Large Wind Turbine Rotor Design using an Aero-Elastic / Free-Wake Panel Coupling Code

Matias Sessarego,Néstor Ramos-García,Jens Nørkær Sørensen,Wen Zhong Shen

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/753/4/042017

Matias Sessarego, Néstor Ramos-García + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/753/4/042017

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Abstract

Despite the advances in computing resources in the recent years, the majority of large wind-turbine rotor design problems still rely on aero-elastic codes that use blade element momentum (BEM) approaches to model the rotor aerodynamics. The present work describes an approach to wind-turbine rotor design by incorporating a higher-fidelity free-wake panel aero-elastic coupling code called MIRAS-FLEX. The optimization procedure includes a series of design load cases and a simple structural design code. Due to the heavy MIRAS-FLEX computations, a surrogate-modeling approach is applied to mitigate the overall computational cost of the optimization. Improvements in cost of energy, annual energy production, maximum flap-wise root bending moment, and blade mass were obtained for the NREL 5MW baseline wind turbine.

Highlights

Wind-turbine blade design is a complex iterative process, which requires knowledge in several areas of engineering
The present work describes an approach to wind-turbine rotor design by incorporating a higher-fidelity free-wake panel aero-elastic coupling code called MIRAS-FLEX
The present work describes an approach to wind-turbine rotor design by incorporating a higher-fidelity free-wake panel aero-elastic coupling code called MIRASFLEX [5]

Summary

Introduction

Wind-turbine blade design is a complex iterative process, which requires knowledge in several areas of engineering. Blade plan-form design was performed using simple analytical expressions based on wind-turbine rotor aerodynamics only, see e.g. The advances in computing resources have permitted solution of sophisticated numerical optimization problems involving two or more disciplines in the design process [3, 4]. Despite the advances in computing techniques in the recent years, the majority of blade design problems still rely on aero-elastic codes that use blade element momentum (BEM) approaches to model the rotor aerodynamics. The present work describes an approach to wind-turbine rotor design by incorporating a higher-fidelity free-wake panel aero-elastic coupling code called MIRASFLEX [5]

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