Wind turbine stability: Comparison of state-of-the-art aeroelastic simulation tools

authored by

O. Hach, H. Verdonck, J. D. Polman, C. Balzani, S. Müller, J. Rieke, H. Hennings

Abstract

As rotor diameters and blade flexibility are increasing, current and future generation wind turbines are more susceptible to aeroelastic instabilities. It is thus important to know the prediction capabilities of state-of-the-art simulation tools in regards of the onset of aeroelastic instability. This article presents results of a code-to-code comparison of five different simulation codes using a representative wind turbine model. It is shown that the models are in good agreement in terms of isolated structural dynamics and steady state aeroelastics. The more complex the test cases become, the more significant are the differences in the results. In the final step of comparison, the aeroelastic stability limit is determined through a runaway analysis. The instability onset is predicted at different wind speeds and the underlying mechanisms differ between the tools. A Campbell diagram is used to correlate the findings of time domain simulation tools with those of a linear analysis in the frequency domain.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Wind Energy Systems

External Organisation(s)

Nordex Energy GmbH
DLR-Institute of Aeroelastics

Type

Article

Journal

Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Volume

2020

Pages

1-9

No. of pages

9

ISSN

1742-6588

Publication date

22.09.2020

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Physics and Astronomy

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1618/5/052048 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1618/5/052083 (Access: Open)