scholarly journals Effect of Platform Motion on Aerodynamic Performance and Aeroelastic Behavior of Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Blades

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 2519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim ◽  
Kwon

In the present study, a numerical framework for predicting the aerodynamic performance and the aeroelastic behavior of floating offshore wind turbine rotor blades involving platform motion was developed. For this purpose, the aerodynamic and structural analyses were conducted simultaneously in a tightly coupled manner by exchanging the information about the aerodynamic loads and the elastic blade deformations at every time step. The elastic behavior of the turbine rotor blades was described by adopting a structural model based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam. The aerodynamic loads by the rotor blades were evaluated by adopting a blade element momentum theory. The numerical simulations were conducted when the platform of the wind turbine independently moves in each of the six degrees-of-freedom directions consisting of heave, sway, surge, roll, pitch, and yaw. It was observed that flexible blades exhibit complicated vibratory behaviors when they are excited by the aerodynamic, inertia, and gravitational forces simultaneously. It was found that the load variation caused by the platform surge or pitch motion has a significant influence on the flapwise and torsional deformations of the rotor blades. The torsional deformation mainly occurs in the nose-down direction, and results in a reduction of the aerodynamic loads. It was also found that the flapwise root bending moment is mainly influenced by the platform surge and pitch motions. On the other hand, the edgewise bending moment is mostly dictated by the gravitational force, but is not affected much by the platform motion.

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishnamoorthi Sivalingam ◽  
Steven Martin ◽  
Abdulqadir Singapore Wala

Aerodynamic performance of a floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) is significantly influenced by platform surging motions. Accurate prediction of the unsteady aerodynamic loads is imperative for determining the fatigue life, ultimate loads on key components such as FOWT rotor blades, gearbox and power converter. The current study examines the predictions of numerical codes by comparing with unsteady experimental results of a scaled floating wind turbine rotor. The influence of platform surge amplitude together with the tip speed ratio on the unsteady aerodynamic loading has been simulated through unsteady CFD. It is shown that the unsteady aerodynamic loads of FOWT are highly sensitive to the changes in frequency and amplitude of the platform motion. Also, the surging motion significantly influences the windmill operating state due to strong flow interaction between the rotating blades and generated blade-tip vortices. Almost in all frequencies and amplitudes, CFD, LR-BEM and LR-uBEM predictions of mean thrust shows a good correlation with experimental results.


Author(s):  
Krishnamoorthi Sivalingam ◽  
Steven Martin ◽  
Abdulqadir Aziz Singapore Wala

Aerodynamic performance of a floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) is significantly influenced by platform surging motions. Accurate prediction of the unsteady aerodynamic loads is imperative for determining the fatigue life, ultimate loads on key components such as FOWT rotor blades, gearbox and power converter. The current study examines the predictions of numerical codes by comparing with unsteady experimental results of a scaled floating wind turbine rotor. The influence of platform surge amplitude together with the tip speed ratio on the unsteady aerodynamic loading has been simulated through unsteady CFD. It is shown that the unsteady aerodynamic loads of FOWT are highly sensitive to the changes in frequency and amplitude of the platform motion. Also, the surging motion significantly influences the windmill operating state due to strong flow interaction between the rotating blades and generated blade-tip vortices. Almost in all frequencies and amplitudes, CFD, LR-BEM and LR-uBEM predictions of mean thrust shows a good correlation with experimental results.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Pustina ◽  
Claudio Pasquali ◽  
Jacopo Serafini ◽  
Claudio Lugni ◽  
Massimo Gennaretti

Abstract Among the renewable energy technologies, offshore wind energy is expected to provide a significant contribution for the achievement of the European Renewable Energy (RE) targets for the next future. In this framework, the increase of generated power combined with the alleviation of vibratory loads achieved by application of suitable advanced control systems can lead to a beneficial LCOE (Levelized Cost Of Energy) reduction. This paper defines a control strategy for increasing floating offshore wind turbine lifetime through the reduction of vibratory blade and hub loads. To this purpose a Proportional-Integral (PI) controller based on measured blade-root bending moment feedback provides the blade cyclic pitch to be actuated. The proportional and integral gain matrices are determined by an optimization procedure whose objective is the alleviation of the vibratory loads due to a wind distributed linearly on the rotor disc. This control synthesis process relies on a linear, state-space, reduced-order model of the floating offshore wind turbine derived from aero-hydroelastic simulations provided by the open-source tool OpenFAST. In addition to the validation of the proposed controller, the numerical investigation based on OpenFAST predictions examines also the corresponding control effort, influence on platform dynamics and expected blade lifetime extension. The outcomes show that, as a by-product of the alleviation of the vibratory out-of-plane bending moment at the blade root, significant reductions of both cumulative blade lifetime damage and sway and roll platform motion are achieved, as well. The maximum required control power is less than 1% of the generated power.


Author(s):  
Xianping Du ◽  
Laurent Burlion ◽  
Onur Bilgen

Abstract This paper aims to demonstrate the application of control co-design methodology for the rotor blades of a floating offshore wind turbine. A 10 MW reference wind turbine model is utilized in the co-design framework. In this paper, the coupling effect between the system, defined by the pre-cone angle, and the controller, defined by pitch angle, is analyzed with a parametric study. The system parameters of the blade are identified by exciting the system with a step input, and by using the step response. The identified model is used to demonstrate the coupling effects of the structural parameters. The control co-design process is implemented to reduce the blade root bending moment by controlling the pitch angle as a function of the pre-cone angle. Utilizing the 10 MW reference model, the proposed control co-design method can reduce the blade root bending moment and attenuate transverse vibrations faster than the original design. Compared to a sequentially designed controller, the co-design demonstrated reduction of the blade root bending moment with similar attenuation time.


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