Articles | Volume 7, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-505-2022
© Author(s) 2022. 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-7-505-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
09 Mar 2022
Research article |
| 09 Mar 2022
| 09 Mar 2022
Input torque measurements for wind turbine gearboxes using fiber-optic strain sensors
Unai Gutierrez Santiago
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
3mE, TU Delft, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD, Delft, the Netherlands
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Parque Tecnológico de Bizkaia, 48170 Zamudio, Spain
Alfredo Fernández Sisón
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Parque Tecnológico de Bizkaia, 48170 Zamudio, Spain
Henk Polinder
3mE, TU Delft, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD, Delft, the Netherlands
Jan-Willem van Wingerden
3mE, TU Delft, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD, Delft, the Netherlands
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Unai Gutierrez Santiago, Aemilius van Vondelen, Alfredo Fernández Sisón, Henk Polinder, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-83, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-83, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for WES
Short summary
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Knowing the loads applied to wind turbine gearboxes throughout their service life is becoming increasingly important. Operational deflection shapes identified from fiber-optic strain measurements have enabled the estimation of the gearbox input torque. This allows for future improvements in assessing the remaining useful life. Additionally, tracking the operational deflection shapes over time could enhance condition monitoring in planetary gear stages.
Majid Bastankhah, Marcus Becker, Matthew Churchfield, Caroline Draxl, Jay Prakash Goit, Mehtab Khan, Luis A. Martinez Tossas, Johan Meyers, Patrick Moriarty, Wim Munters, Asim Önder, Sara Porchetta, Eliot Quon, Ishaan Sood, Nicole van Lipzig, Jan-Willem van Wingerden, Paul Veers, and Simon Watson
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 2171–2174, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2171-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2171-2024, 2024
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Dries Allaerts was born on 19 May 1989 and passed away at his home in Wezemaal, Belgium, on 10 October 2024 after battling cancer. Dries started his wind energy career in 2012 and had a profound impact afterward on the community, in terms of both his scientific realizations and his many friendships and collaborations in the field. His scientific acumen, open spirit of collaboration, positive attitude towards life, and playful and often cheeky sense of humor will be deeply missed by many.
Matteo Baricchio, Pieter M. O. Gebraad, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 2113–2132, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2113-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2113-2024, 2024
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Wake steering can be integrated into wind farm layout optimization through a co-design approach. This study estimates the potential of this method for a wide range of realistic conditions, adopting a tailored genetic algorithm and novel geometric yaw relations. A gain in the annual energy yield between 0.3 % and 0.4 % is obtained for a 16-tubrine farm, and a multi-objective implementation is used to limit loss in the case that wake steering is not used during farm operation.
Marion Coquelet, Maxime Lejeune, Laurent Bricteux, Aemilius A. W. van Vondelen, Jan-Willem van Wingerden, and Philippe Chatelain
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1923–1940, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1923-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1923-2024, 2024
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An extended Kalman filter is used to estimate the wind impinging on a wind turbine based on the blade bending moments and a turbine model. Using large-eddy simulations, this paper verifies how robust the estimator is to the turbine control strategy as it impacts loads and operating parameters. It is shown that including dynamics in the turbine model to account for delays between actuation and bending moments is needed to maintain the accuracy of the estimator when dynamic pitch control is used.
Amr Hegazy, Peter Naaijen, Vincent Leroy, Félicien Bonnefoy, Mohammad Rasool Mojallizadeh, Yves Pérignon, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1669–1688, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1669-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1669-2024, 2024
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Successful wave tank experiments were conducted to evaluate the feedforward (FF) control strategy benefits in terms of structural loads and power quality of floating wind turbine components. The wave FF control strategy is effective when it comes to alleviating the effects of the wave forces on the floating offshore wind turbines, whereas wave FF control requires a significant amount of actuation to minimize the platform pitch motion, which makes such technology unfavorable for that objective.
Unai Gutierrez Santiago, Aemilius van Vondelen, Alfredo Fernández Sisón, Henk Polinder, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-83, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-83, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for WES
Short summary
Short summary
Knowing the loads applied to wind turbine gearboxes throughout their service life is becoming increasingly important. Operational deflection shapes identified from fiber-optic strain measurements have enabled the estimation of the gearbox input torque. This allows for future improvements in assessing the remaining useful life. Additionally, tracking the operational deflection shapes over time could enhance condition monitoring in planetary gear stages.
Maarten J. van den Broek, Marcus Becker, Benjamin Sanderse, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 721–740, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-721-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-721-2024, 2024
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Wind turbine wakes negatively affect wind farm performance as they impinge on downstream rotors. Wake steering reduces these losses by redirecting wakes using yaw misalignment of the upstream rotor. We develop a novel control strategy based on model predictions to implement wake steering under time-varying conditions. The controller is tested in a high-fidelity simulation environment and improves wind farm power output compared to a state-of-the-art reference controller.
Livia Brandetti, Sebastiaan Paul Mulders, Roberto Merino-Martinez, Simon Watson, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 471–493, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-471-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-471-2024, 2024
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This research presents a multi-objective optimisation approach to balance vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) performance and noise, comparing the combined wind speed estimator and tip-speed ratio (WSE–TSR) tracking controller with a baseline. Psychoacoustic annoyance is used as a novel metric for human perception of wind turbine noise. Results showcase the WSE–TSR tracking controller’s potential in trading off the considered objectives, thereby fostering the deployment of VAWTs in urban areas.
Maarten J. van den Broek, Delphine De Tavernier, Paul Hulsman, Daan van der Hoek, Benjamin Sanderse, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1909–1925, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1909-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1909-2023, 2023
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As wind turbines produce power, they leave behind wakes of slow-moving air. We analyse three different models to predict the effects of these wakes on downstream wind turbines. The models are validated with experimental data from wind tunnel studies for steady and time-varying conditions. We demonstrate that the models are suitable for optimally controlling wind turbines to improve power production in large wind farms.
Livia Brandetti, Sebastiaan Paul Mulders, Yichao Liu, Simon Watson, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1553–1573, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1553-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1553-2023, 2023
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This research presents the additional benefits of applying an advanced combined wind speed estimator and tip-speed ratio tracking (WSE–TSR) controller compared to the baseline Kω2. Using a frequency-domain framework and an optimal calibration procedure, the WSE–TSR tracking control scheme shows a more flexible trade-off between conflicting objectives: power maximisation and load minimisation. Therefore, implementing this controller on large-scale wind turbines will facilitate their operation.
Daniel van den Berg, Delphine de Tavernier, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 849–864, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-849-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-849-2023, 2023
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Wind turbines placed in farms interact with their wake, lowering the power production of the wind farm. This can be mitigated using so-called wake mixing techniques. This work investigates the coupling between the pulse wake mixing technique and the motion of floating wind turbines using the pulse. Frequency response experiments and time domain simulations show that extra movement is undesired and that the
optimalexcitation frequency is heavily platform dependent.
Johan Meyers, Carlo Bottasso, Katherine Dykes, Paul Fleming, Pieter Gebraad, Gregor Giebel, Tuhfe Göçmen, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2271–2306, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2271-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2271-2022, 2022
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We provide a comprehensive overview of the state of the art and the outstanding challenges in wind farm flow control, thus identifying the key research areas that could further enable commercial uptake and success. To this end, we have structured the discussion on challenges and opportunities into four main areas: (1) insight into control flow physics, (2) algorithms and AI, (3) validation and industry implementation, and (4) integrating control with system design
(co-design).
Marcus Becker, Bastian Ritter, Bart Doekemeijer, Daan van der Hoek, Ulrich Konigorski, Dries Allaerts, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2163–2179, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2163-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2163-2022, 2022
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In this paper we present a revised dynamic control-oriented wind farm model. The model can simulate turbine wake behaviour in heterogeneous and changing wind conditions at a very low computational cost. It utilizes a three-dimensional turbine wake model which also allows capturing vertical wind speed differences. The model could be used to maximise the power generation of with farms, even during events like a wind direction change. It is publicly available and open for further development.
Tuhfe Göçmen, Filippo Campagnolo, Thomas Duc, Irene Eguinoa, Søren Juhl Andersen, Vlaho Petrović, Lejla Imširović, Robert Braunbehrens, Jaime Liew, Mads Baungaard, Maarten Paul van der Laan, Guowei Qian, Maria Aparicio-Sanchez, Rubén González-Lope, Vinit V. Dighe, Marcus Becker, Maarten J. van den Broek, Jan-Willem van Wingerden, Adam Stock, Matthew Cole, Renzo Ruisi, Ervin Bossanyi, Niklas Requate, Simon Strnad, Jonas Schmidt, Lukas Vollmer, Ishaan Sood, and Johan Meyers
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1791–1825, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1791-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1791-2022, 2022
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The FarmConners benchmark is the first of its kind to bring a wide variety of data sets, control settings, and model complexities for the (initial) assessment of wind farm flow control benefits. Here we present the first part of the benchmark results for three blind tests with large-scale rotors and 11 participating models in total, via direct power comparisons at the turbines as well as the observed or estimated power gain at the wind farm level under wake steering control strategy.
Daan van der Hoek, Joeri Frederik, Ming Huang, Fulvio Scarano, Carlos Simao Ferreira, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1305–1320, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1305-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1305-2022, 2022
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The paper presents a wind tunnel experiment where dynamic induction control was implemented on a small-scale turbine. By periodically changing the pitch angle of the blades, the low-velocity turbine wake is perturbed, and hence it recovers at a faster rate. Small particles were released in the flow and subsequently recorded with a set of high-speed cameras. This allowed us to reconstruct the flow behind the turbine and investigate the effect of dynamic induction control on the wake.
Yichao Liu, Riccardo Ferrari, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 523–537, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-523-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-523-2022, 2022
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The objective of the paper is to develop a data-driven output-constrained individual pitch control approach, which will not only mitigate the blade loads but also reduce the pitch activities. This is achieved by only reducing the blade loads violating a user-defined bound, which leads to an economically viable load control strategy. The proposed control strategy shows promising results of load reduction in the wake-rotor overlapping and turbulent sheared wind conditions.
Amir R. Nejad, Jonathan Keller, Yi Guo, Shawn Sheng, Henk Polinder, Simon Watson, Jianning Dong, Zian Qin, Amir Ebrahimi, Ralf Schelenz, Francisco Gutiérrez Guzmán, Daniel Cornel, Reza Golafshan, Georg Jacobs, Bart Blockmans, Jelle Bosmans, Bert Pluymers, James Carroll, Sofia Koukoura, Edward Hart, Alasdair McDonald, Anand Natarajan, Jone Torsvik, Farid K. Moghadam, Pieter-Jan Daems, Timothy Verstraeten, Cédric Peeters, and Jan Helsen
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 387–411, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-387-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-387-2022, 2022
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This paper presents the state-of-the-art technologies and development trends of wind turbine drivetrains – the energy conversion systems transferring the kinetic energy of the wind to electrical energy – in different stages of their life cycle: design, manufacturing, installation, operation, lifetime extension, decommissioning and recycling. The main aim of this article is to review the drivetrain technology development as well as to identify future challenges and research gaps.
Aemilius A. W. van Vondelen, Sachin T. Navalkar, Alexandros Iliopoulos, Daan C. van der Hoek, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 161–184, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-161-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-161-2022, 2022
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The damping of an offshore wind turbine is a difficult physical quantity to predict, although it plays a major role in a cost-effective turbine design. This paper presents a review of all approaches that can be used for damping estimation directly from operational wind turbine data. As each use case is different, a novel suitability table is presented to enable the user to choose the most appropriate approach for the given availability and characteristics of measurement data.
Alessandro Fontanella, Mees Al, Jan-Willem van Wingerden, and Marco Belloli
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 885–901, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-885-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-885-2021, 2021
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Floating wind is a key technology to harvest the abundant wind energy resource of deep waters. This research introduces a new way of controlling the wind turbine to better deal with the action of waves. The turbine is made aware of the incoming waves, and the information is exploited to enhance power production.
Bart M. Doekemeijer, Stefan Kern, Sivateja Maturu, Stoyan Kanev, Bastian Salbert, Johannes Schreiber, Filippo Campagnolo, Carlo L. Bottasso, Simone Schuler, Friedrich Wilts, Thomas Neumann, Giancarlo Potenza, Fabio Calabretta, Federico Fioretti, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 159–176, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-159-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-159-2021, 2021
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This article presents the results of a field experiment investigating wake steering on an onshore wind farm. The measurements show that wake steering leads to increases in power production of up to 35 % for two-turbine interactions and up to 16 % for three-turbine interactions. However, losses in power production are seen for various regions of wind directions. The results suggest that further research is necessary before wake steering will consistently lead to energy gains in wind farms.
Joeri Alexis Frederik, Robin Weber, Stefano Cacciola, Filippo Campagnolo, Alessandro Croce, Carlo Bottasso, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 245–257, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-245-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-245-2020, 2020
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The interaction between wind turbines in a wind farm through their wakes is a widely studied research area. Until recently, research was focused on finding constant turbine inputs that optimize the performance of the wind farm. However, recent studies have shown that time-varying, dynamic inputs might be more beneficial. In this paper, the validity of this approach is further investigated by implementing it in scaled wind tunnel experiments and assessing load effects, showing promising results.
Steffen Raach, Bart Doekemeijer, Sjoerd Boersma, Jan-Willem van Wingerden, and Po Wen Cheng
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2019-54, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2019-54, 2019
Publication in WES not foreseen
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The presented work combines two control approaches of wake redirection control, feedforward wake redirection and feedback wake redirction. In our previous investigatins the lidar-assisted feedback control was studied and the advantages and disadvantages were discussed. The optimal yaw angles for the wind turbines are precomputed, the feedback takes care of uncertainties and disturbances. The concept is demonstrated in a high fidelity simulation model.
Hector Mendez Reyes, Stoyan Kanev, Bart Doekemeijer, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 4, 549–561, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-549-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-549-2019, 2019
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Within wind farms, the wind turbines interact with each other through their wakes. Turbines operating in these wakes have lower power production and increased wear and tear. Wake redirection is control strategy to steer the wakes aside from downstream turbines, increasing the power yield of the farm. Models for predicting the power gain and impacts on wear exist, but they are still immature and require validation. The validation of such a model is the purpose of this paper.
Andreas Rott, Bart Doekemeijer, Janna Kristina Seifert, Jan-Willem van Wingerden, and Martin Kühn
Wind Energ. Sci., 3, 869–882, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-869-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-869-2018, 2018
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Active wake deflection (AWD) aims to increase the power output of a wind farm by misaligning the yaw of upstream turbines. We analysed the effect of dynamic wind direction changes on AWD. The results show that AWD is very sensitive towards these dynamics. Therefore, we present a robust active wake control, which considers uncertainties and wind direction changes, increasing the overall power output of a wind farm. A side effect is a significant reduction of the yaw actuation of the turbines.
Bart M. Doekemeijer, Sjoerd Boersma, Lucy Y. Pao, Torben Knudsen, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 3, 749–765, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-749-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-749-2018, 2018
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Most wind farm control algorithms in the literature rely on a simplified mathematical model that requires constant calibration to the current conditions. This paper provides such an estimation algorithm for a dynamic model capturing the turbine power production and flow field at hub height. Performance was demonstrated in high-fidelity simulations for two-turbine and nine-turbine farms, accurately estimating the ambient conditions and wind field inside the farms at a low computational cost.
Sebastiaan Paul Mulders, Niels Frederik Boudewijn Diepeveen, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 3, 615–638, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-615-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-615-2018, 2018
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The modeling, operating strategy, and controller design for an actual in-field wind turbine with a fixed-displacement hydraulic drivetrain are presented. An analysis is given on a passive torque control strategy for below-rated operation. The turbine lacks the option to influence the system torque by a generator, so the turbine is regulated by a spear valve in the region between below- and above-rated operation. The control design is evaluated on a real-world 500 kW hydraulic wind turbine.
Sjoerd Boersma, Bart Doekemeijer, Mehdi Vali, Johan Meyers, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 3, 75–95, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-75-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-75-2018, 2018
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Controlling the flow within wind farms to reduce the fatigue loads and provide grid facilities such as the delivery of a demanded power is a challenging control problem due to the underlying time-varying non-linear wake dynamics. In this paper, a control-oriented dynamical wind farm model is presented and validated with high-fidelity wind farm models. In contrast to the latter models, the model presented in this work is computationally efficient and hence suitable for online wind farm control.
Edwin van Solingen, Sebastiaan Paul Mulders, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 2, 153–173, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2-153-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2-153-2017, 2017
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The aim of this paper is to show that with an automated tuning strategy, wind turbine control performance can be significantly increased. To this end, iterative feedback tuning (IFT) is applied to two different turbine controllers. The results obtained by high-fidelity simulations indicate significant performance improvements over baseline controllers. It is concluded that IFT of turbine controllers has the potential to become a valuable tool for improving wind turbine performance.
Sachin T. Navalkar, Lars O. Bernhammer, Jurij Sodja, Edwin van Solingen, Gijs A. M. van Kuik, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 1, 205–220, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-1-205-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-1-205-2016, 2016
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In order to reduce the cost of wind energy, it is necessary to reduce the loads that wind turbines withstand over their lifetime. The combination of blade rotation with newly designed blade shape changing actuators is demonstrated experimentally. While load reduction is achieved, the additional flexibility implies that careful control design is needed to avoid instability.
G. A. M. van Kuik, J. Peinke, R. Nijssen, D. Lekou, J. Mann, J. N. Sørensen, C. Ferreira, J. W. van Wingerden, D. Schlipf, P. Gebraad, H. Polinder, A. Abrahamsen, G. J. W. van Bussel, J. D. Sørensen, P. Tavner, C. L. Bottasso, M. Muskulus, D. Matha, H. J. Lindeboom, S. Degraer, O. Kramer, S. Lehnhoff, M. Sonnenschein, P. E. Sørensen, R. W. Künneke, P. E. Morthorst, and K. Skytte
Wind Energ. Sci., 1, 1–39, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-1-1-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-1-1-2016, 2016
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John Jasa, Pietro Bortolotti, Daniel Zalkind, and Garrett Barter
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 991–1006, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-991-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-991-2022, 2022
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Using highly accurate simulations within a design cycle is prohibitively computationally expensive. We implement and present a multifidelity optimization method and showcase its efficacy using three different case studies. We examine aerodynamic blade design, turbine controls tuning, and a wind plant layout problem. In each case, the multifidelity method finds an optimal design that performs better than those obtained using simplified models but at a lower cost than high-fidelity optimization.
Benjamin Sanderse, Vinit V. Dighe, Koen Boorsma, and Gerard Schepers
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 759–781, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-759-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-759-2022, 2022
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An accurate prediction of loads and power of an offshore wind turbine is needed for an optimal design. However, such predictions are typically performed with engineering models that contain many inaccuracies and uncertainties. In this paper we have proposed a systematic approach to quantify and calibrate these uncertainties based on two experimental datasets. The calibrated models are much closer to the experimental data and are equipped with an estimate of the uncertainty in the predictions.
Andrew P. J. Stanley, Christopher Bay, Rafael Mudafort, and Paul Fleming
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 741–757, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-741-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-741-2022, 2022
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In wind plants, turbines can be yawed to steer their wakes away from downstream turbines and achieve an increase in plant power. The yaw angles become expensive to solve for in large farms. This paper presents a new method to solve for the optimal turbine yaw angles in a wind plant. The yaw angles are defined as Boolean variables – each turbine is either yawed or nonyawed. With this formulation, most of the gains from wake steering can be reached with a large reduction in computational expense.
Charles Tripp, Darice Guittet, Jennifer King, and Aaron Barker
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 697–713, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-697-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-697-2022, 2022
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Hybrid solar and wind plant layout optimization is a difficult, complex problem. In this paper, we propose a parameterized approach to wind and solar hybrid power plant layout optimization that greatly reduces problem dimensionality while guaranteeing that the generated layouts have a desirable regular structure. We demonstrate that this layout method that generates high-performance, regular layouts which respect hard constraints (e.g., placement restrictions).
Jason M. Jonkman, Emmanuel S. P. Branlard, and John P. Jasa
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 559–571, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-559-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-559-2022, 2022
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This paper summarizes efforts done to understand the impact of design parameter variations in the physical system (e.g., mass, stiffness, geometry, aerodynamic, and hydrodynamic coefficients) on the linearized system using OpenFAST in support of the development of the WEIS toolset to enable controls co-design of floating offshore wind turbines.
Andrew P. J. Stanley, Jennifer King, Christopher Bay, and Andrew Ning
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 433–454, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-433-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-433-2022, 2022
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In this paper, we present a computationally inexpensive model to calculate wind turbine blade fatigue caused by waking and partial waking. The model accounts for steady state on the blade, as well as wind turbulence. The model is fast enough to be used in wind farm layout optimization, which has not been possible with more expensive fatigue models in the past. The methods introduced in this paper will allow for farms with increased energy production that maintain turbine structural reliability.
Mareike Leimeister, Maurizio Collu, and Athanasios Kolios
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 259–281, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-259-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-259-2022, 2022
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Floating offshore wind technology has high potential but still faces challenges for gaining economic competitiveness to allow commercial market uptake. Hence, design optimization plays a key role; however, the final optimum floater obtained highly depends on the specified optimization problem. Thus, by considering alternative structural realization approaches, not very stringent limitations on the structure and dimensions are required. This way, more innovative floater designs can be captured.
Ernesto Camarena, Evan Anderson, Josh Paquette, Pietro Bortolotti, Roland Feil, and Nick Johnson
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 19–35, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-19-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-19-2022, 2022
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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 to further increasing the size of land-based wind turbines.
Ye Liu, Yun Qian, and Larry K. Berg
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 37–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-37-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-37-2022, 2022
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Uncertainties in initial conditions (ICs) decrease the accuracy of wind speed forecasts. We find that IC uncertainties can alter wind speed by modulating the weather system. IC uncertainties in local thermal gradient and large-scale circulation jointly contribute to wind speed forecast uncertainties. Wind forecast accuracy in the Columbia River Basin is confined by initial uncertainties in a few specific regions, providing useful information for more intense measurement and modeling studies.
Alessandro Croce, Stefano Cacciola, and Luca Sartori
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1–17, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1-2022, 2022
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In recent years, research has focused on the development of wind farm controllers with the aim of minimizing interactions between machines and thus improving the production of the wind farm.
In this work we have analyzed the effects of these recent technologies on a single wind turbine, with the aim of understanding the impact of these controllers on the design of the machine itself.
The analyses have shown there are non-negligible effects on some components of the wind turbine.
Nicola Bodini, Weiming Hu, Mike Optis, Guido Cervone, and Stefano Alessandrini
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1363–1377, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1363-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1363-2021, 2021
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We develop two machine-learning-based approaches to temporally extrapolate uncertainty in hub-height wind speed modeled by a numerical weather prediction model. We test our approaches in the California Outer Continental Shelf, where a significant offshore wind energy development is currently being planned, and we find that both provide accurate results.
Helena Canet, Stefan Loew, and Carlo L. Bottasso
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1325–1340, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1325-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1325-2021, 2021
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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.
David Getz and Jose Palacios
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1291–1309, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1291-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1291-2021, 2021
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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.
Pietro Bortolotti, Nick Johnson, Nikhar J. Abbas, Evan Anderson, Ernesto Camarena, and Joshua Paquette
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1277–1290, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1277-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1277-2021, 2021
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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.
Andrew P. J. Stanley, Owen Roberts, Jennifer King, and Christopher J. Bay
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1143–1167, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1143-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1143-2021, 2021
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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.
Gerard Schepers, Pim van Dorp, Remco Verzijlbergh, Peter Baas, and Harmen Jonker
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 983–996, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-983-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-983-2021, 2021
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In this article the aeroelastic loads on a 10 MW turbine in response to unconventional wind conditions selected from a year-long large-eddy simulation on a site at the North Sea are evaluated. Thereto an assessment is made of the practical importance of these wind conditions within an aeroelastic context based on high-fidelity wind modelling. Moreover the accuracy of BEM-based methods for modelling such wind conditions is assessed.
Quanjiang Yu, Michael Patriksson, and Serik Sagitov
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 949–959, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-949-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-949-2021, 2021
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There are two ways to maintain a multi-component system: corrective maintenance, when a broken component is replaced with a new one, and preventive maintenance (PM), when some components are replaced in a planned manner before they break down. This article proposes a mathematical model for finding an optimal time to perform the next PM activity and selecting the components which should be replaced. The model is fast to solve, and it can be used as a key module in a maintenance scheduling app.
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
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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
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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.
Erik Quaeghebeur, René Bos, and Michiel B. Zaaijer
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 815–839, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-815-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-815-2021, 2021
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We present a technique to support the optimal layout (placement) of wind turbines in a wind farm. It efficiently determines good directions and distances for moving turbines. An improved layout reduces production losses and so makes the farm project economically more attractive. Compared to most existing techniques, our approach requires less time. This allows wind farm designers to explore more alternatives and provides the flexibility to adapt the layout to site-specific requirements.
Helena Canet, Pietro Bortolotti, and Carlo L. Bottasso
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 601–626, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-601-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-601-2021, 2021
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The paper analyzes in detail the problem of scaling, considering both the steady-state and transient response cases, including the effects of aerodynamics, elasticity, inertia, gravity, and actuation. After a general theoretical analysis of the problem, the article considers two alternative ways of designing a scaled rotor. The two methods are then applied to the scaling of a 10 MW turbine of 180 m in diameter down to three different sizes (54, 27, and 2.8 m).
Freia Harzendorf, Ralf Schelenz, and Georg Jacobs
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 571–584, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-571-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-571-2021, 2021
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Making wind turbines more reliable over their lifetime is an important goal for improving wind turbine technology. The wind turbine drivetrain has a major influence on turbine reliability. This paper presents an approach that will help to identify holistically better drivetrain concepts in an early product design phase from an operational perspective as it is able to estimate and assess drivetrain-concept-specific inherent risks in the operational phase.
Artur Movsessian, Marcel Schedat, and Torsten Faber
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 539–554, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-539-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-539-2021, 2021
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The assessment of the structural condition and technical lifetime extension of a wind turbine is challenging due to lack of information for the estimation of fatigue loads. This paper demonstrates the modelling of damage-equivalent loads of the fore–aft bending moments of a wind turbine tower, highlighting the advantage of using the neighbourhood component analysis. This feature selection technique is compared to correlation analysis, stepwise regression, and principal component analysis.
Jan Wiśniewski, Krzysztof Rogowski, Konrad Gumowski, and Jacek Szumbarski
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 287–294, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-287-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-287-2021, 2021
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The article describes results of experimental wind tunnel and CFD testing of four different straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine model configurations. The experiment tested a novel concept of vertically dividing and azimuthally shifting a turbine rotor into two parts with a specific uneven height division in order to limit cycle amplitudes and average cycle values of bending moments at the bottom of the turbine shaft to increase product lifetime, especially for industrial-scale turbines.
Gesine Wanke, Leonardo Bergami, Frederik Zahle, and David Robert Verelst
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 203–220, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-203-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-203-2021, 2021
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This article regards a rotor redesign for a wind turbine in upwind and in downwind rotor configurations. A simple optimization tool is used to estimate the aerodynamic planform, as well as the structural mass distribution of the rotor blade. The designs are evaluated in full load base calculations according to the IEC standard with the aeroelastic tool HAWC2. A scaling model is used to scale turbine and energy costs from the design loads and compare the costs for the turbine configurations.
Oliver Menck, Matthias Stammler, and Florian Schleich
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 1743–1754, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1743-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1743-2020, 2020
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Blade bearings of wind turbines experience unusual loads compared to bearings in other industrial applications, which adds some difficulty to the application of otherwise well-established calculation methods, like fatigue lifetime. As a result, different methods for such calculations can be found in the literature. This paper compares three approaches of varying complexity and comes to the conclusion that the simplest of the methods is very inaccurate compared to the more complex methods.
Gianluca Zorzi, Amol Mankar, Joey Velarde, John D. Sørensen, Patrick Arnold, and Fabian Kirsch
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 1521–1535, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1521-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1521-2020, 2020
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Storms, typhoons or seismic actions are likely to cause permanent rotation of offshore wind turbine foundations. Excessive rotation jeopardizes the operation of the wind turbine. In this study geotechnical, loads and probabilistic modelling are used to develop a reliability framework for predicting the rotation of the foundation under cyclic lateral loading.
Nicola Bodini and Mike Optis
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 1435–1448, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1435-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1435-2020, 2020
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Calculations of annual energy production (AEP) and its uncertainty are critical for wind farm financial transactions. Standard industry practice assumes that different uncertainty categories within an AEP calculation are uncorrelated and can therefore be combined through a sum of squares approach. In this project, we show the limits of this assumption by performing operational AEP estimates for over 470 wind farms in the United States and propose a more accurate way to combine uncertainties.
Simon Letzgus
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 1375–1397, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1375-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1375-2020, 2020
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One of the major challenges when working with wind turbine sensor data in practice is the presence of systematic changes in signal behaviour induced by malfunctions or maintenance actions. We found that approximately every third signal is affected by such change points and introduce an algorithm which reliably detects them in a highly automated fashion. The algorithm enables the application of data-driven techniques to monitor wind turbine components using data from commonly installed sensors.
Emmanuel Branlard, Dylan Giardina, and Cameron S. D. Brown
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 1155–1167, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1155-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1155-2020, 2020
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The paper presents an application of the Kalman filtering technique to estimate loads on a wind turbine. The approach combines a mechanical model and a set of measurements to estimate signals that are not available in the measurements, such as wind speed, thrust, tower position, and tower loads. The model is severalfold faster than real time and is intended to be run online, for instance, to evaluate real-time fatigue life consumption of a field turbine using a digital twin.
Laura Schröder, Nikolay Krasimirov Dimitrov, and David Robert Verelst
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 1007–1022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1007-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-1007-2020, 2020
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We suggest a methodology for correlating loads with component reliability of turbines in wind farms by combining physical modeling with machine learning. The suggested approach is demonstrated on an offshore wind farm for comparing performance, loads and lifetime estimations against recorded main bearing failures from maintenance reports. It is found that turbines positioned at the border of the wind farm with a higher expected AEP are estimated to experience earlier main bearing failures.
João Pacheco, Silvina Guimarães, Carlos Moutinho, Miguel Marques, José Carlos Matos, and Filipe Magalhães
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 983–996, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-983-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-983-2020, 2020
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This paper introduces the Tocha wind farm, presents the different layouts adopted in the instrumentation of the wind turbines and shows initial results. At this preliminary stage, the capabilities of the very extensive monitoring layout are demonstrated. The results presented demonstrate the ability of the different monitoring components to track the modal parameters of the system, composed of tower and rotor, and to characterize the internal loads at the tower base and blade roots.
Gesine Wanke, Leonardo Bergami, and David Robert Verelst
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 929–944, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-929-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-929-2020, 2020
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Converting an upwind wind turbine into a downwind configuration is shown to come with higher edgewise loads due to lower edgewise damping. The study shows from modal displacements of a reduced-order turbine model that the interaction between the forces on the rotor, the rotor motion, and the tower torsion is the main reason for the observed damping decrease.
Malo Rosemeier and Matthias Saathoff
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 897–909, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-897-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-897-2020, 2020
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A huge number of wind turbines have reached their designated lifetime of 20 years.
Most of the turbines installed were overdesigned.
In practice, these turbines could potentially operate longer to increase the energy yield.
For the use case turbine considered in this work, a simple lifetime extension of 8.7 years increases the energy yield by 43.5 %. When the swept rotor area is increased by means of a blade tip extension, the yield is increased by an additional 2.3 %.
Sebastian Perez-Becker, Francesco Papi, Joseph Saverin, David Marten, Alessandro Bianchini, and Christian Oliver Paschereit
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 721–743, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-721-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-721-2020, 2020
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Aeroelastic design load calculations play a key role in determining the design loads of the different wind turbine components. This study compares load estimations from calculations using a Blade Element Momentum aerodynamic model with estimations from calculations using a higher-order Lifting-Line Free Vortex Wake aerodynamic model. The paper finds and explains the differences in fatigue and extreme turbine loads for power production simulations that cover a wide range of turbulent wind speeds.
Kwangtae Ha, Moritz Bätge, David Melcher, and Steffen Czichon
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 591–599, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-591-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-591-2020, 2020
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This paper outlines a novel segment test methodology for wind turbine rotor blades. It mainly aims at improving the efficiency of the fatigue test as a future test method at Fraunhofer IWES. The numerical simulation reveals that this method has a significant time savings of up to 43 % and 52 % for 60 and 90 m blades, while improving test quality within an acceptable range of overload. This test methodology could be a technical solution for future offshore rotor blades longer than 100 m.
Jaime Liew, Albert M. Urbán, and Søren Juhl Andersen
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 427–437, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-427-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-427-2020, 2020
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In wind farms, the interaction between neighboring turbines can cause notable power losses. The focus of the paper is on how the combination of turbine yaw misalignment and wake effects influences the power loss in a wind turbine. The results of the paper show a more notable power loss due to turbine misalignment when turbines are closely spaced. The presented conclusions enable better predictions of a turbine's power production, which can assist the wind farm design process.
Julian Quick, Jennifer King, Ryan N. King, Peter E. Hamlington, and Katherine Dykes
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 413–426, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-413-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-413-2020, 2020
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We investigate the trade-offs in optimization of wake steering strategies, where upstream turbines are positioned to deflect wakes away from downstream turbines, with a probabilistic perspective. We identify inputs that are sensitive to uncertainty and demonstrate a realistic optimization under uncertainty for a wind power plant control strategy. Designing explicitly around uncertainty yielded control strategies that were generally less aggressive and more robust to the uncertain input.
Frederick Letson, Rebecca J. Barthelmie, and Sara C. Pryor
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 331–347, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-331-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-331-2020, 2020
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Wind turbine blade leading edge erosion (LEE) is potentially a significant source of energy loss and expense for wind farm operators. This study presents a novel approach to characterizing LEE potential from precipitation across the contiguous USA based on publicly available National Weather Service dual-polarization RADAR data. The approach is described in detail and illustrated using six locations distributed across parts of the USA that have substantial wind turbine deployments.
Erik Quaeghebeur, Sebastian Sanchez Perez-Moreno, and Michiel B. Zaaijer
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 259–284, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-259-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-259-2020, 2020
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The design and management of an offshore wind farm involve expertise in many disciplines. It is hard for a single person to maintain the overview needed. Therefore, we have created WESgraph, a knowledge base for the wind farm domain, implemented as a graph database. It stores descriptions of the multitude of domain concepts and their various interconnections. It allows users to explore the domain and search for relationships within and across disciplines, enabling various applications.
Lars Einar S. Stieng and Michael Muskulus
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 171–198, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-171-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-171-2020, 2020
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We present a framework for reducing the cost of support structures for offshore wind turbines that takes into account the many uncertainties that go into the design process. The results demonstrate how an efficient new approach, tailored for support structure design, allows the state of the art for design without uncertainties to be used within a framework that does include these uncertainties. This allows more realistic, and less conservative, design methods
to be used for practical design.
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
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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.
Nikola Vasiljević, Andrea Vignaroli, Andreas Bechmann, and Rozenn Wagner
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 73–87, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-73-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-73-2020, 2020
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A WindScanner system consisting of two synchronized scanning lidars potentially represents a cost-effective solution for multipoint measurements. However, the lidar limitations and the site limitations are detrimental to the installation of lidars and number and location of measurement positions. To simplify the process of finding suitable measurement positions and lidar installation locations, a campaign planning workflow was devised. The paper describes the workflow and how it was digitalized.
Andrew P. J. Stanley and Andrew Ning
Wind Energ. Sci., 4, 663–676, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-663-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-663-2019, 2019
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When designing a wind farm, one crucial step is finding the correct location or optimizing the location of the wind turbines to maximize power production. In the past, optimizing the turbine layout of large wind farms has been difficult because of the large number of interacting variables. In this paper, we present the boundary-grid parameterization method, which defines the layout of any wind farm with only five variables, allowing people to study and design wind farms regardless of the size.
Daniel S. Zalkind, Gavin K. Ananda, Mayank Chetan, Dana P. Martin, Christopher J. Bay, Kathryn E. Johnson, Eric Loth, D. Todd Griffith, Michael S. Selig, and Lucy Y. Pao
Wind Energ. Sci., 4, 595–618, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-595-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-595-2019, 2019
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We present a model that both (1) reduces the computational effort involved in analyzing design trade-offs and (2) provides a qualitative understanding of the root cause of fatigue and extreme structural loads for wind turbine components from the blades to the tower base. We use this model in conjunction with design loads from high-fidelity simulations to analyze and compare the trade-offs between power capture and structural loading for large rotor concepts.
Amy N. Robertson, Kelsey Shaler, Latha Sethuraman, and Jason Jonkman
Wind Energ. Sci., 4, 479–513, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-479-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-479-2019, 2019
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This paper identifies the most sensitive parameters for the load response of a 5 MW wind turbine. Two sets of parameters are examined: one set relating to the wind excitation characteristics and a second related to the physical properties of the wind turbine. The two sensitivity analyses are done separately, and the top most-sensitive parameters are identified for different load outputs throughout the structure. The findings will guide future validation campaigns and measurement needs.
Pietro Bortolotti, Helena Canet, Carlo L. Bottasso, and Jaikumar Loganathan
Wind Energ. Sci., 4, 397–406, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-397-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-397-2019, 2019
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The paper studies the effects of uncertainties in aeroservoelastic
wind turbine models. Uncertainties are associated with the wind
inflow characteristics and the blade surface state, and they are propagated
by means of two non-intrusive methods throughout the
aeroservoelastic model of a large conceptual offshore wind
turbine. Results are compared with a brute-force extensive Monte
Carlo sampling to assess the convergence characteristics of the
non-intrusive approaches.
Andrés Santiago Padrón, Jared Thomas, Andrew P. J. Stanley, Juan J. Alonso, and Andrew Ning
Wind Energ. Sci., 4, 211–231, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-211-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-211-2019, 2019
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We propose the use of a new method to efficiently compute the annual energy production (AEP) of a wind farm by properly handling the uncertainties in the wind direction and wind speed. We apply the new ideas to the layout optimization of a large wind farm. We show significant computational savings by reducing the number of simulations required to accurately compute and optimize the AEP of different wind farms.
Mads H. Aa. Madsen, Frederik Zahle, Niels N. Sørensen, and Joaquim R. R. A. Martins
Wind Energ. Sci., 4, 163–192, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-163-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-163-2019, 2019
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The wind energy industry relies heavily on CFD to analyze new designs. This paper investigates a way to utilize CFD further upstream the design process where lower-fidelity methods are used. We present the first comprehensive 3-D CFD adjoint-based shape optimization of a 10 MW modern offshore wind turbine. The present work shows that, with the right tools, we can model the entire geometry, including the root, and optimize modern wind turbine rotors at the cost of a few hundred CFD evaluations.
Pietro Bortolotti, Abhinav Kapila, and Carlo L. Bottasso
Wind Energ. Sci., 4, 115–125, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-115-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-115-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The paper compares upwind and downwind three-bladed configurations
for a 10 MW wind turbine in terms of power and loads. For the
downwind case, the study also considers a load-aligned solution
with active coning. Results indicate that downwind solutions are
slightly more advantageous than upwind ones, although improvements
are small. Additionally, pre-alignment is difficult to achieve in
practice, and the active coning solution is associated with very
significant engineering challenges.
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Short summary
The gearbox is one of the main contributors to the overall cost of wind energy, and it is acknowledged that we still do not fully understand its loading. The study presented in this paper develops a new alternative method to measure input rotor torque in wind turbine gearboxes, overcoming the drawbacks related to measuring on a rotating shaft. The method presented in this paper could make measuring gearbox torque more cost-effective, which would facilitate its adoption in serial wind turbines.
The gearbox is one of the main contributors to the overall cost of wind energy, and it is...
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Final-revised paper
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