Influence of wind gusts on aeroelastic loads of NREL 5MW wind turbine

Abstract

This study employs blade-resolved computational fluid dynamics simulations to investigate the aero-elastic loads on a yawed NREL 5MW wind turbine subject to full and partial wind gusts. A novel spatial gust representation, tailored towards application to large eddy simulations, is introduced. This methodology permits the injection of gusts with customizable spatial dimensions inside the flow domain. Simulations are conducted with gusts having the same diameter as the turbine rotor, half rotor diameter, and asymmetric impact with respect to the center of rotation of the turbine. Simulations of the turbine under yawed conditions are also considered. The flow characteristics are reported using contours and iso-surfaces of velocity magnitude and Q-criteria. Insights into the load characteristics of the turbine are described using torque, thrust, and root bending moments. This research highlights that partial gust impact contributes to noteworthy load fluctuations and blade tip deformations, stemming from the imbalance in force distribution across the rotor plane.