Articles | Volume 10, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-177-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-177-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comparison of different feedback controllers on an airfoil benchmark
Loïc Michel
Nantes Université, École Centrale de Nantes, CNRS, LS2N, UMR 6004, 44000 Nantes, France
Caroline Braud
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Nantes Université, École Centrale de Nantes, CNRS, LHEEA, UMR 6598, 44000 Nantes, France
Jean-Pierre Barbot
Nantes Université, École Centrale de Nantes, CNRS, LS2N, UMR 6004, 44000 Nantes, France
ENSEA, Quartz Laboratory, EA 7393, 95014 Cergy-Pontoise, France
Franck Plestan
Nantes Université, École Centrale de Nantes, CNRS, LS2N, UMR 6004, 44000 Nantes, France
Dimitri Peaucelle
LAAS-CNRS, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse, France
Xavier Boucher
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières-LSSI, Trois-Rivières, QC G8Z 4M3 Quebec, Canada
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Rishabh Mishra, Emmanuel Guilmineau, Ingrid Neunaber, and Caroline Braud
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 235–252, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-235-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-235-2024, 2024
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To investigate the impact of turbulence on aerodynamic forces, we first model turbulent kinetic energy decay theoretically using the Taylor length scale and employ this model to create a digital wind tunnel replica for simulating grid-generated turbulence. Experimental validation shows good alignment among theory, simulations, and experiments, paving the way for aerodynamic simulations. Finally, we successfully use the digital replica to obtain force coefficients for a 2D rotor blade section.
Thomas Potentier, Emmanuel Guilmineau, Arthur Finez, Colin Le Bourdat, and Caroline Braud
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1771–1790, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1771-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1771-2022, 2022
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A wind turbine blade equipped with root spoilers is analysed using time domain aeroelastic simulations to assess the impact of passive devices on the turbine AEP and lifetime. A novel way to account for aerofoil-generated unsteadiness in the fatigue calculation is proposed and detailed. The outcome shows that spoilers, on average, can increase the AEP of the turbine. However, the structural impacts on the turbine can be severe if not accounted for initially in the turbine design.
Antoine Soulier, Caroline Braud, Dimitri Voisin, and Frédéric Danbon
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1043–1052, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1043-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1043-2022, 2022
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The e-TellTale, a new aerodynamic sensor, has been tested in a large wind tunnel at CSTB. This sensor has been designed to detect the flow separation on wind turbine blades, which can cause energy production losses and increased aging of the blades. These wind tunnel tests highlighted the good ability of the e-TellTale to detect the flow separation and the influence of the size and location of the e-TellTale on the flow separation detection.
Thomas Potentier, Emmanuel Guilmineau, Arthur Finez, Colin Le Bourdat, and Caroline Braud
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 647–657, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-647-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-647-2022, 2022
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The spoiler is found to efficiently rearrange the mean flow seen by thick aerofoil: adding lift throughout the positive angles of attack, the drawback is a high drag penalty coupled with high unsteadiness of the aerodynamic forces. The impact of this type of excitation will be quantified further in terms of energy production and fatigue in future work.
Antoine Soulier, Caroline Braud, Dimitri Voisin, and Bérengère Podvin
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 409–426, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-409-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-409-2021, 2021
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Monitoring the flow features over wind turbine blades is a challenging task that has become more and more crucial to monitor and/or operate wind turbine blades. This paper demonstrates the ability of an innovative sensor to detect these features over wind turbine blades. The spatiotemporal description of the flow over the surface has been measured over an oscillating blade section and the strip displacement was compared, showing the ability of the sensor to detect stall.
Ingrid Neunaber and Caroline Braud
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 759–773, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-759-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-759-2020, 2020
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Motivated by the need for wind turbine rotor blade tests in flows with atmospheric-like properties like gusts, we present a new setup to generate strong, rapid, turbulent gusts in a wind tunnel. The setup consists of a rotating bar that cuts through the inlet of the wind tunnel which generates the gust, and it is called
the chopper. In this work, the flow generated by the chopper is characterized, and we show how the gust and its turbulence evolve downstream.
Related subject area
Thematic area: Dynamics and control | Topic: Wind turbine aerodynamics
Controller design for model-scale rotors and validation using prescribed motion
A large-scale wind turbine model installed on a floating structure: experimental validation of the numerical design
Alessandro Fontanella, Elio Daka, Felipe Novais, and Marco Belloli
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1351–1368, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1351-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1351-2023, 2023
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This study aims to enhance wind turbine modeling by incorporating industry-standard control functionalities. A control design framework was developed and applied to a 1 : 100 scale model of a large floating wind turbine. Wind tunnel tests confirmed the scaled turbine accurately reproduced the steady-state rotor speed, blade pitch, and thrust torque characteristics of the full-size turbine. However, challenges arose in simulating the turbine's aerodynamic response during above-rated operation.
Federico Taruffi, Simone Di Carlo, Sara Muggiasca, and Marco Belloli
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 71–84, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-71-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-71-2023, 2023
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The work focuses on the experimental validation of the design of a large-scale wind turbine model, based on the DTU 10 MW reference wind turbine, installed on a scaled multipurpose platform deployed in an outdoor natural laboratory. The aim of the validation is to assess whether the behaviour of the model respects the targets established during the design phase in terms of structure, rotor aerodynamics and control. The outcome of the investigation ensures the validity of the design process.
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Short summary
This paper provides a comparison of three well-established controllers. The benchmark considered is an airfoil section equipped with local control systems. The objectives are to track the blade lift set by the operator and to test its robustness when a perturbation arises. Differences between controllers are underlined in terms of needed effort and quality of the tracking.
This paper provides a comparison of three well-established controllers. The benchmark considered...
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