Despite numerous studies on the skewed inflow and wake of wind turbines e.g.,, uncertainties still remain on the loading effects experienced by their mechanical components under misaligned operation. Whereas new interest is directed at maximizing plant power performance via wake steering and yaw control e.g.,, understanding and managing their effects on operation and maintenance (O&M) costs are critical for the success of the strategy. For this reason, a clear understanding of the short- and long-term consequences of operating in skewed conditions, or with yaw offsets, is necessary to assess whether maintenance costs could change, and to facilitate intelligent ways to improve power performance that mitigate any negative O&M impacts.

It can be argued that a certain degree of yaw error is always present during turbine operation, in part because of wind turbulence and in part because of mechanical errors in the turbine alignment and during yaw transients cf. . Here we are concerned with the systematic, skewed-inflow operation. The resulting wake redirection could significantly alleviate the cyclic loads of wind turbines located downwind of those operating off axis. show that the increase in turbulence associated with operation in waked inflow can increase fatigue loads by up to 15 % with respect to clean inflow. However, aerodynamic processes and loading effects on the upwind turbines are, to a degree, uncertain. A few studies have shown a reduction in blade load levels for turbines operating under certain yaw offsets, accompanied by an increase in loads for other components e.g., drivetrain and tower;. Some focus has also been given to the load variations under cyclic variations of angle of attack (α) and relative air velocity at the airfoil of interest (Urel), but conflicting information still exists. On the one hand, industry experts have either advised against yaw-offset operation or devised technology and algorithms to minimize yaw misalignment while maximizing power production at the individual turbines in a plant . On the other hand, control system scholars recommend adopting strategies that can redirect wakes away from downwind turbines to increase the plant power production as a whole e.g.,, or even suggest the use of continuous yaw control to increase damping and reduce loads e.g.,. In the middle, the owners and operators are left with the unsatisfying conundrum of increasing power production and associated revenues while taking the risk of accelerated machine damage and associated repair costs.

Data from wind tunnel experiments e.g., show load and performance trends under yawed conditions and emphasize the importance of dynamic stall and unsteady-aerodynamics (UA) effects; yet these tests do not capture the impact of realistic atmospheric turbulence on the loads of key wind-power-plant components. Some data from full-scale turbines are available e.g.,, but they are generally associated with involuntary yaw errors rather than a systematic measurement campaign with prescribed yaw offsets and comparison to aeroelastic simulations.

In this paper, we examine the problem of skewed wake and inflow for one utility-scale turbine configuration. The analysis starts from a theoretical standpoint and builds up in complexity, going from a simplified, analytical model for the α and Urel azimuthal variations under different yaw offsets to a fully aeroelastic realization of the turbulent operation. At one end of the complexity spectrum, the analytical model is an aid to the designer, as it predicts load and performance outcomes under steady-state conditions and sheds light on the physics by highlighting the effects of shaft tilt, inflow shear, and yaw error. The aeroelastic model results, at the other end, account for turbulence effects and nonlinearities of the entire system and therefore provide more clarity about the system-dynamics response under realistic conditions. For practical predictions, the aeroelastic model should be validated; hence extensive data were collected on a 1.5 MW turbine under several different yaw-offset conditions and compared to the model results.

In Sect. , we provide a description of the methods used in this study, the load channels of interest, and the turbine under analysis. In Sect. , the analytical model is presented. Section  provides results attained with simulations of the turbine operation under steady winds. Turbulent-inflow simulation results are compared to field-collected data in Sect. . A summary of the observations is offered in Sect. .

Our analysis was focused on the General Electric (GE) 1.5sle 1.5 MW wind turbine (GEWT) installed at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC), which is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and operated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The turbine is instrumented with an extensive set of load and performance sensors per , which is described in the next section. An original GE aeroelastic model was modified to be used with NREL's aero-hydro-servo-elastic tool for wind turbine design (FAST) version 8 (FASTv8) . FAST is a widely used industry and academic tool for load estimation.

One of the underlying goals of this paper was to link the observed results to the physics of the blade aerodynamics and structural dynamics. Therefore, we started with a simplified model of the aerodynamics under steady, but sheared, wind conditions and examined the azimuthal variation of the lift. An analytical model based on the variance of the lift out-of-plane component as a function of yaw offset was produced. The lift standard deviation, i.e., the square root of its variance and hence the associated blade load standard deviation, was used as an indicator of oscillating fatigue loads. We then examined how this model performed under different hub-height wind speeds and then increased complexity by first using AeroDyn 15 (AD15), FASTv8's aerodynamics module, in stand-alone mode and then using a fully aeroelastic model of the turbine within FASTv8. We demonstrated the effects of UA and of the structural response on the blade-root bending moments by turning on and off FASTv8's UA module and the relevant structural degrees of freedom. This initial analysis was done based on two wind speeds, in turbine power regions 2 and 2.5. Finally, the model was further refined by accounting for turbulent inflow and was compared to data from the field for several wind speeds up to rated power wind speed. Twenty turbulent seeds were considered, using the normal turbulence model (NTM), and the calculated loads were compared to those extracted from wind-speed binned data coming from the field. For the sake of brevity, results for only two wind speeds are shown, which, however, are representative of conditions at and below rated power.

Seven output channels of interest were selected: blade-root edgewise bending moment (EBM) and flapwise bending moment (FBM) and their resultant root-bending moment (RBM); low-speed-shaft torque (LSSTq); tower-top bending moment (TTBM, resultant of the fore–aft and side–side components); tower-top torque (TTTq); and tower-base bending moment (TBBM, resultant of the fore–aft and side–side components). Initially, the focus was on the FBM because conflicting information exists in the literature and in the industry experience , and because it is also associated with thrust loads responsible for structural stresses on downstream components. The analysis was mainly carried out on fatigue loading, and the results are given in terms of short-term damage equivalent loads (DELs) via rain flow counting . Note that we also provide some insights on ultimate loading, but they do not include parked and fault conditions. Simulations and field data are based on 10 min interval sets. In the next section, we describe the field instrumentation setup.

Fundamentally, the dominant loads during turbine operation originate from the aerodynamic forces and moments on the rotor blades. The largest contributor to the design loads on the blades and the downstream components is the lift distribution acting on the blade airfoils. Examining how the out-of-plane (rotor axial) component of the lift varies as a function of azimuth under different yaw angles can help explain the cyclic out-of-plane loading at the blade root and therefore the associated variation of several component loads (e.g., tower, drivetrain). The axial component (l^) of the 2-D airfoil lift can be written as l^=12ρaUrel2cl(α)ccos⁡ϕ, where ρa is the air density, c is the chord, cl(α) is the 2-D lift coefficient, α is the angle of attack, ϕ is the inflow angle, and effects on cl due to Reynolds and Mach numbers are ignored. In an initial approximation, within the linear region of the airfoil lift polar, one could assume cl(α)≃c1α, where c1 is an airfoil constant (≃2π for thin airfoils). As we are interested in fatigue loads, the standard deviation of l^ can be used as a surrogate for the load oscillation significance. Besides a constant, this translates to the standard deviation of the product between clcos⁡ϕ(≃c1αcos⁡ϕ) and Urel2. To this end, through basic trigonometry, α and Urel can be written as in Eqs. ()–(): αψ,r,θ,Uhub,ω,γ=ϕ-θ=arctan(U(ψ,r,Uhub)cos⁡(γ)cos⁡(δ))/(vt(ω,r)-U(ψ,r,Uhub)cos⁡(γ)sin⁡(δ)sin⁡(ψ)+sin⁡(γ)cos⁡(ψ))-θ,Urelψ,r,Uhub,ω,γ=U(ψ,r,Uhub)cos⁡(γ)cos⁡(δ)2+[vt(ω,r)-U(ψ,r,Uhub)cos⁡(γ)sin⁡(δ)sin⁡(ψ)+sin⁡(γ)cos⁡(ψ)]2‾, where ψ is the rotor azimuth angle, r is the blade station radial position; θ is the airfoil aero-twist plus pitch setting; δ is the shaft tilt; ω is the rotor rotational speed; γ is the rotor yaw offset; vt(ω,r) is the airfoil tangential (in-plane) velocity; and U(ψ,r,Uhub) is the wind speed at the elevation identified by ψ and r station, and a function of the Uhub, where Uhub is the hub-height mean wind speed. Note that a power-law shear is included in U(ψ,r,Uhub). Under the hypothesis of constant and uniform induction in region 2 of the turbine power-production curve, we ignore induction and tip effects that would translate into a constant bias in α and cl for most of the power-producing blade span.

In Fig. , α and Urel calculated by this analytical model are plotted as a function of ψ for the 75 % blade-span station under various yaw offsets and for Uhub=12 m s-1 with a power-law shear exponent value of 0.2

The sign convention adopted for the yaw offset is shown in Fig. .

As shown by Eqs. ()–() and Fig. , α and Urel are two quantities well correlated; thus we can use basic statistics e.g., to find the covariance of the product clcos⁡ϕUrel2 as in Eq. (): σ2clcos⁡ϕ⋅Urel2≃σ2αcos⁡ϕ⋅Urel2=σαcos⁡ϕ⋅Urel22=σαcos⁡ϕ2,Urel42+σαcos⁡ϕ2+αcos⁡ϕ‾2⋅σUrel22+Urel2‾2-σαcos⁡ϕ,Urel22+αcos⁡ϕ‾Urel2‾2. In Eq. (), σ2 denotes the covariance or variance of the argument, and overbars indicate the means of the variables; furthermore, the constant c1 is omitted with no loss of generality.

In Fig. , the model-calculated standard deviations for the 75 % span airfoil's clcos⁡ϕ, Urel2, and their product are shown for different values of yaw offsets and hub-height wind speeds of 8 and 14 m s-1 with a wind shear exponent of 0.2. The standard deviations were normalized by the means of their respective variables and are indicated as σ^clcos⁡ϕ, σ^Urel2, and σ^clcos⁡ϕ⋅Urel2, respectively. The rotor rotational speed was set at the average value obtained from aeroelastic simulations and verified against actual turbine field data for that wind speed.

The graphs show that, whereas σ^Urel2 displays a minimum at 0∘ yaw, the σ^clcos⁡ϕ has a minimum near -20∘. By examining other wind-speed cases (not shown), which in general rendered similar trends to Fig. , it was observed that the minima in σ^clcos⁡ϕ and σ^clcos⁡ϕ⋅Urel2 get closer to the γ=0∘ location with increasing wind speed. Both the σ^clcos⁡ϕ and σ^Urel2 curves in Fig.  show an asymmetric behavior. The σ^Urel2 standard deviation, for example, shows higher values for negative yaw offsets than for the corresponding positive misalignments. In contrast, σ^clcos⁡ϕ exhibits larger variations for positive yaw offsets. The σ^clcos⁡ϕ⋅Urel2 standard deviation, however, decreases sharply, going from negative to positive misalignments, with a reduction of some 66 % at γ=25∘ with respect to the baseline case of γ=0∘. This simplified analysis suggests that, at least in terms of aerodynamic load oscillations, positive yaw misalignments could lead to a considerable load range reduction. Similar trends were observed at other span locations (not shown).

Although this analysis only considered steady winds, rigid blades, steady aerodynamics, and no induction, it brought forth results in agreement with recent studies. , for example, suggest the existence of an asymmetric behavior of blade and tower fatigue loads, hinting at the same positive offset as load-favorable misalignment direction.

To better assess the physics responsible for fatigue loading under skewed-inflow conditions, and to verify the existence of a preferred misalignment direction for loads, we build up models of increasing complexity utilizing AD15 and the full FASTv8 aeroelastic tool under steady winds.

Figure  shows azimuthal trends for α and Urel as calculated by AD15 for two GEWT blade-span stations (near 50 and 75 % of the blade span) with aligned, sheared flow (0.2 power-law exponent) and no induction effects. It can be observed that α achieves a maximum before reaching the azimuthal zenith and a minimum affected by the tower shadow effects just before the 180∘ azimuth; Urel exhibits an analogous trend, though shifted by 180∘. The asymmetry is caused by the combination of the nonlinear wind profile (power law) and the trigonometric contribution of the airfoils' rotational speed to the relative air speed as a function of their positions (advancing/retreating effect). Therefore, the sole presence of shear and tilt causes an asymmetry in the variation of cl(α) and Urel even under no-yaw-offset conditions, which can affect the performance of both the individual machine and the entire plant. For example, it can be speculated that under significant shear the optimum power performance could occur under misaligned conditions. Furthermore, the asymmetric distribution of α and Urel translates into an asymmetric azimuthal distribution of the induction factors, which in turn offsets the wake axis. A power increase under yaw-offset conditions is suggested by , and reports of skewed wake under aligned inflow conditions have been presented in and . These aspects are not further analyzed in this study, however.

By adding yaw offset, the asymmetry about the 0–180∘ azimuth is still present (see also Fig. ), and whereas the azimuthal mean α values slightly decrease with larger yaw offsets, the α ranges (max–min, denoted by “Δ”) increase with increasing offsets. Table  shows the range for α, cl, and Urel2 at different blade-span stations (given as spanwise fractions, bf=0.28–0.92) for two hub-height wind speeds (8 and 12 m s-1) and for γ=0, -10, and 10∘. From the table, it can be observed that, relative to the aligned cases, α ranges reduce by 16–30 % with negative misalignments and increase by 14–70 % with positive ones. This is in agreement with the analytical model predictions. Also, when compared to the aligned cases, the cl ranges tend to be larger (smaller) for positive (negative) offsets. The Urel2 ranges, however, increase for both directions of misalignment but increase more under negative offsets. As these effects oppose each other when generating aerodynamic loads, it is difficult to ascertain whether one offset direction could lead to a more favorable load response. Furthermore, as shown in Table , the reduced frequencies (k=dαdtc/2Urel, where c is the chord length and t denotes time) associated with the azimuthal α variations are largely above 0.02, which is the commonly accepted threshold for unsteady aerodynamic effects to take place . Given the expected higher values in angles of attack under positive yaw offsets, dynamic stall effects should be more prevalent with those misalignments.

Table  offers similar results to Table , but with induction, skewed wake correction , and UA effects included. For most blade spans and wind speeds, AD15 returned increased ranges of α with respect to the no-induction, geometric calculations. Overall, however, the trends explored under no-induction conditions still apply, with positive yaw offsets showing larger variations in cl but smaller in Urel2, confirming that the assumptions in the analytical model of constant and uniform induction are reasonable. By enabling UA , higher peaks in cl's especially inboard of the blade were noted. As visible in Fig. , which portrays azimuthal traces for cl at four blade-span stations with no UA (Fig. a) and with UA (Fig. b) effects, the impact of UA is mostly associated with a sharp stall transition for the inboard airfoils (at rotor radius ≤ 30 %), which is discussed below.

Figure a shows the basic statistics of the blade-root FBM and EBM as calculated by a complete FASTv8 model of the turbine under investigation for yaw offsets ranging from -25 to 25∘ and for 8 and 12 m s-1 hub-height wind speeds. The companion Fig. b and c offer similar results, obtained by excluding either UA or the rotor/tower flexibility, respectively. In the plots, the 25th and 75th percentiles of the loads' distributions are marked with the left and right sides of rectangular boxes, respectively; the line in the middle of each box is the median, and the whisker lines show the distances to the most extreme sample values within the 1.5 interquartile range (i.e., 1.5 times the width of the box). Data beyond 1.5 times the interquartile ranges are shown as outliers with red crosses. Figure a shows little variation of the EBM statistics as a function of yaw offset and wind speed; this outcome is to be expected, as the EBM is mainly driven by gravity loads. The FBM median is seen to decrease with nonzero yaw offsets, as one would expect given that the mean thrust load reduces. The FBM distribution interquartile, and hence the variance and standard deviation, however, get larger with nonzero offsets, and more pronouncedly so for negative yaw offsets. Note that, in contrast to this result, the analytical model of Sect.  predicted an increase in variance for negative yaw offsets but a decrease for positive misalignments.

Data associated with Fig.  results demonstrate that the standard deviations tend to increase (except at the highest yaw offset) when UA is excluded from the computations. This indicates that UA acts as a low-pass filter on the span-integral load. Furthermore, under rigid conditions, the FBM values are generally associated with slightly lower standard deviations, whereby it can be expected they would lead to lesser fatigue loads. These observations are confirmed by an analysis of the load variation as a function of azimuth (not shown for the sake of brevity), which translate into smoother curves.

In Fig. , the calculated short-term FBM DELs are presented for Uhub=8 and 12 m s-1, and for three different configurations: one including the entire model physics, one without UA effects, and one without blade (and tower) flexibility. The complete model results show a minimum of the DEL for the aligned conditions, although the asymmetry in the loading persists, with negative yaw offsets rendering larger loads than the positive counterparts. The second set of results in Fig.  is only slightly different from the first and thus confirms that the dynamic stall effects are not so important for the trends observed in blade-root loads, despite showing a noticeable effect on the cl's as shown in Fig. . This result suggests that the integral of the lift distribution along the blade span washes out the UA contribution to the oscillating loads. Finally, with rigid blades and Uhub=8 m s-1, the trend for the root FBM DEL is as expected from the simplified variance model of Sect. . Therefore, at this wind speed, the inertial forces associated with the elastic response – of the rotor in particular – have a dominant effect on the calculated DELs.

At Uhub=12 m s-1, however, the DEL trend with yaw offset reflects what is observed in the first set of Fig. , suggesting that the load variation with yaw offset at this wind speed is only slightly affected by the structural response and therefore primarily driven by pure aerodynamic loading

Note that the turbine controller constantly varies the pitch of the blades at this speed and at all the yaw errors examined thus far, but it was verified that disabling the controller in the simulations does not significantly affect these observations.

To compare model predictions to actual field measurements, we ran aeroelastic simulations for hub-height mean wind speeds ranging from 4 to 24 m s-1 in 2 m s-1 wind-speed bins, and with NTM inflow see also with 20 turbulence seeds per wind-speed bin. However, besides brevity, we limit the discussion to mean hub-height wind speeds of 10 and 14 m s-1 for three reasons. First, we intend to compare to data bins from the field; thus we selected those that provided sufficient field data points for statistical significance. Second, above rated wind speed, pitch dynamics add more complexity to the interpretation of the results. Lastly, low wind speeds (≤ 6 m s-1) gave rise to shutdowns in the simulations, which we wanted to exclude for the sake of clarity. Furthermore, the selected wind speeds are representative of conditions at or below rated power, which is where wake steering is thought to be most effective e.g.,.

The investigated yaw offsets ranged from -25 to +25∘, which have been considered for wake redirection in wind farms. Because the field data showed large variations in TI within individual wind-speed bins (see Fig. ), a lower turbulence range was selected for the simulations, with a mean TI = 15 % throughout the wind-speed range. Accordingly, the field data were filtered to retain measurements with TI ranging from 1 to 17 % to guarantee a statistically significant number of samples. This was necessary because turbulence intensity proved to have a larger effect than the sole yaw offset on the magnitude of DELs, as can be seen, for example, in the blade-root FBM DELs shown in Fig. .

In this paper, we presented an analytical treatment, numerical investigations, and field data analyses to explore the effects of yaw-offset operation on the loads of a commercial-grade wind turbine.

The results of models of increasing complexity were presented for the rotor aerodynamics under different yaw misalignments to shed some light on the physics and load predictions. It was shown that, under the presence of vertical wind shear, asymmetric conditions exist in the azimuthal distributions of the angle of attack and relative air velocity even under aligned inflow, which complicates the intuitive picture of the turbine response and might have further consequences on wake dynamics and control strategies. When turning the attention to the cl distributions, rapid changes in values obtained under both steady and unsteady aerodynamics at the inboard sections of the blades were noted for wind speeds in power region 2.5, which are likely the responsible factors for the standard deviations noted in the blade-root FBMs. These effects were mostly attributed to the crossing of the stall region of the airfoil polars, which was seen as rather abrupt. At lower wind speeds (power region 2), these effects were partially eliminated by assuming rigid blades, thus demonstrating that, besides aerodynamics, the stiffness characteristics of the turbine play a significant role in the calculated DELs. A simple analytical model for the standard deviation of the out-of-plane component of the blade lift was presented and shown to be a valid proxy for DELs only under quasi-steady-state and rigid-rotor conditions. In fact, it was shown how stiffness characteristics and aerodynamics specific to the actual wind turbine model have a dominant role in the determination of the load statistics and therefore the fatigue response.

Furthermore, by considering more realistic turbulent wind fields, via both simulations and field data records, it was shown that the turbulence intensity distribution for the various mean wind-speed bins can significantly mask the effects caused by skewed inflow, and care must be given to the actual site conditions to assess their effects on the loads. Only dedicated aero-servo-elastic simulations can capture the actual trends in loading as a function of yaw offset, and only if the proper turbulent inflow conditions are matched.

Aeroelastic simulations can predict well the blade-root FBM and EBM DELs, and it was shown how these, on average, exhibit different trends with yaw offsets. Whereas the FBM increased with nonzero misalignment, the EBM decreased with increasing yaw offsets. To assess the actual impact of misaligned operation on blade-root fatigue, the combined bending, or resultant moment, was analyzed via load roses. On average, the blade-root bending moment DEL decreased for positive yaw offsets and increased for negative offsets. Fairly large variations can be attributed to different turbulence seeds and data records, making generalization more difficult.

More complex trends were observed in shaft torque and tower-top bending moment DELs. For example, trend reversals in shaft torque from the simulation-derived data were noted when the wind speed increased toward power region 3. The initial DEL reduction with nonzero yaw offset seen for wind speeds below 10 m s-1 is replaced by a slight increase at higher wind speeds. Some of these effects are a direct consequence of the controller dynamics and therefore difficult to generalize to multiple turbine models. The resultant moment DEL at tower top increased sharply with nonzero yaw offsets in the field-derived data, whereas the FAST predictions showed little or no influence of yaw misalignment.

Tower-top torque – which, together with the tower-top bending, can be responsible for the reliability of the yaw drive components – generally showed an increase in loading with positive misalignments, exhibiting good agreement between predictions and field measurements. To reiterate, however, standard deviations were fairly large and grossly dependent on turbulence characteristics, which tended to override the effects of yaw misalignment.

For the tower-base bending moment, the mean DELs derived from aeroelastic simulation decrease with positive yaw offsets, whereas measurement-derived data generally indicate a slight increase. Standard deviations of the predicted DELs are, however, quite large.

Extreme loads were also compared between field-measured and predicted values under operational conditions and skewed inflow. The results of the analysis showed that, for the resultant moment at the blade root, an increase can occur under misaligned conditions. The shaft torque extreme load does not significantly change with nonzero yaw offsets. Tower-top bending moments increase with increasing yaw offset, whereas tower-top torque peaks increase with nonzero misalignment. At the tower base, the resultant bending moment tends to decrease slightly with increasing yaw error.

The current dichotomy between the desire of wind power plant production optimization and the conservatism toward reliability due to load increase concerns is corroborated by the results presented in this research. In contrast to what was reported in previous studies, the fatigue load components do not necessarily decrease with increasing yaw offsets, and we offered justifications as to why that might be happening. Whereas blade-root loads can be said to decrease, large standard deviations of the mean results also point to caution and to the need to carefully assess the site conditions. Even more attention should be paid to the yaw drive system, given the measured increase in tower-top extreme loads. The turbine controller, however, can significantly impact these results.

Future work should include an extension of the analysis to other types of turbines with different aerodynamics and elastic characteristics to further assess their impact on the changes in both ultimate and fatigue loads. These additional findings will support the development of future standards for the design and certification of wind turbines that operate under programmatic yaw misalignments for increased plant performance. For example, techniques to calculate acceptable ranges for yaw offsets as a function of operating wind speeds could be provided to minimize impact on the structural design. It can also be expected that site-specific loads, obtained by using the actual site conditions and plant layout, will need to be verified against the design loads and perhaps even component test loads, during the site suitability assessment and for project certification.