Articles | Volume 2, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2-615-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2-615-2017
Research article
 | 
19 Dec 2017
Research article |  | 19 Dec 2017

Wind inflow observation from load harmonics

Marta Bertelè, Carlo L. Bottasso, Stefano Cacciola, Fabiano Daher Adegas, and Sara Delport

Abstract. The wind field leaves its fingerprint on the rotor response. This fact can be exploited by using the rotor as a sensor: by looking at the rotor response, in the present case in terms of blade loads, one may infer the wind characteristics. This paper describes a wind state observer that estimates four wind parameters, namely the vertical and horizontal shears and the yaw and upflow misalignment angles, from out-of-plane and in-plane blade bending moments. The resulting observer provides on-rotor wind inflow characteristics that can be exploited for wind turbine and wind farm control. The proposed formulation is evaluated through extensive numerical simulations in turbulent and nonturbulent wind conditions using a high-fidelity aeroservoelastic model of a multi-MW wind turbine.

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Short summary
The rotor of a wind turbine is used to determine some important parameters of the wind, including the direction of the wind vector relative to the rotor disk and horizontal and vertical shears. The method works by using measurements provided by existing onboard load sensors. The observed wind characteristics can be used to implement advanced features in smart wind turbine and wind farm controllers.
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