Development and Validation of a Modal Analysis Code for Wind Turbine Blades

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Lennie ◽  
David Marten ◽  
Georgios Pechlivanoglou ◽  
Christian Navid Nayeri ◽  
Christian Oliver Paschereit
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Modal Analysis ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Simulation Tool ◽  
Euler Beam ◽  
Integration Methods ◽  
Beam Elements

QBlade is an open source wind turbine design and simulation tool developed at the Berlin Institute of Technology. To enable a coupling with the aeroelastic simulation tool FAST from NREL an aditional module, called QFEM, was created and integrated with QBlade. This module performs a modal analysis on rotor blades designed in QBlade using isotropic tapered Euler Beam elements. The newly developed module now provides structural properties to the National Renewable Energy Laboratorys aeroelasticity simulation tool FAST. The 2D structural properties of the beam elements are created using integration methods. A number of test cases show that the 2D integration methods and beam element code work with adaquete accuracy. The integration of the modal analysis code greatly facilitates the structural design and analysis of rotor blades and will be made available to the public under an open source license.

scholarly journals A Robot-Assisted Large-Scale Inspection of Wind Turbine Blades in Manufacturing Using an Autonomous Mobile Manipulator

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 9271
Author(s):  
Heiko Engemann ◽  
Patrick Cönen ◽  
Harshal Dawar ◽  
Shengzhi Du ◽  
Stephan Kallweit
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Mobile Manipulator ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Planning Strategy ◽  
Execution Strategy

Wind energy represents the dominant share of renewable energies. The rotor blades of a wind turbine are typically made from composite material, which withstands high forces during rotation. The huge dimensions of the rotor blades complicate the inspection processes in manufacturing. The automation of inspection processes has a great potential to increase the overall productivity and to create a consistent reliable database for each individual rotor blade. The focus of this paper is set on the process of rotor blade inspection automation by utilizing an autonomous mobile manipulator. The main innovations include a novel path planning strategy for zone-based navigation, which enables an intuitive right-hand or left-hand driving behavior in a shared human–robot workspace. In addition, we introduce a new method for surface orthogonal motion planning in connection with large-scale structures. An overall execution strategy controls the navigation and manipulation processes of the long-running inspection task. The implemented concepts are evaluated in simulation and applied in a real-use case including the tip of a rotor blade form.

scholarly journals Aerodynamics and Modal Analysis for the Combined Vane type Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.38) ◽  
pp. 1395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kadhim H. Suffer ◽  
Yassr Y. Kahtan ◽  
Zuradzman M. Razlan
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Modal Analysis ◽  
Natural Frequencies ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Mode Shapes ◽  
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine ◽  
Ansys Fluent ◽  
Starting Torque

The present global energy economy suggests the use of renewable sources such as solar, wind, and biomass to produce the required power. The vertical axis wind turbine is one of wind power applications. Usually, when the vertical axis wind turbine blades are designed from the airfoil, the starting torque problem begins. The main objective of this research is to numerically simulate the combination of movable vanes of a flat plate with the airfoil in a single blade configuration to solve the starting torque problem. CFD analysis in ANSYS-FLUENT and structural analysis in ANSYS of combined blade vertical axis wind turbine rotor has been undertaken. The first simulation is carried out to investigations the aerodynamic characteristic of the turbine by using the finite volume method. While the second simulation is carried out with finite element method for the modal analysis to find the natural frequencies and the mode shape in order to avoid extreme vibration and turbine failure, the natural frequencies, and their corresponding mode shapes are studied and the results were presented with damping and without damping for four selected cases. The predicted results show that the static pressure drop across the blade increase in the active blade side because of the vanes are fully closed and decrease in the negative side because of the all the vanes are fully open. The combined blade helps to increase turbine rotation and so, thus, the power of the turbine increases. While the modal results show that until the 5th natural frequency the effect of damping can be neglected. The predicted results show agreement with those reported in the literature for VAWT with different blade designs.   

Modal Analysis of Wind Turbine Blades Based on ANSYS Modeling

2013 ◽  
Vol 790 ◽  
pp. 655-658
Author(s):  
Chi Chen ◽  
Min Wang ◽  
Long Zou
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Modal Analysis ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Dynamic Characteristics ◽  
Natural Vibration ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Mode Shapes ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine ◽  
Basic Parameters

The modal analysis is an approximate method to study the dynamic characteristics of the structure, the modal is the natural vibration characteristics of the structure, each modal has a specific natural frequency, damping ratios and mode shapes. This thesis will take 1.2MW horizontal axis wind turbine blade for example, and use parametric language APDL of ANSYS for directly modeling, then set the basic parameters of the material, mesh and discuss modal analysis, lastly conduct a detailed analysis of the results.

scholarly journals Damage tolerance and structural monitoring for wind turbine blades

2015 ◽  
Vol 373 (2035) ◽  
pp. 20140077 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. McGugan ◽  
G. Pereira ◽  
B. F. Sørensen ◽  
H. Toftegaard ◽  
K. Branner
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Damage Tolerance ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Tolerance Index ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Efficient Operation ◽  
Reliable Design

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.

scholarly journals Enhancement of Free Vortex Filament Method for Aerodynamic Loads on Rotor Blades

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamidreza Abedi ◽  
Lars Davidson ◽  
Spyros Voutsinas
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Boundary Layer Separation ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Free Vortex ◽  
Irrotational Flow ◽  
Aerodynamic Loads ◽  
Operational Conditions ◽  
Turbine Rotor Blade

The aerodynamics of a wind turbine is governed by the flow around the rotor, where the prediction of air loads on rotor blades in different operational conditions and its relation to rotor structural dynamics is one of the most important challenges in wind turbine rotor blade design. Because of the unsteady flow field around wind turbine blades, prediction of aerodynamic loads with high level of accuracy is difficult and increases the uncertainty of load calculations. A free vortex wake method, based on the potential, inviscid and irrotational flow, is developed to study the aerodynamic loads. Since it is based on the potential, inviscid and irrotational flow, it cannot be used to predict viscous phenomena such as drag and boundary layer separation. Therefore it must be coupled to the tabulated airfoil data to take the viscosity effects into account. The results are compared with the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) [1] method and the GENUVP code [2] (see also the acknowledgments).

scholarly journals Flutter Behavior of Highly Flexible Two- and Three-bladed Wind Turbine Rotors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayank Chetan ◽  
Shulong Yao ◽  
D. Todd Griffith
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Structural Design ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Flutter Speed ◽  
Cost Of Energy ◽  
Manufacturing Technologies

Abstract. With the progression of novel design, material, and manufacturing technologies, the wind energy industry has successfully produced larger and larger wind turbine rotor blades while driving down the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). Though the benefits of larger turbine blades are appealing, larger blades are prone to aero-elastic instabilities due to their long, slender, highly flexible nature, and this effect is accentuated as rotors further grow in size. In addition to the trend of larger rotors, new rotor concepts are emerging including two-bladed rotors and downwind configurations. In this work, we introduce a comprehensive evaluation of flutter behavior including classical flutter, edgewise vibration, and flutter mode characteristics for two-bladed, downwind rotors. Flutter speed trends and characteristics for a series of both two- and three-bladed rotors are analyzed and compared in order to illustrate the flutter behavior of two-bladed rotors relative to more well-known flutter characteristics of three-bladed rotors. In addition, we examine the important problem of blade design to mitigate flutter and present a solution to mitigate flutter in the structural design process. A study is carried out evaluating the effect of leading edge and trailing edge reinforcement on flutter speed and hence demonstrates the ability to increase the flutter speed and satisfy structural design requirements (such as fatigue) while maintaining or even reducing blade mass.

Influence of Tip Shroud Modeling on the Flutter Stability of a Low Pressure Turbine Rotor

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Pinelli ◽  
Federico Vanti ◽  
Andrea Arnone ◽  
Benjamin Beßling ◽  
Damian M. Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Modal Analysis ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Linear Method ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Contact Interface ◽  
Aerodynamic Damping ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Tip Shroud

Abstract Since the modern design trend of low pressure turbine blades for aeronautical propulsion leads to lighter and more loaded blades, thus prone to flutter induced vibrations; flutter assessment is now a standard verification within the design loop of these components. Flutter stability assessment requires FEM and CFD tools able to predict the pressure response of fluid flow due to blade oscillation in order to compute the aerodynamic damping. Such tools are mature and validated, yet some geometrical aspects of the blade-row as contact interfaces at the blade tip shroud have to be carefully simulated to obtain accurate flutter results. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the capability of the Open Source FEM tool (CalculiX) to deal with complex interlocked rotor geometries when performing modal analysis and to show the influence of different contact interface modeling on flutter stability. The solid mesh of a single-pitch row sector has been generated by using the Open Source suite Salome and the modal analysis has been carried out with CalculiX with cyclic symmetry conditions. The following uncoupled flutter simulations have been performed with the CFD TRAF code, an in-house solver developed at the University of Florence, which implements a non-linear method for flutter evaluation. An in-depth comparison among the FEM models with different boundary conditions in terms of mode shape frequency and aerodynamic damping curves are reported. These results show the effect of different contact interface models, especially on the first bending mode family, and confirm the overall row stability detected during a dedicated experimental flutter campaign.

scholarly journals Experimental Investigation of Finite Aspect Ratio Cylindrical Bodies for Accelerated Wind Applications

Fluids ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Parker ◽  
Douglas Bohl
Keyword(s):  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Cylindrical Body ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Flow Speed ◽  
The Body ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Smooth Cylinder

The placement of a cylindrical body in a flow alters the velocity and pressure fields resulting in a local increase in the flow speed near the body. This interaction is of interest as wind turbine rotor blades could be placed in the area of increased wind speed to enhance energy harvesting. In this work the aerodynamic performance of two short aspect ratio (AR = 0.93) cylindrical bodies was evaluated for potential use in “accelerated wind” applications. The first cylinder was smooth with a constant diameter. The diameter of the second cylinder varied periodically along the span forming channels, or corrugations, where wind turbine blades could be placed. Experiments were performed for Reynolds numbers ranging from 1 × 105 to 9 × 105. Pressure distributions showed that the smooth cylinder had lower minimum pressure coefficients and delayed separation compared to the corrugated cylinder. Velocity profiles showed that the corrugated cylinder had lower peak speeds, a less uniform profile, and lower kinetic energy flux when compared to the smooth cylinder. It was concluded that the smooth cylinder had significantly better potential performance in accelerated wind applications than the corrugated cylinder.

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