scholarly journals Aero-elastic Wind Turbine Design with Active Flaps for AEP Maximization

Author(s):  
Michael K. McWilliam ◽  
Thanasis K. Barlas ◽  
Helge A. Madsen ◽  
Frederik Zahle

Abstract. In optimal wind turbine design, there is a compromise between maximizing the energy producing forces and minimizing the absolute peak loads carried by the structures. Active flaps are an attractive strategy because they give engineers greater freedom to vary the aerodynamic forces under any condition. Flaps can be used in a variety of different ways (i.e. reducing fatigue, peak loads etc.), however this article focuses on how quasi-static actuation as a function of mean wind speed can be used for Annual Energy Production (AEP) maximization. Numerical design optimization of the DTU 10 MW Reference Wind Turbine (RWT), with the HAWTOpt2 framework, was used to both find the optimal flap control strategy and the optimal turbine designs. The research shows that active flaps can provide a 1 % gain in AEP for aero-structurally optimized blades in both add-on (i.e. the flap is added after the blade is designed) and integrated (i.e. the blade design and flap angle is optimized together) solutions. The results show that flaps are complementary to passive load alleviation because they provide high-order alleviation, where passive strategies only provide linear alleviation with respect to average wind speed. However, the changing loading from the flaps further complicates the design of torsionally active blades, thus, integrated design methods are needed to design these systems.

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael K. McWilliam ◽  
Thanasis K. Barlas ◽  
Helge A. Madsen ◽  
Frederik Zahle

Abstract. In optimal wind turbine design, there is a compromise between maximizing the energy producing forces and minimizing the absolute peak loads carried by the structures. Active flaps are an attractive strategy because they give engineers greater freedom to vary the aerodynamic forces under any condition. Flaps can be used in a variety of different ways (i.e. reducing fatigue, peak loads), but this article focuses on how quasi-static actuation as a function of mean wind speed can be used for annual energy production (AEP) maximization. Numerical design optimization of the DTU 10 MW reference wind turbine (RWT), with the HAWTOpt2 framework, was used to both find the optimal flap control strategy and the optimal turbine designs. The research shows that active flaps can provide a 1 % gain in AEP for aero-structurally optimized blades in both add-on (i.e. the flap is added after the blade is designed) and integrated (i.e. the blade design and flap angle is optimized together) solutions. The results show that flaps are complementary to passive load alleviation because they provide high-order alleviation, where passive strategies only provide linear alleviation with respect to average wind speed. However, the changing loading from the flaps further complicates the design of torsionally active blades; thus, integrated design methods are needed to design these systems.


Author(s):  
S. G. Ignatiev ◽  
S. V. Kiseleva

Optimization of the autonomous wind-diesel plants composition and of their power for guaranteed energy supply, despite the long history of research, the diversity of approaches and methods, is an urgent problem. In this paper, a detailed analysis of the wind energy characteristics is proposed to shape an autonomous power system for a guaranteed power supply with predominance wind energy. The analysis was carried out on the basis of wind speed measurements in the south of the European part of Russia during 8 months at different heights with a discreteness of 10 minutes. As a result, we have obtained a sequence of average daily wind speeds and the sequences constructed by arbitrary variations in the distribution of average daily wind speeds in this interval. These sequences have been used to calculate energy balances in systems (wind turbines + diesel generator + consumer with constant and limited daily energy demand) and (wind turbines + diesel generator + consumer with constant and limited daily energy demand + energy storage). In order to maximize the use of wind energy, the wind turbine integrally for the period in question is assumed to produce the required amount of energy. For the generality of consideration, we have introduced the relative values of the required energy, relative energy produced by the wind turbine and the diesel generator and relative storage capacity by normalizing them to the swept area of the wind wheel. The paper shows the effect of the average wind speed over the period on the energy characteristics of the system (wind turbine + diesel generator + consumer). It was found that the wind turbine energy produced, wind turbine energy used by the consumer, fuel consumption, and fuel economy depend (close to cubic dependence) upon the specified average wind speed. It was found that, for the same system with a limited amount of required energy and high average wind speed over the period, the wind turbines with lower generator power and smaller wind wheel radius use wind energy more efficiently than the wind turbines with higher generator power and larger wind wheel radius at less average wind speed. For the system (wind turbine + diesel generator + energy storage + consumer) with increasing average speed for a given amount of energy required, which in general is covered by the energy production of wind turbines for the period, the maximum size capacity of the storage device decreases. With decreasing the energy storage capacity, the influence of the random nature of the change in wind speed decreases, and at some values of the relative capacity, it can be neglected.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhavana Valeti ◽  
Shamim N. Pakzad

Rotor blades are the most complex structural components in a wind turbine and are subjected to continuous cyclic loads of wind and self-weight variation. The structural maintenance operations in wind farms are moving towards condition based maintenance (CBM) to avoid premature failures. For this, damage prognosis with remaining useful life (RUL) estimation in wind turbine blades is necessary. Wind speed variation plays an important role influencing the loading and consequently the RUL of the structural components. This study investigates the effect of variable wind speed between the cutin and cut-out speeds of a typical wind farm on the RUL of a damage detected wind turbine blade as opposed to average wind speed assumption. RUL of wind turbine blades are estimated for different initial crack sizes using particle filtering method which forecasts the evolution of fatigue crack addressing the non-linearity and uncertainty in crack propagation. The stresses on a numerically simulated life size onshore wind turbine blade subjected to the above wind speed loading cases are used in computing the crack propagation observation data for particle filters. The effects of variable wind speed on the damage propagation rates and RUL in comparison to those at an average wind speed condition are studied and discussed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Weijun Wang ◽  
Stéphane Caro ◽  
Fouad Bennis ◽  
Oscar Roberto Salinas Mejia

The aim of designing wind turbine blades is to improve the power capture ability. Since rotor control technology is currently limited to controlling rotational speed and blade pitch, an increasing concern has been given to morphing blades. In this paper, a simplified morphing blade is introduced, which has a linear twist distribution along the span and a shape that can be controlled by adjusting the twist of the blade's root and tip. To evaluate the performance of wind turbine blades, a numerical code based on the blade element momentum theory is developed and validated. The blade of the NREL Phase VI wind turbine is taken as a reference blade and has a fixed pitch. The optimization problems associated with the control of the morphing blade and a blade with pitch control are formulated. The optimal results show that the morphing blade gives better results than the blade with pitch control in terms of produced power. Under the assumption that at a given site, the annual average wind speed is known and the wind speed follows a Rayleigh distribution, the annual energy production of wind turbines was evaluated for three types of blade, namely, morphing blade, blade with pitch control and fixed pitch blade. For an annual average wind speed varying between 5 m/s and 15 m/s, it turns out that the annual energy production of the wind turbine containing morphing blades is 24.5% to 69.7% higher than the annual energy production of the wind turbine containing pitch fixed blades. Likewise, the annual energy production of the wind turbine containing blades with pitch control is 22.7% to 66.9% higher than the annual energy production of the wind turbine containing pitch fixed blades.


Teknomekanik ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-56
Author(s):  
Mulyadi Mulyadi ◽  
Hasanuddin Hasanuddin ◽  
Waskito Waskito ◽  
Syahrul Syahrul

The dual rotor wind turbine is a wind turbine which has horizontal and vertical sides. The data obtained in the form of average wind speed, the speed of rotation of the horizontal and vertical vanes. Researchers want to create simulations of multi rotor blade performance on the horizontal side using Ansys application version 18.0. The purpose of this research is looking at changes in wind speed on the outlet area with wind speed sign at the inlet area is 4 m/s. Researchers want to see maximum wind pressure at the inlet area, pressure on the area of the blade, the pressure at the outlet area. The results obtained show that the wind speed in the area of the inlet is of 4 m/s changed to 3.99237 m/s at area outlets. Maximum pressure in the inlet area is of 0.133612 Pa. turn into 457,528 Pa. area blade windmills, to the outlet pressure area turn into 0 Pa.


Author(s):  
A. A. Yahaya ◽  
I. M. Bello ◽  
N. Mudassir ◽  
I. Mohammed ◽  
M. I. Mukhtar

One of the major developments in the technology today is the wind turbine that generates electricity and feed it directly to the grid which is used in many part of the world. The main purpose of this work is to determine the wind potential for electricity generation in Aliero, Kebbi state. Five years Data (2014-2018) was collected from the metrological weather station (Campell Scientific Model), the equipment installed at Kebbi State University of Science And Technology Aliero The data was converted to monthly and annual averages, and compared with the threshold average wind speed values that can only generate electricity in both vertical and horizontal wind turbines. The highest average wind speed 2.81 m/s was obtained in the month of January and the minimum average wind speed of 1.20 m/s in the month of October. Mean annual wind speed measured in the study area shows that there has been an increase in the wind speed from 2014 which peaked in 2015 and followed by sudden decrease to a minimum seasonal value in the year 2016. The highest wind direction is obtained from the North North-East (NNE) direction. From the results of wind power density it shows that we have highest wind power density in month of January and December with  0.8635 w/ m2 and 0.8295 w/ m2 respectively, while lowest wind power density in the month of October and September with 0.6780 w/ m2 and 0.6575 w/ m2  respectively. Result of the type Wind Turbine to be selected in the study area shows that the site is not viable for power generation using a horizontal wind turbine but the vertical wind turbine will be suitable for the generation of electricity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-28
Author(s):  
D. Daskalaki ◽  
J. Fantidis ◽  
P. Kogias

The evaluation of a small 3kW wind turbine through the net metering scheme is studied in this article. 14 near to sea locations in Greece examined with the help of the RetScreen expert software. The simulations based on electrical, financial and environmental criteria. Siros with average wind speed of 6.93 m/s is the most attractive area while Iraklion is the least attractive location. According to the results the simulated project is already economically sound and a small wind turbine in the Greek islands will become a progressively an even more financially source of electricity in Greece. Finally yet importantly is the fact that the use of small wind turbines has as a result that significant amount of Greenhouse gases do not reradiate into the topical atmosphere.


2014 ◽  
Vol 521 ◽  
pp. 113-116
Author(s):  
Hong Xin Sun ◽  
Tao Yu ◽  
Xiu Yong Wang

It is seriously different about characteristics of the mean wind speed between a deep gorge and plains, because of the deck of Aizhai bride to deep gorge bottom up to 335m. Characteristics of the mean wind speed in the deep gorge at the Aizhai bridge site are investigated based on field measurement using three 2D anemometers. The plan of field measurement was induced, and the wind speed, fluctuating wind speed and the 10min average wind speed with 10 days as a unit was analyzed. It if found that wind direction is basically consistent with the gorge toward. Based on the Wind-Resistant Design code, the surface roughness coefficients was fitted about 0.29, and very close to D class of the wind code.


Author(s):  
Weijun Wang ◽  
Stéphane Caro ◽  
Fouad Bennis ◽  
Oscar Roberto Salinas Mejia

The aim of designing the wind turbine blades is to improve the power capture ability. Since the rotor control technology is currently limited to controlling the rotor rotational speed and the pitch of the blades, an increasing concern has been given to the morphing blades. In this paper, a simplified morphing blade is introduced, which has a linear twisted distribution along the span and its shape can be controlled by adjusting the root twisted angle and the tip twisted angle of the blade. Moreover, to evaluate the performances of the wind turbine blades, a numerical code based on the blade element momentum theory is developed and validated. The blade of the NREL Phase VI wind turbine is taken as a reference blade, and the optimization problems associated with the morphing blade and pitch control blade are both formulated. The optimal results show that the morphing blade gives better results than the pitch control blade in terms of produced power. Under the assumption that in a given site, the annual average wind speed is known and the wind speed follows the Rayleigh distribution, we can evaluate the annual energy produced by these three blade types. While the annual average wind speed varies from 5 m/s to 15 m/s, the results show that the optimal morphing blade can increase 23.9 percent to 71.4 percent in annual energy production while the optimal pitch control blade can increase 22.5 percent to 67.4 percent in annual energy production, over the existing twisted pitch fixed blade.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1008-1009 ◽  
pp. 164-168
Author(s):  
Fa Ming Wu ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Dian Wang ◽  
Jia Bao Jing

This paper analyzes three main factors (turbulence intensity, air density, annual average wind speed ) that influence the low wind speed wind turbine fatigue loads, In order to analyze the influence of each main parameters how to affect the fatigue load of low wind speed wind turbine, using a 2000kW wind turbine as an example on the simulation test , 3 turbulence, 4 air density and 7 annual average wind speed were employed. The results show that, with the air density, turbulence intensity and the annual average wind speed increases, the wind turbine of fatigue load increase in rule approximately. Based on the above rule, it can reduce fatigue loads and prolong the life of wind turbine in design optimization of low wind speed wind turbine and sit choice.


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