The study of rotor blade aerodynamic performances of wind turbine has been presented in this thesis. This study was focused on aerodynamic effects changed by blade surface distribution as well as grid solution along the airfoil. The details of numerical calculation from Fluent were described to help predict accurate blade performance for comparison and discussion with available data. The direct surface curvature distribution blade design method for two-dimensional airfoil sections for wind turbine rotors have been discussed with the attentions to Euler equation, velocity diagram and the factors which affect wind turbine performance and applied to design a blade geometry close to an existing wind turbine blade, Eppler387, in order to argue that the blade surface drawn by direct surface curvature distribution blade design method contributes aerodynamic efficiency. The FLUENT calculation of NACA63-215V showed that the aerodynamic characteristics agreed well with the available experimental data at lower angles of attack although it was discontinuities in the surface curvature distributions between 0.7 and 0.8 in x/c. The discontinuities were so small that the blade performance could not be affected. The design of Eppler 387 blade performed to reduce drag force. The discontinuities of surface distribution matched the curve of the pressure coefficients. It was found in the curvature distribution that the leading edge pressure side had difficulties to connect to Bezier curve and also the trailing edge circle was never be tangent to the lines of trailing edge pressure and suction sides due to programming difficulties.

Aerodynamics of wind turbines

Wind energy as one of the renewable energies is serving as an indispensable role in generating new electric power. The worldwide installation of wind farms has considerably increased recently. To extract more wind resources, multi-megawatt wind turbines are usually designed and constructed with large rotors and slender tower. These flexible structures are susceptible to external dynamic excitations such as wind, wave and seismic loads. The excessive vibrations can compromise the wind energy conversion, lead to the structural fatigue damage and even result in the catastrophic failure of wind turbines in harsh environmental conditions. Various control devices have been proposed and used to mitigate the unwanted vibrations of wind turbines to enhance their safety and serviceability. This paper aims to provide a state-of-the-art review of the current vibration control techniques and their applications to wind turbines. Firstly, the widely used control strategies in engineering structures are briefly introduced. Their applications to suppress the adverse vibrations of the structural components of wind turbines, mainly the tower and blades, are then reviewed and discussed in detail. It can be concluded that the vibration mitigation of wind turbines is very challenging due to the fact that the dynamic behaviours of wind turbines are very complicated, which are associated with the aerodynamics, rotation of the blades, interaction between the tower and rotating blades, and soil-structure interaction, etc. Moreover, it is a challenge to straightforwardly use many of the conventional control devices because of the limited spaces in the tower and blades.

A state-of-the-art review on the vibration mitigation of wind turbines

Modeling wind power investments, policies and social benefits for deregulated electricity market – A review

Offshore wind turbines in seismic active areas suffer from earthquake impacts. In this study, seismic fragility analysis of a monopile offshore wind turbine considering different operational conditions was performed. A finite element model for a 5 MW monopile offshore wind turbine was developed using the OpenSees platform. The interaction between the monopile and the seabed soil was modeled as a beam-on-nonlinear-winkler-foundation (BNWF). A nonlinear time history truncated incremental dynamic analysis (TIDA) was conducted to obtain seismic responses and engineering demand parameters. Potential damage states (DSs) were defined as excessive displacement at the nacelle, rotation at the tower top, and the allowable and yield stresses at the transition piece. Fragility curves were plotted to assess the probability of exceeding different damage states. It was found that seismic responses of the wind turbine are considerably influenced by environmental wind and wave loads. Subject to earthquake motions, wind turbines in normal operation at the rated wind speed experience higher levels of probability of exceeding damage states than those in other operational conditions, i.e., in idling or operating at higher or lower wind speed conditions.

Seismic fragility analysis of monopile offshore wind turbines under different operational conditions

K. A. Abhinav

Papers

Offshore multi-purpose platforms for a Blue Growth: A technological, environmental and socio-economic review.

Coupled hydrodynamic and geotechnical analysis of jacket offshore wind turbine

Stochastic response of jacket supported offshore wind turbines for varying soil parameters

Dynamic Analysis of an Offshore Wind Turbine Including Soil Effects

Nonlinear dynamical behaviour of jacket supported offshore wind turbines in loose sand