Articles | Volume 9, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1-2024
© Author(s) 2024. 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-9-1-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
08 Jan 2024
Research article |
| 08 Jan 2024
| 08 Jan 2024
A digital twin solution for floating offshore wind turbines validated using a full-scale prototype
Emmanuel Branlard
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Jason Jonkman
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Cameron Brown
Stiesdal Offshore A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark
Jiatian Zhang
Stiesdal Offshore A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark
Related authors
Kenneth Brown, Pietro Bortolotti, Emmanuel Branlard, Mayank Chetan, Scott Dana, Nathaniel deVelder, Paula Doubrawa, Nicholas Hamilton, Hristo Ivanov, Jason Jonkman, Christopher Kelley, and Daniel Zalkind
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1791–1810, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1791-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1791-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a study of the popular wind turbine design tool OpenFAST. We compare simulation results to measurements obtained from a 2.8 MW land-based wind turbine. Measured wind conditions were used to generate turbulent flow fields through several techniques. We show that successful validation of the tool is not strongly dependent on the inflow generation technique used for mean quantities of interest. The type of inflow assimilation method has a larger effect on fatigue quantities.
Stefano Cioni, Francesco Papi, Leonardo Pagamonci, Alessandro Bianchini, Néstor Ramos-García, Georg Pirrung, Rémi Corniglion, Anaïs Lovera, Josean Galván, Ronan Boisard, Alessandro Fontanella, Paolo Schito, Alberto Zasso, Marco Belloli, Andrea Sanvito, Giacomo Persico, Lijun Zhang, Ye Li, Yarong Zhou, Simone Mancini, Koen Boorsma, Ricardo Amaral, Axelle Viré, Christian W. Schulz, Stefan Netzband, Rodrigo Soto-Valle, David Marten, Raquel Martín-San-Román, Pau Trubat, Climent Molins, Roger Bergua, Emmanuel Branlard, Jason Jonkman, and Amy Robertson
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1659–1691, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1659-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1659-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Simulations of different fidelities made by the participants of the OC6 project Phase III are compared to wind tunnel wake measurements on a floating wind turbine. Results in the near wake confirm that simulations and experiments tend to diverge from the expected linearized quasi-steady behavior when the reduced frequency exceeds 0.5. In the far wake, the impact of platform motion is overestimated by simulations and even seems to be oriented to the generation of a wake less prone to dissipation.
Roger Bergua, Amy Robertson, Jason Jonkman, Emmanuel Branlard, Alessandro Fontanella, Marco Belloli, Paolo Schito, Alberto Zasso, Giacomo Persico, Andrea Sanvito, Ervin Amet, Cédric Brun, Guillén Campaña-Alonso, Raquel Martín-San-Román, Ruolin Cai, Jifeng Cai, Quan Qian, Wen Maoshi, Alec Beardsell, Georg Pirrung, Néstor Ramos-García, Wei Shi, Jie Fu, Rémi Corniglion, Anaïs Lovera, Josean Galván, Tor Anders Nygaard, Carlos Renan dos Santos, Philippe Gilbert, Pierre-Antoine Joulin, Frédéric Blondel, Eelco Frickel, Peng Chen, Zhiqiang Hu, Ronan Boisard, Kutay Yilmazlar, Alessandro Croce, Violette Harnois, Lijun Zhang, Ye Li, Ander Aristondo, Iñigo Mendikoa Alonso, Simone Mancini, Koen Boorsma, Feike Savenije, David Marten, Rodrigo Soto-Valle, Christian W. Schulz, Stefan Netzband, Alessandro Bianchini, Francesco Papi, Stefano Cioni, Pau Trubat, Daniel Alarcon, Climent Molins, Marion Cormier, Konstantin Brüker, Thorsten Lutz, Qing Xiao, Zhongsheng Deng, Florence Haudin, and Akhilesh Goveas
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 465–485, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-465-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-465-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This work examines if the motion experienced by an offshore floating wind turbine can significantly affect the rotor performance. It was observed that the system motion results in variations in the load, but these variations are not critical, and the current simulation tools capture the physics properly. Interestingly, variations in the rotor speed or the blade pitch angle can have a larger impact than the system motion itself.
Mac Gaunaa, Niels Troldborg, and Emmanuel Branlard
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 503–513, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-503-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-503-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present an analytical vortex model. Despite its simplicity, the model is fully consistent with 1D momentum theory. It shows that the flow through a non-uniformly loaded rotor operating in non-uniform inflow behaves locally as predicted by 1D momentum theory. As a consequence, the local power coefficient (based on local inflow) of an ideal rotor is unaltered by the presence of shear. Finally, the model shows that there is no cross-shear deflection of the wake of a rotor in sheared inflow.
Kelsey Shaler, Benjamin Anderson, Luis A. Martínez-Tossas, Emmanuel Branlard, and Nick Johnson
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 383–399, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-383-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-383-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Free-vortex wake (OLAF) and low-fidelity blade-element momentum (BEM) structural results are compared to high-fidelity simulation results for a flexible downwind turbine for varying inflow conditions. Overall, OLAF results were more consistent than BEM results when compared to SOWFA results under challenging inflow conditions. Differences between OLAF and BEM results were dominated by yaw misalignment angle, with varying shear exponent and turbulence intensity causing more subtle differences.
Koen Boorsma, Gerard Schepers, Helge Aagard Madsen, Georg Pirrung, Niels Sørensen, Galih Bangga, Manfred Imiela, Christian Grinderslev, Alexander Meyer Forsting, Wen Zhong Shen, Alessandro Croce, Stefano Cacciola, Alois Peter Schaffarczyk, Brandon Lobo, Frederic Blondel, Philippe Gilbert, Ronan Boisard, Leo Höning, Luca Greco, Claudio Testa, Emmanuel Branlard, Jason Jonkman, and Ganesh Vijayakumar
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 211–230, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-211-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-211-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Within the framework of the fourth phase of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Wind Task 29, a large comparison exercise between measurements and aeroelastic simulations has been carried out. Results were obtained from more than 19 simulation tools of various fidelity, originating from 12 institutes and compared to state-of-the-art field measurements. The result is a unique insight into the current status and accuracy of rotor aerodynamic modeling.
Emmanuel Branlard and Jens Geisler
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2351–2371, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2351-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2351-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The article presents a framework to obtain the linear and nonlinear equations of motion of a multibody system including rigid and flexible bodies. The method yields compact symbolic equations of motion. The applications are many, such as time-domain simulation, stability analyses, frequency domain analyses, advanced controller design, state observers, and digital twins.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Emmanuel Branlard, Ian Brownstein, Benjamin Strom, Jason Jonkman, Scott Dana, and Edward Ian Baring-Gould
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 455–467, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-455-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-455-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, we present an aerodynamic tool that can model an arbitrary collections of wings, blades, rotors, and towers. With these functionalities, the tool can be used to study and design advanced wind energy concepts, such as horizontal-axis wind turbines, vertical-axis wind turbines, kites, or multi-rotors. This article describes the key features of the tool and presents multiple applications. Field measurements of horizontal- and vertical-axis wind turbines are used for comparison.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Will Wiley, Jason Jonkman, and Amy Robertson
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-130, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-130, 2024
Preprint under review for WES
Short summary
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Numerical models, used to assess loads on floating offshore wind turbines, require many input parameters to describe air and water conditions, system properties, and load calculations. All parameters have some possible range, due to uncertainty and/or variations with time. The selected values can have important effects on the uncertainty in the resulting loads. This work identifies the input parameters that have the most impact on ultimate and fatigue loads for extreme storm load cases.
Lucas Carmo, Jason Jonkman, and Regis Thedin
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1827–1847, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1827-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1827-2024, 2024
Short summary
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As floating wind turbines progress to arrays with multiple units, it becomes important to understand how the wake of a floating turbine affects the performance of other units in the array. Due to the compliance of the floating substructure, the wake of a floating wind turbine may behave differently from that of a fixed turbine. In this work, we present an investigation of the mutual interaction between the motions of floating wind turbines and wakes.
Kenneth Brown, Pietro Bortolotti, Emmanuel Branlard, Mayank Chetan, Scott Dana, Nathaniel deVelder, Paula Doubrawa, Nicholas Hamilton, Hristo Ivanov, Jason Jonkman, Christopher Kelley, and Daniel Zalkind
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1791–1810, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1791-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1791-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a study of the popular wind turbine design tool OpenFAST. We compare simulation results to measurements obtained from a 2.8 MW land-based wind turbine. Measured wind conditions were used to generate turbulent flow fields through several techniques. We show that successful validation of the tool is not strongly dependent on the inflow generation technique used for mean quantities of interest. The type of inflow assimilation method has a larger effect on fatigue quantities.
Kelsey Shaler, Eliot Quon, Hristo Ivanov, and Jason Jonkman
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1451–1463, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1451-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1451-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a three-way verification and validation between an engineering-fidelity model, a high-fidelity model, and measured data for the wind farm structural response and wake dynamics during an evolving stable boundary layer of a small wind farm, generally with good agreement.
Francesco Papi, Jason Jonkman, Amy Robertson, and Alessandro Bianchini
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1069–1088, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1069-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1069-2024, 2024
Short summary
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Blade element momentum (BEM) theory is the backbone of many industry-standard aerodynamic models. However, the analysis of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) introduces new challenges, which could put BEM models to the test. This study systematically compares four aerodynamic models, ranging from BEM to computational fluid dynamics, in an attempt to shed light on the unsteady aerodynamic phenomena that are at stake in FOWTs and whether BEM is able to model them appropriately.
Roger Bergua, Will Wiley, Amy Robertson, Jason Jonkman, Cédric Brun, Jean-Philippe Pineau, Quan Qian, Wen Maoshi, Alec Beardsell, Joshua Cutler, Fabio Pierella, Christian Anker Hansen, Wei Shi, Jie Fu, Lehan Hu, Prokopios Vlachogiannis, Christophe Peyrard, Christopher Simon Wright, Dallán Friel, Øyvind Waage Hanssen-Bauer, Carlos Renan dos Santos, Eelco Frickel, Hafizul Islam, Arjen Koop, Zhiqiang Hu, Jihuai Yang, Tristan Quideau, Violette Harnois, Kelsey Shaler, Stefan Netzband, Daniel Alarcón, Pau Trubat, Aengus Connolly, Seán B. Leen, and Oisín Conway
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1025–1051, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1025-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1025-2024, 2024
Short summary
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This paper provides a comparison for a floating offshore wind turbine between the motion and loading estimated by numerical models and measurements. The floating support structure is a novel design that includes a counterweight to provide floating stability to the system. The comparison between numerical models and the measurements includes system motion, tower loads, mooring line loads, and loading within the floating support structure.
Regis Thedin, Garrett Barter, Jason Jonkman, Rafael Mudafort, Christopher J. Bay, Kelsey Shaler, and Jasper Kreeft
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-6, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-6, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for WES
Short summary
Short summary
This work investigates asymmetries in terms of power performance and fatigue loading on a 5-turbine wind farm subject to wake steering strategies. Both the yaw misalignment angle and the wind direction were varied from negative to positive. We highlight conditions in which fatigue loading is lower while still maintenance good power gains and show that partial wake is the source of the asymmetries observed. We provide recommendations in terms of yaw misalignment angles for a given wind direction.
Stefano Cioni, Francesco Papi, Leonardo Pagamonci, Alessandro Bianchini, Néstor Ramos-García, Georg Pirrung, Rémi Corniglion, Anaïs Lovera, Josean Galván, Ronan Boisard, Alessandro Fontanella, Paolo Schito, Alberto Zasso, Marco Belloli, Andrea Sanvito, Giacomo Persico, Lijun Zhang, Ye Li, Yarong Zhou, Simone Mancini, Koen Boorsma, Ricardo Amaral, Axelle Viré, Christian W. Schulz, Stefan Netzband, Rodrigo Soto-Valle, David Marten, Raquel Martín-San-Román, Pau Trubat, Climent Molins, Roger Bergua, Emmanuel Branlard, Jason Jonkman, and Amy Robertson
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1659–1691, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1659-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1659-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Simulations of different fidelities made by the participants of the OC6 project Phase III are compared to wind tunnel wake measurements on a floating wind turbine. Results in the near wake confirm that simulations and experiments tend to diverge from the expected linearized quasi-steady behavior when the reduced frequency exceeds 0.5. In the far wake, the impact of platform motion is overestimated by simulations and even seems to be oriented to the generation of a wake less prone to dissipation.
Will Wiley, Jason Jonkman, Amy Robertson, and Kelsey Shaler
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1575–1595, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1575-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1575-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A sensitivity analysis determined the modeling parameters for an operating floating offshore wind turbine with the biggest impact on the ultimate and fatigue loads. The loads were the most sensitive to the standard deviation of the wind speed. Ultimate and fatigue mooring loads were highly sensitive to the current speed; only the fatigue mooring loads were sensitive to wave parameters. The largest platform rotation was the most sensitive to the platform horizontal center of gravity.
Paula Doubrawa, Kelsey Shaler, and Jason Jonkman
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1475–1493, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1475-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1475-2023, 2023
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Wind turbines are designed to withstand any wind conditions they might encounter. This includes high-turbulence flow fields found within wind farms due to the presence of the wind turbines themselves. The international standard allows for two ways to account for wind farm turbulence in the design process. We compared both ways and found large differences between them. To avoid overdesign and enable a site-specific design, we suggest moving towards validated, higher-fidelity simulation tools.
Roger Bergua, Amy Robertson, Jason Jonkman, Emmanuel Branlard, Alessandro Fontanella, Marco Belloli, Paolo Schito, Alberto Zasso, Giacomo Persico, Andrea Sanvito, Ervin Amet, Cédric Brun, Guillén Campaña-Alonso, Raquel Martín-San-Román, Ruolin Cai, Jifeng Cai, Quan Qian, Wen Maoshi, Alec Beardsell, Georg Pirrung, Néstor Ramos-García, Wei Shi, Jie Fu, Rémi Corniglion, Anaïs Lovera, Josean Galván, Tor Anders Nygaard, Carlos Renan dos Santos, Philippe Gilbert, Pierre-Antoine Joulin, Frédéric Blondel, Eelco Frickel, Peng Chen, Zhiqiang Hu, Ronan Boisard, Kutay Yilmazlar, Alessandro Croce, Violette Harnois, Lijun Zhang, Ye Li, Ander Aristondo, Iñigo Mendikoa Alonso, Simone Mancini, Koen Boorsma, Feike Savenije, David Marten, Rodrigo Soto-Valle, Christian W. Schulz, Stefan Netzband, Alessandro Bianchini, Francesco Papi, Stefano Cioni, Pau Trubat, Daniel Alarcon, Climent Molins, Marion Cormier, Konstantin Brüker, Thorsten Lutz, Qing Xiao, Zhongsheng Deng, Florence Haudin, and Akhilesh Goveas
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 465–485, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-465-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-465-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This work examines if the motion experienced by an offshore floating wind turbine can significantly affect the rotor performance. It was observed that the system motion results in variations in the load, but these variations are not critical, and the current simulation tools capture the physics properly. Interestingly, variations in the rotor speed or the blade pitch angle can have a larger impact than the system motion itself.
Mac Gaunaa, Niels Troldborg, and Emmanuel Branlard
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 503–513, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-503-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-503-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present an analytical vortex model. Despite its simplicity, the model is fully consistent with 1D momentum theory. It shows that the flow through a non-uniformly loaded rotor operating in non-uniform inflow behaves locally as predicted by 1D momentum theory. As a consequence, the local power coefficient (based on local inflow) of an ideal rotor is unaltered by the presence of shear. Finally, the model shows that there is no cross-shear deflection of the wake of a rotor in sheared inflow.
Kelsey Shaler, Benjamin Anderson, Luis A. Martínez-Tossas, Emmanuel Branlard, and Nick Johnson
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 383–399, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-383-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-383-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Free-vortex wake (OLAF) and low-fidelity blade-element momentum (BEM) structural results are compared to high-fidelity simulation results for a flexible downwind turbine for varying inflow conditions. Overall, OLAF results were more consistent than BEM results when compared to SOWFA results under challenging inflow conditions. Differences between OLAF and BEM results were dominated by yaw misalignment angle, with varying shear exponent and turbulence intensity causing more subtle differences.
Koen Boorsma, Gerard Schepers, Helge Aagard Madsen, Georg Pirrung, Niels Sørensen, Galih Bangga, Manfred Imiela, Christian Grinderslev, Alexander Meyer Forsting, Wen Zhong Shen, Alessandro Croce, Stefano Cacciola, Alois Peter Schaffarczyk, Brandon Lobo, Frederic Blondel, Philippe Gilbert, Ronan Boisard, Leo Höning, Luca Greco, Claudio Testa, Emmanuel Branlard, Jason Jonkman, and Ganesh Vijayakumar
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 211–230, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-211-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-211-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Within the framework of the fourth phase of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Wind Task 29, a large comparison exercise between measurements and aeroelastic simulations has been carried out. Results were obtained from more than 19 simulation tools of various fidelity, originating from 12 institutes and compared to state-of-the-art field measurements. The result is a unique insight into the current status and accuracy of rotor aerodynamic modeling.
Kelsey Shaler, Amy N. Robertson, and Jason Jonkman
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 25–40, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-25-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-25-2023, 2023
Short summary
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This work evaluates which wind-inflow- and wake-related parameters have the greatest influence on fatigue and ultimate loads for turbines in a small wind farm. Twenty-eight parameters were screened using an elementary effects approach to identify the parameters that lead to the largest variation in these loads of each turbine. The findings show the increased importance of non-streamwise wind components and wake parameters in fatigue and ultimate load sensitivity of downstream turbines.
Emmanuel Branlard and Jens Geisler
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2351–2371, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2351-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2351-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The article presents a framework to obtain the linear and nonlinear equations of motion of a multibody system including rigid and flexible bodies. The method yields compact symbolic equations of motion. The applications are many, such as time-domain simulation, stability analyses, frequency domain analyses, advanced controller design, state observers, and digital twins.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Emmanuel Branlard, Ian Brownstein, Benjamin Strom, Jason Jonkman, Scott Dana, and Edward Ian Baring-Gould
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 455–467, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-455-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-455-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, we present an aerodynamic tool that can model an arbitrary collections of wings, blades, rotors, and towers. With these functionalities, the tool can be used to study and design advanced wind energy concepts, such as horizontal-axis wind turbines, vertical-axis wind turbines, kites, or multi-rotors. This article describes the key features of the tool and presents multiple applications. Field measurements of horizontal- and vertical-axis wind turbines are used for comparison.
Matthias Kretschmer, Jason Jonkman, Vasilis Pettas, and Po Wen Cheng
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1247–1262, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1247-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1247-2021, 2021
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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.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
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.
Peter Graf, Katherine Dykes, Rick Damiani, Jason Jonkman, and Paul Veers
Wind Energ. Sci., 3, 475–487, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-475-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-475-2018, 2018
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Current approaches to wind turbine extreme load estimation are insufficient to routinely and reliably make required estimates over 50-year return periods. Our work hybridizes the two main approaches and casts the problem as stochastic optimization. However, the extreme variability in turbine response implies even an optimal sampling strategy needs unrealistic computing resources. We therefore conclude that further improvement requires better understanding of the underlying causes of loads.
Srinivas Guntur, Jason Jonkman, Ryan Sievers, Michael A. Sprague, Scott Schreck, and Qi Wang
Wind Energ. Sci., 2, 443–468, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2-443-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2-443-2017, 2017
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This paper presents a validation and code-to-code verification of the U.S. Dept of Energy/NREL wind turbine aeroelastic code, FAST v8, on a 2.3 MW wind turbine. Model validation is critical to any model-based research and development activity, and validation efforts on large turbines, as the current one, are extremely rare, mainly due to the scale. This paper, which was a collaboration between NREL and Siemens Wind Power, successfully demonstrates and validates the capabilities of FAST.
Related subject area
Thematic area: Dynamics and control | Topic: Dynamics and aeroservoelasticity
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Lucas Carmo, Jason Jonkman, and Regis Thedin
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1827–1847, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1827-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1827-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
As floating wind turbines progress to arrays with multiple units, it becomes important to understand how the wake of a floating turbine affects the performance of other units in the array. Due to the compliance of the floating substructure, the wake of a floating wind turbine may behave differently from that of a fixed turbine. In this work, we present an investigation of the mutual interaction between the motions of floating wind turbines and wakes.
Hendrik Verdonck, Oliver Hach, Jelmer D. Polman, Otto Schramm, Claudio Balzani, Sarah Müller, and Johannes Rieke
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1747–1763, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1747-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1747-2024, 2024
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Aeroelastic stability simulations are needed to guarantee the safety and overall robust design of wind turbines. To increase our confidence in these simulations in the future, the sensitivity of the stability analysis with respect to variability in the structural properties of the wind turbine blades is investigated. Multiple state-of-the-art tools are compared and the study shows that even though the tools predict similar stability behavior, the sensitivity might be significantly different.
Marta Bertelè, Paul J. Meyer, Carlo R. Sucameli, Johannes Fricke, Anna Wegner, Julia Gottschall, and Carlo L. Bottasso
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1419–1429, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1419-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1419-2024, 2024
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A neural observer is used to estimate shear and veer from the operational data of a large wind turbine equipped with blade load sensors. Comparison with independent measurements from a nearby met mast and profiling lidar demonstrate the ability of the
rotor as a sensorconcept to provide high-quality estimates of these inflow quantities based simply on already available standard operational data.
Kristian Ladefoged Ebbehøj, Philippe Jacques Couturier, Lars Morten Sørensen, and Jon Juel Thomsen
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1005–1024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1005-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1005-2024, 2024
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This paper experimentally validates a novel method for characterizing wind turbine dynamics based on vibration measurements. The dynamics of wind turbines can change over short time periods if the operational conditions change. In such cases, conventional methods are inadequate. The validation is performed with a controlled laboratory experiment and a full-scale wind turbine test. More accurate characterization could lead to more efficient wind turbine designs and in turn cheaper wind energy.
Jaime Liew, Tuhfe Göçmen, Alan W. H. Lio, and Gunner Chr. Larsen
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1387–1402, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1387-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1387-2023, 2023
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We present recent research on dynamically modelling wind farm wakes and integrating these enhancements into the wind farm simulator, HAWC2Farm. The simulation methodology is showcased by recreating dynamic scenarios observed in the Lillgrund offshore wind farm. We successfully recreate scenarios with turning winds, turbine shutdown events, and wake deflection events. The research provides opportunities to better identify wake interactions in wind farms, allowing for more reliable designs.
Ásta Hannesdóttir, David R. Verelst, and Albert M. Urbán
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 231–245, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-231-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-231-2023, 2023
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In this work we use observations of large coherent fluctuations to define a probabilistic gust model. The gust model provides the joint description of the gust rise time, amplitude, and direction change. We perform load simulations with a coherent gust according to the wind turbine safety standard and with the probabilistic gust model. A comparison of the simulated loads shows that the loads from the probabilistic gust model can be significantly higher due to variability in the gust parameters.
Ozan Gözcü, Emre Barlas, and Suguang Dou
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 109–124, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-109-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-109-2023, 2023
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This study proposes a fast correction method for modal-based reduced-order models to account for geometric nonlinearities linked to large bending deflections in cantilever beam-like engineering structures. The large deflections cause secondary motions such as axial and torsional motions when the structures go through bending deflections. The method relies on pre-computed correction terms and thus adds negligibly small extra computational cost to the time domain analyses of the dynamic response.
Emmanuel Branlard and Jens Geisler
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2351–2371, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2351-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2351-2022, 2022
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The article presents a framework to obtain the linear and nonlinear equations of motion of a multibody system including rigid and flexible bodies. The method yields compact symbolic equations of motion. The applications are many, such as time-domain simulation, stability analyses, frequency domain analyses, advanced controller design, state observers, and digital twins.
Cited articles
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Short summary
In this work, we implement, verify, and validate a physics-based digital twin solution applied to a floating offshore wind turbine. The article present methods to obtain reduced-order models of floating wind turbines. The models are used to form a digital twin which combines measurements from the TetraSpar prototype (a full-scale floating offshore wind turbine) to estimate signals that are not typically measured.
In this work, we implement, verify, and validate a physics-based digital twin solution applied...
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