Articles | Volume 10, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-227-2025
© 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-10-227-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
23 Jan 2025
Research article |
| 23 Jan 2025
| 23 Jan 2025
Challenges in detecting wind turbine power loss: the effects of blade erosion, turbulence, and time averaging
Vattenfall, Amerigo-Vespucci-Platz 2, 20457 Hamburg, Germany
Christian Bak
DTU Wind and Energy Systems, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark
Related authors
Tahir H. Malik and Christian Bak
Wind Energ. Sci., 10, 269–291, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-269-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-269-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This research integrates custom sensors into wind turbine simulation models for improved performance monitoring utilising a turbine performance integral (TPI) method developed here. Real-world data validation demonstrates that appropriate sensor selection improves wind turbine performance monitoring. This approach addresses the need for precise performance assessments in the evolving wind energy sector, ultimately promoting sustainability and efficiency.
Tahir H. Malik and Christian Bak
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 2017–2037, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2017-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2017-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We explore the effect of blade modifications on offshore wind turbines' performance through a detailed analysis of 12 turbines over 12 years. Introducing the turbine performance integral method, which utilises time-series decomposition that combines various data sources, we uncover how blade wear, repairs and software updates impact efficiency. The findings offer valuable insights into improving wind turbine operations, contributing to the enhancement of renewable energy technologies.
Tahir H. Malik and Christian Bak
Wind Energ. Sci., 10, 269–291, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-269-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-269-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This research integrates custom sensors into wind turbine simulation models for improved performance monitoring utilising a turbine performance integral (TPI) method developed here. Real-world data validation demonstrates that appropriate sensor selection improves wind turbine performance monitoring. This approach addresses the need for precise performance assessments in the evolving wind energy sector, ultimately promoting sustainability and efficiency.
Tahir H. Malik and Christian Bak
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 2017–2037, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2017-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2017-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We explore the effect of blade modifications on offshore wind turbines' performance through a detailed analysis of 12 turbines over 12 years. Introducing the turbine performance integral method, which utilises time-series decomposition that combines various data sources, we uncover how blade wear, repairs and software updates impact efficiency. The findings offer valuable insights into improving wind turbine operations, contributing to the enhancement of renewable energy technologies.
Kenneth Loenbaek, Christian Bak, Jens I. Madsen, and Michael McWilliam
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 903–915, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-903-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-903-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present a model for assessing the aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine rotor through a different parametrization of the classical blade element momentum model. The model establishes an analytical relationship between the loading in the flow direction and the power along the rotor span. The main benefit of the model is the ease with which it can be applied for rotor optimization and especially load constraint power optimization.
Kenneth Loenbaek, Christian Bak, and Michael McWilliam
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 917–933, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-917-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-917-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
A novel wind turbine rotor optimization methodology is presented. Using an assumption of radial independence it is possible to obtain the Pareto-optimal relationship between power and loads through the use of KKT multipliers, leaving an optimization problem that can be solved at each radial station independently. Combining it with a simple cost function it is possible to analytically solve for the optimal power per cost with given inputs for the aerodynamics and the cost function.
Kenneth Loenbaek, Christian Bak, Jens I. Madsen, and Bjarke Dam
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 155–170, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-155-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-155-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
From the basic aerodynamic theory of wind turbine rotors, it is a well-known fact that there is a relationship between the loading of the rotor and power efficiency. It shows that there is a loading that maximizes the power efficiency, and it is common to target this maximum when designing rotors. But in this paper it is found that for rotors constrained by a load, the maximum power is found by decreasing the loading and increasing the rotor radius. Max power efficiency is therefore not optimal.
Jakob Ilsted Bech, Charlotte Bay Hasager, and Christian Bak
Wind Energ. Sci., 3, 729–748, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-729-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-729-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Rain erosion on wind turbine blades is a severe challenge for wind energy today. It causes significant losses in power production, and large sums are spent on inspection and repair.
Blade life can be extended, power production increased and maintenance costs reduced by rotor speed reduction at extreme precipitation events. Combining erosion test results, meteorological data and models of blade performance, we show that a turbine control strategy is a promising new weapon against blade erosion.
Related subject area
Thematic area: Wind technologies | Topic: Design concepts and methods for plants, turbines, and components
Full-scale wind turbine performance assessment: a customised, sensor-augmented aeroelastic modelling approach
Identification of operational deflection shapes of a wind turbine gearbox using fiber-optic strain sensors on a serial production end-of-line test bench
One-to-one aeroservoelastic validation of operational loads and performance of a 2.8 MW wind turbine model in OpenFAST
Semi-Analytical Methodology for Fretting Wear Evaluation of the Pitch Bearing Raceways Under Operative and Non-Operative Periods
Identification of electro-mechanical interactions in wind turbines
A sensitivity-based estimation method for investigating control co-design relevance
Validation of aeroelastic dynamic model of active trailing edge flap system tested on a 4.3 MW wind turbine
Effect of Blade Inclination Angle for Straight Bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Probabilistic cost modeling as a basis for optimizing the inspection and maintenance of support structures in offshore wind farms
Mesoscale modelling of North Sea wind resources with COSMO-CLM: model evaluation and impact assessment of future wind farm characteristics on cluster-scale wake losses
Gradient-based wind farm layout optimization with inclusion and exclusion zones
A novel techno-economical layout optimization tool for floating wind farm design
Hybrid-Lambda: a low-specific-rating rotor concept for offshore wind turbines
Speeding up large-wind-farm layout optimization using gradients, parallelization, and a heuristic algorithm for the initial layout
Nonlinear vibration characteristics of virtual mass systems for wind turbine blade fatigue testing
Extreme wind turbine response extrapolation with the Gaussian mixture model
The effect of site-specific wind conditions and individual pitch control on wear of blade bearings
A neighborhood search integer programming approach for wind farm layout optimization
Enabling control co-design of the next generation of wind power plants
Offshore wind farm optimisation: a comparison of performance between regular and irregular wind turbine layouts
A data-driven reduced-order model for rotor optimization
Grand challenges in the design, manufacture, and operation of future wind turbine systems
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of actual eroded wind turbine blades
Grand Challenges: wind energy research needs for a global energy transition
Current status and grand challenges for small wind turbine technology
CFD-based curved tip shape design for wind turbine blades
Impacts of wind field characteristics and non-steady deterministic wind events on time-varying main-bearing loads
Tahir H. Malik and Christian Bak
Wind Energ. Sci., 10, 269–291, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-269-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-269-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This research integrates custom sensors into wind turbine simulation models for improved performance monitoring utilising a turbine performance integral (TPI) method developed here. Real-world data validation demonstrates that appropriate sensor selection improves wind turbine performance monitoring. This approach addresses the need for precise performance assessments in the evolving wind energy sector, ultimately promoting sustainability and efficiency.
Unai Gutierrez Santiago, Aemilius A. W. van Vondelen, Alfredo Fernández Sisón, Henk Polinder, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 10, 207–225, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-207-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-207-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Knowing the loads applied to wind turbine gearboxes throughout their service life is becoming increasingly important as maintaining reliability with higher torque density demands is proving to be challenging. Operational deflection shapes identified from fiber-optic strain measurements have enabled the estimation of input torque, improving the assessment of the consumed life. Tracking operational deflection shapes recursively over time can potentially be used as an indicator of fault detection.
Kenneth Brown, Pietro Bortolotti, Emmanuel Branlard, Mayank Chetan, Scott Dana, Nathaniel deVelder, Paula Doubrawa, Nicholas Hamilton, Hristo Ivanov, Jason Jonkman, Christopher Kelley, and Daniel Zalkind
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1791–1810, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1791-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1791-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a study of the popular wind turbine design tool OpenFAST. We compare simulation results to measurements obtained from a 2.8 MW land-based wind turbine. Measured wind conditions were used to generate turbulent flow fields through several techniques. We show that successful validation of the tool is not strongly dependent on the inflow generation technique used for mean quantities of interest. The type of inflow assimilation method has a larger effect on fatigue quantities.
David Cubillas, Mireia Olave, Iñigo Llavori, Ibai Ulacia, Jon Larrañaga, Aitor Zurutuza, and Arkaitz Lopez
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-78, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-78, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for WES
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, we propose a methodology for evaluating fretting in wind turbine pitch bearing raceways, complemented by a detailed case study. The methodology considers the coupled effects of radial fretting and rotational fretting. The method was previously validated at laboratory and now it is applied to large 4 point contact ball bearings and the 5MW NREL reference turbine. The evaluation reveals critical times for damage initiation and indicate alarmingly short times for fretting initiation.
Fiona Dominique Lüdecke, Martin Schmid, and Po Wen Cheng
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1527–1545, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1527-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1527-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Large direct-drive wind turbines, with a multi-megawatt power rating, face design challenges. Moving towards a more system-oriented design approach could potentially reduce mass and costs. Exploiting the full design space, though, may invoke interaction mechanisms, which have been neglected in the past. Based on coupled simulations, this work derives a better understanding of the electro-mechanical interaction mechanisms and identifies potential for design relevance.
Jenna Iori, Carlo Luigi Bottasso, and Michael Kenneth McWilliam
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1289–1304, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1289-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1289-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The controller of a wind turbine has an important role in regulating power production and avoiding structural failure. However, it is often designed after the rest of the turbine, and thus its potential is not fully exploited. An alternative is to design the structure and the controller simultaneously. This work develops a method to identify if a given turbine design can benefit from this new simultaneous design process. For example, a higher and cheaper turbine tower can be built this way.
Andrea Gamberini, Thanasis Barlas, Alejandro Gomez Gonzalez, and Helge Aagaard Madsen
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1229–1249, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1229-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1229-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Movable surfaces on wind turbine (WT) blades, called active flaps, can reduce the cost of wind energy. However, they still need extensive testing. This study shows that the computer model used to design a WT with flaps aligns well with measurements obtained from a 3month test on a commercial WT featuring a prototype flap. Particularly during flap actuation, there were minimal differences between simulated and measured data. These findings assure the reliability of WT designs incorporating flaps.
Laurence Boyd Morgan, Abbas Kazemi Amiri, William Leithead, and James Carroll
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-42, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-42, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for WES
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a systematic study into the effect of blade inclination angle, chord distribution, and blade length on vertical axis wind turbine performance. It is shown that for rotors of identical power production, both blade volume and rotor torque can be significantly reduced through the use of aerodynamically optimised inclined rotor blades. This demonstrates the potential of V-Rotors to reduce the cost of energy for offshore wind when compared to H-Rotors.
Muhammad Farhan, Ronald Schneider, Sebastian Thöns, and Max Gündel
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2023-176, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2023-176, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for WES
Short summary
Short summary
This paper formulates and applies a probabilistic cost model to support the operational management of offshore wind farms. It provides the decision-theoretical basis for the optimization of I&M regimes with an emphasis on integrating the probabilistic cost model into the decision analysis. The proposed probabilistic cost model is then applied in a numerical example and a value of information analysis is performed to quantify the cost effectiveness of the identified optimal I&M strategy.
Ruben Borgers, Marieke Dirksen, Ine L. Wijnant, Andrew Stepek, Ad Stoffelen, Naveed Akhtar, Jérôme Neirynck, Jonas Van de Walle, Johan Meyers, and Nicole P. M. van Lipzig
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 697–719, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-697-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-697-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Wind farms at sea are becoming more densely clustered, which means that next to individual wind turbines interfering with each other in a single wind farm also interference between wind farms becomes important. Using a climate model, this study shows that the efficiency of wind farm clusters and the interference between the wind farms in the cluster depend strongly on the properties of the individual wind farms and are also highly sensitive to the spacing between the wind farms.
Javier Criado Risco, Rafael Valotta Rodrigues, Mikkel Friis-Møller, Julian Quick, Mads Mølgaard Pedersen, and Pierre-Elouan Réthoré
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 585–600, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-585-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-585-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Wind energy developers frequently have to face some spatial restrictions at the time of designing a new wind farm due to different reasons, such as the existence of protected natural areas around the wind farm location, fishing routes, and the presence of buildings. Wind farm design has to account for these restricted areas, but sometimes this is not straightforward to achieve. We have developed a methodology that allows for different inclusion and exclusion areas in the optimization framework.
Amalia Ida Hietanen, Thor Heine Snedker, Katherine Dykes, and Ilmas Bayati
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 417–438, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-417-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-417-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The layout of a floating offshore wind farm was optimized to maximize the relative net present value (NPV). By modeling power generation, losses, inter-array cables, anchors and operational costs, an increase of EUR 34.5 million in relative NPV compared to grid-based layouts was achieved. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine the impact of economic factors, providing valuable insights. This study contributes to enhancing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of floating wind farms.
Daniel Ribnitzky, Frederik Berger, Vlaho Petrović, and Martin Kühn
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 359–383, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-359-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-359-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides an innovative blade design methodology for offshore wind turbines with very large rotors compared to their rated power, which are tailored for an increased power feed-in at low wind speeds. Rather than designing the blade for a single optimized operational point, we include the application of peak shaving in the design process and introduce a design for two tip speed ratios. We describe how enlargement of the rotor diameter can be realized to improve the value of wind power.
Rafael Valotta Rodrigues, Mads Mølgaard Pedersen, Jens Peter Schøler, Julian Quick, and Pierre-Elouan Réthoré
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 321–341, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-321-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-321-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The use of wind energy has been growing over the last few decades, and further increase is predicted. As the wind energy industry is starting to consider larger wind farms, the existing numerical methods for analysis of small and medium wind farms need to be improved. In this article, we have explored different strategies to tackle the problem in a feasible and timely way. The final product is a set of recommendations when carrying out trade-off analysis on large wind farms.
Aiguo Zhou, Jinlei Shi, Tao Dong, Yi Ma, and Zhenhui Weng
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 49–64, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-49-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-49-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper explores the nonlinear influence of the virtual mass mechanism on the test system in blade biaxial tests. The blade theory and simulation model are established to reveal the nonlinear amplitude–frequency characteristics of the blade-virtual-mass system. Increasing the amplitude of the blade or decreasing the seesaw length will lower the resonance frequency and load of the system. The virtual mass also affects the blade biaxial trajectory.
Xiaodong Zhang and Nikolay Dimitrov
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1613–1623, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1613-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1613-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Wind turbine extreme response estimation based on statistical extrapolation necessitates using a small number of simulations to calculate a low exceedance probability. This is a challenging task especially if we require small prediction error. We propose the use of a Gaussian mixture model as it is capable of estimating a low exceedance probability with minor bias error, even with limited simulation data, having flexibility in modeling the distributions of varying response variables.
Arne Bartschat, Karsten Behnke, and Matthias Stammler
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1495–1510, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1495-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1495-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Blade bearings are among the most stressed and challenging components of a wind turbine. Experimental investigations using different test rigs and real-size blade bearings have been able to show that rather short time intervals of only several hours of turbine operation can cause wear damage on the raceways of blade bearings. The proposed methods can be used to assess wear-critical operation conditions and to validate control strategies as well as lubricants for the application.
Juan-Andrés Pérez-Rúa, Mathias Stolpe, and Nicolaos Antonio Cutululis
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1453–1473, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1453-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1453-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
With the challenges of ensuring secure energy supplies and meeting climate targets, wind energy is on course to become the cornerstone of decarbonized energy systems. This work proposes a new method to optimize wind farms by means of smartly placing wind turbines within a given project area, leading to more green-energy generation. This method performs satisfactorily compared to state-of-the-art approaches in terms of the resultant annual energy production and other high-level metrics.
Andrew P. J. Stanley, Christopher J. Bay, and Paul Fleming
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1341–1350, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1341-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1341-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Better wind farms can be built by simultaneously optimizing turbine locations and control, which is currently impossible or extremely challenging because of the size of the problem. The authors present a method to determine optimal wind farm control as a function of the turbine locations, which enables turbine layout and control to be optimized together by drastically reducing the size of the problem. In an example, a wind farm's performance improves by 0.8 % when optimized with the new method.
Maaike Sickler, Bart Ummels, Michiel Zaaijer, Roland Schmehl, and Katherine Dykes
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1225–1233, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1225-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1225-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper investigates the effect of wind farm layout on the performance of offshore wind farms. A regular farm layout is compared to optimised irregular layouts. The irregular layouts have higher annual energy production, and the power production is less sensitive to wind direction. However, turbine towers require thicker walls to counteract increased fatigue due to increased turbulence levels in the farm. The study shows that layout optimisation can be used to maintain high-yield performance.
Nicholas Peters, Christopher Silva, and John Ekaterinaris
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1201–1223, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1201-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1201-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Wind turbines have increasingly been leveraged as a viable approach for obtaining renewable energy. As such, it is essential that engineers have a high-fidelity, low-cost approach to modeling rotor load distributions. In this study, such an approach is proposed. This modeling approach was shown to make high-fidelity predictions at a low computational cost for rotor distributed-pressure loads as rotor geometry varied, allowing for an optimization of the rotor to be completed.
Paul Veers, Carlo L. Bottasso, Lance Manuel, Jonathan Naughton, Lucy Pao, Joshua Paquette, Amy Robertson, Michael Robinson, Shreyas Ananthan, Thanasis Barlas, Alessandro Bianchini, Henrik Bredmose, Sergio González Horcas, Jonathan Keller, Helge Aagaard Madsen, James Manwell, Patrick Moriarty, Stephen Nolet, and Jennifer Rinker
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1071–1131, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1071-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1071-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Critical unknowns in the design, manufacturing, and operation of future wind turbine and wind plant systems are articulated, and key research activities are recommended.
Kisorthman Vimalakanthan, Harald van der Mijle Meijer, Iana Bakhmet, and Gerard Schepers
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 41–69, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-41-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-41-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Leading edge erosion (LEE) is one of the most critical degradation mechanisms that occur with wind turbine blades. A detailed understanding of the LEE process and the impact on aerodynamic performance due to the damaged leading edge is required to optimize blade maintenance. Providing accurate modeling tools is therefore essential. This novel study assesses CFD approaches for modeling high-resolution scanned LE surfaces from an actual blade with LEE damages.
Paul Veers, Katherine Dykes, Sukanta Basu, Alessandro Bianchini, Andrew Clifton, Peter Green, Hannele Holttinen, Lena Kitzing, Branko Kosovic, Julie K. Lundquist, Johan Meyers, Mark O'Malley, William J. Shaw, and Bethany Straw
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2491–2496, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2491-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2491-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Wind energy will play a central role in the transition of our energy system to a carbon-free future. However, many underlying scientific issues remain to be resolved before wind can be deployed in the locations and applications needed for such large-scale ambitions. The Grand Challenges are the gaps in the science left behind during the rapid growth of wind energy. This article explains the breadth of the unfinished business and introduces 10 articles that detail the research needs.
Alessandro Bianchini, Galih Bangga, Ian Baring-Gould, Alessandro Croce, José Ignacio Cruz, Rick Damiani, Gareth Erfort, Carlos Simao Ferreira, David Infield, Christian Navid Nayeri, George Pechlivanoglou, Mark Runacres, Gerard Schepers, Brent Summerville, David Wood, and Alice Orrell
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2003–2037, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2003-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2003-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The paper is part of the Grand Challenges Papers for Wind Energy. It provides a status of small wind turbine technology in terms of technical maturity, diffusion, and cost. Then, five grand challenges that are thought to be key to fostering the development of the technology are proposed. To tackle these challenges, a series of unknowns and gaps are first identified and discussed. Improvement areas are highlighted, within which 10 key enabling actions are finally proposed to the wind community.
Mads H. Aa. Madsen, Frederik Zahle, Sergio González Horcas, Thanasis K. Barlas, and Niels N. Sørensen
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1471–1501, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1471-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1471-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This work presents a shape optimization framework based on computational fluid dynamics. The design framework is used to optimize wind turbine blade tips for maximum power increase while avoiding that extra loading is incurred. The final results are shown to align well with related literature. The resulting tip shape could be mounted on already installed wind turbines as a sleeve-like solution or be conceived as part of a modular blade with tips designed for site-specific conditions.
Edward Hart, Adam Stock, George Elderfield, Robin Elliott, James Brasseur, Jonathan Keller, Yi Guo, and Wooyong Song
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1209–1226, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1209-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1209-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We consider characteristics and drivers of loads experienced by wind turbine main bearings using simplified models of hub and main-bearing configurations. Influences of deterministic wind characteristics are investigated for 5, 7.5, and 10 MW turbine models. Load response to gusts and wind direction changes are also considered. Cubic load scaling is observed, veer is identified as an important driver of load fluctuations, and strong links between control and main-bearing load response are shown.
Cited articles
Abolude, A. T. and Zhou, W.: Assessment and Performance Evaluation of a Wind Turbine Power Output, Energies, 11, 992, https://doi.org/10.3390/en11081992, 2018. a
Badihi, H., Zhang, Y., Jiang, B., Pillay, P., and Rakheja, S.: A comprehensive review on signal-based and model-based condition monitoring of wind turbines: Fault diagnosis and lifetime prognosis, P. IEEE, 110, 754–806, https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2022.3171691, 2022. a
Bak, C.: Aerodynamic design of wind turbine rotors, Advances in wind turbine blade design and materials, Second edition, edited by: Brœndsted, P., Nijssen, R., and Goutianos, S., Woodhead Publishing, Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-103007-3.00001-X, 2023. a
Bak, C., Zahle, F., Bitsche, R., Kim, T., Yde, A., Henriksen, L., Hansen, M., Blasques, J., Gaunaa, M., and Natarajan, A.: The DTU 10-MW Reference Wind Turbine, danish Wind Power Research 2013, 27–28 May 2013, https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/the-dtu-10-mw-reference-wind-turbine (last access: 27 March 2024), 2013. a
Bak, C., Skrzypiński, W., Gaunaa, M., Villanueva, H., Brønnum, N. F., and Kruse, E. K.: Full scale wind turbine test of vortex generators mounted on the entire blade, J. Phys. Conf. Ser., 753, 022001, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/753/2/022001, 2016. a
Bak, C., Forsting, A. M., and Sorensen, N. N.: The influence of leading edge roughness, rotor control and wind climate on the loss in energy production, J. Phys. Conf. Ser., 1618, 052050, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1618/5/052050, 2020. a
Bak, C., Olsen, A., Forsting, A., Bjerge, M., Handberg, M., and Shkalov, H.: Wind tunnel test of airfoil with erosion and leading edge protection, J. Phys. Conf. Ser., 2507, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2507/1/012022, 2023. a
Bak, D., Andersen, P., Madsen Aagaard, H., Gaunaa, M., Fuglsang, P., and Bove, S.: Design and verification of airfoils resistant to surface contamination and turbulence intensity, in: Collection of Technical Papers – AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, AIAA 2008–7050, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 26th Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 18–21 August 2008, https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2008-7050, 2008. a
Barthelmie, R. J. and Jensen, L.: Evaluation of wind farm efficiency and wind turbine wakes at the Nysted offshore wind farm, Wind Energy, 13, 573–586, https://doi.org/10.1002/we.408, 2010. a
Cappugi, L., Castorrini, A., Bonfiglioli, A., Minisci, E., and Campobasso, M. S.: Machine learning-enabled prediction of wind turbine energy yield losses due to general blade leading edge erosion, Energ. Convers. Manage., 245, 114567, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114567, 2021. a, b
Castorrini, A., Ortolani, A., and Campobasso, M. S.: Assessing the progression of wind turbine energy yield losses due to blade erosion by resolving damage geometries from lab tests and field observations, Renew. Energ., 218, 119256, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2023.119256, 2023. a
Ding, Y., Barber, S., and Hammer, F.: Data-Driven wind turbine performance assessment and quantification using SCADA data and field measurements, Frontiers in Energy Research, 10, 1050342, https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2022.1050342, 2022. a
Do, M.-T. and Berthaut-Gerentes, J.: Optimal time step of SCADA data for the power curve of wind turbine, J. Phys. Conf. Ser., 1102, 012025, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1102/1/012025, 2018. a
Ehrmann, R. S., Wilcox, B., White, E. B., and Maniaci, D. C.: Effect of surface roughness on wind turbine performance, Tech. rep., Sandia National Lab.(SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM, United States, https://doi.org/10.2172/1596202, 2017. a
Elliott, D. and Infield, D.: An assessment of the impact of reduced averaging time on small wind turbine power curves, energy capture predictions and turbulence intensity measurements, Wind Energy, 17, 337–342, https://doi.org/10.1002/we.1579, 2012. a
EMD International A/S: WindPRO Software for Wind Energy Analysis, https://www.emd.dk/windpro/ (last access: 1 June 2023), 2023. a
Gaudern, N.: A practical study of the aerodynamic impact of wind turbine blade leading edge erosion, J. Phys. Conf. Ser., 524, 012031, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/524/1/012031, 2014. a
Gonzalez, E., Stephen, B., Infield, D., and Melero, J. J.: On the use of high-frequency SCADA data for improved wind turbine performance monitoring, J. Phys. Conf. Ser., 926, 012009, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/926/1/012009, 2017. a
Han, W., Kim, J., and Kim, B.: Effects of contamination and erosion at the leading edge of blade tip airfoils on the annual energy production of wind turbines, Renew. Energ., 115, 817–823, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2017.09.002, 2018. a
Hansen, M. O.: Aerodynamics of wind turbines, Earthscan, James & James, 8, 14, Earthscan Ltd, ISBN 978-1844074389, 2008. a
Jonkman, J., Butterfield, S., Musial, W., and Scott, G.: Definition of a 5-MW Reference Wind Turbine for Offshore System Development, https://doi.org/10.2172/947422, 2009. a
Kim, D.-Y., Kim, Y.-H., and Kim, B.-S.: Changes in wind turbine power characteristics and annual energy production due to atmospheric stability, turbulence intensity, and wind shear, Energy, 214, 119051, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.119051, 2021. a
Krog Kruse, E., Bak, C., and Olsen, A. S.: Wind tunnel experiments on a NACA 633-418 airfoil with different types of leading edge roughness, Wind Energy, 24, 1263–1274, https://doi.org/10.1002/we.2630, 2021. a, b, c, d
Kruse, E.: A Method for Quantifying Wind Turbine Leading Edge Roughness and its Influence on Energy Production: LER2AEP, Phd, DTU Wind Energy, Roskilde, Denmark, (DTU Wind Energy PhD), https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/a-method-for-quantifying-wind-turbine-leading-edge-roughness-and–2 (last access: 27 March 2024), 2019. a
Malik, T. H. and Bak, C.: Full-scale wind turbine performance assessment using the turbine performance integral (TPI) method: a study of aerodynamic degradation and operational influences, Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 2017–2037, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2017-2024, 2024. a
Maniaci, D., White, E., Wilcox, B., Langel, C., van Dam, C., and Paquette, J.: Experimental Measurement and CFD Model Development of Thick Wind Turbine Airfoils with Leading Edge Erosion, J. Phys. Conf. Ser.,753, 022013,, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/753/2/022013, 2016. a
Mann, J.: The spatial structure of neutral atmospheric surface-layer turbulence, J. Fluid Mech., 273, 141–168, 1994. a
OpenAI: ChatGPT: Optimizing Language Models for Dialogue, https://openai.com/chatgpt/ (last access: 28 November 2024), 2024. a
Saint-Drenan, Y.-M., Besseau, R., Jansen, M., Staffell, I., Troccoli, A., Dubus, L., Schmidt, J., Gruber, K., Simões, S. G., and Heier, S.: A parametric model for wind turbine power curves incorporating environmental conditions, Renew. Energ., 157, 754–768, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.04.123, 2020. a, b, c, d
Skrzypinski, W., Gaunaa, M., and Bak, C.: The Effect of Mounting Vortex Generators on the DTU 10MW Reference Wind Turbine Blade, vol. 524, IOP Publishing, 5th International Conference on The Science of Making Torque from Wind 2014, TORQUE 2014, 10–20 June 2014, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/524/1/012034, 2014. a
St. Martin, C. M., Lundquist, J. K., Clifton, A., Poulos, G. S., and Schreck, S. J.: Wind turbine power production and annual energy production depend on atmospheric stability and turbulence, Wind Energ. Sci., 1, 221–236, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-1-221-2016, 2016. a
Wagner, R., Courtney, M., Larsen, T. J., and Paulsen, U. S.: Simulation of shear and turbulence impact on wind turbine performance, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Risø Nationallaboratoriet for Bæredygtig Energi, https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/simulation-of-shear-and-turbulence-impact-on-wind-turbine-perform (last access: 27 March 2024), 2010. a, b
Wharton, S. and Lundquist, J. K.: Atmospheric stability affects wind turbine power collection, Environ. Res. Lett., 7, 014005, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/014005, 2012. a
Yang, W., Tavner, P. J., Crabtree, C. J., Feng, Y., and Qiu, Y.: Wind turbine condition monitoring: technical and commercial challenges, Wind Energy, 17, 673–693, https://doi.org/10.1002/we.1508, 2014. a
Short summary
This study investigates how wind turbine blades damaged by erosion, along with changing wind conditions, affect power output. Even minor blade damage can lead to significant energy losses, especially in turbulent winds. Using simulations, it was discovered that standard power data analysis methods, including time averaging, can hide these losses. This research highlights the need for better blade damage detection and careful wind data analysis to optimise wind farm performance.
This study investigates how wind turbine blades damaged by erosion, along with changing wind...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint