The research objective of this award is to develop advanced modeling and simulation approaches for accurately quantifying extreme and fatigue responses of utility-scale wind turbines. The rapidly evolving wind turbine technology currently faces many technical challenges in its trouble-free operations. Breakdowns of large wind turbine due to extreme loading conditions and fatigue failures are common place as these extreme conditions cannot be accurately predicted with the existing approaches. Three specific research objectives of the project are to develop: 1) efficient extrapolation methods and numerical frameworks for simulating extreme responses for turbines under operational and parked conditions; 2) response combination schemes for calculating the extreme responses for turbine designs; and 3) a methodology to include the non-Gaussian wind characteristics that can occur on some sites in extreme response calculating methods. Various possible wind occurrence scenarios will be considered to provide data for performance-based designs of turbines with enhanced reliabilities. The numerical framework developed in this project will permit the calculation of the design responses and data for fatigue failure estimations considering the extreme turbine response conditions. The findings of this project will result in improved designs of wind turbines with reduced risk and enhanced efficiency for energy generation.
This project will help to improve current turbine design standards and state-of-the-art tools for assessing turbine performance under various wind conditions. The advanced modeling and simulation tools for land-based turbines developed in this project can be also applied to offshore wind turbines by further incorporating the effects of hydrodynamic interactions. U.S. turbine firms will be able to use these tools to optimize turbine performance to enhance their competitiveness in the domestic and global wind energy markets. The research results and findings can also be adopted for reliability analysis and design of other structural systems under extreme dynamic loadings. The educational and outreach activities include the establishment of a novel portable bench-scale instructional wind tunnel testing program that is expected to effectively enhance classroom education in aerodynamics and wind engineering and will be beneficial for many universities. The project will also provide advanced education and training to graduate and undergraduate students involved in the project.
