqing; Liu, Run; Lian, Jijian; Ding, Hongyan

    2014-01-01

    Because offshore wind turbines are high-rise structures, they transfer large horizontal loads and moments to their foundations. One of the keys to designing a foundation is determining the sensitivities and laws affecting its load-bearing capacity. In this study, this procedure was carried out for a new high-rise cap pile group foundation adapted to the loading characteristics of offshore wind turbines. The sensitivities of influential factors affecting the bearing properties were determined using an orthogonal test. Through a combination of numerical simulations and model tests, the effects of the inclination angle, length, diameter, and number of side piles on the vertical bearing capacity, horizontal bearing capacity, and bending bearing capacity were determined. The results indicate that an increase in the inclination angle of the side piles will increase the vertical bearing capacity, horizontal bearing capacity, and bending bearing capacity. An increase in the length of the side piles will increase the vertical bearing capacity and bending bearing capacity. When the length of the side piles is close to the central pile, the increase is more apparent. Finally, increasing the number of piles will increase the horizontal bearing capacity; however, the growth rate is small because of the pile group effect.

  2. Study on Load-Bearing Characteristics of a New Pile Group Foundation for an Offshore Wind Turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Run; Lian, Jijian; Ding, Hongyan

    2014-01-01

    Because offshore wind turbines are high-rise structures, they transfer large horizontal loads and moments to their foundations. One of the keys to designing a foundation is determining the sensitivities and laws affecting its load-bearing capacity. In this study, this procedure was carried out for a new high-rise cap pile group foundation adapted to the loading characteristics of offshore wind turbines. The sensitivities of influential factors affecting the bearing properties were determined using an orthogonal test. Through a combination of numerical simulations and model tests, the effects of the inclination angle, length, diameter, and number of side piles on the vertical bearing capacity, horizontal bearing capacity, and bending bearing capacity were determined. The results indicate that an increase in the inclination angle of the side piles will increase the vertical bearing capacity, horizontal bearing capacity, and bending bearing capacity. An increase in the length of the side piles will increase the vertical bearing capacity and bending bearing capacity. When the length of the side piles is close to the central pile, the increase is more apparent. Finally, increasing the number of piles will increase the horizontal bearing capacity; however, the growth rate is small because of the pile group effect. PMID:25250375

  3. Design of an aeroelastically tailored 10 MW wind turbine rotor

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zahle, Frederik; Tibaldi, Carlo; Pavese, Christian

    2016-01-01

    This work presents an integrated multidisciplinary wind turbine optimization framework utilizing state-of-the-art aeroelastic and structural tools, capable of simultaneous design of the outer geometry and internal structure of the blade. The framework is utilized to design a 10 MW rotor constrained...... not to exceed the design loads of an existing reference wind turbine. The results show that through combined geometric tailoring of the internal structure and aerodynamic shape of the blade it is possible to achieve significant passive load alleviation that allows for a 9% longer blade with an increase in AEP...

  4. 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)

  5. Combining Unsteady Blade Pressure Measurements and a Free-Wake Vortex Model to Investigate the Cycle-to-Cycle Variations in Wind Turbine Aerodynamic Blade Loads in Yaw

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moutaz Elgammi

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Prediction of the unsteady aerodynamic flow phenomenon on wind turbines is challenging and still subject to considerable uncertainty. Under yawed rotor conditions, the wind turbine blades are subjected to unsteady flow conditions as a result of the blade advancing and retreating effect and the development of a skewed vortical wake created downstream of the rotor plane. Blade surface pressure measurements conducted on the NREL Phase VI rotor in yawed conditions have shown that dynamic stall causes the wind turbine blades to experience significant cycle-to-cycle variations in aerodynamic loading. These effects were observed even though the rotor was subjected to a fixed speed and a uniform and steady wind flow. This phenomenon is not normally predicted by existing dynamic stall models integrated in wind turbine design codes. This paper couples blade pressure measurements from the NREL Phase VI rotor to a free-wake vortex model to derive the angle of attack time series at the different blade sections over multiple rotor rotations and three different yaw angles. Through the adopted approach it was possible to investigate how the rotor self-induced aerodynamic load fluctuations influence the unsteady variations in the blade angles of attack and induced velocities. The hysteresis loops for the normal and tangential load coefficients plotted against the angle of attack were plotted over multiple rotor revolutions. Although cycle-to-cycle variations in the angles of attack at the different blade radial locations and azimuth positions are found to be relatively small, the corresponding variations in the normal and tangential load coefficients may be significant. Following a statistical analysis, it was concluded that the load coefficients follow a normal distribution at the majority of blade azimuth angles and radial locations. The results of this study provide further insight on how existing engineering models for dynamic stall may be improved through

  6. Grid fault and design-basis for wind turbines - Final report

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Anca Daniela; Cutululis, Nicolaos Antonio; Markou, Helen

    , have been performed and compared for two cases, i.e. one when the turbine is immediately disconnected from the grid when a grid fault occurs and one when the turbine is equipped with a fault ride-through controller and therefore it is able to remain connected to the grid during the grid fault......This is the final report of a Danish research project “Grid fault and design-basis for wind turbines”. The objective of this project has been to assess and analyze the consequences of the new grid connection requirements for the fatigue and ultimate structural loads of wind turbines....... The fulfillment of the grid connection requirements poses challenges for the design of both the electrical system and the mechanical structure of wind turbines. The development of wind turbine models and novel control strategies to fulfill the TSO’s requirements are of vital importance in this design. Dynamic...

  7. Investigation of potential extreme load reduction for a two-bladed upwind turbine with partial pitch

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kim, Taeseong; Larsen, Torben J.; Yde, Anders

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a wind turbine concept with an innovative design combining partial pitch with a two-bladed (PP-2B) turbine configuration. Special emphasis is on extreme load reduction during storm situations at standstill, but operational loads are also investigated. In order to compare...... loads are reduced by approximately 20% for the PP-2B and 18% for the PP-3B compared with the 3B turbine for the parked condition in a storm situation. Moreover, a huge potential of 60% is observed for the reduction of the extreme tower bottom bending moment for the PP-2B turbine, when the wind direction...... is from ±90° to the turbine, but this also requires that the turbine is parked in a T-configuration. © 2014 The Authors. Wind Energy published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd....

  8. On the Effects of Wind Turbine Wake Skew Caused by Wind Veer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Churchfield, Matthew J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sirnivas, Senu [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2018-01-12

    Because of Coriolis forces caused by the Earth's rotation, the structure of the atmospheric boundary layer often contains wind-direction change with height, also known as wind-direction veer. Under low turbulence conditions, such as in stably stratified atmospheric conditions, this veer can be significant, even across the vertical extent of a wind turbine's rotor disk. The veer then causes the wind turbine wake to skew as it advects downstream. This wake skew has been observed both experimentally and numerically. In this work, we attempt to examine the wake skewing process in some detail, and quantify how differently a skewed wake versus a non skewed wake affects a downstream turbine. We do this by performing atmospheric large-eddy simulations to create turbulent inflow winds with and without veer. In the veer case, there is a roughly 8 degree wind direction change across the turbine rotor. We then perform subsequent large-eddy simulations using these inflow data with an actuator line rotor model to create wakes. The turbine modeled is a large, modern, offshore, multimegawatt turbine. We examine the unsteady wake data in detail and show that the skewed wake recovers faster than the non skewed wake. We also show that the wake deficit does not skew to the same degree that a passive tracer would if subject to veered inflow. Last, we use the wake data to place a hypothetical turbine 9 rotor diameters downstream by running aeroelastic simulations with the simulated wake data. We see differences in power and loads if this downstream turbine is subject to a skewed or non skewed wake. We feel that the differences observed between the skewed and nonskewed wake are important enough that the skewing effect should be included in engineering wake models.

  9. Soil structure interaction in offshore wind turbine collisions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Samsonovs, Artjoms; Giuliani, Luisa; Zania, Varvara

    2014-01-01

    Vessel impact is one of the load cases which should be accounted for in the design of an offshore wind turbine (OWT) according to design codes, but little guidance or information is given on the employed methodology. This study focuses on the evaluation of the distress induced in a wind turbine...... after a ship collision, thus providing an insight on the consequences of a collision event and on the main aspects to be considered when designing for this load case. In particular, the role of the foundation soil properties (site conditions) on the response of the structural system is investigated....... Dynamic finite element analyses have been performed taking into account the geometric and material nonlinearity of the tower, and the effects of soil structure interaction (SSI) have been studied in two representative collision scenarios of a service vessel with the turbine: a moderate energy impact...

  10. Detection of Excessive Wind Turbine Tower Oscillations Fore-Aft and Sideways

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Torben; Bak, Thomas; Tabatabaeipour, Seyed Mojtaba

    2012-01-01

    Fatigue loads are important for the overall cost of energy from a wind turbine. Loading on the tower is one of the more important loads, as the tower is an expensive component. Consequently, it is important to detect tower loads, which are larger than necessary. This paper deals with both fore......-aft and sideways tower oscillations. Methods for estimation of the amplitude and detection of the cause for vibrations are developed. Good results are demonstrated for real data from modern multi mega watt turbines. It is shown that large oscillations can be detected and that the method can discriminate between...... wind turbulence and unbalanced rotor....

  11. Response Load Extrapolation for Wind Turbines during Operation Based on Average Conditional Exceedance Rates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Naess, Arvid; Saha, Nilanjan

    2011-01-01

    to cases where the Gumbel distribution is the appropriate asymptotic extreme value distribution. However, two extra parameters are introduced by which a more general and flexible class of extreme value distributions is obtained with the Gumbel distribution as a subclass. The general method is implemented...... within a hierarchical model where the variables that influence the loading are divided into ergodic variables and time-invariant non-ergodic variables. The presented method for statistical response load extrapolation was compared with the existing methods based on peak extrapolation for the blade out......The paper explores a recently developed method for statistical response load (load effect) extrapolation for application to extreme response of wind turbines during operation. The extrapolation method is based on average conditional exceedance rates and is in the present implementation restricted...

  12. Review paper on wind turbine aerodynamics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Martin Otto Laver; Aagaard Madsen, Helge

    2011-01-01

    The paper describes the development and description of the aerodynamic models used to estimate the aerodynamic loads on wind turbine constructions. This includes a status of the capabilities of computation fluid dynamics and the need for reliable airfoil data for the simpler engineering models...

  13. Loads on Entrance Platforms for Offshore Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frigaard, Peter; Andersen, Thomas Lykke; Ramirez, Jorge Robert Rodriguez

    2010-01-01

    The present paper gives an overview of the performed large scale tests in GWK, Hannover for studying wave run-up generated forces on wind turbine entrance platforms. The run-up height and velocity was measured by use of high speed video recordings supplemented by some wave gauges mounted at the p...

  14. 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).

  15. Statistical Evaluation of the Identified Structural Parameters of an idling Offshore Wind Turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kramers, Hendrik C.; Van der Valk, Paul L.C.; Van Wingerden, Jan-Willem

    2016-01-01

    With the increased need for renewable energy, new offshore wind farms are being developed at an unprecedented scale. However, as the costs of offshore wind energy are still too high, design optimization and new innovations are required for lowering its cost. The design of modern day offshore wind turbines relies on numerical models for estimating ultimate and fatigue loads of the turbines. The dynamic behavior and the resulting structural loading of the turbines is determined for a large part by its structural properties, such as the natural frequencies and damping ratios. Hence, it is important to obtain accurate estimates of these modal properties. For this purpose stochastic subspace identification (SSI), in combination with clustering and statistical evaluation methods, is used to obtain the variance of the identified modal properties of an installed 3.6MW offshore wind turbine in idling conditions. It is found that one is able to obtain confidence intervals for the means of eigenfrequencies and damping ratios of the fore-aft and side-side modes of the wind turbine. (paper)

  16. Optimization and Reliability Problems in Structural Design of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2007-01-01

    are discussed. Limit state equations are presented for fatigue limit states and for ultimate limit states with extreme wind load, and illustrated by bending failure. Illustrative examples are presented, and as a part of the results optimal reliability levels are obtained which corresponds to an annual...... reliability index equal to 3. An example with fatigue failure indicates that the reliability level is almost the same for single wind turbines and for wind turbines in wind farms if the wake effects are modeled equivalently in the design equation and the limit state equation....

  17. Urban wind turbines. Guidelines for small wind turbines in the built environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cace, J.; Ter Horst, E.; Syngellakis, K.; Niel, M.; Clement, P.; Heppener, R.; Peirano, E.

    2007-02-01

    The objective of the WINEUR project (Wind Energy Integration in the Urban Environment) is to determine the deployability of small wind turbines in built environments while identifying the current significant constraints and possible solutions. The purpose of this document is to Inform the stakeholders about the state of the development of small wind turbines for the built environment; Provide practical guidelines to actors dealing with installation of small wind turbines in urban areas; and Provide recommendations for future products and for market development

  18. Offshore Wind Turbine Foundation Model Validation with Wind Farm Measurements and Uncertainty Quantification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koukoura, Christina; Natarajan, Anand; Krogh, Thomas

    2013-01-01

    The variation in simulated monopile substructure loads is quantified by validating an aero-hydro-servo-elastic design tool with offshore foundation load measurements. A three bladed 3.6MW pitch controlled variable speed wind turbine for offshore monopile foundations is modeled in the HAWC2...

  19. Dynamic Reliability Analysis of Gear Transmission System of Wind Turbine in Consideration of Randomness of Loadings and Parameters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lei Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A dynamic model of gear transmission system of wind turbine is built with consideration of randomness of loads and parameters. The dynamic response of the system is obtained using the theory of random sampling and the Runge-Kutta method. According to rain flow counting principle, the dynamic meshing forces are converted into a series of luffing fatigue load spectra. The amplitude and frequency of the equivalent stress are obtained using equivalent method of Geber quadratic curve. Moreover, the dynamic reliability model of components and system is built according to the theory of probability of cumulative fatigue damage. The system reliability with the random variation of parameters is calculated and the influence of random parameters on dynamic reliability of components is analyzed. In the end, the results of the proposed method are compared with that of Monte Carlo method. This paper can be instrumental in the design of wind turbine gear transmission system with more advantageous dynamic reliability.

  20. Composite wind turbine towers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Polyzois, D. [Manitoba Univ., Winnipeg, MB (Canada). Dept. of Civil Engineering

    2008-07-01

    This paper discussed experiments conducted to optimized the advanced composite materials such as fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP) used to fabricate wind turbine towers. FRP materials are used in tubular steel, lattice, guyed, and reinforced concrete towers. The towers and turbine blades are transported in segments and assembled on-site, sometimes in offshore or remote locations.The FRP composites are used to build towers with a high strength-to-weight ratio as well as to provide resistance to chemical attacks and corrosion. Use of the materials has resulted in towers that do not require heavy installation equipment. Experimental programs were conducted to verify the structural behaviour of the tower structure's individual-scaled cells as well as to evaluate the performance of multi-cell assemblies. Joint assembly designs were optimized, and a filament winding machine was used to conduct the experimental study and to test individual cells. Failure mode analyses were conducted to determine local buckling and shear rupture. Tension, compression, and shear properties of the FRP materials were tested experimentally, and data from the test were then used to develop finite element models of the composite towers as well as to obtain load deflection curves and tip oscillation data. A case study of a 750 kW wind turbine in Churchill, Manitoba was used to test the design. tabs., figs.

  1. Inflow characteristics associated with high-blade-loading events in a wind farm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelley, N. D.

    1993-07-01

    The stochastic characteristics of the turbulent inflow have been shown to be of major significance in the accumulation of fatigue in wind turbines. Because most of the wind turbine installations in the U.S. have taken place in multi-turbine or windfarm configurations, the fatigue damage associated with the higher turbulence levels within such arrangements must be taken into account when making estimates of component service lifetimes. The simultaneous monitoring of two adjacent wind turbines over a wide range of turbulent inflow conditions has given the authors more confidence in describing the structural load distributions that can be expected in such an environment. The adjacent testing of the two turbines allowed the authors to postulate that observed similarities in the response dynamics and load distributions could be considered quasi-universal, while the dissimilarities could be considered to result from the differing design of the rotors. The format has also allowed them to begin to define appropriate statistical load distribution models for many of the critical components in which fatigue is a major driver of the design. In addition to the adjacent turbine measurements, they also briefly discuss load distributions measured on a teetered-hub turbine.

  2. Noise from wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fegeant, Olivier [Royal Inst. of Tech., Stockholm (Sweden). Dept. of Building Sciences

    2002-02-01

    A rapid growth of installed wind power capacity is expected in the next few years. However, the siting of wind turbines on a large scale raises concerns about their environmental impact, notably with respect to noise. To this end, variable speed wind turbines offer a promising solution for applications in densely populated areas like the European countries, as this design would enable an efficient utilisation of the masking effect due to ambient noise. In rural and recreational areas where wind turbines are sited, the ambient noise originates from the action of wind on the vegetation and about the listener's ear (pseudo-noise). It shows a wind speed dependence similar to that of the noise from a variable speed wind turbine and can therefore mask the latter for a wide range of conditions. However, a problem inherent to the design of these machines is their proclivity to pure tone generation, because of the enhanced difficulty of avoiding structural resonances in the mechanical parts. Pure tones are deemed highly annoying and are severely regulated by most noise policies. In relation to this problem, the vibration transmission of structure-borne sound to the tower of the turbine is investigated, in particular when the tower is stiffened at its upper end. Furthermore, since noise annoyance due to wind turbine is mostly a masking issue, the wind-related sources of ambient noise are studied and their masking potentials assessed. With this aim, prediction models for wind-induced vegetation noise and pseudo-noise have been developed. Finally, closely related to the effect of masking, is the difficulty, regularly encountered by local authorities and wind farm developers, to measure noise immission from wind turbines. A new measurement technique has thus been developed in the course of this work. Through improving the signal-to-noise ratio between wind turbine noise and ambient noise, the new technique yields more accurate measurement results.

  3. The design and stability determination of wind turbine tower

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abas Abd Wahab; Khairul Barriyah

    2001-01-01

    In wind turbine tower design, two load categories (static and wind load) were considered. The static load for this structure is the tower self-weight, which can be calculated from its density and area of the material, whereas the wind load was calculated based on CP3: Chapter V: Part 2: 1972, using the maximum wind speed of 30 m/s. The stability of this tower under the action of these two loads has been determined using RISA-3D program. The program were subjected to two joint types, i.e pinned and fixed joints. The tower using fixed joint members has established the necessary tower stability. The simulation, calculation and results are being discussed in detail in this paper. (Author)

  4. Lidar configurations for wind turbine control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mirzaei, Mahmood; Mann, Jakob

    2016-01-01

    Lidar sensors have proved to be very beneficial in the wind energy industry. They can be used for yaw correction, feed-forward pitch control and load verification. However, the current lidars are expensive. One way to reduce the price is to use lidars with few measurement points. Finding the best...... by the lidar is compared against the effective wind speed on a wind turbine rotor both theoretically and through simulations. The study provides some results to choose the best configuration of the lidar with few measurement points....

  5. Motion Performance and Mooring System of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Jing Zhao; Liang Zhang; Haitao Wu

    2012-01-01

    The development of offshore wind farms was originally carried out in shallow water areas with fixed (seabed mounted) structures.However,countries with limited shallow water areas require innovative floating platforms to deploy wind turbines offshore in order to harness wind energy to generate electricity in deep seas.The performances of motion and mooring system dynamics are vital to designing a cost effective and durable floating platform.This paper describes a numerical model to simulate dynamic behavior of a new semi-submersible type floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) system.The wind turbine was modeled as a wind block with a certain thrust coefficient,and the hydrodynamics and mooring system dynamics of the platform were calculated by SESAM software.The effect of change in environmental conditions on the dynamic response of the system under wave and wind loading was examined.The results indicate that the semi-submersible concept has excellent performance and SESAM could be an effective tool for floating wind turbine design and analysis.

  6. Motion performance and mooring system of a floating offshore wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Jing; Zhang, Liang; Wu, Haitao

    2012-09-01

    The development of offshore wind farms was originally carried out in shallow water areas with fixed (seabed mounted) structures. However, countries with limited shallow water areas require innovative floating platforms to deploy wind turbines offshore in order to harness wind energy to generate electricity in deep seas. The performances of motion and mooring system dynamics are vital to designing a cost effective and durable floating platform. This paper describes a numerical model to simulate dynamic behavior of a new semi-submersible type floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) system. The wind turbine was modeled as a wind block with a certain thrust coefficient, and the hydrodynamics and mooring system dynamics of the platform were calculated by SESAM software. The effect of change in environmental conditions on the dynamic response of the system under wave and wind loading was examined. The results indicate that the semi-submersible concept has excellent performance and SESAM could be an effective tool for floating wind turbine design and analysis.

  7. Investigation of load reduction for a variable speed, variable pitch, and variable coning wind turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pierce, K. [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

    1997-12-31

    A two bladed, variable speed and variable pitch wind turbine was modeled using ADAMS{reg_sign} to evaluate load reduction abilities of a variable coning configuration as compared to a teetered rotor, and also to evaluate control methods. The basic dynamic behavior of the variable coning turbine was investigated and compared to the teetered rotor under constant wind conditions as well as turbulent wind conditions. Results indicate the variable coning rotor has larger flap oscillation amplitudes and much lower root flap bending moments than the teetered rotor. Three methods of control were evaluated for turbulent wind simulations. These were a standard IPD control method, a generalized predictive control method, and a bias estimate control method. Each control method was evaluated for both the variable coning configuration and the teetered configuration. The ability of the different control methods to maintain the rotor speed near the desired set point is evaluated from the RMS error of rotor speed. The activity of the control system is evaluated from cycles per second of the blade pitch angle. All three of the methods were found to produce similar results for the variable coning rotor and the teetered rotor, as well as similar results to each other.

  8. Speed control at low wind speeds for a variable speed fixed pitch wind turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rosmin, N.; Watson, S.J.; Tompson, M. [Loughborough Univ., Loughborough, Leicestershire (United Kingdom)

    2010-03-09

    The maximum power regulation below rated wind speed is regulated by changing the rotor/generator speed at large frequency range in a fixed pitch, variable speed, stall-regulated wind turbine. In order to capture the power at a maximum value the power coefficient is kept at maximum peak point by maintaining the tip speed ratio at its optimum value. The wind industry is moving from stall regulated fixed speed wind turbines to newer improved innovative versions with better reliability. While a stall regulated fixed pitch wind turbine is among the most cost-effective wind turbine on the market, its problems include noise, severe vibrations, high thrust loads and low power efficiency. Therefore, in order to improve such drawbacks, the rotation of the generator speed is made flexible where the rotation can be controlled in variable speed. This paper discussed the development of a simulation model which represented the behaviour of a stall regulated variable speed wind turbine at low wind speed control region by using the closed loop scalar control with adjustable speed drive. The paper provided a description of each sub-model in the wind turbine system and described the scalar control of the induction machine. It was concluded that by using a constant voltage/frequency ratio of the generator's stator side control, the generator speed could be regulated and the generator torque could be controlled to ensure the power coefficient could be maintained close to its maximum value. 38 refs., 1 tab., 10 figs.

  9. An adapted blockage factor correlation approach in wind tunnel experiments of a Savonius-style wind turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roy, Sukanta; Saha, Ujjwal K.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Significance of the blockage correction in wind tunnel experiments of Savonius-style wind turbine. • Adaptation of blockage factor correlations under open type test sections for blockage ratio of 21.16%. • Effectiveness of adapted correlations for smaller blockage ratios (BRs) of 16% and 12.25%. • Estimate the magnitude of the blockage correction under various loading conditions for each BR. • Variation of blockage correction factor with respect to tip speed ratio and BR. - Abstract: An investigation into the blockage correction effects in wind tunnel experiments of a small-scale wind energy conversion system in an open type test section is carried out. The energy conversion system includes a Savonius-style wind turbine (SSWT) and a power measurement assembly. As the available correlations for the closed type test sections may not be appropriate for the open test section under dynamic loading conditions, new correlations are adapted for the blockage correction factors with free stream wind speed, turbine rotational speed and variable load applied to the turbine to quantify the energy conversion coefficients more precisely. These are obtained for a blockage ratio of 21.16% through a comparison of present experimental data with those of established experimental data under dynamic loading conditions. Further, the accuracy of the adapted correlations is substantiated into the experiments with smaller blockage ratios of 16% and 12.25%. The relationships of the tip speed ratios and blockage ratios with the blockage correction factor are also discussed. Using these correlations, this study provides evidence of increase of blockage correction in the range 1–10% with the increase of both tip speed ratio and blockage ratio. The results also indicate that for blockage ratios approaching 10 and tip speed ratios below 0.5, the blockage effects are almost negligible in the open type test sections

  10. 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...

  11. Tower Based Load Measurements for Individual Pitch Control and Tower Damping of Wind Turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, A A; Hugues-Salas, O; Savini, B; Keogh, W

    2016-01-01

    The cost of IPC has hindered adoption outside of Europe despite significant loading advantages for large wind turbines. In this work we presented a method for applying individual pitch control (including for higher-harmonics) using tower-top strain gauge feedback instead of blade-root strain gauge feedback. Tower-top strain gauges offer hardware savings of approximately 50% in addition to the possibility of easier access for maintenance and installation and requiring a less specialised skill-set than that required for applying strain gauges to composite blade roots. A further advantage is the possibility of using the same tower-top sensor array for tower damping control. This method is made possible by including a second order IPC loop in addition to the tower damping loop to reduce the typically dominating 3P content in tower-top load measurements. High-fidelity Bladed simulations show that the resulting turbine spectral characteristics from tower-top feedback IPC and from the combination of tower-top IPC and damping loops largely match those of blade-root feedback IPC and nacelle- velocity feedback damping. Lifetime weighted fatigue analysis shows that the methods allows load reductions within 2.5% of traditional methods. (paper)

  12. Two LQRI based Blade Pitch Controls for Wind Turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoonsu Nam

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available As the wind turbine size has been increasing and their mechanical components are built lighter, the reduction of the structural loads becomes a very important task of wind turbine control in addition to maximum wind power capture. In this paper, we present a separate set of collective and individual pitch control algorithms. Both pitch control algorithms use the LQR control technique with integral action (LQRI, and utilize Kalman filters to estimate system states and wind speed. Compared to previous works in this area, our pitch control algorithms can control rotor speed and blade bending moments at the same time to improve the trade-off between rotor speed regulation and load reduction, while both collective and individual pitch controls can be designed separately. Simulation results show that the proposed collective and individual pitch controllers achieve very good rotor speed regulation and significant reduction of blade bending moments.

  13. Design, analysis and control of hydraulic soft yaw system for 5MW wind turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stubkier, Søren; Pedersen, Henrik C.; Andersen, Torben Ole

    2012-01-01

    by active control of a hydraulic yaw system. The control is based on a non-linear and linear model derived based on a concept yaw system for the NREL 5MW wind turbine. The control strategies show a reduction in pressure pulsations under load and it is concluded that the strategie including high......As wind turbines increase in size and the demands for lifetime also increases, new methods of load reduction needs to be examined. One method is to make the yaw system of the turbine soft/flexible and wereby dampen the loads to the system. This paper presents work done on dampening of these loads...

  14. Great expectations: large wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Vries, E.

    2001-01-01

    This article focuses on wind turbine product development, and traces the background to wind turbines from the first generation 1.5 MW machines in 1995-6, plans for the second generation 3-5 MW class turbines to meet the expected boom in offshore wind projects, to the anticipated installation of a 4.5 MW turbine, and offshore wind projects planned for 2000-2002. The switch by the market leader Vestas to variable speed operation in 2000, the new product development and marketing strategy taken by the German Pro + Pro consultancy in their design of a 1.5 MW variable speed pitch control concept, the possible limiting of the size of turbines due to logistical difficulties, opportunities offered by air ships for large turbines, and the commissioning of offshore wind farms are discussed. Details of some 2-5 MW offshore wind turbine design specifications are tabulated

  15. Improving Wind Turbine Drivetrain Reliability Using a Combined Experimental, Computational, and Analytical Approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guo, Y.; van Dam, J.; Bergua, R.; Jove, J.; Campbell, J.

    2015-03-01

    Nontorque loads induced by the wind turbine rotor overhang weight and aerodynamic forces can greatly affect drivetrain loads and responses. If not addressed properly, these loads can result in a decrease in gearbox component life. This work uses analytical modeling, computational modeling, and experimental data to evaluate a unique drivetrain design that minimizes the effects of nontorque loads on gearbox reliability: the Pure Torque(R) drivetrain developed by Alstom. The drivetrain has a hub-support configuration that transmits nontorque loads directly into the tower rather than through the gearbox as in other design approaches. An analytical model of Alstom's Pure Torque drivetrain provides insight into the relationships among turbine component weights, aerodynamic forces, and the resulting drivetrain loads. Main shaft bending loads are orders of magnitude lower than the rated torque and are hardly affected by wind conditions and turbine operations.

  16. Wind Turbine Measurement Technique—an Open Laboratory for Educational Purposes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Knud Ole Helgesen; Hansen, Kurt Schaldemose; Schmidt Paulsen, Uwe

    2008-01-01

    operational parameters, (ii) meteorological onditions, (iii) electrical quantities and (iv) mechanical loads. The data acquisition system was PC based, and it was combined with a MySQL® database for data management.The system enabled online access for real-time recordings,which were used both...... of non-commercial time series, which would be available for practicing fatigue calculations and extreme load estimation in basic wind turbine courses. Power quality analysis was carried out based on high-speed-sampled, three-phase voltage and current signals. The wide spectrum of sensors enabled....... The WTMLAB was included in a new course entitled Wind Turbine Measurement Techniques....

  17. Response Analysis and Comparison of a Spar-Type Floating Offshore Wind Turbine and an Onshore Wind Turbine under Blade Pitch Controller Faults

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Etemaddar, M.; Blanke, Mogens; Gao, Z.

    2016-01-01

    in the controller dynamic link library and a short-term extreme response analysis is performed using the HAWC2 simulation tool.The main objectives of this paper are to investigate how different faults affect the performance of wind turbines for condition monitoring purposes and which differences exist...... in the structural responses between onshore and offshore floating wind turbines. Statistical analysis of the selected response parameters are conducted using the six1-hour stochastic samples for each load case.For condition monitoring purpose,the effects of faults on the responses at different wind speeds and fault...... amplitudes are investigated by comparing the same response under normal operation.The severities of the individual faults are categorized by the extreme values of structural loads and the structural components are sorted based on the magnitude of the fault effects on the extreme values.The pitch sensor fixed...

  18. LPV Control for the Full Region Operation of a Wind Turbine Integrated with Synchronous Generator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grigoriadis, Karolos M.; Nyanteh, Yaw D.

    2015-01-01

    Wind turbine conversion systems require feedback control to achieve reliable wind turbine operation and stable current supply. A robust linear parameter varying (LPV) controller is proposed to reduce the structural loads and improve the power extraction of a horizontal axis wind turbine operating in both the partial load and the full load regions. The LPV model is derived from the wind turbine state space models extracted by FAST (fatigue, aerodynamics, structural, and turbulence) code linearization at different operating points. In order to assure a smooth transition between the two regions, appropriate frequency-dependent varying scaling parametric weighting functions are designed in the LPV control structure. The solution of a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) leads to the LPV controller. A synchronous generator model is connected with the closed LPV control loop for examining the electrical subsystem performance obtained by an inner speed control loop. Simulation results of a 1.5 MW horizontal axis wind turbine model on the FAST platform illustrates the benefit of the LPV control and demonstrates the advantages of this proposed LPV controller, when compared with a traditional gain scheduling PI control and prior LPV control configurations. Enhanced structural load mitigation, improved power extraction, and good current performance were obtained from the proposed LPV control. PMID:25884036

  19. LPV Control for the Full Region Operation of a Wind Turbine Integrated with Synchronous Generator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guoyan Cao

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Wind turbine conversion systems require feedback control to achieve reliable wind turbine operation and stable current supply. A robust linear parameter varying (LPV controller is proposed to reduce the structural loads and improve the power extraction of a horizontal axis wind turbine operating in both the partial load and the full load regions. The LPV model is derived from the wind turbine state space models extracted by FAST (fatigue, aerodynamics, structural, and turbulence code linearization at different operating points. In order to assure a smooth transition between the two regions, appropriate frequency-dependent varying scaling parametric weighting functions are designed in the LPV control structure. The solution of a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs leads to the LPV controller. A synchronous generator model is connected with the closed LPV control loop for examining the electrical subsystem performance obtained by an inner speed control loop. Simulation results of a 1.5 MW horizontal axis wind turbine model on the FAST platform illustrates the benefit of the LPV control and demonstrates the advantages of this proposed LPV controller, when compared with a traditional gain scheduling PI control and prior LPV control configurations. Enhanced structural load mitigation, improved power extraction, and good current performance were obtained from the proposed LPV control.

  20. Wind turbine control and monitoring

    CERN Document Server

    Luo, Ningsu; Acho, Leonardo

    2014-01-01

    Maximizing reader insights into the latest technical developments and trends involving wind turbine control and monitoring, fault diagnosis, and wind power systems, 'Wind Turbine Control and Monitoring' presents an accessible and straightforward introduction to wind turbines, but also includes an in-depth analysis incorporating illustrations, tables and examples on how to use wind turbine modeling and simulation software.   Featuring analysis from leading experts and researchers in the field, the book provides new understanding, methodologies and algorithms of control and monitoring, comput

  1. Towards an Industrial Manufactured Morphing Trailing Edge Flap System for Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard Madsen, Helge; Løgstrup Andersen, Tom; Bergami, Leonardo

    2014-01-01

    Several numerical studies in the past 10 years have shown big potentials for load reduction on MW turbines using distributed control for alleviation of the fluctuating loads along the blade span. However, the requirements by the wind turbine industry of robust actuator solutions where the stronge...

  2. Effect of load eccentricity and stress level on monopile support for offshore wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Klinkvort, Rasmus Tofte; Hededal, Ole

    2014-01-01

    on which load is applied with a large eccentricity. With centrifuge tests as the basis, this paper investigates the behaviour of a rigid pile loaded with a high eccentricity. A test series was carried out to simulate idealized monotonic load cases for monopiles supporting an offshore wind turbine....... Centrifuge tests were performed on model monopiles subjected to stress distributions equal to prototype monopiles with pile diameters ranging from 1–5 m and eccentricities ranging from 8.25–17.75 pile diameters. It was possible to identify a unified response of all of these tests by using dimensional...... analysis and Rankine’s passive earth pressure coefficient as a normalization parameter. The normalized ultimate soil resistance was unaffected by acceleration level and load eccentricity, indicating that the failure mechanism was the same for all tests. Based on the centrifuge tests, a reformulation...

  3. Wind turbines and health

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rideout, K.; Copes, R.; Bos, C.

    2010-01-01

    This document summarized the potential health hazards associated with wind turbines, such as noise and low frequency sound, vibration and infrasound; electromagnetic fields (EMF); shadow flicker; and ice throw and structural failure. Various symptoms can be attributed to wind turbines, including dizziness, sleep disruption, and headaches. A review of available research regarding potential health affects to residents living in close proximity to wind turbines showed that the sound level associated with wind turbines at common residential setbacks is not sufficient to damage hearing, but may lead to annoyance and sleep disturbance. Research has shown that wind turbines are not a significant source of EMF exposure, and although shadows caused by the blades may be annoying, they are not likely to cause epileptic seizures at normal operational speeds. The risk of injury from ice throw can be minimized with setbacks of 200 to 400 m. Examples of Canadian wind turbine setback guidelines and regulations were also offered. It was concluded that setbacks and operational guidelines can be utilized in combination to address safety hazards, sound levels, land use issues, and impacts on people. 46 refs., 2 tabs., 2 figs.

  4. Refinements and Tests of an Advanced Controller to Mitigate Fatigue Loads in the Controls Advanced Research Turbine

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wright, A.D.; Fleming, P.; Van Wingerden, J.W.

    2011-01-01

    Wind turbines are complex, nonlinear, dynamic systems forced by aerodynamic, gravitational, centrifugal, and gyroscopic loads. The aerodynamics of wind turbines are nonlinear, unsteady, and complex. Turbine rotors are subjected to a complicated 3-D turbulent wind inflow field, with imbedded coherent

  5. A review of wind turbine-oriented active flow control strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aubrun, Sandrine; Leroy, Annie; Devinant, Philippe

    2017-10-01

    To reduce the levelized cost of energy, the energy production, robustness and lifespan of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) have to be improved to ensure optimal energy production and operational availability during periods longer than 15-20 years. HAWTs are subject to unsteady wind loads that generate combinations of unsteady mechanical loads with characteristic time scales from seconds to minutes. This can be reduced by controlling the aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine rotors in real time to compensate the overloads. Mitigating load fluctuations and optimizing the aerodynamic performance at higher time scales need the development of fast-response active flow control (AFC) strategies located as close as possible to the torque generation, i.e., directly on the blades. The most conventional actuators currently used in HAWTs are mechanical flaps/tabs (similar to aeronautical accessories), but some more innovative concepts based on fluidic and plasma actuators are very promising since they are devoid of mechanical parts, have a fast response and can be driven in unsteady modes to influence natural instabilities of the flow. In this context, the present paper aims at giving a state-of-the-art review of current research in wind turbine-oriented flow control strategies applied at the blade scale. It provides an overview of research conducted in the last decade dealing with the actuators and devices devoted to developing AFC on rotor blades, focusing on the flow phenomena that they cause and that can lead to aerodynamic load increase or decrease. After providing some general background on wind turbine blade aerodynamics and on the atmospheric flows in which HAWTs operate, the review focuses on flow separation control and circulation control mainly through experimental investigations. It is followed by a discussion about the overall limitations of current studies in the wind energy context, with a focus on a few studies that attempt to provide a global

  6. Reliability Analysis of Fatigue Failure of Cast Components for Wind Turbines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hesam Mirzaei Rafsanjani

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Fatigue failure is one of the main failure modes for wind turbine drivetrain components made of cast iron. The wind turbine drivetrain consists of a variety of heavily loaded components, like the main shaft, the main bearings, the gearbox and the generator. The failure of each component will lead to substantial economic losses such as cost of lost energy production and cost of repairs. During the design lifetime, the drivetrain components are exposed to variable loads from winds and waves and other sources of loads that are uncertain and have to be modeled as stochastic variables. The types of loads are different for offshore and onshore wind turbines. Moreover, uncertainties about the fatigue strength play an important role in modeling and assessment of the reliability of the components. In this paper, a generic stochastic model for fatigue failure of cast iron components based on fatigue test data and a limit state equation for fatigue failure based on the SN-curve approach and Miner’s rule is presented. The statistical analysis of the fatigue data is performed using the Maximum Likelihood Method which also gives an estimate of the statistical uncertainties. Finally, illustrative examples are presented with reliability analyses depending on various stochastic models and partial safety factors.

  7. Engineering handbook on the atmospheric environmental guidelines for use in wind turbine generator development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frost, W.; Long, B. H.; Turner, R. E.

    1978-01-01

    The guidelines are given in the form of design criteria relative to wind speed, wind shear, turbulence, wind direction, ice and snow loading, and other climatological parameters which include rain, hail, thermal effects, abrasive and corrosive effects, and humidity. This report is a presentation of design criteria in an engineering format which can be directly input to wind turbine generator design computations. Guidelines are also provided for developing specialized wind turbine generators or for designing wind turbine generators which are to be used in a special region of the United States.

  8. Wind Turbine Providing Grid Support

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2011-01-01

    changing the operation of the wind turbine to a more efficient working point.; When the rotational speed of the rotor reaches a minimum value, the wind turbine enters a recovery period to re-accelerate the rotor to the nominal rotational speed while further contributing to the stability of the electrical......A variable speed wind turbine is arranged to provide additional electrical power to counteract non-periodic disturbances in an electrical grid. A controller monitors events indicating a need to increase the electrical output power from the wind turbine to the electrical grid. The controller...... is arranged to control the wind turbine as follows: after an indicating event has been detected, the wind turbine enters an overproduction period in which the electrical output power is increased, wherein the additional electrical output power is taken from kinetic energy stored in the rotor and without...

  9. RELIABILITY BASED DESIGN OF FIXED FOUNDATION WIND TURBINES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nichols, R.

    2013-10-14

    Recent analysis of offshore wind turbine foundations using both applicable API and IEC standards show that the total load demand from wind and waves is greatest in wave driven storms. Further, analysis of overturning moment loads (OTM) reveal that impact forces exerted by breaking waves are the largest contributor to OTM in big storms at wind speeds above the operating range of 25 m/s. Currently, no codes or standards for offshore wind power generators have been adopted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) for use on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Current design methods based on allowable stress design (ASD) incorporate the uncertainty in the variation of loads transferred to the foundation and geotechnical capacity of the soil and rock to support the loads is incorporated into a factor of safety. Sources of uncertainty include spatial and temporal variation of engineering properties, reliability of property measurements applicability and sufficiency of sampling and testing methods, modeling errors, and variability of estimated load predictions. In ASD these sources of variability are generally given qualitative rather than quantitative consideration. The IEC 61400‐3 design standard for offshore wind turbines is based on ASD methods. Load and resistance factor design (LRFD) methods are being increasingly used in the design of structures. Uncertainties such as those listed above can be included quantitatively into the LRFD process. In LRFD load factors and resistance factors are statistically based. This type of analysis recognizes that there is always some probability of failure and enables the probability of failure to be quantified. This paper presents an integrated approach consisting of field observations and numerical simulation to establish the distribution of loads from breaking waves to support the LRFD of fixed offshore foundations.

  10. 风力发电高塔系统风致随机动力响应分析%Stochastic dynamic analysis of wind turbine systems under wind loads

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    贺广零; 李杰

    2011-01-01

    Wind energy development is an effective way to solve problems such as energy shortage and environmental pollution, so it is very useful to accurately compute the stochastic dynamic response of wind turbine systems under wind loads. Firstly< a new method termed as generalized probability density evolution method (GPDEM) is presented in the paper. The GPDEM has been proved to be of high accuracy and efficiency in most kinds of stochastic analysis of dynamical systems. Associated with the physical model of stochastic wind field and the integrated finite element model consisting of the rotor, the nacelle. The tower and the foundation, it is very hopeful to apply the GPDEM in stochastic dynamic analysis of wind turbine systems. Then, a 1. 25 MW wind turbine system subject to wind loads is investigated in detail, and the dynamic responses and the stochastic ones are also compared. The results demonstrate that the randomness of wind velocities places a great influence on the stochastic dynamic analysis of wind turbine systems.%介绍了一种高精度且高效的随机动力系统分析方法-广义概率密度演化方法.基于广义概率密度演化方法,结合随机脉动风场物理模型和“桨叶-机舱-塔体-基础”一体化有限元模型,分别对1.25 MW风力发电高钢塔和钢筋混凝土风力发电高塔进行了风致随机动力响应分析,并将分析结果同确定性动力响应分析结果进行比较.研究表明,随机性对风力发电高塔系统结构风致动力响应分析的影响非常显著.

  11. Aerodynamics of wind turbines emerging topics

    CERN Document Server

    Amano, R S

    2014-01-01

    Focusing on Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines with topics ranging from Fundamental to Application of horizontal axis wind turbines, this book presents advanced topics including: Basic Theory for Wind turbine Blade Aerodynamics, Computational Methods, and Special Structural Reinforcement Technique for Wind Turbine Blades.

  12. Modal Analysis on Fluid-Structure Interaction of MW-Level Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Tower

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tan Jiqiu

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In order to avoid resonance problem of MW-level vertical axis wind turbine induced by wind, a flow field model of the MW-level vertical axis wind turbine is established by using the fluid flow control equations, calculate flow’s velocity and pressure of the MW-level vertical axis wind turbine and load onto tower’s before and after surface, study the Modal analysis of fluid-structure interaction of MW-level vertical axis wind turbine tower. The results show that fluid-structure interaction field of MW- level vertical axis wind turbine tower has little effect on the modal vibration mode, but has a great effect on its natural frequency and the maximum deformation, and the influence will decrease with increasing of modal order; MW-level vertical axis wind turbine tower needs to be raised the stiffness and strength, its structure also needs to be optimized; In the case of satisfy the intensity, the larger the ratio of the tower height and wind turbines diameter, the more soft the MW-level vertical axis wind turbine tower, the lower its frequency.

  13. On the Effects of Wind Turbine Wake Skew Caused by Wind Veer: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Churchfield, Matthew J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sirnivas, Senu [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2018-03-01

    Because of Coriolis forces caused by the Earth's rotation, the structure of the atmospheric boundary layer often contains wind-direction change with height, also known as wind-direction veer. Under low turbulence conditions, such as in stably stratified atmospheric conditions, this veer can be significant, even across the vertical extent of a wind turbine's rotor disk. The veer then causes the wind turbine wake to skew as it advects downstream. This wake skew has been observed both experimentally and numerically. In this work, we attempt to examine the wake skewing process in some detail, and quantify how differently a skewed wake versus a non skewed wake affects a downstream turbine. We do this by performing atmospheric large-eddy simulations to create turbulent inflow winds with and without veer. In the veer case, there is a roughly 8 degree wind direction change across the turbine rotor. We then perform subsequent large-eddy simulations using these inflow data with an actuator line rotor model to create wakes. The turbine modeled is a large, modern, offshore, multimegawatt turbine. We examine the unsteady wake data in detail and show that the skewed wake recovers faster than the non skewed wake. We also show that the wake deficit does not skew to the same degree that a passive tracer would if subject to veered inflow. Last, we use the wake data to place a hypothetical turbine 9 rotor diameters downstream by running aeroelastic simulations with the simulated wake data. We see differences in power and loads if this downstream turbine is subject to a skewed or non skewed wake. We feel that the differences observed between the skewed and nonskewed wake are important enough that the skewing effect should be included in engineering wake models.

  14. Effects of Turbine Spacings in Very Large Wind Farms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    farm. LES simulations of large wind farms are performed with full aero-elastic Actuator Lines. The simulations investigate the inherent dynamics inside wind farms in the absence of atmospheric turbulence compared to cases with atmospheric turbulence. Resulting low frequency structures are inherent...... in wind farms for certain turbine spacings and affect both power production and loads...

  15. Equivalent models of wind farms by using aggregated wind turbines and equivalent winds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fernandez, L.M.; Garcia, C.A.; Saenz, J.R.; Jurado, F.

    2009-01-01

    As a result of the increasing wind farms penetration on power systems, the wind farms begin to influence power system, and therefore the modeling of wind farms has become an interesting research topic. In this paper, new equivalent models of wind farms equipped with wind turbines based on squirrel-cage induction generators and doubly-fed induction generators are proposed to represent the collective behavior on large power systems simulations, instead of using a complete model of wind farms where all the wind turbines are modeled. The models proposed here are based on aggregating wind turbines into an equivalent wind turbine which receives an equivalent wind of the ones incident on the aggregated wind turbines. The equivalent wind turbine presents re-scaled power capacity and the same complete model as the individual wind turbines, which supposes the main feature of the present equivalent models. Two equivalent winds are evaluated in this work: (1) the average wind from the ones incident on the aggregated wind turbines with similar winds, and (2) an equivalent incoming wind derived from the power curve and the wind incident on each wind turbine. The effectiveness of the equivalent models to represent the collective response of the wind farm at the point of common coupling to grid is demonstrated by comparison with the wind farm response obtained from the detailed model during power system dynamic simulations, such as wind fluctuations and a grid disturbance. The present models can be used for grid integration studies of large power system with an important reduction of the model order and the computation time

  16. Review of control algorithms for offshore wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spruce, C J; Markou, H; Leithead, W E; Dominguez Ruiz, S

    2005-07-01

    Innovative turbine control strategies could allow the improvements to cost and performance considered essential to reduce the cost of energy from offshore wind farms around the UK. This project reviewed and investigated the possibility for further development of a power control algorithm originally developed by NEG Micon Rotors Ltd for use with offshore wind turbines in the hope that more advanced algorithms would reduce the loads on, and hence the costs of, components such as the foundation/support structure, tower, blades and bedplate. Three models (simulation model, linearisation of the simulation model and control model) were produced in order to conduct the review. Application of these models produced the conclusion that the size of the latest generation of offshore wind turbines has now reached a level where performance is starting to be constrained by fundamental factors in the dynamics caused by the machine's physical size. It was also concluded that an ideal control strategy could achieve potential cost savings for the tower and support structure of 5-10% of the total cost of the turbine plus support structure. Further work to develop controllers to reduce loads in the tower and support structure is urged. The report considers non-linear simulation, the linear model, the control model, general operation of the controller, the drive train damping filter, torque control, pitch control and advanced algorithms, and makes detailed recommendations for future work.

  17. Simplified rotor load models and fatigue damage estimates for offshore wind turbines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muskulus, M

    2015-02-28

    The aim of rotor load models is to characterize and generate the thrust loads acting on an offshore wind turbine. Ideally, the rotor simulation can be replaced by time series from a model with a few parameters and state variables only. Such models are used extensively in control system design and, as a potentially new application area, structural optimization of support structures. Different rotor load models are here evaluated for a jacket support structure in terms of fatigue lifetimes of relevant structural variables. All models were found to be lacking in accuracy, with differences of more than 20% in fatigue load estimates. The most accurate models were the use of an effective thrust coefficient determined from a regression analysis of dynamic thrust loads, and a novel stochastic model in state-space form. The stochastic model explicitly models the quasi-periodic components obtained from rotational sampling of turbulent fluctuations. Its state variables follow a mean-reverting Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. Although promising, more work is needed on how to determine the parameters of the stochastic model and before accurate lifetime predictions can be obtained without comprehensive rotor simulations. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  18. Controller design for a Wind Farm, Considering both Power and Load Aspects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Soleimanzadeh, Maryam; Wisniewski, Rafal

    2011-01-01

    turbine. The control algorithm determines the reference signals for each individual wind turbine controller in two scenarios based on low and high wind speed. In low wind speed, the reference signals for rotor speed are adjusted, taking the trade-off between power maximization and load minimization...

  19. Wind turbine supply in Canada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Snodin, H.

    2007-01-01

    This study reported on wind turbine supplies to the Canadian market. The report was written to address concerns for Canada's supply outlook in the near future due to the booming wind energy market. Turbine shortages have arisen as a result of continued growth in both European and North American markets. Long lead-times on turbine orders are now increasing the pressure to lock in turbine supply during the initial phases of the development process. Future growth of the wind energy industry will be impacted if turbine supply difficulties continue to contribute to uncertainties in the development process. The report provided an overview of the North American and global wind energy markets, as well as a summary of telephone interviews conducted with turbine suppliers. The implications for the future of turbine supply to the Canadian market were also analyzed. It was concluded that policy-makers should focus on supporting the expansion of manufacturing facilities for small wind turbines and control infrastructure in Canada 7 refs., 3 figs

  20. Model Predictive Control of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Henriksen, Lars Christian

    Wind turbines play a major role in the transformation from a fossil fuel based energy production to a more sustainable production of energy. Total-cost-of-ownership is an important parameter when investors decide in which energy technology they should place their capital. Modern wind turbines...... the need for maintenance of the wind turbine. Either way, better total-cost-of-ownership for wind turbine operators can be achieved by improved control of the wind turbines. Wind turbine control can be improved in two ways, by improving the model on which the controller bases its design or by improving...

  1. Assessment of Gearbox Operational Loads and Reliability under High Mean Wind Speeds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dabrowski, Dariusz; Natarajan, Anand

    2015-01-01

    wind turbine that operates in storm conditions with mean wind speeds less than 30 m/s is presented. In the study, normal shut-downs of a wind turbine in storm conditions were investigated. The analysis were conducted for two storm control strategies and different wind conditions from an extreme...... operating gust, normal turbulence model and extreme turbulence model. In the paper, loads in the planetary gear are quantified as well as the torsional moments in the main shaft. On the basis of simulation results the annual probability of failure of the gearbox in a wind turbine with soft storm controller...... is calculated, and compared with the one had the gearbox working in a wind turbine operating with hard storm controller. In the study, it was found that normal shut-downs do not have a significant influence on the ultimate loads in the gearbox, since they are related mostly to the gusts occurring during...

  2. Evaluation of MOSTAS computer code for predicting dynamic loads in two bladed wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaza, K. R. V.; Janetzke, D. C.; Sullivan, T. L.

    1979-01-01

    Calculated dynamic blade loads were compared with measured loads over a range of yaw stiffnesses of the DOE/NASA Mod-O wind turbine to evaluate the performance of two versions of the MOSTAS computer code. The first version uses a time-averaged coefficient approximation in conjunction with a multi-blade coordinate transformation for two bladed rotors to solve the equations of motion by standard eigenanalysis. The second version accounts for periodic coefficients while solving the equations by a time history integration. A hypothetical three-degree of freedom dynamic model was investigated. The exact equations of motion of this model were solved using the Floquet-Lipunov method. The equations with time-averaged coefficients were solved by standard eigenanalysis.

  3. Wind turbine noise diagnostics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Richarz, W.; Richarz, H.

    2009-01-01

    This presentation proposed a self-consistent model for broad-band noise emitted from modern wind turbines. The simple source model was consistent with the physics of sound generation and considered the unique features of wind turbines. Although the acoustics of wind turbines are similar to those of conventional propellers, the dimensions of wind turbines pose unique challenges in diagnosing noise emission. The general features of the sound field were deduced. Source motion and source directivity appear to be responsible for amplitude variations. The amplitude modulation is likely to make wind-turbine noise more audible, and may be partly responsible for annoyance that has been reported in the literature. Acoustic array data suggests that broad-band noise is emitted predominantly during the downward sweep of each rotor blade. Source motion and source directivity account for the observed pattern. Rotor-tower interaction effects are of lesser importance. Predicted amplitude modulation ranges from 1 dB to 6dB. 2 refs., 9 figs.

  4. Influence of Reynolds Number on Multi-Objective Aerodynamic Design of a Wind Turbine Blade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Mingwei; Fang, Le; Tian, De

    2015-01-01

    At present, the radius of wind turbine rotors ranges from several meters to one hundred meters, or even more, which extends Reynolds number of the airfoil profile from the order of 105 to 107. Taking the blade for 3MW wind turbines as an example, the influence of Reynolds number on the aerodynamic design of a wind turbine blade is studied. To make the study more general, two kinds of multi-objective optimization are involved: one is based on the maximum power coefficient (CPopt) and the ultimate load, and the other is based on the ultimate load and the annual energy production (AEP). It is found that under the same configuration, the optimal design has a larger CPopt or AEP (CPopt//AEP) for the same ultimate load, or a smaller load for the same CPopt//AEP at higher Reynolds number. At a certain tip-speed ratio or ultimate load, the blade operating at higher Reynolds number should have a larger chord length and twist angle for the maximum Cpopt//AEP. If a wind turbine blade is designed by using an airfoil database with a mismatched Reynolds number from the actual one, both the load and Cpopt//AEP will be incorrectly estimated to some extent. In some cases, the assessment error attributed to Reynolds number is quite significant, which may bring unexpected risks to the earnings and safety of a wind power project.

  5. Influence of Reynolds Number on Multi-Objective Aerodynamic Design of a Wind Turbine Blade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Mingwei; Fang, Le; Tian, De

    2015-01-01

    At present, the radius of wind turbine rotors ranges from several meters to one hundred meters, or even more, which extends Reynolds number of the airfoil profile from the order of 105 to 107. Taking the blade for 3MW wind turbines as an example, the influence of Reynolds number on the aerodynamic design of a wind turbine blade is studied. To make the study more general, two kinds of multi-objective optimization are involved: one is based on the maximum power coefficient (C Popt) and the ultimate load, and the other is based on the ultimate load and the annual energy production (AEP). It is found that under the same configuration, the optimal design has a larger C Popt or AEP (C Popt//AEP) for the same ultimate load, or a smaller load for the same C Popt//AEP at higher Reynolds number. At a certain tip-speed ratio or ultimate load, the blade operating at higher Reynolds number should have a larger chord length and twist angle for the maximum C popt//AEP. If a wind turbine blade is designed by using an airfoil database with a mismatched Reynolds number from the actual one, both the load and C popt//AEP will be incorrectly estimated to some extent. In some cases, the assessment error attributed to Reynolds number is quite significant, which may bring unexpected risks to the earnings and safety of a wind power project. PMID:26528815

  6. Wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheney, Jr., Marvin C.

    1982-01-01

    A wind turbine of the type having an airfoil blade (15) mounted on a flexible beam (20) and a pitch governor (55) which selectively, torsionally twists the flexible beam in response to wind turbine speed thereby setting blade pitch, is provided with a limiter (85) which restricts unwanted pitch change at operating speeds due to torsional creep of the flexible beam. The limiter allows twisting of the beam by the governor under excessive wind velocity conditions to orient the blades in stall pitch positions, thereby preventing overspeed operation of the turbine. In the preferred embodiment, the pitch governor comprises a pendulum (65,70) which responds to changing rotor speed by pivotal movement, the limiter comprising a resilient member (90) which engages an end of the pendulum to restrict further movement thereof, and in turn restrict beam creep and unwanted blade pitch misadjustment.

  7. Hydraulic Soft Yaw System for Multi MW Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stubkier, Søren

    energy and an increase in the loading of the wind turbine structure and components. This dissertation examines the hypothesis that there are advantages of basing a yaw system on hydraulic components instead of normal electrical components. This is done through a state of the art analysis followed...... in the wind turbine yaw system along with minor reductions in the blades and main shaft. Optimization of the damping and stiffness of the hydraulic soft yaw system have been conducted and an optimum found for load reduction. Linear control algorithms for control of damping pressure peaks have been developed...... the full turbine code in FAST, and the mathematical model of the hydraulic yaw system in Matlab/Simulink and Amesim is developed in order to analyze a full scale model of the hydraulic yaw system in combination with the implemented friction model for the yaw system. These results are also promising...

  8. Stochastic Models of Defects in Wind Turbine Drivetrain Components

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rafsanjani, Hesam Mirzaei; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2013-01-01

    The drivetrain in a wind turbine nacelle typically consists of a variety of heavily loaded components, like the main shaft, bearings, gearbox and generator. The variations in environmental load challenge the performance of all the components of the drivetrain. Failure of each of these components...

  9. The suitability of the IEC 61400-2 wind model for small wind turbines operating in the built environment★

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evans Samuel P.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the applicability of the assumed wind fields in International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC standard 61400 Part 2, the design standard for small wind turbines, for a turbine operating in the built environment, and the effects these wind fields have on the predicted performance of a 5 kW Aerogenesis turbine using detailed aeroelastic models developed in Fatigue Aerodynamics Structures and Turbulence (FAST. Detailed wind measurements were acquired at two built environment sites: from the rooftop of a Bunnings Ltd. warehouse at Port Kennedy (PK (Perth, Australia and from the small wind turbine site at the University of Newcastle at Callaghan (Newcastle, Australia. For both sites, IEC 61400-2 underestimates the turbulence intensity for the majority of the measured wind speeds. A detailed aeroelastic model was built in FAST using the assumed wind field from IEC 61400-2 and the measured wind fields from PK and Callaghan as an input to predict key turbine performance parameters. The results of this analysis show a modest increase in the predicted mean power for the higher turbulence regimes of PK and Callaghan as well as higher variation in output power. Predicted mean rotor thrust and blade flapwise loading showed a minor increase due to higher turbulence, with mean predicted torque almost identical but with increased variations due to higher turbulence. Damage equivalent loading for the blade flapwise moment was predicted to be 58% and 11% higher for a turbine operating at Callaghan and PK respectively, when compared with IEC 61400-2 wind field. Time series plots for blade flapwise moments and power spectral density plots in the frequency domain show consistently higher blade flapwise bending moments for the Callaghan site with both the sites showing a once-per-revolution response.

  10. State-Space Modeling and Performance Analysis of Variable-Speed Wind Turbine Based on a Model Predictive Control Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Bassi

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Advancements in wind energy technologies have led wind turbines from fixed speed to variable speed operation. This paper introduces an innovative version of a variable-speed wind turbine based on a model predictive control (MPC approach. The proposed approach provides maximum power point tracking (MPPT, whose main objective is to capture the maximum wind energy in spite of the variable nature of the wind’s speed. The proposed MPC approach also reduces the constraints of the two main functional parts of the wind turbine: the full load and partial load segments. The pitch angle for full load and the rotating force for the partial load have been fixed concurrently in order to balance power generation as well as to reduce the operations of the pitch angle. A mathematical analysis of the proposed system using state-space approach is introduced. The simulation results using MATLAB/SIMULINK show that the performance of the wind turbine with the MPC approach is improved compared to the traditional PID controller in both low and high wind speeds.

  11. Next Generation Wind Turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cheraghi, S. Hossein [Western New England Univ., Springfield, MA (United States); Madden, Frank [FloDesign Wind Turbine Corp., Waltham, MA (United States)

    2012-09-01

    The goal of this collaborative effort between Western New England University's College of Engineering and FloDesign Wind Turbine (FDWT) Corporation to wok on a novel areodynamic concept that could potentially lead to the next generation of wind turbines. Analytical studies and early scale model tests of FDWT's Mixer/Ejector Wind Turbine (MEWT) concept, which exploits jet-age advanced fluid dynamics, indicate that the concept has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of electricity over conventional Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines while reducing land usage. This project involved the design, fabrication, and wind tunnel testing of components of MEWT to provide the research and engineering data necessary to validate the design iterations and optimize system performance. Based on these tests, a scale model prototype called Briza was designed, fabricated, installed and tested on a portable tower to investigate and improve the design system in real world conditions. The results of these scale prototype efforts were very promising and have contributed significantly to FDWT's ongoing development of a product scale wind turbine for deployment in multiple locations around the U.S. This research was mutually beneficial to Western New England University, FDWT, and the DOE by utilizing over 30 student interns and a number of faculty in all efforts. It brought real-world wind turbine experience into the classroom to further enhance the Green Engineering Program at WNEU. It also provided on-the-job training to many students, improving their future employment opportunities, while also providing valuable information to further advance FDWT's mixer-ejector wind turbine technology, creating opportunities for future project innovation and job creation.

  12. Numerical Buckling Analysis of Large Suction Caissons for Wind Turbines on Deep Water

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Søren; Andersen, Lars Vabbersgaard; Ibsen, Lars Bo

    2013-01-01

    Using large suction caissons for offshore wind turbines is an upcoming cost-effective technology also referred to as bucket foundations. During operation, the monopod bucket foundation is loaded by a large overturning moment from the wind turbine and the wave loads. However, during installation...... the suction caisson is loaded by external pressure (internal suction) due to evacuation of water inside the bucket and vertical forces due to gravity. The risk of structural buckling during installation of large-diameter suction caissons is addressed using numerical methods. Initial imperfect geometries...

  13. Small Wind Turbine Technology Assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avia Aranda, F.; Cruz Cruz, I.

    1999-01-01

    The result of the study carried out under the scope of the ATYCA project Test Plant of Wind Systems for Isolated Applications, about the state of art of the small wind turbine technology (wind turbines with swept area smaller than 40 m 2 ) is presented. The study analyzes the collected information on 60 models of wind turbines from 23 manufacturers in the worldwide market. Data from Chinese manufacturers, that have a large participation in the total number of small wind turbines in operation, are not included, due to the unavailability of the technical information. (Author) 15 refs

  14. Wind Turbine Converter Control Interaction with Complex Wind Farm Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kocewiak, Lukasz Hubert; Hjerrild, Jesper; Bak, Claus Leth

    2013-01-01

    . The same wind turbine converter control strategy is evaluated in two different wind farms. It is emphasised that the grid-side converter controller should be characterised by sufficient harmonic/noise rejection and adjusted depending on wind farms to which it is connected. Various stability indices......This study presents wind turbine converter stability analysis of wind farms in frequency domain. The interaction between the wind turbine control system and the wind farm structure in wind farms is deeply investigated. Two wind farms (i.e. Horns Rev II and Karnice) are taken into consideration...... in this study. It is shown that wind farm components, such as long high-voltage alternating current cables and park transformers, can introduce significant low-frequency series resonances seen from the wind turbine terminals that can affect wind turbine control system operation and overall wind farm stability...

  15. Noise immission from wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    The project has dealt with practical ways to reduce the influence of background noise caused by wind acting on the measuring microphones. The uncertainty of measured noise emission (source strength) has been investigated. The main activity was a Round Robin Test involving measurements by five laboratories at the same wind turbine. Each laboratory brought its own instrumentation and performed the measurements and analyses according to their interpretation. The tonality of wind turbine noise is an essential component of the noise impact on the environment. In the present project the uncertainty in the newest existing methods for assessing tonality was investigated. The project included noise propagation measurements in different weather conditions around wind turbines situated in different types of terrain. The results were used to validate a noise propagation model developed in the project. Finally, the project also included a study with listeners evaluating recordings of wind turbine noise. The results are intended as guidance for wind turbine manufacturers in identifying the aspects of wind turbine noise most important to annoyance. (author)

  16. 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.

  17. Extrapolation of Extreme Response for Wind Turbines based on FieldMeasurements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2009-01-01

    extrapolation are presented. The first method is based on the same assumptions as the existing method but the statistical extrapolation is only performed for a limited number of mean wind speeds where the extreme load is likely to occur. For the second method the mean wind speeds are divided into storms which......The characteristic loads on wind turbines during operation are among others dependent on the mean wind speed, the turbulence intensity and the type and settings of the control system. These parameters must be taken into account in the assessment of the characteristic load. The characteristic load...... are assumed independent and the characteristic loads are determined from the extreme load in each storm....

  18. Overview and Design of self-acting pitch control mechanism for vertical axis wind turbine using multi body simulation approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chougule, Prasad; Nielsen, Søren

    2014-01-01

    Awareness about wind energy is constantly growing in the world. Especially a demand for small scale wind turbine is increasing and various products are available in market. There are mainly two types of wind turbines, horizontal axis wind turbine and vertical axis wind turbines. Horizontal axis wind turbines are suitable for high wind speed whereas vertical axis wind turbines operate relatively low wind speed area. Vertical axis wind turbines are cost effective and simple in construction as compared to the horizontal axis wind turbine. However, vertical axis wind turbines have inherent problem of self-start inability and has low power coefficient as compare to the horizontal axis wind turbine. These two problems can be eliminated by incorporating the blade pitching mechanism. So, in this paper overview of various pitch control systems is discussed and design of self-acting pitch mechanism is given. A pitch control linkage mechanism for vertical axis wind turbine is modeled by multi-body approach using MSC Software. Aerodynamic loads are predicted from a mathematical model based on double multiple stream tube method. An appropriate airfoil which works at low Reynolds number is selected for blade design. It is also focused on commercialization of the vertical axis wind turbine which incorporates the self-acting pitch control system. These aerodynamic load model will be coupled with the multi-body model in future work for optimization of the pitch control linkage mechanism. A 500 Watt vertical axis wind turbine is designed and it is planned to implement the self-acting pitch control mechanism in real model

  19. 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)

  20. Simulation of Lightning Overvoltage Distribution on Stator Windings of Wind Turbine Generators

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    LIU Rong; LIU Xue-zhong; WANG Ying; LI Dan-dan

    2011-01-01

    This paper analyzes lightning surge on the stator windings of wind turbine generators. The path of lightning in the wind turbines was analyzed. An equivalent circuit model for megawatt direct-driven wind turbine system was developed, in which high-frequency distributed parameters of the blade conducts, tower, power cables and stator windings of generator were calculated based on finite element method, and the models of converter, grounding, loads, surge protection devices and power grid were established. The voltage distribution along stator windings, when struck by lightning with 10/350 ~ts wave form and different amplitude current between 50 kA and 200 kA, was simulated u- sing electro-magnetic transient analysis method. The simulated results show that the highest coil-to-core voltage peak appears on the last coil or near the neutral of stator windings, and the voltage distribution along the windings is non- uniform initially. The voltage drops of each coil fall from first to last coil, and the highest voltage drop appears on the first coil. The insulation damage may occur on the windings under lightning overvoltage. The surge arresters can re- strain the lightning surge in effect and protect the insulation. The coil-to-core voltage in the end of windings is nearly 19.5 kV under the 200 kA lightning current without surge arresters on the terminal of generator, but is only 2.7 kV with arresters.

  1. Load consequences when sweeping blades - A case study of a 5 MW pitch controlled wind turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Verelst, D.R.S.; Larsen, Torben J.

    2010-08-15

    The generic 5 MW NREL wind turbine model is used in Risoe's aeroelastic simulator HAWC2 to investigate 120 different swept blade configurations (forward and backward sweep). Sensitivity for 2 different controllers is considered as well. Backward sweep results in a pitch to feather torsional moment of the blade, effectively reducing blade twist angles under increased loading. This behaviour results in decreased flap-wise fatigue and extreme loads, an increase for edge-wise fatigue loading and status quo or slight decrease in extreme loads (depending on the controller). Tower base and shaft-end bending moments are reduced as well. Forward sweep leads to an increase in angle of attack under loading. For a pitch controlled turbine this leads to an increase in fatigue and extreme loading in all cases. A controller inflicted instability is present for the more extreme forward swept cases. Due to the shape of considered sweep curves, an inherent and significant increase in torsional blade root bending moment is noted. A boomerang shaped sweep curve is proposed to counteract this problematic increased loading. Controller sensitivity shows that adding sweep affects some loadings differently. Power output is reduced for backward sweep since the blade twist is optimized as a rigid structure, ignoring the torsional deformations which for a swept blade can be significant. (author)

  2. Performance evaluation of small wind turbines for off grid applications in Saudi Arabia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Hadhrami, Luai M.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Sixteen HAWT and 8 VAWT performance evaluations for s wind measurement site. • HAWT were found to be more efficient than VAWT. • Higher energy yields during high load demands. • PCF’s of up to 54% could be achieved. • Highest energy increase for hub height change from 20 to 30 m. - Abstract: The study evaluated the energy output and plant capacity factor (PCF) of small wind turbines in the category of 1–3 kW, 5–10 kW, 15–20 kW and 50–80 kW rated powers. Furthermore, the effect of hub height on energy output and the PCF has been studied to recommend suitable hub height for different type of applications and load requirements. To achieve the set objectives, hourly average wind speed data measured at 10, 20, 30, and 40 m and wind direction at 30 and 40 m above ground level during July 01, 2006 to July 10, 2008 has been utilized. Highest percentage change in annual energy yield (AEY) was obtained for an increase in hub height of 10 m from 20 to 30 m for both horizontal and vertical wind turbines chosen in the present study. The next best AEY was obtained while increasing hub height from 10 to 15 m. Horizontal axis wind turbines Fortis Passat with PCF of 44.4% at 15 m hub height, Aeolos-H 5 kW with PCF of 20% at 20 m hub height, and CF6e with PCF of 32.5% at 20 m hub height are recommended for different load requirements. Similarly, vertical axis wind turbines UGE Vision 2 kW with PCF of 8.9% at 15 m hub height, Aeolos-V-2 5 kW with PCF of 20.6% at 20 m hub height, and UGE-9M 10 kW with PCF of 14.2% at 30 m hub height are also recommended for various ranges of loads. Horizontal axis wind turbines were found generally more efficient than the vertical axis wind turbines in the present case

  3. Wind turbines and seismic hazard: a state-of-the-art review

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Katsanos, Evangelos; Thöns, Sebastian; Georgakis, Christos T.

    2016-01-01

    , India, Southern Europe and East Asia) highlight the necessity for thorough consideration of the seismic implications on these energy harnessing systems. Along these lines, this state-of-the-art paper presents a comparative survey of the published research relevant to the seismic analysis, design......Wind energy is a rapidly growing field of renewable energy, and as such, intensive scientific and societal interest has been already attracted. Research on wind turbine structures has been mostly focused on the structural analysis, design and/or assessment of wind turbines mainly against normal...... and assessment of wind turbines. Based on numerical simulation, either deterministic or probabilistic approaches are reviewed, because they have been adopted to investigate the sensitivity of wind turbines’ structural capacity and reliability in earthquake-induced loading. The relevance of seismic hazard...

  4. Online wind turbine measurement laboratory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, K.S.; Helgesen Pedersen, K.O.; Schmidt Paulsen, U.

    2006-01-01

    conditions, 3) electrical quantities and 4) mechanical loads in terms of strain gauge signals. The data acquisition system has been designed and implemented by Risø together with students and teachers from DTU. It is based on LabVIEW© combined with a MySQL database for data management. The system enables...... calculations and extreme loads estimation in basic wind turbine courses. Power quality analysis is carried out based on high speed sampled, three-phase voltage and current signals. The wide spectrum of sensors enables a detailed study of the correlation between meteorological, mechanical and electrical...

  5. Damage tolerance and structural monitoring for wind turbine blades.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGugan, M; Pereira, G; Sørensen, B F; Toftegaard, H; Branner, K

    2015-02-28

    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 be possible to combine damage tolerant structural design, monitoring systems, inspection techniques and modelling to manage the life cycle of the structures. This will allow an efficient operation of the wind turbine in terms of load alleviation, limited maintenance and repair leading to a more effective exploitation of offshore wind. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  6. Sequence Domain Harmonic Modeling of Type-IV Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guest, Emerson; Jensen, Kim Høj; Rasmussen, Tonny Wederberg

    2017-01-01

    -sampled pulsewidth modulation and an analysis of converter generated voltage harmonics due to compensated dead-time. The decoupling capabilities of the proposed the SD harmonic model are verified through a power quality (PQ) assessment of a 3MW Type-IV wind turbine. The assessment shows that the magnitude and phase...... of low-order odd converter generated voltage harmonics are dependent on the converter operating point and the phase of the fundamental component of converter current respectively. The SD harmonic model can be used to make PQ assessments of Type-IV wind turbines or incorporated into harmonic load flows...... for computation of PQ in wind power plants....

  7. The effects of second-order hydrodynamics on a semisubmersible floating offshore wind turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bayati, I; Jonkman, J; Robertson, A; Platt, A

    2014-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to assess the second-order hydrodynamic effects on a semisubmersible floating offshore wind turbine. Second-order hydrodynamics induce loads and motions at the sum- and difference-frequencies of the incident waves. These effects have often been ignored in offshore wind analysis, under the assumption that they are significantly smaller than first-order effects. The sum- and difference-frequency loads can, however, excite eigenfrequencies of a floating system, leading to large oscillations that strain the mooring system or vibrations that cause fatigue damage to the structure. Observations of supposed second-order responses in wave-tank tests performed by the DeepCwind consortium at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) offshore basin suggest that these effects might be more important than originally expected. These observations inspired interest in investigating how second-order excitation affects floating offshore wind turbines and whether second-order hydrodynamics should be included in offshore wind simulation tools like FAST. In this work, the effects of second-order hydrodynamics on a floating semisubmersible offshore wind turbine are investigated. Because FAST is currently unable to account for second-order effects, a method to assess these effects was applied in which linearized properties of the floating wind system derived from FAST (including the 6x6 mass and stiffness matrices) are used by WAMIT to solve the first- and second-order hydrodynamics problems in the frequency domain. The method was applied to the Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration Continuation OC4-DeepCwind semisubmersible platform, supporting the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's 5-MW baseline wind turbine. In this paper, the loads and response of the system caused by the second-order hydrodynamics are analysed and compared to the first-order hydrodynamic loads and induced motions in the frequency domain. Further, the second

  8. Experimental data on load test and performance parameters of a LENZ type vertical axis wind turbine in open environment condition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seralathan Sivamani

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Performance and load testing data of a three bladed two stage LENZ type vertical axis wind turbine from the experiments conducted in an open environment condition at Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Chennai (location 23.2167°N, 72.6833°E are presented here. Low-wind velocity ranging from 2 to 11 m/s is available everywhere irrespective of climatic seasons and this data provides the support to the researchers using numerical tool to validate and develop an enhanced Lenz type design. Raw data obtained during the measurements are processed and presented in the form so as to compare with other typical outputs. The data is measured at different wind speeds prevalent in the open field condition ranging from 3 m/s to 9 m/s. Keywords: Vertical axis wind turbine, Lenz type, Performance, Two-stage, Open environment measurement

  9. CFD analysis of a Darrieus wind turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niculescu, M. L.; Cojocaru, M. G.; Pricop, M. V.; Pepelea, D.; Dumitrache, A.; Crunteanu, D. E.

    2017-07-01

    The Darrieus wind turbine has some advantages over the horizontal-axis wind turbine. Firstly, its tip speed ratio is lower than that of the horizontal-axis wind turbine and, therefore, its noise is smaller, privileging their placement near populated areas. Secondly, the Darrieus wind turbine does needs no orientation mechanism with respect to wind direction in contrast to the horizontal-axis wind turbine. However, the efficiency of the Darrieus wind turbine is lower than that of the horizontal-axis wind turbine since its aerodynamics is much more complex. With the advances in computational fluids and computers, it is possible to simulate the Darrieus wind turbine more accurately to understand better its aerodynamics. For these reasons, the present papers deals with the computational aerodynamics of a Darrieus wind turbine applying the state of the art of CFD methods (anisotropic turbulence models, transition from laminar to turbulent, scale adaptive simulation) to better understand its unsteady behavior.

  10. Scale Adaptive Simulation Model for the Darrieus Wind Turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogowski, K.; Hansen, M. O. L.; Maroński, R.; Lichota, P.

    2016-09-01

    Accurate prediction of aerodynamic loads for the Darrieus wind turbine using more or less complex aerodynamic models is still a challenge. One of the problems is the small amount of experimental data available to validate the numerical codes. The major objective of the present study is to examine the scale adaptive simulation (SAS) approach for performance analysis of a one-bladed Darrieus wind turbine working at a tip speed ratio of 5 and at a blade Reynolds number of 40 000. The three-dimensional incompressible unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are used. Numerical results of aerodynamic loads and wake velocity profiles behind the rotor are compared with experimental data taken from literature. The level of agreement between CFD and experimental results is reasonable.

  11. Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration within IEA Wind Task 23: Phase IV Results Regarding Floating Wind Turbine Modeling; Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jonkman, J.; Larsen, T.; Hansen, A.; Nygaard, T.; Maus, K.; Karimirad, M.; Gao, Z.; Moan, T.; Fylling, I.

    2010-04-01

    Offshore wind turbines are designed and analyzed using comprehensive simulation codes that account for the coupled dynamics of the wind inflow, aerodynamics, elasticity, and controls of the turbine, along with the incident waves, sea current, hydrodynamics, and foundation dynamics of the support structure. This paper describes the latest findings of the code-to-code verification activities of the Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration, which operates under Subtask 2 of the International Energy Agency Wind Task 23. In the latest phase of the project, participants used an assortment of codes to model the coupled dynamic response of a 5-MW wind turbine installed on a floating spar buoy in 320 m of water. Code predictions were compared from load-case simulations selected to test different model features. The comparisons have resulted in a greater understanding of offshore floating wind turbine dynamics and modeling techniques, and better knowledge of the validity of various approximations. The lessons learned from this exercise have improved the participants' codes, thus improving the standard of offshore wind turbine modeling.

  12. Synthetic atmospheric turbulence and wind shear in large eddy simulations of wind turbine wakes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Keck, Rolf-Erik; Mikkelsen, Robert Flemming; Troldborg, Niels

    2014-01-01

    , superimposed on top of a mean deterministic shear layer consistent with that used in the IEC standard for wind turbine load calculations. First, the method is evaluated by running a series of large-eddy simulations in an empty domain, where the imposed turbulence and wind shear is allowed to reach a fully...

  13. Extending wind turbine operational conditions; a comparison of set point adaptation and LQG individual pitch control for highly turbulent wind

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Engels, W P; Subhani, S; Zafar, H; Savenije, F

    2014-01-01

    Extreme wind conditions can cause excessive loading on the turbine. This not only results in higher design loads, but when these conditions occur in practice, will also result in higher maintenance cost. Although there are already effective methods of dealing with gusts, other extreme conditions should also be examined. More specifically, extreme turbulence conditions (e.g. those specified by design load case 1.3 in IEC61400-1 ed. 3) require special attention as they can lead to design-driving extreme loads on blades, tower and other wind turbine components. This paper examines two methods to deal with extreme loads in a case of extreme turbulent wind. One method is derating the turbine, the other method is an individual pitch control (IPC) algorithm. Derating of the turbine can be achieved in two ways, one is changing the rated torque, the other is changing the rated rotor speed. The effect of these methods on fatigue loads and extreme loads is examined. Non-linear aero-elastic simulations using Phatas, show that reducing the rated rotor speed is far more effective at reducing the loads than reducing torque. Then, the IPC algorithm is proposed. This algorithm is a linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller based on a time invariant model, defined in the fixed reference frame that includes the first tower and blade modes. Because this method takes the dynamics of the system into account more than conventional IPC control, it is expected that these loads dealt with more effectively, when they are particularly relevant. It is expected that in extreme turbulent the blade and tower dynamics are indeed more relevant. The effect of this algorithm on fatigue loads and pitch effort is examined and compared with the fatigue loads and pitch effort of reference IPC. Finally, the methods are compared in non-linear aero-elastic simulations with extreme turbulent wind

  14. Assessment and Optimization of Lidar Measurement Availability for Wind Turbine Control: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Davoust, S.; Jehu, A.; Bouillet, M.; Bardon, M.; Vercherin, B.; Scholbrock, A.; Fleming, P.; Wright, A.

    2014-05-01

    Turbine-mounted lidars provide preview measurements of the incoming wind field. By reducing loads on critical components and increasing the potential power extracted from the wind, the performance of wind turbine controllers can be improved [2]. As a result, integrating a light detection and ranging (lidar) system has the potential to lower the cost of wind energy. This paper presents an evaluation of turbine-mounted lidar availability. Availability is a metric which measures the proportion of time the lidar is producing controller-usable data, and is essential when a wind turbine controller relies on a lidar. To accomplish this, researchers from Avent Lidar Technology and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory first assessed and modeled the effect of extreme atmospheric events. This shows how a multirange lidar delivers measurements for a wide variety of conditions. Second, by using a theoretical approach and conducting an analysis of field feedback, we investigated the effects of the lidar setup on the wind turbine. This helps determine the optimal lidar mounting position at the back of the nacelle, and establishes a relationship between availability, turbine rpm, and lidar sampling time. Lastly, we considered the role of the wind field reconstruction strategies and the turbine controller on the definition and performance of a lidar's measurement availability.

  15. European wind turbine catalogue

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    The THERMIE European Community programme is designed to promote the greater use of European technology and this catalogue contributes to the fulfillment of this aim by dissemination of information on 50 wind turbines from 30 manufacturers. These turbines are produced in Europe and are commercially available. The manufacturers presented produce and sell grid-connected turbines which have been officially approved in countries where this approval is acquired, however some of the wind turbines included in the catalogue have not been regarded as fully commercially available at the time of going to print. The entries, which are illustrated by colour photographs, give company profiles, concept descriptions, measured power curves, prices, and information on design and dimension, safety systems, stage of development, special characteristics, annual energy production, and noise pollution. Lists are given of wind turbine manufacturers and agents and of consultants and developers in the wind energy sector. Exchange rates used in the conversion of the prices of wind turbines are also given. Information can be found on the OPET network (organizations recognised by the European Commission as an Organization for the Promotion of Energy Technologies (OPET)). An article describes the development of the wind power industry during the last 10-15 years and another article on certification aims to give an overview of the most well-known and acknowledged type approvals currently issued in Europe. (AB)

  16. Examination of forced unsteady separated flow fields on a rotating wind turbine blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huyer, S [Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (US)

    1993-04-01

    The wind turbine industry faces many problems regarding the construction of efficient and predictable wind turbine machines. Steady state, two-dimensional wind tunnel data are generally used to predict aerodynamic loads on wind turbine blades. Preliminary experimental evidence indicates that some of the underlying fluid dynamic phenomena could be attributed to dynamic stall, or more specifically to generation of forced unsteady separated flow fields. A collaborative research effort between the University of Colorado and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory was conducted to systematically categorize the local and global effects of three- dimensional forced unsteady flow fields.

  17. 3D WindScanner lidar measurements of wind and turbulence around wind turbines, buildings and bridges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikkelsen, T.; Sjöholm, M.; Angelou, N.; Mann, J.

    2017-12-01

    WindScanner is a distributed research infrastructure developed at DTU with the participation of a number of European countries. The research infrastructure consists of a mobile technically advanced facility for remote measurement of wind and turbulence in 3D. The WindScanners provide coordinated measurements of the entire wind and turbulence fields, of all three wind components scanned in 3D space. Although primarily developed for research related to on- and offshore wind turbines and wind farms, the facility is also well suited for scanning turbulent wind fields around buildings, bridges, aviation structures and of flow in urban environments. The mobile WindScanner facility enables 3D scanning of wind and turbulence fields in full scale within the atmospheric boundary layer at ranges from 10 meters to 5 (10) kilometers. Measurements of turbulent coherent structures are applied for investigation of flow pattern and dynamical loads from turbines, building structures and bridges and in relation to optimization of the location of, for example, wind farms and suspension bridges. This paper presents our achievements to date and reviews briefly the state-of-the-art of the WindScanner measurement technology with examples of uses for wind engineering applications.

  18. Genetic Algorithms in Wind Turbine Airfoil Design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grasso, F. [ECN Wind Energy, Petten (Netherlands); Bizzarrini, N.; Coiro, D.P. [Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Napoli ' Federico II' , Napoli (Italy)

    2011-03-15

    One key element in the aerodynamic design of wind turbines is the use of specially tailored airfoils to increase the ratio of energy capture to the loading and thereby to reduce cost of energy. This work is focused on the design of a wind turbine airfoil by using numerical optimization. Firstly, the optimization approach is presented; a genetic algorithm is used, coupled with RFOIL solver and a composite Bezier geometrical parameterization. A particularly sensitive point is the choice and implementation of constraints; in order to formalize in the most complete and effective way the design requirements, the effects of activating specific constraints are discussed. A numerical example regarding the design of a high efficiency airfoil for the outer part of a blade by using genetic algorithms is illustrated and the results are compared with existing wind turbine airfoils. Finally a new hybrid design strategy is illustrated and discussed, in which the genetic algorithms are used at the beginning of the design process to explore a wide domain. Then, the gradient based algorithms are used in order to improve the first stage optimum.

  19. Review of control algorithms for offshore wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spruce, C.J.; Markou, H.; Leithead, W.E.; Dominguez Ruiz, S.

    2005-07-01

    Innovative turbine control strategies could allow the improvements to cost and performance considered essential to reduce the cost of energy from offshore wind farms around the UK. This project reviewed and investigated the possibility for further development of a power control algorithm originally developed by NEG Micon Rotors Ltd for use with offshore wind turbines in the hope that more advanced algorithms would reduce the loads on, and hence the costs of, components such as the foundation/support structure, tower, blades and bedplate. Three models (simulation model, linearisation of the simulation model and control model) were produced in order to conduct the review. Application of these models produced the conclusion that the size of the latest generation of offshore wind turbines has now reached a level where performance is starting to be constrained by fundamental factors in the dynamics caused by the machine's physical size. It was also concluded that an ideal control strategy could achieve potential cost savings for the tower and support structure of 5-10% of the total cost of the turbine plus support structure. Further work to develop controllers to reduce loads in the tower and support structure is urged. The report considers non-linear simulation, the linear model, the control model, general operation of the controller, the drive train damping filter, torque control, pitch control and advanced algorithms, and makes detailed recommendations for future work.

  20. A Summary of the Fatigue Properties of Wind Turbine Materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    SUTHERLAND, HERBERT J.

    1999-10-07

    Modern wind turbines are fatigue critical machines that are typically used to produce electrical power from the wind. The materials used to construct these machines are subjected to a unique loading spectrum that contains several orders of magnitude more cycles than other fatigue critical structures, e.g., an airplane. To facilitate fatigue designs, a large database of material properties has been generated over the past several years that is specialized to materials typically used in wind turbines. In this paper, I review these fatigue data. Major sections are devoted to the properties developed for wood, metals (primarily aluminum) and fiberglass. Special emphasis is placed on the fiberglass discussion because this material is current the material of choice for wind turbine blades. The paper focuses on the data developed in the U.S., but cites European references that provide important insights.

  1. Partial Safety Factors for Fatigue Design of Wind Turbine Blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toft, Henrik Stensgaard; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2010-01-01

    In the present paper calibration of partial safety factors for fatigue design of wind turbine blades is considered. The stochastic models for the physical uncertainties on the material properties are based on constant amplitude fatigue tests and the uncertainty on Miners rule for linear damage...... accumulation is determined from variable amplitude fatigue tests with the Wisper and Wisperx spectra. The statistical uncertainty for the assessment of the fatigue loads is also investigated. The partial safety factors are calibrated for design load case 1.2 in IEC 61400-1. The fatigue loads are determined...... from rainflow-counting of simulated time series for a 5MW reference wind turbine [1]. A possible influence of a complex stress state in the blade is not taken into account and only longitudinal stresses are considered....

  2. Noise from wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andersen, B.; Larsen, P.

    1993-01-01

    Denmark has 3200 wind turbines with an installed maximum capacity of 418MW. The most important Danish research projects into wind turbine noise and the main results are listed. These date from 1983. Two comprehensive studies are currently in progress. The first is an analytical and empirical investigation of aerodynamic noise from wind turbine rotors and has so far dealt mainly with tip noise. The measurement method, using a hard board mounted microphone on the ground near the turbine, is described. Four different tip designs have been tested. Some examples of reference sound power level spectra for three of the designs are presented. During the past two years a computerbased data acquisition system has been used for real-time determination of sound power levels. The second study, which has just commenced, is on annoyance from wind turbine noise. It will include noise measurements, masking calculations and a social survey on the perceived nuisance. (UK)

  3. 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...

  4. Wind Turbine Acoustics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hubbard, Harvey H.; Shepherd, Kevin P.

    2009-01-01

    Wind turbine generators, ranging in size from a few kilowatts to several megawatts, are producing electricity both singly and in wind power stations that encompass hundreds of machines. Many installations are in uninhabited areas far from established residences, and therefore there are no apparent environmental impacts in terms of noise. There is, however, the potential for situations in which the radiated noise can be heard by residents of adjacent neighborhoods, particularly those neighborhoods with low ambient noise levels. A widely publicized incident of this nature occurred with the operation of the experimental Mod-1 2-MW wind turbine, which is described in detail elsewhere. Pioneering studies which were conducted at the Mod-1 site on the causes and remedies of noise from wind turbines form the foundation of much of the technology described in this chapter.

  5. Mixed H2/H∞ Pitch Control of Wind Turbine with a Markovian Jump Model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lin, Zhongwei; Liu, Jizhen; Wu, Qiuwei

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes a Markovian jump model and the corresponding H2 /H∞ control strategy for the wind turbine driven by the stochastic switching wind speed, which can be used to regulate the generator speed in order to harvest the rated power while reducing the fatigue loads on the mechanical side...... operating points of wind turbine can be divided into separate subregions correspondingly, where the model parameters and the control mode can be fixed in each mode. Then, the mixed H2 /H∞ control problem is discussed for such a class of Markovian jump wind turbine working above the rated wind speed...

  6. Wind turbine technology principles and design

    CERN Document Server

    Adaramola, Muyiwa

    2014-01-01

    IntroductionPart I: AerodynamicsWind Turbine Blade Design; Peter J. Schubel and Richard J. CrossleyA Shrouded Wind Turbine Generating High Output Power with Wind-Lens Technology; Yuji Ohya and Takashi KarasudaniEcomoulding of Composite Wind Turbine Blades Using Green Manufacturing RTM Process; Brahim AttafAerodynamic Shape Optimization of a Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine Using Differential Evolution; Travis J. Carrigan, Brian H. Dennis, Zhen X. Han, and Bo P. WangPart II: Generators and Gear Systems

  7. Upscaling wind turbines: theoretical and practical aspects and their impact on the cost of energy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sieros, G.; Chaviaropoulos, P.; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2012-01-01

    Wind turbines with a rated power of 5 to 6 MW are now being designed and installed, mostly for offshore operation. Within the EU supported UpWind research project, the barriers for a further increase of size, up to 20 MW, are considered. These wind turbines are expected to have a rotor diameter up......‐efficient way. Finally, a theoretical framework for optimal design of large wind turbines is developed. This is based on a life cycle cost approach, with the introduction of generic models for the costs, as functions of the design parameters and using basic upscaling laws adjusted for technology improvement...... to 250 m and a hub height of more than 150 m. Initially, the theoretical implications of upscaling to such sizes on the weight and loads of the wind turbines are examined, where it is shown that unfavourable increases in weight and load will have to be addressed. Following that, empirical models...

  8. Dynamic modeling and simulation of wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ghafari Seadat, M.H.; Kheradmand Keysami, M.; Lari, H.R.

    2002-01-01

    Using wind energy for generating electricity in wind turbines is a good way for using renewable energies. It can also help to protect the environment. The main objective of this paper is dynamic modeling by energy method and simulation of a wind turbine aided by computer. In this paper, the equations of motion are extracted for simulating the system of wind turbine and then the behavior of the system become obvious by solving the equations. The turbine is considered with three blade rotor in wind direction, induced generator that is connected to the network and constant revolution for simulation of wind turbine. Every part of the wind turbine should be simulated for simulation of wind turbine. The main parts are blades, gearbox, shafts and generator

  9. Model predictive control of a wind turbine modelled in Simpack

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jassmann, U; Matzke, D; Reiter, M; Abel, D; Berroth, J; Schelenz, R; Jacobs, G

    2014-01-01

    Wind turbines (WT) are steadily growing in size to increase their power production, which also causes increasing loads acting on the turbine's components. At the same time large structures, such as the blades and the tower get more flexible. To minimize this impact, the classical control loops for keeping the power production in an optimum state are more and more extended by load alleviation strategies. These additional control loops can be unified by a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) controller to achieve better balancing of tuning parameters. An example for MIMO control, which has been paid more attention to recently by wind industry, is Model Predictive Control (MPC). In a MPC framework a simplified model of the WT is used to predict its controlled outputs. Based on a user-defined cost function an online optimization calculates the optimal control sequence. Thereby MPC can intrinsically incorporate constraints e.g. of actuators. Turbine models used for calculation within the MPC are typically simplified. For testing and verification usually multi body simulations, such as FAST, BLADED or FLEX5 are used to model system dynamics, but they are still limited in the number of degrees of freedom (DOF). Detailed information about load distribution (e.g. inside the gearbox) cannot be provided by such models. In this paper a Model Predictive Controller is presented and tested in a co-simulation with SlMPACK, a multi body system (MBS) simulation framework used for detailed load analysis. The analysis are performed on the basis of the IME6.0 MBS WT model, described in this paper. It is based on the rotor of the NREL 5MW WT and consists of a detailed representation of the drive train. This takes into account a flexible main shaft and its main bearings with a planetary gearbox, where all components are modelled flexible, as well as a supporting flexible main frame. The wind loads are simulated using the NREL AERODYN v13 code which has been implemented as a routine

  10. Model predictive control of a wind turbine modelled in Simpack

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jassmann, U.; Berroth, J.; Matzke, D.; Schelenz, R.; Reiter, M.; Jacobs, G.; Abel, D.

    2014-06-01

    Wind turbines (WT) are steadily growing in size to increase their power production, which also causes increasing loads acting on the turbine's components. At the same time large structures, such as the blades and the tower get more flexible. To minimize this impact, the classical control loops for keeping the power production in an optimum state are more and more extended by load alleviation strategies. These additional control loops can be unified by a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) controller to achieve better balancing of tuning parameters. An example for MIMO control, which has been paid more attention to recently by wind industry, is Model Predictive Control (MPC). In a MPC framework a simplified model of the WT is used to predict its controlled outputs. Based on a user-defined cost function an online optimization calculates the optimal control sequence. Thereby MPC can intrinsically incorporate constraints e.g. of actuators. Turbine models used for calculation within the MPC are typically simplified. For testing and verification usually multi body simulations, such as FAST, BLADED or FLEX5 are used to model system dynamics, but they are still limited in the number of degrees of freedom (DOF). Detailed information about load distribution (e.g. inside the gearbox) cannot be provided by such models. In this paper a Model Predictive Controller is presented and tested in a co-simulation with SlMPACK, a multi body system (MBS) simulation framework used for detailed load analysis. The analysis are performed on the basis of the IME6.0 MBS WT model, described in this paper. It is based on the rotor of the NREL 5MW WT and consists of a detailed representation of the drive train. This takes into account a flexible main shaft and its main bearings with a planetary gearbox, where all components are modelled flexible, as well as a supporting flexible main frame. The wind loads are simulated using the NREL AERODYN v13 code which has been implemented as a routine to

  11. Wind Turbine Radar Cross Section

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Jenn

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The radar cross section (RCS of a wind turbine is a figure of merit for assessing its effect on the performance of electronic systems. In this paper, the fundamental equations for estimating the wind turbine clutter signal in radar and communication systems are presented. Methods of RCS prediction are summarized, citing their advantages and disadvantages. Bistatic and monostatic RCS patterns for two wind turbine configurations, a horizontal axis three-blade design and a vertical axis helical design, are shown. The unique electromagnetic scattering features, the effect of materials, and methods of mitigating wind turbine clutter are also discussed.

  12. Multi-component wind measurements of wind turbine wakes performed with three LiDARs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iungo, G. V.; Wu, Y.-T.; Porté-Agel, F.

    2012-04-01

    Field measurements of the wake flow produced from the interaction between atmospheric boundary layer and a wind turbine are performed with three wind LiDARs. The tested wind turbine is a 2 MW Enercon E-70 located in Collonges, Switzerland. First, accuracy of mean values and frequency resolution of the wind measurements are surveyed as a function of the number of laser rays emitted for each measurement. Indeed, measurements performed with one single ray allow maximizing sampling frequency, thus characterizing wake turbulence. On the other hand, if the number of emitted rays is increased accuracy of mean wind is increased due to the longer sampling period. Subsequently, two-dimensional measurements with a single LiDAR are carried out over vertical sections of the wind turbine wake and mean wake flow is obtained by averaging 2D measurements consecutively performed. The high spatial resolution of the used LiDAR allows characterizing in details velocity defect present in the central part of the wake and its downstream recovery. Single LiDAR measurements are also performed by staring the laser beam at fixed directions for a sampling period of about ten minutes and maximizing the sampling frequency in order to characterize wake turbulence. From these tests wind fluctuation peaks are detected in the wind turbine wake at blade top-tip height for different downstream locations. The magnitude of these turbulence peaks is generally reduced by moving downstream. This increased turbulence level at blade top-tip height observed for a real wind turbine has been already detected from previous wind tunnel tests and Large Eddy simulations, thus confirming the presence of a source of dangerous fatigue loads for following wind turbines within a wind farm. Furthermore, the proper characterization of wind fluctuations through LiDAR measurements is proved by the detection of the inertial subrange from spectral analysis of these velocity signals. Finally, simultaneous measurements with two

  13. Wake losses optimization of offshore wind farms with moveable floating wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodrigues, S.F.; Teixeira Pinto, R.; Soleimanzadeh, M.; Bosman, Peter A.N.; Bauer, P.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • We present a layout optimization framework for wind farms with moveable turbines. • Using moveable wind turbines in optimized layouts maximizes energy production. • Turbine and wind farm designers should cooperate to optimize offshore wind projects. - Abstract: In the future, floating wind turbines could be used to harvest energy in deep offshore areas where higher wind mean speeds are observed. Currently, several floating turbine concepts are being designed and tested in small scale projects; in particular, one concept allows the turbine to move after installation. This article presents a novel layout optimization framework for wind farms composed of moveable floating turbines. The proposed framework uses an evolutionary optimization strategy in a nested configuration which simultaneously optimizes the anchoring locations and the wind turbine position within the mooring lines for each individual wind direction. The results show that maximum energy production is obtained when moveable wind turbines are deployed in an optimized layout. In conclusion, the framework represents a new design optimization tool for future offshore wind farms composed of moveable floating turbines

  14. Vertical axis wind turbines : past initiatives and future prospects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Islam, M.; Fartaj, A.; Ting, D. [Windsor Univ., ON (Canada). Dept. of Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering

    2003-08-01

    Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) and Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) are the two categories of modern wind turbines used for producing electricity and pumping water. While their popularity declined in the 1970s and 1980s to more economical fossil fuel resources, many countries have expressed a renewed interest in wind power in response to environmental concerns and energy security. Renewable energy sources supply more than 14 per cent of the total global energy demand, and wind energy plays the biggest role. In 2002, more than $7 billion was invested in wind technology. Canada has been a leader in VAWT technology. In 1966, Engineers at the Low Speed Aerodynamics Laboratory of the National Research Council devised a VAWT configuration with non-adjustable hoop-shaped airfoils that had greater efficiency that conventional high-solidity VAWT. In the early 1980s, a multi-megawatt VAWT was built in Quebec under the auspices of the EOLE project. The EOLE is the largest VAWT in the world. In 1980, Canada's national Atlantic Wind Test Site was developed for the purpose of testing and developing wind technology. Research at this facility has focused on dynamically soft Darrieus rotors, a concept which can reduce structural loads. Early development has shown that although VAWT is slightly less efficient than HAWT, it can be built larger and more cost effectively. This paper presents the outstanding features of VAWT products including the Solwind SW 10/4800 series VAWT, the Chinook 2000 wind turbine, the Ropatec Windrotor, the Windside Turbine, the VAWTEX, the Windstar VAWT, and Windtec. 19 refs., 13 figs.

  15. Update on the Comparison of Second-Order Loads on a Tension Leg Platform for Wind Turbines: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gueydon, Sebastien; Jonkman, Jason

    2016-08-01

    In comparison to other kinds of floaters (like a spar or a semisubmersible), the tension leg platform has several notable advantages: its vertical motions are negligible, its weight is lighter, and its mooring system's footprint is smaller. Although a tension leg platform has a negligible response to first-order vertical wave loads, the second-order wave loads need to be addressed. This paper follows up on a verification study of second-order wave loads on a tension leg platform for wind turbines done by the Maritime Research Institute of The Netherlands and National Renewable Energy Laboratory and it brings some corrections to its conclusions.

  16. Airfoil characteristics for wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bak, C.; Fuglsang, P.; Sørensen, Niels N.

    1999-01-01

    Airfoil characteristics for use in the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) method calculating the forces on Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) are derived by use of systematic methods. The investigation and derivation of the airfoil characteristics are basedon four different methods: 1) Inverse momentum...... theory, 2) Actuator disc theory, 3) Numerical optimisation and 4) Quasi-3D CFD computations. The two former methods are based on 3D CFD computations and wind tunnel measurements on a 41-m full-scale rotorwith LM 19.1 blades. The derived airfoil characteristics show that the lift coefficient in stall...... to a commonly used set of airfoil characteristics. The numerical optimisation is based on both the 3D CFDcomputations and measurements on a 41-m rotor with LM 19.1 and LM 19.0 blades, respectively. The method requires power and loads from a turbine and is promising since a set of lift and drag curves is derived...

  17. The design of wind turbine for electrical power generation in Malaysian wind characteristics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abas Ab Wahab; Chong Wen Thong

    2000-01-01

    The paper describes the study of a wind turbine for electrical power generation in Malaysia wind characteristics. In this research, the wind turbine is designs based on the local wind characteristics and tries to avoid the problems faced in the past (turbine design, access, manpower and technical). The new wind turbine rotor design for a medium speed wind speed turbine utilises the concept of open-close type of horizontal axis (up-wind) wind turbine is intended to widen the optimum performance range for electrical generation in Malaysia wind characteristics. The wind turbine has been designed to cut-in at a lower speed, and to provide the rotation speed that high enough to run a generator. The analysis and design of new low speed wind turbine blades and open-close turbine rotor and prediction of turbine performance are being detailed in this paper. (Author)

  18. Control of wind turbines with 'Smart' rotors : Proof of concept & LPV subspace identification

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Wingerden, J.W.

    2008-01-01

    Active control is becoming more and more important for the wind energy community. If we compare the 'old' stall regulated turbines with today's individual pitch controlled turbines we see that the loads can be considerably reduced, leading to lighter or larger turbines. However, limited actuator

  19. Starting-up sequence of the AWEC-6 0 wind turbine; Secuencia de Arranaue del Aerogenerador AWEC-60

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Avia, F.; Cruz, M. de la

    1991-07-01

    One of the most critical status of the wind turbines operation is the starting-up sequence and the connection to the grid, due to the actuating loads that could be several times the loads during operation at rated conditions. Due to this fact, the control strategy is very important during the starting-up sequence in order to minimize the loads on the machine. For this purpose it is necessary to analyze the behaviour of the wind turbine during that sequence in different wind conditions and machine conditions This report shows the graphic Information about fifty starting-up sequences of the AWEC-60 wind turbine of 60 m diameter and 1200 kW of rated power, recorded in April 1991 and covering all the operation range between cut-in and cut-out wind speed. (Author) 2 refs.

  20. Evaluation of different turbine concepts for wind power

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eriksson, Sandra; Bernhoff, Hans; Leijon, Mats [Swedish Centre for Renewable Electric Energy Conversion, Division for Electricity and Lightning Research, Box 534, 751 21 Uppsala (Sweden)

    2008-06-15

    Every year the number of installed wind power plants in the world increases. The horizontal axis wind turbine is the most common type of turbine but there exist other types. Here, three different wind turbines are considered; the horizontal axis wind turbine and two different concepts of vertical axis wind turbines; the Darrieus turbine and the H-rotor. This paper aims at making a comparative study of these three different wind turbines from the most important aspects including structural dynamics, control systems, maintenance, manufacturing and electrical equipment. A case study is presented where three different turbines are compared to each other. Furthermore, a study of blade areas for different turbines is presented. The vertical axis wind turbine appears to be advantageous to the horizontal axis wind turbine in several aspects. (author)

  1. 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...

  2. 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.

  3. Power fluctuation and power loss of wind turbines due to wind shear and tower shadow

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Binrong WEN; Sha WEI; Kexiang WEI; Wenxian YANG; Zhike PENG; Fulei CHU

    2017-01-01

    The magnitude and stability of power output are two key indices of wind turbines.This study investigates the effects of wind shear and tower shadow on power output in terms of power fluctuation and power loss to estimate the capacity and quality of the power generated by a wind turbine.First,wind speed models,particularly the wind shear model and the tower shadow model,are described in detail.The widely accepted tower shadow model is modified in view of the cone-shaped towers of modem large-scale wind turbines.Power fluctuation and power loss due to wind shear and tower shadow are analyzed by performing theoretical calculations and case analysis within the framework of a modified version of blade element momentum theory.Results indicate that power fluctuation is mainly caused by tower shadow,whereas power loss is primarily induced by wind shear.Under steady wind conditions,power loss can be divided into wind farm loss and rotor loss.Wind farm loss is constant at 3α(3α-1)R2/(8H2).By contrast,rotor loss is strongly influenced by the wind turbine control strategies and wind speed.That is,when the wind speed is measured in a region where a variable-speed controller works,the rotor loss stabilizes around zero,but when the wind speed is measured in a region where the blade pitch controller works,the rotor loss increases as the wind speed intensifies.The results of this study can serve as a reference for accurate power estimation and strategy development to mitigate the fluctuations in aerodynamic loads and power output due to wind shear and tower shadow.

  4. Small Wind Turbine Installation Compatibility Demonstration Methodology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-01

    wind turbine (HAWT) and one 2.9-kW vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT), we planned to measure radar, acoustic and seismic, turbulence, bird and...non-issue for small turbines . The majority of studies of bat and bird interactions with wind turbines are for large turbines (BPA 2002; Whittam...et al. 2010). The majority of studies of bat and bird interactions with wind energy facil- ities are for utility-scale turbines (> 1 MW) with

  5. Megawatt wind turbines gaining momentum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oehlenschlaeger, K.; Madsen, B.T.

    1996-01-01

    Through the short history of the modern wind turbine, electric utilities have made it amply clear that they have held a preference for large scale wind turbines over smaller ones, which is why wind turbine builders through the years have made numerous attempts develop such machines - machines that would meet the technical, aesthetic and economic demands that a customer would require. Considerable effort was put into developing such wind turbines in the early 1980s. There was the U.S. Department of Energy's MOD 1-5 program, which ranged up to 3.2 MW, Denmark's Nibe A and B, 630 kW turbine and the 2 MW Tjaereborg machine, Sweden's Naesudden, 3 MW, and Germany's Growian, 3 MW. Most of these were dismal failures, though some did show the potential of MW technology. (au)

  6. Unsteady aerodynamics simulation of a full-scale horizontal axis wind turbine using CFD methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cai, Xin; Gu, Rongrong; Pan, Pan; Zhu, Jie

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • A full-scale HAWT is simulated under operational conditions of wind shear and yaw. • The CFD method and sliding mesh are adopted to complete the calculation. • Thrust and torque of blades reach the peak and valley at the same time in wind shear. • The wind turbine produces yaw moment during the whole revolution in yaw case. • The torques and thrusts of the three blades present cyclical changes. - Abstract: The aerodynamic performance of wind turbines is significantly influenced by the unsteady flow around the rotor blades. The research on unsteady aerodynamics for Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs) is still poorly understood because of the complex flow physics. In this study, the unsteady aerodynamic configuration of a full-scale HAWT is simulated with consideration of wind shear, tower shadow and yaw motion. The calculated wind turbine which contains tapered tower, rotor overhang and tilted rotor shaft is constructed by making reference of successfully commercial operated wind turbine designed by NEG Micon and Vestas. A validated CFD method is utilized to analyze unsteady aerodynamic characteristics which affect the performance on such a full-scale HAWT. The approach of sliding mesh is used to carefully deal with the interface between static and moving parts in the flow field. The annual average wind velocity and wind profile in the atmospheric border are applied as boundary conditions. Considering the effects of wind shear and tower shadow, the simulation results show that the each blade reaches its maximum and minimum aerodynamic loads almost at the same time during the rotation circle. The blade–tower interaction imposes great impact on the power output performance. The wind turbine produces yaw moment during the whole revolution and the maximum aerodynamic loads appear at the upwind azimuth in the yaw computation case.

  7. Wind Turbine With Concentric Ducts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muhonen, A. J.

    1983-01-01

    Wind Turbine device is relatively compact and efficient. Converging inner and outer ducts increase pressure difference across blades of wind turbine. Turbine shaft drives alternator housed inside exit cone. Suitable for installation on such existing structures as water towers, barns, houses, and commercial buildings.

  8. Grid support capabilities of wind turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Michalke, Gabriele; Hansen, Anca Daniela

    2013-01-01

    Wind power has gained a significant penetration level in several power systems all over the world. Due to this reason modern wind turbines are requested to contribute to power system support. Power system operators have thus introduced grid codes, which specify a set of requirements for wind...... turbines, such as fault ride-through and reactive power supply during voltage sags. To date different wind turbine concepts exist on the market comprising different control features in order to provide ancillary services to the power system. In the first place the present chapter emphasizes the most...... important issues related to wind power grid integration. Then different wind turbine concepts are characterized and their grid support capabilities are analysed and compared. Simulation cases are presented in which the respective wind turbine concepts are subjected to a voltage dip specified in a grid code....

  9. 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.

  10. Wind Turbine Acoustic Day 2018

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mogensen, Jesper; Søndergaard, Bo; Hünerbein, Sabine Von

    The bi-annual event entitled Wind Turbine Acoustic Day dealing with wind turbine noise issues organized by DTU Wind Energy took place on May, 17th 2018 as its third edition. The abstracts and slides for the presentations are reported....

  11. Guy cable design and damping for vertical axis wind turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carne, T. G.

    1981-01-01

    Guy cables are frequently used to support vertical axis wind turbines since guying the turbine reduces some of the structural requirements on the tower. The guys must be designed to provide both the required strength and the required stiffness at the top of the turbine. The axial load which the guys apply to the tower, bearings, and foundations is an undesirable consequence of using guys to support the turbine. Limiting the axial load so that it does not significantly affect the cost of the turbine is an important objective of the cable design. The lateral vibrations of the cables is another feature of the cable design which needs to be considered. These aspects of the cable design are discussed, and a technique for damping cable vibrations was mathematically analyzed and demonstrated with experimental data.

  12. Structural health and prognostics management for offshore wind turbines :

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Griffith, Daniel; Resor, Brian Ray; White, Jonathan Randall; Paquette, Joshua A.; Yoder, Nathanael C.

    2012-12-01

    Operations and maintenance costs for offshore wind plants are expected to be significantly higher than the current costs for onshore plants. One way in which these costs may be able to be reduced is through the use of a structural health and prognostic management system as part of a condition based maintenance paradigm with smart load management. To facilitate the creation of such a system a multiscale modeling approach has been developed to identify how the underlying physics of the system are affected by the presence of damage and how these changes manifest themselves in the operational response of a full turbine. The developed methodology was used to investigate the effects of a candidate blade damage feature, a trailing edge disbond, on a 5-MW offshore wind turbine and the measurements that demonstrated the highest sensitivity to the damage were the local pitching moments around the disbond. The multiscale method demonstrated that these changes were caused by a local decrease in the blades torsional stiffness due to the disbond, which also resulted in changes in the blades local strain field. Full turbine simulations were also used to demonstrate that derating the turbine power by as little as 5% could extend the fatigue life of a blade by as much as a factor of 3. The integration of the health monitoring information, conceptual repair cost versus damage size information, and this load management methodology provides an initial roadmap for reducing operations and maintenance costs for offshore wind farms while increasing turbine availability and overall profit.

  13. Design, Optimization and Analysis of Hydraulic Soft Yaw System for 5 MW Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stubkier, Søren; Pedersen, Henrik C.

    2011-01-01

    As wind turbines increase in size and the demands for lifetime also increases, new methods of load reduction needs to be examined. One method is to make the yaw system of the turbine soft/flexible and hence dampen the loads to the system, which is the focus of the current paper. The paper first p...... on the extrapolated loads, show that it is possible to construct a hydraulic soft yaw system, which is able to reduce the loads on the wind turbine significantly....... presents work previous done on this subject with focus on hydraulic yaw systems. By utilizing the HAWC2 aeroelastic code and an extended model of the NREL 5MW turbine combined with a simplified linear model of the turbine, the parameters of the soft yaw system are optimized. Results show that a significant...... reduction in fatigue and extreme loads to the yaw system and rotor shaft are possible, when utilizing the soft yaw drive concept compared to the original stiff yaw system. The physical demands of the hydraulic yaw system are furthermore examined for a life time of 20 years. The duty cycles, based...

  14. Wind Predictions Upstream Wind Turbines from a LiDAR Database

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soledad Le Clainche

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This article presents a new method to predict the wind velocity upstream a horizontal axis wind turbine from a set of light detection and ranging (LiDAR measurements. The method uses higher order dynamic mode decomposition (HODMD to construct a reduced order model (ROM that can be extrapolated in space. LiDAR measurements have been carried out upstream a wind turbine at six different planes perpendicular to the wind turbine axis. This new HODMD-based ROM predicts with high accuracy the wind velocity during a timespan of 24 h in a plane of measurements that is more than 225 m far away from the wind turbine. Moreover, the technique introduced is general and obtained with an almost negligible computational cost. This fact makes it possible to extend its application to both vertical axis wind turbines and real-time operation.

  15. Control of Next Generation Aircraft and Wind Turbines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frost, Susan

    2010-01-01

    The first part of this talk will describe some of the exciting new next generation aircraft that NASA is proposing for the future. These aircraft are being designed to reduce aircraft fuel consumption and environmental impact. Reducing the aircraft weight is one approach that will be used to achieve these goals. A new control framework will be presented that enables lighter, more flexible aircraft to maintain aircraft handling qualities, while preventing the aircraft from exceeding structural load limits. The second part of the talk will give an overview of utility-scale wind turbines and their control. Results of collaboration with Dr. Balas will be presented, including new theory to adaptively control the turbine in the presence of structural modes, with the focus on the application of this theory to a high-fidelity simulation of a wind turbine.

  16. 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.

  17. Type IV Wind Turbine Model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Anca Daniela; Margaris, Ioannis D.

    . In the project, this wind turbine model will be further incorporated in a wind power plant model together with the implementation in the wind power control level of the new control functionalities (inertial response, synchronising power and power system damping). For this purpose an aggregate wind power plant......This document is created as part of the EaseWind project. The goal of this project is to develop and investigate new control features for primary response provided by wind power plants. New control features as inertial response, synchronising power and power system damping are of interest to EaseWind...... project to be incorporated in the wind power plant level. This document describes the Type 4 wind turbine simulation model, implemented in the EaseWind project. The implemented wind turbine model is one of the initial necessary steps toward integrating new control services in the wind power plant level...

  18. 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....

  19. Wind power production: from the characterisation of the wind resource to wind turbine technologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beslin, Guy; Multon, Bernard

    2016-01-01

    Illustrated by graphs and tables, this article first describes the various factors and means related to the assessment of wind resource in the World, in Europe, and the factors which characterize a local wind resource. In this last respect, the authors indicate how local topography is taken into account to calculate wind speed, how time variations are taken into account (at the yearly, seasonal or daily level), the different methods used to model a local wind resource, how to assess the power recoverable by a wind turbine with horizontal axis (notion of Betz limit). In the second part, the authors present the different wind turbines, their benefits and drawbacks: vertical axis, horizontal axis (examples of a Danish-type wind turbine, of wind turbines designed for extreme conditions). Then, they address the technology of big wind turbines: evolution of technology and of commercial offer, aerodynamic characteristics of wind turbine and benefit of a varying speed (technological solutions, importance of the electric generator). They describe how to choose a wind turbine, how product lines are organised, how the power curve and energy capacity are determined. The issue of integration of wind energy into the power system is then addressed. The next part addressed the economy of wind energy production (annualized production cost, order of magnitude of wind electric power production cost). Future trends are discussed and offshore wind energy production is briefly addressed

  20. Frequency domain modeling and dynamic characteristics evaluation of existing wind turbine systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiang, Chih-Hung; Yu, Chih-Peng

    2016-04-01

    It is quite well accepted that frequency domain procedures are suitable for the design and dynamic analysis of wind turbine structures, especially for floating offshore wind turbines, since random wind loads and wave induced motions are most likely simulated in the frequency domain. This paper presents specific applications of an effective frequency domain scheme to the linear analysis of wind turbine structures in which a 1-D spectral element was developed based on the axially-loaded member. The solution schemes are summarized for the spectral analyses of the tower, the blades, and the combined system with selected frequency-dependent coupling effect from foundation-structure interactions. Numerical examples demonstrate that the modal frequencies obtained using spectral-element models are in good agreement with those found in the literature. A 5-element mono-pile model results in less than 0.3% deviation from an existing 160-element model. It is preliminarily concluded that the proposed scheme is relatively efficient in performing quick verification for test data obtained from the on-site vibration measurement using the microwave interferometer.

  1. Aero-hydro-elastic simulation platform for wave energy systems and floating wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kallesoee, B.S.

    2011-01-15

    This report present results from the PSO project 2008-1-10092 entitled Aero-Hydro-Elastic Simulation Platform for Wave Energy Systems and floating Wind Turbines that deals with measurements, modelling and simulations of the world's first combined wave and wind energy platform. The floating energy conversion platform, Poseidon, is owned and operated by Floating Power Plant A/S. The platform has been operating for two test periods; one period where it was operating as a wave energy conversion platform only and one period where the three turbines was mounted and the platform operated as a combined wind and wave energy platform. The PSO project has equipped the platform with comprehensive measurements equipment for measuring platform motion, wave and wind conditions and turbine loads. Data from the first test period has been used for determine if the turbine could be mounted on the platform. Preliminary analysis of data from the second test period indicates that the platform is suitable as wind turbine foundation and that the turbines reduce the platform motion. (Author)

  2. Controls of Hydraulic Wind Turbine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Yin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a hydraulic wind turbine generator system was proposed based on analysis the current wind turbines technologies. The construction and principles were introduced. The mathematical model was verified using MATLAB and AMsim. A displacement closed loop of swash plate of motor and a speed closed loop of generator were setup, a PID control is introduced to maintain a constant speed and fixed frequency at wind turbine generator. Simulation and experiment demonstrated that the system can connect grid to generate electric and enhance reliability. The control system demonstrates a high performance speed regulation and effectiveness. The results are great significant to design a new type hydraulic wind turbine system.

  3. Probabilistic Design of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Toft, H.S.

    2010-01-01

    Probabilistic design of wind turbines requires definition of the structural elements to be included in the probabilistic basis: e.g., blades, tower, foundation; identification of important failure modes; careful stochastic modeling of the uncertain parameters; recommendations for target reliability....... It is described how uncertainties in wind turbine design related to computational models, statistical data from test specimens, results from a few full-scale tests and from prototype wind turbines can be accounted for using the Maximum Likelihood Method and a Bayesian approach. Assessment of the optimal...... reliability level by cost-benefit optimization is illustrated by an offshore wind turbine example. Uncertainty modeling is illustrated by an example where physical, statistical and model uncertainties are estimated....

  4. Wind Turbine Generator System Safety and Function Test Report for the Entegrity EW50 Wind Turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, J.; Huskey, A.; Jager, D.; Hur, J.

    2012-11-01

    This report summarizes the results of a safety and function test that NREL conducted on the Entegrity EW50 wind turbine. This test was conducted in accordance with the International Electrotechnical Commissions' (IEC) standard, Wind Turbine Generator System Part 2: Design requirements for small wind turbines, IEC 61400-2 Ed.2.0, 2006-03.

  5. On damage detection in wind turbine gearboxes using outlier analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antoniadou, Ifigeneia; Manson, Graeme; Dervilis, Nikolaos; Staszewski, Wieslaw J.; Worden, Keith

    2012-04-01

    The proportion of worldwide installed wind power in power systems increases over the years as a result of the steadily growing interest in renewable energy sources. Still, the advantages offered by the use of wind power are overshadowed by the high operational and maintenance costs, resulting in the low competitiveness of wind power in the energy market. In order to reduce the costs of corrective maintenance, the application of condition monitoring to gearboxes becomes highly important, since gearboxes are among the wind turbine components with the most frequent failure observations. While condition monitoring of gearboxes in general is common practice, with various methods having been developed over the last few decades, wind turbine gearbox condition monitoring faces a major challenge: the detection of faults under the time-varying load conditions prevailing in wind turbine systems. Classical time and frequency domain methods fail to detect faults under variable load conditions, due to the temporary effect that these faults have on vibration signals. This paper uses the statistical discipline of outlier analysis for the damage detection of gearbox tooth faults. A simplified two-degree-of-freedom gearbox model considering nonlinear backlash, time-periodic mesh stiffness and static transmission error, simulates the vibration signals to be analysed. Local stiffness reduction is used for the simulation of tooth faults and statistical processes determine the existence of intermittencies. The lowest level of fault detection, the threshold value, is considered and the Mahalanobis squared-distance is calculated for the novelty detection problem.

  6. Gravo-Aeroelastic Scaling for Extreme-Scale Wind Turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fingersh, Lee J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Loth, Eric [University of Virginia; Kaminski, Meghan [University of Virginia; Qin, Chao [University of Virginia; Griffith, D. Todd [Sandia National Laboratories

    2017-06-09

    A scaling methodology is described in the present paper for extreme-scale wind turbines (rated at 10 MW or more) that allow their sub-scale turbines to capture their key blade dynamics and aeroelastic deflections. For extreme-scale turbines, such deflections and dynamics can be substantial and are primarily driven by centrifugal, thrust and gravity forces as well as the net torque. Each of these are in turn a function of various wind conditions, including turbulence levels that cause shear, veer, and gust loads. The 13.2 MW rated SNL100-03 rotor design, having a blade length of 100-meters, is herein scaled to the CART3 wind turbine at NREL using 25% geometric scaling and blade mass and wind speed scaled by gravo-aeroelastic constraints. In order to mimic the ultralight structure on the advanced concept extreme-scale design the scaling results indicate that the gravo-aeroelastically scaled blades for the CART3 are be three times lighter and 25% longer than the current CART3 blades. A benefit of this scaling approach is that the scaled wind speeds needed for testing are reduced (in this case by a factor of two), allowing testing under extreme gust conditions to be much more easily achieved. Most importantly, this scaling approach can investigate extreme-scale concepts including dynamic behaviors and aeroelastic deflections (including flutter) at an extremely small fraction of the full-scale cost.

  7. Simulation platform to model, optimize and design wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Iov, F.; Hansen, A.D.; Soerensen, P.; Blaabjerg, F.

    2004-03-01

    This report is a general overview of the results obtained in the project 'Electrical Design and Control. Simulation Platform to Model, Optimize and Design Wind Turbines'. The motivation for this research project is the ever-increasing wind energy penetration into the power network. Therefore, the project has the main goal to create a model database in different simulation tools for a system optimization of the wind turbine systems. Using this model database a simultaneous optimization of the aerodynamic, mechanical, electrical and control systems over the whole range of wind speeds and grid characteristics can be achieved. The report is structured in six chapters. First, the background of this project and the main goals as well as the structure of the simulation platform is given. The main topologies for wind turbines, which have been taken into account during the project, are briefly presented. Then, the considered simulation tools namely: HAWC, DIgSILENT, Saber and Matlab/Simulink have been used in this simulation platform are described. The focus here is on the modelling and simulation time scale aspects. The abilities of these tools are complementary and they can together cover all the modelling aspects of the wind turbines e.g. mechanical loads, power quality, switching, control and grid faults. However, other simulation packages e.g PSCAD/EMTDC can easily be added in the simulation platform. New models and new control algorithms for wind turbine systems have been developed and tested in these tools. All these models are collected in dedicated libraries in Matlab/Simulink as well as in Saber. Some simulation results from the considered tools are presented for MW wind turbines. These simulation results focuses on fixed-speed and variable speed/pitch wind turbines. A good agreement with the real behaviour of these systems is obtained for each simulation tool. These models can easily be extended to model different kinds of wind turbines or large wind

  8. 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....

  9. Lightning protection of wind turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soerensen, T; Brask, M H [DEFU (Denmark); Jensen, F V; Raben, N [SEAS (Denmark); Saxov, J [Nordjyllandsvaerket (Denmark); Nielsen, L [Vestkraft (Denmark); Soerensen, P E [Risoe National Lab. (Denmark)

    1999-03-01

    Lightning damage to wind turbines is a serious problem for Danish power companies, who have experienced some cases with very costly lightning damage and a large number of cases with minor damage. The most costly cases include one catastrophic damage to an entire wind turbine, and several cases of destruction of blades, main bearings, generators and control systems. Over the years there have been several hundreds of cases with minor damage - typically damage and interruptions of the control and communication systems, or the power systems. The Danish power companies anticipate that the lightning threat will be even bigger for the large off-shore wind turbine installations that are currently being planned in Denmark. Furthermore, it is known from the off-shore wind turbines at Vindeby in Denmark that the costs of inspection and particularly repair work must be expected to be much higher off-shore as compared to wind turbines on land. These considerations was the background for a two year project concerned with investigation of lighting damages and with the formulation of a DEFU Recommendation for lightning protection of wind turbines, which was published in January 1999. The project was funded by the Danish power companies Elsam, Eltra, Elkraft and by DEFU. (au)

  10. Probabilistic Fatigue Analysis of Jacket Support Structures for Offshore Wind Turbines Exemplified on Tubular Joints

    OpenAIRE

    Kelma, Sebastian; Schaumann, Peter

    2015-01-01

    The design of offshore wind turbines is usually based on the semi-probabilistic safety concept. Using probabilistic methods, the aim is to find an advanced structural design of OWTs in order to improve safety and reduce costs. The probabilistic design is exemplified on tubular joints of a jacket substructure. Loads and resistance are considered by their respective probability distributions. Time series of loads are generated by fully-coupled numerical simulation of the offshore wind turbine. ...

  11. Effect of operating methods of wind turbine generator system on net power extraction under wind velocity fluctuations in fields

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wakui, Tetsuya; Yamaguchi, Kazuya; Hashizume, Takumi [Waseda Univ., Advanced Research Inst. for Science and Engineering, Tokyo (Japan); Outa, Eisuke [Waseda Univ., Mechanical Engineering Dept., Tokyo (Japan); Tanzawa, Yoshiaki [Nippon Inst. of Technology, Mechanical Engineering Dept., Saitama (Japan)

    1999-01-01

    The effect of how a wind turbine generator system is operated is discussed from the viewpoint of net power extraction with wind velocity fluctuation in relation to the scale and the dynamic behaviour of the system. On a wind turbine generator system consisting of a Darrieus-Savonius hybrid wind turbine, a load generator and a battery, we took up two operating methods: constant tip speed ratio operation for a stand-alone system (Scheme 1) and synchronous operation by connecting a grid (Scheme 2). With our simulation model, using the result of the net extracting power, we clarified that Scheme 1 is more effective than Scheme 2 for small-scale systems. Furthermore, in Scheme 1, the appropriate rated power output of the system under each wind condition can be confirmed. (Author)

  12. Importance of Dynamic Inflow Model Predictive Control of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Odgaard, Peter Fogh; Knudsen, Torben; Overgaard, Anders

    2015-01-01

    The efficiency of including dynamic inflow in the model based design of wind turbine controller has been discussed for many years in the wind energy community with out getting to a safe conclusion. This paper delivers a good argument in favor of including dynamic inflow. The main contributions...... pronounces. For this the well accepted NREL 5MW reference turbine simulated with FAST is used. The main result is a reduction in tower fatigue load at 22% while power error, rotor speed error, generator torque and pitch rate is improved from 2 to 33%....

  13. Analysis of Power Enhancement for a Row of Wind Turbines Using the Actuator Line Technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mikkelsen, Robert; Soerensen, Jens N; Oeye, Stig; Troldborg, Niels

    2007-01-01

    The effect of wake interaction for a row of three wind turbines in a wind farm is analysed using the actuator line technique. Both full wake and half wake situations are considered with the aim of deriving the optimal pitch setting of the foremost turbine, with respect to the total power from the row. The mutual distance between the turbines is 5 diameters and the turbines are considered to operate in a wind shear with an exponent of 0.15, with the rotor centre located at 1.4 radii from the ground. The main findings reveal clear effects of reducing the loading on the foremost turbine towards increased production of turbine 2 and 3 in a row

  14. Wind turbines fundamentals, technologies, application, economics

    CERN Document Server

    Hau, Erich

    2013-01-01

    "Wind Turbines" addresses all those professionally involved in research, development, manufacture and operation of wind turbines. It provides a cross-disciplinary overview of modern wind turbine technology and an orientation in the associated technical, economic and environmental fields.  In its revised third edition, special emphasis has been given to the latest trends in wind turbine technology and design, such as gearless drive train concepts, as well as on new fields of application, in particular the offshore utilisation of wind energy. The author has gained experience over decades designing wind energy converters with a major industrial manufacturer and, more recently, in technical consulting and in the planning of large wind park installations, with special attention to economics.

  15. Small power wind turbine (Type DARRIEUS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcel STERE

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available This presentation focuses on the calculation for small vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT for an urban application. The fixed-pitch straight – bladed vertical axis wind turbine (SB-VAWT is one of the simplest types of wind turbine and accepts wind from any angle (no yaw system. This turbine is useful for moderate wind speeds (3 - 6 m/s. A case study is presented based upon the use of well documented symmetrical NACA 0012 turbine blade profile. We describe a solution for VAWT. To perform a linear static analysis in the structure, the commercial finite element analysis code ANSYS is used because of its flexibility for handling information in files written in a more or less free format.

  16. Noise from wind turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andersen, B.; Jakobsen, J.

    1992-11-01

    Based on a previous project concerning the calculation of the amount of noise emanating from wind turbine arrays, this one examines the subject further by investigating whether there could be significant differences in the amount of noise made by individual wind turbines in an array, and whether the noise is transmitted in varying directions - so that when it is carried in the same direction as the wind blows it would appear to be louder. The aim was also to determine whether the previously used method of calculation lacked precision. It was found that differences in noise niveaux related to individual wind turbines were insignificant and that noise was not so loud when it was not borne in the direction of the wind. It was necessary to change the method of calculation as reckoning should include the influence of the terrain, wind velocity and distance. The measuring and calculation methods are exemplified and the resulting measurements are presented in detail. (AB)

  17. Wind speed reductions by large-scale wind turbine deployments lower turbine efficiencies and set low wind power potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Lee; Kleidon, Axel

    2017-04-01

    Wind turbines generate electricity by removing kinetic energy from the atmosphere. Large numbers of wind turbines are likely to reduce wind speeds, which lowers estimates of electricity generation from what would be presumed from unaffected conditions. Here, we test how well wind power potentials that account for this effect can be estimated without explicitly simulating atmospheric dynamics. We first use simulations with an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM) that explicitly simulates the effects of wind turbines to derive wind power limits (GCM estimate), and compare them to a simple approach derived from the climatological conditions without turbines [vertical kinetic energy (VKE) estimate]. On land, we find strong agreement between the VKE and GCM estimates with respect to electricity generation rates (0.32 and 0.37 We m-2) and wind speed reductions by 42 and 44%. Over ocean, the GCM estimate is about twice the VKE estimate (0.59 and 0.29 We m-2) and yet with comparable wind speed reductions (50 and 42%). We then show that this bias can be corrected by modifying the downward momentum flux to the surface. Thus, large-scale limits to wind power can be derived from climatological conditions without explicitly simulating atmospheric dynamics. Consistent with the GCM simulations, the approach estimates that only comparatively few land areas are suitable to generate more than 1 We m-2 of electricity and that larger deployment scales are likely to reduce the expected electricity generation rate of each turbine. We conclude that these atmospheric effects are relevant for planning the future expansion of wind power.

  18. More power and less loads in wind farms. 'Heat and flux'

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Corten, G.P.; Schaak, P. [ECN Wind Energy, Petten (Netherlands)

    2004-11-01

    We consider a farm as a single energy extracting body instead of a superposition of individual energy extractors, i.e. wind turbines. As a result we found two new hypotheses called Heat and Flux. Both hypotheses reveal that the classical operation of turbines in a wind farm at the Lanchester-Betz optimum does not lead to maximum farm output. However, when the turbines at the windward side of the farm are operated below their optimum, then the power of the turbines under the lee increases in such a way that the net farm production increases slightly. Next to this production advantage of Heat and Flux operation there is also a loading advantage. The average axial loading of the upwind turbines of a farm is reduced in a 'Heat and Flux'-farm. As a result those turbines generate less turbines so that the fatigue loads of the downwind turbines reduce too. The results were confirmed by in a boundary layer tunnel by means of differential measurements between a 'Heat and Flux'-farm and a classical farm.

  19. On the Fatigue Analysis of Wind Turbines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sutherland, Herbert J.

    1999-06-01

    Modern wind turbines are fatigue critical machines that are typically used to produce electrical power from the wind. Operational experiences with these large rotating machines indicated that their components (primarily blades and blade joints) were failing at unexpectedly high rates, which led the wind turbine community to develop fatigue analysis capabilities for wind turbines. Our ability to analyze the fatigue behavior of wind turbine components has matured to the point that the prediction of service lifetime is becoming an essential part of the design process. In this review paper, I summarize the technology and describe the ''best practices'' for the fatigue analysis of a wind turbine component. The paper focuses on U.S. technology, but cites European references that provide important insights into the fatigue analysis of wind turbines.

  20. Market for wind turbines in italy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    Wind power utilization in Italy has not been very popular until the privatization of the ENEL and introduction of subsidies for private electricity producers. The greatest interest is concentrated around large wind turbines. Therefore the Danish manufacturers with know-how within large wind turbines can establish themselves on the Italian market. Cooperation with one of the four local wind turbine manufacturers is advisable. (EG)