Simulations of 10MW wind turbine under seismic loadings

Abstract

In this study, a shell-based finite element model based on Technical University of Denmark 10MW reference wind turbine (DTU 10 MW RWT) is used to study its dynamic responses under seismic loads. The natural vibration frequencies of blades and wind turbines from this study and the results from the literature Bak et al. (2013) are compared. The difference in natural vibration frequencies of the blades arises from simple assigned orientation in composites blades in Bak et al. (2013). The differences in natural vibration frequencies of the wind turbines are suggested to be due to shell elements used in this study whereas beam elements are used in Bak et al. (2013). The built shell-based finite element model of DTU 10MW reference Wind Turbine is then subject to artificially generated earthquake converted from codes of European union earthquake response spectrum. The simulation results show that the foundation has a significant impact on the responses of DTU 10 MW RWT. That is, the DTU 10 MW RWT suffers less stress in the flexible foundation than in the more rigid foundation . The results also show that neglecting the self-weight effect could significantly underestimate the dynamic responses of wind turbines under seismic loadings. This study suggests that shell-element based model should be used in company in the process for certification.