The importance of aeroelasticity in estimating multiaxial fatigue behaviour of large floating offshore wind turbine blades

Abstract

The trend toward longer blades in offshore wind turbines poses a significant structural design challenge, given their flexibility and larger load variations. While the study of aeroelastic models of very long blades has gained attention in recent discussions, there is a gap in comprehensive studies examining the impact of different aeroelastic models on fatigue analysis. This study focuses on a comparative evaluation of different aeroelastic models under identical conditions, with a specific focus on multiaxial fatigue. The primary objective is to compare and assess the discrepancies in predicting the lifetime, spatial damage distribution, and critical wind speed conditions. The findings of this study highlight a substantial impact of the aeroelastic model selection on the expected lifetime, revealing durations of 23.2, 3.7, and 1.2 years for the geometrically exact beam theory, Euler-Bernoulli beam, and rigid body assumption. In contrast, the spatial distribution of fatigue damage and critical wind speed conditions remain relatively stable across the models.