Numerical Modeling of the Effects of Leading-Edge Erosion and Trailing-Edge Damage on Wind Turbine Loads and Performance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Papi ◽  
Lorenzo Cappugi ◽  
Alessandro Bianchini ◽  
Sebastian Perez-Becker
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Prolonged Exposure ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Extreme Loads ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Wind turbines often operate in challenging environmental conditions. In hot and dusty climates, wind turbine blades are constantly exposed to abrasive particles that, according to many field reports, cause significant damages to the blade’s leading edge. On the other hand, in cold climates similar effects can be caused by prolonged exposure to hail and rain. Quantifying the effects of airfoil deterioration on modern multi-MW wind turbines is crucial to correctly schedule maintenance and to forecast the potential impact on productivity. Analyzing the impact of airfoil damage on fatigue and extreme loading is also important to improve the reliability and longevity of wind turbines. However, this is a topic that has not yet been extensively investigated. In this work, a blade erosion model is developed and calibrated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The DTU 10MW Reference Wind Turbine (RWT) is selected as the case study for the analysis, as it is representative of the typical size of the future generation wind turbines. Lift and Drag polars are generated using the developed model and a CFD numerical set-up. Power and torque coefficients are compared in idealized conditions at two wind speeds, i.e. the rated speed and one below it. Full aero-servo-elastic simulations of the turbine are conducted with the eroded polars using NREL’s BEM-based code OpenFAST. Sixty-six ten-minute simulations are performed for each stage of airfoil damage, reproducing operating conditions specified by the IEC 61400-1 power production DLC-group, including wind shear, yaw misalignment and turbulence. Performance data, fatigue and extreme loads are compared for the aeroelastic simulations, showing maximum decreases in CP of about 12% as well as reductions in fatigue and extreme loading.

Numerical Modeling of the Effects of Leading-Edge Erosion and Trailing-Edge Damage on Wind Turbine Loads and Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Papi ◽  
Lorenzo Cappugi ◽  
Sebastian Perez-Becker ◽  
Alessandro Bianchini
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Prolonged Exposure ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Lift And Drag ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Wind turbines operate in challenging environmental conditions. In hot and dusty climates, blades are constantly exposed to abrasive particles that, according to many field reports, cause significant damages to the leading edge. On the other hand, in cold climates similar effects can be caused by prolonged exposure to hail and rain. Quantifying the effects of airfoil deterioration on modern multi-MW wind turbines is crucial to correctly schedule maintenance and to forecast the potential impact on productivity. Analyzing the impact of damage on fatigue and extreme loading is also important to improve the reliability and longevity of wind turbines. In this work, a blade erosion model is developed and calibrated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU) 10 MW Reference Wind Turbine is selected as the case study, as it is representative of the future generation wind turbines. Lift and Drag polars are generated using the developed model and a CFD numerical setup. Power and torque coefficients are compared in idealized conditions at two wind speeds, i.e., the rated speed and one below it. Full aero-servo-elastic simulations of the turbine are conducted with the eroded polars using NREL's BEM-based code OpenFAST. Sixty-six 10-min simulations are performed for each stage of airfoil damage, reproducing operating conditions specified by the IEC 61400-1 power production DLC-group, including wind shear, yaw misalignment, and turbulence. Aeroelastic simulations are analyzed, showing maximum decreases in CP of about 12% as well as reductions in fatigue and extreme loading.

scholarly journals Brief communication: Nowcasting of precipitation for leading-edge-erosion-safe mode

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 977-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Maria Tilg ◽  
Charlotte Bay Hasager ◽  
Hans-Jürgen Kirtzel ◽  
Poul Hummelshøj
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Phase ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Theoretical Considerations ◽  
Mode A ◽  
Precipitation Events

Abstract. Leading-edge erosion (LEE) of wind turbine blades is caused by the impact of hydrometeors, which appear in a solid or liquid phase. A reduction in the wind turbine blades' tip speed during defined precipitation events can mitigate LEE. To apply such an erosion-safe mode, a precipitation nowcast is required. Theoretical considerations indicate that the time a raindrop needs to fall to the ground is sufficient to reduce the tip speed. Furthermore, it is described that a compact, vertically pointing radar that measures rain at different heights with a sufficiently high spatio-temporal resolution can nowcast rain for an erosion-safe mode.

scholarly journals A NEW ACTIVE CONTROL STRATEGY FOR WIND-TURBINE BLADES UNDER OFF-DESIGN CONDITIONS

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 283-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
RI-KUI ZHANG ◽  
JIE-ZHI WU ◽  
SHI-YI CHEN
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Active Control ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Delta Wings ◽  
Control Units ◽  
Shaft Torque ◽  
Active Control Strategy

A new active control strategy for wind-turbine blades under off-design conditions has been investigated in this paper. According to our previous work, in comparison with the traditional straight leading-edge blade, a new kind of bionic blades with a sinusoidal leading edge can significantly enhance the turbine's power output at high speed inflows. However, the wavy leading-edge shape is unfavorable under the design operating conditions since an early boundary-layer separation is inevitable for a wind-turbine blade because of the geometric disturbances of the leading-edge tubercles. But for the present active control, the deflect in wavy leading-edge blades can be eliminated by introducing a series of small flat delta wings as the control units, since delta wings can also generate powerful leading-edge vortices. As a preliminary test, our numerical results show that, the shaft-torque fluctuation in the turbine's stall region can be improved from 27.8% for a straight leading-edge blade (no control) to 8.9% for the present active control; and by adjusting the control parameters, the control units nearly have not any negative effect on the blade's shaft torque under the design conditions. We believe that, as an auxiliary tool of the conventional control strategies, the present active control approach may be favorable to generate a more stable and more controllable power output for wind turbines under all operating conditions (even in the yawed inflows).

Modeling of Rain Drop Erosion in a Multi-MW Wind Turbine

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Corsini ◽  
Alessio Castorrini ◽  
Enrico Morei ◽  
Franco Rispoli ◽  
Fabrizio Sciulli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine ◽  
Relevant Effect ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Rain Erosion

The actual strategy in offshore wind energy development is oriented to the progressive increase of the turbine diameter as well as the per unit power. Among many pioneering technological and aerodynamic issues linked to this design trend, the wind velocity at the blade tip region reaches very high values in normal operating conditions (typically between 90 to 110 m/s). In this range of velocity, the rain erosion phenomenon can have a relevant effect on the overall turbine performance in terms of power and energy production (up to 20% loss in case of deeply eroded leading edge). Therefore, as a customary approach erosion related issues are accounted for in the scheduling of the wind turbine maintenance. When offshore, on the other hand, the criticalities inherent to the cost of maintenance and operation monitoring suggest the rain erosion concerns to be tackled at the turbine design stage. In so doing, the use of computational tools to study the erosion phenomenon of wind turbines under severe meteorological conditions could define the base-line approach in the wind turbine blades design and verification. In this work, the authors present a report on numerical prediction of erosion on a 6 MW HAWT (horizontal axis wind turbine). Two different blade geometries of different aerodynamic loading, have been studied in a view to explore their sensitivity to rain erosion. The fully 3D simulations are carried out using an Euler-Lagrangian approach. Flow field simulations are carried out with the open-source code OpenFOAM, based on a finite volume approach, using Multiple Reference Frame methodology. Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible steady flow were solved with a k-ε turbulence. An in-house code (P-Track) is used to compute the rain drops transport and dispersion, adopting the Particle Cloud Tracking approach (PCT), already validated on large industrial turbomachinery. At the impact on blade, erosion is modelled accounting for the main quantities affecting the phenomenon, which are impact velocity and material properties of the target surface. Results provide the regions of the two blades more sensitive to erosion, and the effect of the blade geometry on erosion attitude.

Design and Evaluation of a Rooftop Wind Turbine Rotor With Untwisted Blades

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayem Zafar ◽  
Mohamed Gadalla
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Angle Of Attack ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Small Wind Turbines ◽  
Wind Turbine Rotor

A small horizontal axis wind turbine rotor was designed and tested with aerodynamically efficient, economical and easy to manufacture blades. Basic blade aerodynamic analysis was conducted using commercially available software. The blade span was constrained such that the complete wind turbine can be rooftop mountable with the envisioned wind turbine height of around 8 m. The blade was designed without any taper or twist to comply with the low cost and ease of manufacturing requirements. The aerodynamic analysis suggested laminar flow airfoils to be the most efficient airfoils for such use. Using NACA 63-418 airfoil, a rectangular blade geometry was selected with chord length of 0.27[m] and span of 1.52[m]. Glass reinforced plastic was used as the blade material for low cost and favorable strength to weight ratio with a skin thickness of 1[mm]. Because of the resultant velocity changes with respect to the blade span, while the blade is rotating, an optimal installed angle of attack was to be determined. The installed angle of attack was required to produce the highest possible rotation under usual wind speeds while start at relatively low speed. Tests were conducted at multiple wind speeds with blades mounted on free rotating shaft. The turbine was tested for three different installed angles and rotational speeds were recorded. The result showed increase in rotational speed with the increase in blade angle away from the free-stream velocity direction while the start-up speeds were found to be within close range of each other. At the optimal angle was found to be 22° from the plane of rotation. The results seem very promising for a low cost small wind turbine with no twist and taper in the blade. The tests established that non-twisted wind turbine blades, when used for rooftop small wind turbines, can generate useable electrical power for domestic consumption. It also established that, for small wind turbines, non-twisted, non-tapered blades provide an economical yet productive alternative to the existing complex wind turbine blades.

Development of wireless bird collision monitoring system using 0-3 piezoelectric composite sensor on wind turbine blades

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (17) ◽  
pp. 3426-3435
Author(s):  
Sang-Hyeon Kang ◽  
Lae-Hyong Kang
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Monitoring System ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Piezoelectric Composite ◽  
Collision Rate ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
The Impact

Over the past several decades, wind turbines have been established as one of the promising renewable energy systems for safe and clean energy collection. In order to collect more energy efficiently, the size of wind turbines has been increased and many wind farms have been constructed. Wind farms generate lots of energy, but they cause several side effects, such as noise and a threat to wildlife. It is reported that the bird collision rate of a wind turbine ranges from 0.01 to 23 annually. It is more serious in the case of rare and endangered birds. In order to monitor the effect on birds in wind farms, researchers have developed remote sensing technology for a detection apparatus using heat and radar. In addition, paint color and other variables have been studied regarding their effects on the collision rate. However, the existing methods are passive ways to prevent bird collision or just monitor bird conditions. Therefore, in this study, we propose a bird collision monitoring system that can detect where the bird collision occurred, which will aid in rescuing the birds. If the wind turbine blade has its own ability to capture an impact signal, the impact location can be easily detected, and the birds can be rescued. For this purpose, piezoelectric paint was applied to the wind turbine blades used in this study. The piezoelectric paint is also known as 0-3 piezoelectric composite, which is composed of piezoelectric particles and polymer resin. It is sensitive to high-frequency signals such as impacts, so it is suitable for monitoring bird collision signals. In order to amplify and transmit the impact signal from the rotating blade to a stationary base, a wireless transmission device using a ZigBee module and signal conditioning circuit was also installed. Through lab-scale tests, it was confirmed that this bird collision monitoring system shows a 100% bird collision detection rate.

Impact of Blade Flexibility on Wind Turbine Loads and Pitch Settings

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinge Chen ◽  
Xin Shen ◽  
Xiaocheng Zhu ◽  
Zhaohui Du
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Aerodynamic Force ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Beam Theory ◽  
Power Production ◽  
Aerodynamic Loads ◽  
Operational Conditions ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Geometrically Exact Beam ◽  
The Impact

Along with the upscaling tendency, lighter and so more flexible wind turbine blades are introduced for reducing cost of manufacture and materials. The flexible blade deforms under aerodynamic loads and in turn affects the flow field, arising the aero-elastic problems. In this paper, the impact of blade flexibility on the wind turbine loads, power production, and pitch actions is discussed. An aeroelastic model is developed for the study. A free wake vortex lattice model is used to calculate the aerodynamic loads, and a geometrically exact beam theory is adopted to compute the structural dynamics of the blade. The flap, lead-lag bending and torsion DOFs are all included and nonlinear effects due to large deflections are considered. The NREL 5MW reference wind turbine is analyzed. Influences of pure-bending and bending-torsion deformations of the blade on aerodynamic loads are compared. The aerodynamic force distributions under various wind speeds for rigid and flexible blades are also compared. The steady state deformations across the operational conditions are calculated, along with the rotor power production. Significant reduction of power is seen especially under large wind speeds, due to the blade twist deformations under torsion moments. Lower pitch angle settings should be applied to maintain the constant power.

Analysing and Optimizing the Aerodynamic Performance of Wind Turbine Blades Using Injected-Air Jets at Variable Frequency and Amplitude for Flow Control

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu Hong ◽  
Huo Fupeng ◽  
Chen Zuoyi
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Lift Coefficient ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Angle Of Attack ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Suction Surface ◽  
Air Jet

Optimum aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine blade demands that the angle of attack of the relative wind on the blade remains at its optimum value. For turbines operating at constant speed, a change in wind speed causes the angle of attack to change immediately and the aerodynamic performance to decrease. Even with variable speed rotors, intrinsic time delays and inertia have similar effects. Improving the efficiency of wind turbines under variable operating conditions is one of the most important areas of research in wind power technology. This paper presents findings of an experimental study in which an oscillating air jet located at the leading edge of the suction surface of an aerofoil was used to improve the aerodynamic performance. The mean air-mass flowing through the jet during each sinusoidal period of oscillation equalled zero; i.e. the jet both blew and sucked. Experiments investigated the effects of the frequency, momentum and location of the jet stream, and the profile of the turbine blade. The study shows significant increase in the lift coefficient, especially in the stall region, under certain conditions. These findings may have important implications for wind turbine technology.

scholarly journals Modelling Rain Drop Impact of Offshore Wind Turbine Blades

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. Keegan ◽  
D. H. Nash ◽  
M. M. Stack
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Impact Damage ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Erosion Testing ◽  
Software Modelling ◽  
The Impact

The effects of rain and hail erosion and impact damage on the leading edge of offshore wind turbine blades have been investigated. A literature review was conducted to establish the effects of exposure to these conditions and also to investigate the liquid impact phenomena and their implications for leading edge materials. The role of Explicit Dynamics software modelling in simulating impact events was then also established. Initial rain impact modelling is then discussed with the results showing good agreement with theoretical predictions both numerically and with respect to the temporal and spatial development of the impact event. Future development of the rain model and a proposed hail model are then detailed. Planned rain impact and erosion testing work is addressed which will be used to validate, inform and compliment the ongoing modelling efforts.

scholarly journals Comparing the Effect of Rotor Tilt Angle on Performance of Floating Offshore and Fixed Tower Wind Turbines

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Wongsakorn Wisatesajja ◽  
Wirachai Roynarin ◽  
Decha Intholo
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Tilt Angle ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Angle Of Attack ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Floating Platform ◽  
Optimal Position ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Floating Offshore Wind Turbines

The development of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWTs) aims to improve the potential performance of the wind turbine. However, a problem arises due to the angle of tilt from the wind flow and the floating platform, which leads to a vertical misalignment of the turbine axis, thereby reducing the available blade area and lowering the capacity to capture energy. To address this problem, this paper seeks to compare the influence of the rotor tilt angle on wind turbine performance between fixed tower wind turbines and FOWTs. The models used in the experiments have R1235 airfoil blades of diameter 84 cm. The experiment was analyzed using a wind tunnel and mathematical modelling techniques. Measurements were obtained using an angle meter, anemometer and tachometer. Testing involved wind speeds ranging from 2 m/s to 5.5 m/s, and the rotational speeds of the two turbine designs were compared. The study found that the rotational speeds of the FOWTs were lower than those of the fixed tower turbines. Moreover, at tilt angles from 3.5° – 6.1° there was a loss in performance which varied between 22% and 32% at different wind speeds. The tilt angle had a significant effect upon FOWTs due to the angle of attack was continuously changing, thus altering the optimal position of the turbine blades. This changing angle of attack caused the effective area of the rotor blade to change, leading to a reduction in power output at suboptimal angles. The study finally makes recommendations for future studies.

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