Articles | Volume 9, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-601-2024
© 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-9-601-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Mar 2024
Research article |
| 14 Mar 2024
| 14 Mar 2024
An insight into the capability of the actuator line method to resolve tip vortices
Pier Francesco Melani
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, Italy
Omar Sherif Mohamed
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, Italy
Stefano Cioni
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, Italy
Francesco Balduzzi
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, Italy
Alessandro Bianchini
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, Italy
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Jörg Alber, Marinos Manolesos, Guido Weinzierl-Dlugosch, Johannes Fischer, Alexander Schönmeier, Christian Navid Nayeri, Christian Oliver Paschereit, Joachim Twele, Jens Fortmann, Pier Francesco Melani, and Alessandro Bianchini
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 943–965, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-943-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-943-2022, 2022
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This paper investigates the potentials and the limitations of mini Gurney flaps and their combination with vortex generators for improved rotor blade performance of wind turbines. These small passive add-ons are installed in order to increase the annual energy production by mitigating the effects of both early separation toward the root region and surface erosion toward the tip region of the blade. As such, this study contributes to the reliable and long-term generation of renewable energy.
Leonardo Pagamonci, Francesco Papi, Gabriel Cojocaru, Marco Belloli, and Alessandro Bianchini
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-169, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-169, 2025
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The study presents a critical analysis, using wind tunnel experiments and LES CFD simulations, aimed at quantifying to what extent turbulence affects the wake structures of a floating turbine undergoing large motions. Analyses show that, whenever realistic turbulence comes to play, only small gains in terms of wake recovery are noticed in FOWTs in comparison to bottom-fixed turbines, suggesting the absence of hypothesized superposition effects between inflow and platform motion.
Alessandro Fontanella, Alberto Fusetti, Stefano Cioni, Francesco Papi, Sara Muggiasca, Giacomo Persico, Vincenzo Dossena, Alessandro Bianchini, and Marco Belloli
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The article investigates the impact of large movements allowed by floating wind turbine foundations on their aerodynamics and wake behavior. Wind tunnel tests with a model turbine reveal that platform motions affect wake patterns and turbulence levels. Insights from these experiments are crucial for optimizing large-scale floating wind farms. The dataset obtained from the experiment is published and can aid in developing simulation tools for floating wind turbines.
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
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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.
Francesco Papi, Giancarlo Troise, Robert Behrens de Luna, Joseph Saverin, Sebastian Perez-Becker, David Marten, Marie-Laure Ducasse, and Alessandro Bianchini
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 981–1004, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-981-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-981-2024, 2024
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Wind turbines need to be simulated for thousands of hours to estimate design loads. Mid-fidelity numerical models are typically used for this task to strike a balance between computational cost and accuracy. The considerable displacements of floating wind turbines may be a challenge for some of these models. This paper enhances comprehension of how modeling theories affect floating wind turbine loads by comparing three codes across three turbines, simulated in a real environment.
Robert Behrens de Luna, Sebastian Perez-Becker, Joseph Saverin, David Marten, Francesco Papi, Marie-Laure Ducasse, Félicien Bonnefoy, Alessandro Bianchini, and Christian-Oliver Paschereit
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 623–649, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-623-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-623-2024, 2024
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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
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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.
Paul Veers, Carlo L. Bottasso, Lance Manuel, Jonathan Naughton, Lucy Pao, Joshua Paquette, Amy Robertson, Michael Robinson, Shreyas Ananthan, Thanasis Barlas, Alessandro Bianchini, Henrik Bredmose, Sergio González Horcas, Jonathan Keller, Helge Aagaard Madsen, James Manwell, Patrick Moriarty, Stephen Nolet, and Jennifer Rinker
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1071–1131, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1071-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1071-2023, 2023
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Critical unknowns in the design, manufacturing, and operation of future wind turbine and wind plant systems are articulated, and key research activities are recommended.
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
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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.
Paul Veers, Katherine Dykes, Sukanta Basu, Alessandro Bianchini, Andrew Clifton, Peter Green, Hannele Holttinen, Lena Kitzing, Branko Kosovic, Julie K. Lundquist, Johan Meyers, Mark O'Malley, William J. Shaw, and Bethany Straw
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Alessandro Bianchini, Galih Bangga, Ian Baring-Gould, Alessandro Croce, José Ignacio Cruz, Rick Damiani, Gareth Erfort, Carlos Simao Ferreira, David Infield, Christian Navid Nayeri, George Pechlivanoglou, Mark Runacres, Gerard Schepers, Brent Summerville, David Wood, and Alice Orrell
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2003–2037, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2003-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2003-2022, 2022
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The paper is part of the Grand Challenges Papers for Wind Energy. It provides a status of small wind turbine technology in terms of technical maturity, diffusion, and cost. Then, five grand challenges that are thought to be key to fostering the development of the technology are proposed. To tackle these challenges, a series of unknowns and gaps are first identified and discussed. Improvement areas are highlighted, within which 10 key enabling actions are finally proposed to the wind community.
Jörg Alber, Marinos Manolesos, Guido Weinzierl-Dlugosch, Johannes Fischer, Alexander Schönmeier, Christian Navid Nayeri, Christian Oliver Paschereit, Joachim Twele, Jens Fortmann, Pier Francesco Melani, and Alessandro Bianchini
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 943–965, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-943-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-943-2022, 2022
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Rodrigo Soto-Valle, Stefano Cioni, Sirko Bartholomay, Marinos Manolesos, Christian Navid Nayeri, Alessandro Bianchini, and Christian Oliver Paschereit
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 585–602, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-585-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-585-2022, 2022
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This paper compares different vortex identification methods to evaluate their suitability to study the tip vortices of a wind turbine. The assessment is done through experimental data from the wake of a wind turbine model. Results show comparability in some aspects as well as significant differences, providing evidence to justify further comparisons. Therefore, this study proves that the selection of the most suitable postprocessing methods of tip vortex data is pivotal to ensure robust results.
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.
Related subject area
Thematic area: Fluid mechanics | Topic: Wind turbine aerodynamics
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Nils Barfknecht and Dominic von Terzi
Wind Energ. Sci., 10, 315–346, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-315-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-315-2025, 2025
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The paper investigates the influence of the rain drop diameter on the formation of erosion damage and its implications for erosion-safe mode (ESM). By building an erosion damage model that incorporates several drop-size effects, we found that large droplets are significantly more erosive than small droplets. It is shown that the performance of the ESM is significantly increased when drop-size effects are correctly accounted for. A method to derive optimal ESM strategies is given as well.
Hye Rim Kim, Jasson A. Printezis, Jan Dominik Ahrens, Joerg R. Seume, and Lars Wein
Wind Energ. Sci., 10, 161–175, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-161-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-161-2025, 2025
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The need for renewable energy, thus more efficient wind turbines, is ever increasing. Accurate prediction of the performance in the design stage is necessary. In particular, predicting the dynamic performance of a wind turbine in the region where it undergoes highly unsteady flow is very challenging. We investigated the dynamic performance of an airfoil, which is typical for megastructure wind farms, in support of the development of more efficient design tools in the future.
Maria Cristina Vitulano, Delphine De Tavernier, Giuliano De Stefano, and Dominic von Terzi
Wind Energ. Sci., 10, 103–116, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-103-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-103-2025, 2025
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Next-generation wind turbines are the largest rotating machines ever built, experiencing local flow Mach where the incompressibility assumption is violated, and even transonic flow can occur. This study assesses the transonic features over the FFA-W3-211 wind turbine tip airfoil for selected industrial test cases, defines the subsonic–supersonic flow threshold and evaluates the Reynolds number effects on transonic flow occurrence. Shock wave occurrence is also depicted.
Ricardo Fernandez-Aldama, George Papadakis, Oscar Lopez-Garcia, Sergio Avila-Sanchez, Vasilis A. Riziotis, Alvaro Cuerva-Tejero, and Cristobal Gallego-Castillo
Wind Energ. Sci., 10, 17–39, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-17-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-17-2025, 2025
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Nils Barfknecht and Dominic von Terzi
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 2333–2357, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2333-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-2333-2024, 2024
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Rain droplets damage wind turbine blades due to the high impact speed at the tip. In this study, it is found that rain droplets and wind turbine blades interact aerodynamically. The rain droplets slow down and deform close to the blade. A model from another field of study was adapted and validated to study this process in detail. This effect reduced the predicted erosion damage by up to 50 %, primarily affecting smaller drops. It is shown how the slowdown effect can influence erosion mitigation.
Shyam VimalKumar, Delphine De Tavernier, Dominic von Terzi, Marco Belloli, and Axelle Viré
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1967–1983, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1967-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1967-2024, 2024
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When standing still without a nacelle or blades, the vibrations on a wind turbine tower are of concern to its structural health. This study finds that the air which flows around the tower recirculates behind the tower, forming so-called wakes. These wakes initiate the vibration, and the movement itself causes the vibration to increase or decrease depending on the wind speed. The current study uses a methodology called force partitioning to analyse this in depth.
Divya Tyagi and Sven Schmitz
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-111, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-111, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for WES
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This paper adds to the literature on rotor disk theory by solving the century-old problem with a different mathematical approach. The classical results are recovered, while also adding expressions and asymptotic limits for performance coefficients that were not included in the original theory. This work adds to classical rotor disk theory as a valuable contribution to research and teaching in wind turbine aerodynamics.
Francois Trigaux, Philippe Chatelain, and Grégoire Winckelmans
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1765–1789, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1765-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1765-2024, 2024
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In this research, the impact of blade flexibility is investigated for a very large wind turbine using numerical simulations. It is shown that bending and torsion decrease the power production and affect aerodynamic loads. Blade deformation also affects the flow of wind behind the turbine, resulting in a higher mean velocity. Our study highlights the importance of including blade flexibility in the simulation of large wind turbines to obtain accurate power and load predictions.
Erik K. Fritz, Christopher L. Kelley, and Kenneth A. Brown
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1713–1726, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1713-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1713-2024, 2024
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This study investigates the benefits of optimizing the spacing of pressure sensors for measurement campaigns on wind turbine blades and airfoils. It is demonstrated that local aerodynamic properties can be estimated considerably more accurately when the sensor layout is optimized compared to commonly used simpler sensor layouts. This has the potential to reduce the number of sensors without losing measurement accuracy and, thus, reduce the instrumentation complexity and experiment cost.
Erik Fritz, Koen Boorsma, and Carlos Ferreira
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1617–1629, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1617-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1617-2024, 2024
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This study presents results from a wind tunnel experiment on a model wind turbine with swept blades, thus blades curved in the rotor plane. Using a non-intrusive measurement technique, the flow around the turbine blades was measured from which blade-level aerodynamics are derived in post-processing. The detailed experimental database gives insight into swept-blade aerodynamics and has great value in validating numerical tools, which aim at simulating swept wind turbine blades.
Julia Sabrina Gebauer, Felix Konstantin Prigge, Dominik Ahrens, Lars Wein, and Claudio Balzani
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-91, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-91, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for WES
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The amount of energy that can be extracted from wind depends primarily on the blade geometry, which can be affected by elastic deformations. This paper presents a first study analysing the influence of cross-sectional deformations of a 15 MW wind turbine blade on the aero-elastic simulations. The results show small changes in geometry, and aerodynamic and structural loads even for a test case. These findings show the potential to be particularly important for larger and more flexible blades.
Erik Fritz, André Ribeiro, Koen Boorsma, and Carlos Ferreira
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 1173–1187, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1173-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1173-2024, 2024
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This study presents results from a wind tunnel experiment on a model wind turbine. Using a non-intrusive measurement technique, the flow around the turbine blades was measured. In post-processing, the blade-level aerodynamics are derived from the measured flow fields. The detailed experimental database has great value in validating numerical tools of varying complexity, which aim at simulating wind turbine aerodynamics as accurately as possible.
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
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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.
Francesco Papi, Giancarlo Troise, Robert Behrens de Luna, Joseph Saverin, Sebastian Perez-Becker, David Marten, Marie-Laure Ducasse, and Alessandro Bianchini
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 981–1004, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-981-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-981-2024, 2024
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Wind turbines need to be simulated for thousands of hours to estimate design loads. Mid-fidelity numerical models are typically used for this task to strike a balance between computational cost and accuracy. The considerable displacements of floating wind turbines may be a challenge for some of these models. This paper enhances comprehension of how modeling theories affect floating wind turbine loads by comparing three codes across three turbines, simulated in a real environment.
Christian W. Schulz, Stefan Netzband, Umut Özinan, Po Wen Cheng, and Moustafa Abdel-Maksoud
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 665–695, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-665-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-665-2024, 2024
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Understanding the underlying physical phenomena of the aerodynamics of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) is crucial for successful simulations. No consensus has been reached in the research community on which unsteady aerodynamic phenomena are relevant and how much they can influence the loads acting on a FOWT. This work contributes to the understanding and characterisation of such unsteady phenomena using a novel experimental approach and comprehensive numerical investigations.
Adhyanth Giri Ajay, Laurence Morgan, Yan Wu, David Bretos, Aurelio Cascales, Oscar Pires, and Carlos Ferreira
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 453–470, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-453-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-453-2024, 2024
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This paper compares six different numerical models to predict the performance of an X-shaped vertical-axis wind turbine, offering insights into how it works in 3D when its blades are fixed at specific angles. The results showed the 3D models here reliably predict the performance while still taking this turbine's complex aerodynamics into account compared to 2D models. Further, these blade angles caused more complexity in predicting the turbine's behaviour, which is highlighted in this paper.
Bruno A. Roccia, Luis R. Ceballos, Marcos L. Verstraete, and Cristian G. Gebhardt
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 385–416, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-385-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-385-2024, 2024
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In the literature there is a lack of meshing tools when it comes to building aerodynamic grids of wind turbines/farms to be used along with potential flow solvers. In this work, we present a detailed description of the geometric modeling and computational implementation of an interactive mesh generator, named UVLMeshGen, for onshore/offshore wind farms. The work is completed by providing a series of aerodynamic results related to wind turbines/farms to show the capacity of the mesh generator.
Federico Taruffi, Felipe Novais, and Axelle Viré
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 343–358, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-343-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-343-2024, 2024
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Floating wind turbines are subject to complex aerodynamics that are not yet fully understood. Lab-scale experiments are crucial for capturing these phenomena and validate numerical tools. This paper presents a new wind tunnel experimental setup able to study the response of a wind turbine rotor when subjected to prescribed motions in 6 degrees of freedom. The observed unsteady effects underscore the importance of pursuing research on the impact of floater motions on wind turbine performance.
Rishabh Mishra, Emmanuel Guilmineau, Ingrid Neunaber, and Caroline Braud
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 235–252, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-235-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-235-2024, 2024
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To investigate the impact of turbulence on aerodynamic forces, we first model turbulent kinetic energy decay theoretically using the Taylor length scale and employ this model to create a digital wind tunnel replica for simulating grid-generated turbulence. Experimental validation shows good alignment among theory, simulations, and experiments, paving the way for aerodynamic simulations. Finally, we successfully use the digital replica to obtain force coefficients for a 2D rotor blade section.
Leo Höning, Laura J. Lukassen, Bernhard Stoevesandt, and Iván Herráez
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 203–218, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-203-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-203-2024, 2024
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This study analyzes the impact of wind turbine rotor blade flexibility on the aerodynamic loading of the blades and the consequential wind characteristics in the near wake of the turbine. It is shown that gravitation leads to rotational periodic fluctuations of blade loading, which directly impacts the trajectory of the blade tip vortex at different rotor blade positions while also resulting in a non-uniform wind velocity deficit in the wake of the wind turbine.
Etienne Muller, Simone Gremmo, Félix Houtin-Mongrolle, Bastien Duboc, and Pierre Bénard
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 25–48, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-25-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-25-2024, 2024
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This article presents an advanced tool designed for the high-fidelity and high-performance simulation of operating wind turbines, allowing for instance the computation of a blade deformation, as well as of the surrounding airflow. As this tool relies on coupling two existing codes, the coupling strategy is first described in depth. The article then compares the code results to field data for validation.
Helge Aagaard Madsen
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1853–1872, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1853-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1853-2023, 2023
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We present a linear analytical solution for a two-dimensional (2-D) actuator disc (AD) for a plane disc, a yawed disc and a coned disc. Comparisons of the 2-D model with three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) AD simulations for a circular yawed disc and with an axis-symmetric CFD simulation of a coned disc show good correlation for the normal velocity component of the disc. This indicates that the 2-D AD model could form the basis for a consistent, simple new rotor induction model.
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
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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.
Christian Grinderslev, Felix Houtin-Mongrolle, Niels Nørmark Sørensen, Georg Raimund Pirrung, Pim Jacobs, Aqeel Ahmed, and Bastien Duboc
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1625–1638, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1625-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1625-2023, 2023
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In standstill conditions wind turbines are at risk of vortex-induced vibrations (VIVs). VIVs can become large and lead to significant fatigue of the wind turbine structure over time. Thus it is important to have tools that can accurately compute this complex phenomenon. This paper studies the sensitivities to the chosen models of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations when modelling VIVs and finds that much care is needed when setting up simulations, especially for specific flow angles.
Mohammad Rasoul Tirandaz, Abdolrahim Rezaeiha, and Daniel Micallef
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1403–1424, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1403-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1403-2023, 2023
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Vertical axis wind turbines experience a variation of torque and power throughout their rotation. Traditional non-morphing blades are intrinsically not able to respond to this variation, resulting in a turbine which has suboptimal performance. In principle, it is possible to have a morphing blade that adapts to the blade's rotation and changes its geometry in such a way as to optimise the performance of the turbine. This paper addresses the question of how such blade should morph as it rotates.
Ferdinand Seel, Thorsten Lutz, and Ewald Krämer
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1369–1385, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1369-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1369-2023, 2023
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Vortex generators are evaluated on a 2 MW wind turbine rotor blade by computational fluid dynamic methods. Those devices delay flow separation on the airfoils and thus increase their efficiency. On the wind turbine blade, rotational phenomena (e.g. rotational augmentation) appear and interact with the vortices from the vortex generators. The understanding of those interactions is crucial in order to optimise the placement of the vortex generators and evaluate their real efficiency on the blade.
Jens N. Sørensen
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1017–1027, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1017-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1017-2023, 2023
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The paper presents a simple analytical model that, with surprisingly good accuracy, represents the loading for virtually any horizontal axis wind turbine, independent of size and operating regime. The aim of the model is to have a simple tool that may represent the loading of any wind turbine without having access to the details regarding the specific geometry and airfoil data, information that is normally kept confidential by the manufacturer of the turbine.
André F. P. Ribeiro, Damiano Casalino, and Carlos S. Ferreira
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 661–675, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-661-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-661-2023, 2023
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Floating offshore wind turbines move due to not having a rigid foundation. Hence, as the blades rotate they experience more complex aerodynamics than standard onshore wind turbines. In this paper, we show computational simulations of a wind turbine rotor moving in various ways and quantify the effects of the motion in the forces acting on the blades. We show that these forces behave in nonlinear ways in some cases.
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
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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
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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
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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.
Francesco Caccia and Alberto Guardone
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 341–362, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-341-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-341-2023, 2023
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Ice roughness deteriorates wind turbine aerodynamics. We have shown numerically that this also occurs when complex ice shapes are present on the leading edge, as long as the blade's wet region extends beyond the ice shape itself and roughness elements are high enough. Such features are typical of icing events on wind turbines but are not captured by current icing simulation tools. Future research should focus on correctly computing both the wet region of the blade and the roughness height.
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
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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.
Simone Mancini, Koen Boorsma, Gerard Schepers, and Feike Savenije
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 193–210, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-193-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-193-2023, 2023
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Modern wind turbines are subject to complex wind conditions that are far from the hypothesis of steady uniform inflow at the core of blade element momentum methods (the current industry standard for wind turbine design). Various corrections have been proposed to model this complexity. The present work focuses on modelling the unsteady evolution of wind turbine wakes (dynamic inflow), comparing the different corrections available and highlighting their effects on design load predictions.
Christian Grinderslev, Niels Nørmark Sørensen, Georg Raimund Pirrung, and Sergio González Horcas
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2201–2213, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2201-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2201-2022, 2022
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As wind turbines increase in size, the risk of flow-induced instabilities increases. This study investigates the phenomenon of vortex-induced vibrations (VIVs) on a large 10 MW wind turbine blade using two high-fidelity methods. It is found that VIVs can occur with multiple equilibrium states for the same flow case, showing an dependence on the initial conditions. This means that a blade which is stable in a flow can become unstable if, e.g., a turbine operation provokes an initial vibration.
Felipe Vittori, José Azcona, Irene Eguinoa, Oscar Pires, Alberto Rodríguez, Álex Morató, Carlos Garrido, and Cian Desmond
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2149–2161, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2149-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2149-2022, 2022
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This paper describes the results of a wave tank test campaign of a scaled SATH 10 MW INNWIND floating platform. The software-in-the-loop (SiL) hybrid method was used to include the wind turbine thrust and the in-plane rotor moments. Experimental results are compared with a numerical model developed in OpenFAST of the floating wind turbine. The results are discussed, identifying limitations of the numerical models and obtaining conclusions on how to improve them.
Thanasis Barlas, Georg Raimund Pirrung, Néstor Ramos-García, Sergio González Horcas, Ang Li, and Helge Aagaard Madsen
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1957–1973, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1957-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1957-2022, 2022
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An aeroelastically optimized curved wind turbine blade tip is designed, manufactured, and tested on a novel outdoor rotating rig facility at the Risø campus of the Technical University of Denmark. Detailed aerodynamic measurements for various atmospheric conditions and results are compared to a series of in-house aeroelastic tools with a range of fidelities in aerodynamic modeling. The comparison highlights details in the ability of the codes to predict the performance of such a curved tip.
Jan-Philipp Küppers and Tamara Reinicke
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1889–1903, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1889-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1889-2022, 2022
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Airfoils play a major role in the technical harnessing of energy from currents such as wind and water. When the angle of attack of a wing changes dynamically, the forces on the wing often change more than would have been assumed from static measurements alone. Since these dynamic forces have a strong influence, e.g., on the performance of airplanes and wind turbines, a neural-network-based model was created that can predict these loads and their stochastic fluctuations.
Frederik Berger, Lars Neuhaus, David Onnen, Michael Hölling, Gerard Schepers, and Martin Kühn
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1827–1846, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1827-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1827-2022, 2022
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We proof the dynamic inflow effect due to gusts in wind tunnel experiments with MoWiTO 1.8 in the large wind tunnel of ForWind – University of Oldenburg, where we created coherent gusts with an active grid. The effect is isolated in loads and rotor flow by comparison of a quasi-steady and a dynamic case. The observed effect is not caught by common dynamic inflow engineering models. An improvement to the Øye dynamic inflow model is proposed, matching experiment and corresponding FVWM simulations.
Thomas Potentier, Emmanuel Guilmineau, Arthur Finez, Colin Le Bourdat, and Caroline Braud
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1771–1790, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1771-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1771-2022, 2022
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A wind turbine blade equipped with root spoilers is analysed using time domain aeroelastic simulations to assess the impact of passive devices on the turbine AEP and lifetime. A novel way to account for aerofoil-generated unsteadiness in the fatigue calculation is proposed and detailed. The outcome shows that spoilers, on average, can increase the AEP of the turbine. However, the structural impacts on the turbine can be severe if not accounted for initially in the turbine design.
Alessandro Fontanella, Alan Facchinetti, Simone Di Carlo, and Marco Belloli
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1711–1729, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1711-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1711-2022, 2022
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The aerodynamics of floating wind turbines is complicated by large motions permitted by the foundation. The interaction between turbine, wind, and wake is not yet fully understood. The wind tunnel experiments of this paper shed light on the aerodynamic force and wake response of the floating IEA 15 MW turbine subjected to platform motion as would occur during normal operation. This will help future research on turbine and wind farm control.
Emmanouil M. Nanos, Carlo L. Bottasso, Simone Tamaro, Dimitris I. Manolas, and Vasilis A. Riziotis
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1641–1660, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1641-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1641-2022, 2022
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A novel way of wind farm control is presented where the wake is deflected vertically to reduce interactions with downstream turbines. This is achieved by moving ballast in a floating offshore platform in order to pitch the support structure and thereby tilt the wind turbine rotor disk. The study considers the effects of this new form of wake control on the aerodynamics of the steering and wake-affected turbines, on the structure, and on the ballast motion system.
Giorgia Guma, Philipp Bucher, Patrick Letzgus, Thorsten Lutz, and Roland Wüchner
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1421–1439, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1421-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1421-2022, 2022
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Wind turbine aeroelasticity is becoming more and more important because turbine sizes are increasingly leading to more slender blades. On the other hand, complex terrains are of interest because they are far away from urban areas. These regions are characterized by low velocities and high turbulence and are mostly influenced by the presence of forest, and that is why it is necessary to develop high-fidelity tools to correctly simulate the wind turbine's response.
Sarah Barber, Julien Deparday, Yuriy Marykovskiy, Eleni Chatzi, Imad Abdallah, Gregory Duthé, Michele Magno, Tommaso Polonelli, Raphael Fischer, and Hanna Müller
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1383–1398, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1383-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1383-2022, 2022
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Aerodynamic and acoustic field measurements on operating large-scale wind turbines are key for the further reduction in the costs of wind energy. In this work, a novel cost-effective MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems)-based aerodynamic and acoustic wireless measurement system that is thin, non-intrusive, easy to install, low power and self-sustaining is designed and tested.
Ang Li, Mac Gaunaa, Georg Raimund Pirrung, Alexander Meyer Forsting, and Sergio González Horcas
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1341–1365, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1341-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1341-2022, 2022
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A consistent method of using two-dimensional airfoil data when using generalized lifting-line methods for the aerodynamic load calculation of non-planar horizontal-axis wind turbines is described. The important conclusions from the unsteady two-dimensional airfoil aerodynamics are highlighted. The impact of using a simplified approach instead of using the full model on the prediction of the aerodynamic performance of non-planar rotors is shown numerically for different aerodynamic models.
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Short summary
The actuator line method (ALM) is a powerful tool for wind turbine simulation but struggles to resolve tip effects. The reason is still unclear. To investigate this, we use advanced angle of attack sampling and vortex tracking techniques to analyze the flow around a NACA0018 finite wing, simulated with ALM and blade-resolved computational fluid dynamics. Results show that the ALM can account for tip effects if the correct angle of attack sampling and force projection strategies are adopted.
The actuator line method (ALM) is a powerful tool for wind turbine simulation but struggles to...
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