Wind turbine blade misalignments were measured. About 38 % of the turbines measured have been operating outside the accepted misalignment range. This research quantifies the effect of the measured misalignment on the turbine lifetime by means of simulations. The lifetimes of the main frame at the tower top and the tower base were affected most by a blade misalignment. To avoid a lifetime reduction, blade misalignments should be identified and corrected as early as possible during the lifetime.

Wind turbines extract momentum from atmospheric flow and convert that to electricity. This study explores recovery processes in wind farms that replenish the momentum so that wind farms can continue to function. Experiments with a numerical model show that momentum transport by turbulent eddies from above the wind turbines is the major contributor to recovery except for strong wind conditions and low wind turbine density, where horizontal advection can also play a major role.

This paper illustrates two sensor placement optimisation techniques designed for damage detection while taking into account temperature effects. A case study of a glider wing shows that, compared to the normalised method using the temperature label, the linear method that did not require temperature labels provided features that were less sensitive to damage. However, it is cheaper and more convenient to extract temperature-robust features in practical engineering.

We carry out a probabilistic calibration of the Dynamic Wake Meandering (DWM) model using high-spatial- and high-temporal-resolution nacelle-based lidar measurements of the wake flow field. The experimental data were collected from the Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) facility in Texas. The analysis includes the velocity deficit, wake-added turbulence, and wake meandering features under various inflow wind and atmospheric-stability conditions.

Wind farm layout optimization is an essential part of wind farm design. In this paper, we present different methods to determine the number of turbines in a wind farm, as well as their placement. Also in this paper we explore the effect that the objective function has on the wind farm design and found that wind farm layout is highly sensitive to the objective. The optimal number of turbines can vary greatly, from 15 to 54 for the cases in this paper, depending on the metric that is optimized.

The scale model wind tunnel experiment presented in this paper investigated the aerodynamic response of a floating turbine subjected to imposed surge motion. The problem is studied under different aspects, from airfoil aerodynamics to wake, in a coherent manner. Results show quasi-static behavior for reduced frequencies lower than 0.5 and possible unsteadiness for higher surge motion frequencies. Data are made available to the public for future verification and calibration of numerical models.

In this paper, a new energy system for the conversion of far-offshore wind energy into methanol is proposed, and the cost of energy is estimated. Results show that this system could produce approximately 70 000 t of methanol per annum at a cost comparable to that of methanol produced by offshore wind farms in the long term.

As wind power becomes more popular, there is a growing demand for accurate power production forecasts. In this paper we investigated different methods to improve wind power forecasts for an offshore location in the Baltic Sea, using both simple and more advanced techniques. The performance of the methods is evaluated for different weather conditions. Smoothing the forecast was found to be the best method in general, but we recommend selecting which method to use based on the forecasted weather.

Via 11 years of measurements, we made a representative ensemble of wind ramps in terms of acceleration, mean speed, and shear. Constrained turbulence and large-eddy simulations were coupled to an aeroelastic model for each ensemble member. Ramp acceleration was found to dominate the maxima of thrust-associated loads, with a ramp-induced increase of 45 %–50 % plus ~ 3 % per 0.1 m/s² of bulk ramp acceleration magnitude. The LES indicates that the ramps (and such loads) persist through the farm.

We perform a validation of the new simulation tool FAST.Farm for the prediction of power output and structural loads in single wake conditions with respect to measurement data from the offshore wind farm alpha ventus. With a new wake-added turbulence functionality added to FAST.Farm, good agreement between simulations and measurements is achieved for the considered quantities. We hereby give insights into load characteristics of an offshore wind turbine subjected to single wake conditions.

Ducted wind turbines (DWTs) can be used for energy harvesting in urban areas where non-uniform flows are caused by the presence of buildings or other surface discontinuities. For this reason, the aerodynamic performance of DWTs in yawed-flow conditions must be characterized. It is found that the duct cross-section camber offers not only insensitivity to yaw but also a gain in performance up to a specific yaw angle; thereafter any further increase in yaw results in a performance drop.

The length of rotor blades of land-based wind turbines is currently constrained by logistics. Turbine manufacturers currently propose segmented solutions to overcome these limits, but blade joints come with extra masses and costs. This work investigates an alternative solution, namely the design of ultra-flexible blades that can be transported on rail via controlled bending. The results show that this is a promising pathway for further increasing the size of land-based wind turbines.

A methodology to design electrothermal deicing protection for wind turbines is presented. The method relies on modeling and experimental testing to determine the critical ice thickness. The critical ice thickness needed is dependent on the ice tensile strength, which varies with icing conditions. The ice tensile strength must be overcome by the stress that a de-bonded ice structure exerts under centrifugal force at its root region, where it attaches to a non-de-bonded ice region.

Curved blade tips can potentially have a significant impact on wind turbine performance and loads. A swept tip shape optimized for wind turbine applications is tested in a wind tunnel. A range of numerical aerodynamic simulation tools with various levels of fidelity are compared. We show that all numerical tools except for the simplest blade element momentum based are in good agreement with the measurements, suggesting the required level of model fidelity necessary for the design of such tips.

Lidar-assisted control (LAC) is used to redesign the rotor and tower of three turbines, differing in terms of wind class, size, and power rating. The load reductions enabled by LAC are used to save mass, increase hub height, or extend lifetime. The first two strategies yield reductions in the cost of energy only for the tower of the largest machine, while more interesting benefits are obtained for lifetime extension.