Vortex‐induced vibrations of a DU96‐W‐180 airfoil at 90° angle of attack

This work presents an analysis of vortex‐induced vibrations of a DU96‐W‐180 airfoil in deep stall at a 90° angle of attack, based on 2D and 3D Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes and 3D Detached Eddy Simulation unsteady Computational Fluid Dynamics computations with non‐moving, prescribed motion and elastically mounted airfoil suspensions. Stationary vortex‐shedding frequencies computed in 2D and 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics differed. In the prescribed motion computations, the airfoil oscillated in the direction of the chord line. Negative aerodynamic damping, found in both 2D and 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics computations with moving airfoil, showed in the vicinity of the stationary vortex‐shedding frequency computed by 2D Computational Fluid Dynamics. A shorter time series was sufficient to verify the sign of the aerodynamic damping in the case of the elastic computations than the prescribed motion. Even though the 2D computations seemed to be capable of indicating the presence of vortex‐induced vibrations, the 3D computations seemed to reflect the involved physics more accurately. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of vortex‐induced and stall‐induced vibrations at standstill conditions using a free wake aerodynamic code

Vortex‐induced and stall‐induced vibrations of a 2D elastically mounted airfoil at high angles of attack in the vicinity of 90° are investigated using a vortex type model. Such conditions are encountered in parked or idling operation at extreme yaw angles provoked by control system failures. At very high angles of attack, massive flow separation takes place over the entire blade span, and vortex shedding evolves downstream of the blade giving rise to periodically varying loads at frequencies corresponding to the Strouhal number of the vortices shed in the wake. As a result, vortex‐induced vibrations may occur when the shedding frequency matches the natural frequency of the blade. A vortex type model formulated on the basis of the ‘double wake’ concept is employed for the modelling of the stalled flow past a 2D airfoil. By tuning the core size of the vortex particles in the wake, the model predictions are successfully validated against averaged 2D measurements on a DU‐96‐W‐180 airfoil at high angles of attack. In order to assess the energy fed to the airfoil by the aerodynamic loads, the behaviour under imposed sinusoidal edgewise motions is analysed for various oscillation frequencies and amplitudes. Moreover, stall‐induced and vortex‐induced vibrations of an elastically mounted airfoil section are assessed. The vortex model predicts higher aeroelastic damping as compared with that obtained using steady‐state aerodynamics. Excessive combined vortex‐induced and stall‐induced edgewise vibrations are obtained beyond the wind speed of 30 m s^?1. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wind turbine blade vibration at standstill conditions—the effect of imposing lag on the aerodynamic response of an elastically mounted airfoil

The present study investigated physical phenomena related to stall‐induced vibrations potentially existing on wind turbine blades at standstill conditions. The study considered two‐dimensional airfoil sections while it omitted three‐dimensional effects. In the study, a new engineering‐type computational model for the aeroelastic response of an elastically mounted airfoil was used to investigate the influence of temporal lag in the aerodynamic response on the aeroelastic stability in deep stall. The study indicated that even a relatively low lag significantly increases the damping of the model. A comparison between the results from a model with lag imposed on all force components with the results from a model with lag imposed exclusively on the lift showed only marginal difference between the damping in the two cases. A parameter study involving positions of the elastic hinge point and the center of gravity indicated that the stability is relatively independent of these parameters. Another parameter study involving spring constants showed that the stability of each mode is dependent only on the spring constant acting in the direction of the leading motion of the mode. An investigation of the influence of the added mass terms showed that only the pitch‐rate and flapwise‐acceleration terms have any influence on the stability. An investigation of three different profiles showed that the stability is heavily dependent on the aerodynamic characteristics of the profiles—mainly on the lift. It was also shown that only the edgewise mode is unstable in deep stall. Moreover, independent of the amount of temporal lag in the aerodynamic response of the model, the inflow‐angle region in the vicinity of 180° remains unstable in the edgewise mode. Therefore, this inflow‐angle region may create stability problems in real life. The other type of vibrations potentially present at standstill conditions is vortex‐induced, being outside the scope of the present study. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spectral analysis of New MEXICO standstill measurements to investigate vortex shedding in deep stall

Spectral analysis was performed on the time series data computed from pressure measurements on the New MEXICO (Model Rotor Experiments under Controlled Conditions) rotor in standstill conditions. As a priori, 3D airfoil polars were recreated from standstill measurements and compared against 2D airfoil polars and flat plate theory results to verify the measurements. The spectral analysis revealed the presence of dominant shedding frequencies for certain ranges of the geometric angle of attack. Two dominant shedding modes were identified: One was associated with bluff body vortex shedding, and the other was associated with low Strouhal number shedding. No dominant shedding frequencies were observed for angles of attack beyond 50°. The research improves on our current understanding of the unsteady nature of the stall regime, along with providing insight into the existence of vortex‐induced vibrations on a wind turbine in standstill conditions.     

New vortex‐lift and tangential‐force models for HAWT aerodynamic load prediction

Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) experience three‐dimensional rotational and unsteady aerodynamic phenomena at the rotor blades sections. These highly unsteady three‐dimensional effects have a dramatic impact on the aerodynamic load distributions on the blades, in particular, when they occur at high angles of attack due to stall delay and dynamic stall. Unfortunately, there is no complete understanding of the flow physics yet at these unsteady 3D flow conditions, and hence, the existing published theoretical models are often incapable of modelling the impact on the turbine response realistically. The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight on the combined influence of the stall delay and dynamic stall on the blade load history of wind turbines in controlled and uncontrolled conditions. New dynamic stall vortex and nonlinear tangential force coefficient modules, which integrally take into account the three dimensional rotational effect, are also proposed in this paper. This module along with the unsteady influence of turbulent wind speed and tower shadow is implemented in a blade element momentum (BEM) model to estimate the aerodynamic loads on a rotating blade more accurately. This work presents an important step to help modelling the combined influence of the stall delay and dynamic stall on the load history of the rotating wind turbine blades which is vital to have lighter turbine blades and improved wind turbine design systems.     

Vortex‐induced vibrations on a modern wind turbine blade

This article investigates the aero‐elastic response of the DTU 10‐MW RWT blade in deep stall conditions with angles of attack in the vicinity of 90 degrees. The simulations were conducted with the high‐fidelity fluid–structure interaction simulation tool HAWC2CFD employing the multi‐body‐based structural model of HAWC2 and the incompressible computational fluid dynamics solver EllipSys3D. The study utilizes detached eddy simulation computations and considers the three‐dimensional blade geometry including blade twist and taper. A preliminary frequency analysis of the load variations on a stiff blade showed that an inclined inflow with a velocity component along the blade axis can trigger a spanwise correlated vortex shedding over large parts of the blade. Moderate wind speeds were sufficient to generate vortex shedding with frequencies close to the first edgewise eigenfrequency of the blade. Aero‐elastic computations of the elastic blade confirmed the findings of the frequency analysis. Inflow conditions with inclination angles between Ψ = 20° and Ψ = 55° and relatively low to moderate wind speeds between V = 16 and V = 26ms^?1 were sufficient to trigger severe edgewise blade vibrations with blade tip amplitudes of several metres. The investigated inflow conditions are considered realistic and might occur when the wind turbine is idling or standing still and the yaw system is unable to align the wind turbine with the incoming wind. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time‐accurate blade surface static pressure behaviour on a rotating H‐Darrieus wind turbine

Time‐accurate blade pressure distributions on a rotating H‐Darrieus wind turbine at representative tip speed ratios during start‐up are presented here, which allow blade dynamic stall and laminar separation bubbles to be observed clearly and which provide a rare experimental demonstration of the flow curvature effect inherent in H‐Darrieus turbine operation. The convection of a dynamic stall vortex along the blade surface at high reduced frequency has also been clearly identified. This study provides new information of the complex aerodynamics of the vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) and provides unique experimental data to validate the transient blade static surface pressure distribution predicted by CFD models. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that the instantaneous pressure variation around the blade has been measured and recorded directly for an H‐Darrieus wind turbine.     

凹槽-襟翼对翼型动态失速特性影响研究

风力机复杂运行环境使叶片常处于失速环境,导致翼型升力骤降,严重影响风力机气动性能.为改善翼型流动分离,延缓失速,对凹槽-襟翼对翼型动态失速特性作用效果开展研究,并利用计算流体力学方法分析不同折合频率与翼型厚度时凹槽-襟翼对翼型气动性能的影响.结果表明:俯仰振荡过程中,凹槽-襟翼可有效提升翼型吸力面流速,降低失速攻角下逆...     

Computation of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Phase‐VI rotor in pitch motion during standstill

Previously, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computations of dynamic stall on wind turbine blades have been performed for stand still conditions with moderate success by among others the present authors. In the present work, numerical investigations are performed to illustrate the possibilities of state of the art CFD methods for this problem, including the numerical requirements as time‐step and grid resolution. Additionally, the effect of different types of modeling is investigated, ranging from fully turbulent Reynolds‐averaged Navier‐Stokes (RANS), transitional RANS, to transitional delayed detached‐eddy simulation computations. The investigation indicates that detailed information and fair agreement with measurements can be obtained. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A solution‐based stall delay model for horizontal‐axis wind turbines

This work proposes a new solution‐based stall delay model to predict rotational effects on horizontal‐axis wind turbines. In contrast to conventional stall delay models that correct sectional airfoil data prior to the solution to account for three‐dimensional and rotational effects, a novel approach is proposed that corrects sectional airfoil data during a blade element momentum solution algorithm by investigating solution‐dependent parameters such as the spanwise circulation distribution and the local flow velocity acting at a section of blade. An iterative process is employed that successively modifies sectional lift and drag data until the blade circulation distribution is converged. Results obtained with the solution‐based stall delay model show consistent good agreement with measured data along the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Phase VI and Model Experiments in Controlled Conditions rotor blades at low and high wind speeds. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

风力机振荡翼型动态失速特性的CFD研究

为采用CFD方法研究风力机振荡翼型出现的流动动态失速现象,首先依据实验结果,对比分析了Baldwin-Lomax、Johnson-King、K-ωSST、S-A和K-ω5种紊流模型计算结果,结果表明:K-ωSST模型由于考虑到分离流动的非平衡作用,针对动态失速的计算精度较高。通过对NACA0012翼型振荡运动的流场进行计算,详细分析了振荡运动过程中翼型表面分离涡的形成、放大直至造成翼型失速以及失速区涡结构。     

Validation of the Beddoes–Leishman dynamic stall model for horizontal axis wind turbines using MEXICO data

The aim of this study is to assess the load predicting capability of a classical Beddoes–Leishman dynamic stall model in a horizontal axis wind turbine environment, in the presence of yaw misalignment. The dynamic stall model was tailored to the horizontal axis wind turbine environment and validated against unsteady thick airfoil data. Subsequently, the dynamic stall model was implemented in a blade element‐momentum code for yawed flow, and the results were compared with aerodynamic measurements obtained in the MEXICO (Model Rotor Experiments under Controlled Conditions) project on a wind turbine rotor placed in a large scale wind tunnel. In general, reasonable to good agreement was found between the blade element‐momentum model and MEXICO data. When large yaw misalignments were imposed, poor agreement was found in the downstroke of the movement between the model and the experiment. Still, over a revolution, the maximum normal force coefficient predicted was always within 8% of experimental data at the inboard stations, which is encouraging especially when blade fatigue calculations are being considered. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The application of passive air jet vortex‐generators to stall suppression on wind turbine blades

An experimental study was performed to assess the feasibility of passive air jet vortex‐generators to the performance enhancement of a domestic scale wind turbine. It has been demonstrated that these simple devices, properly designed and implemented, can provide worthwhile performance benefits for domestic wind turbines of the type investigated in this study. In particular, this study shows that they can increase the maximum output power coefficient, reduce the cut‐in wind speed and improve power output at lower wind speeds while reducing the sensitivity to wind speed unsteadiness. A theoretical performance analysis of a 500 kW stall‐regulated wind turbine, based on blade element momentum theory, indicates that passive air jet vortex‐generators would be capable of recovering some of the power loss because of blade stall, thereby allowing attainment of rated power output at slightly lower average wind speeds. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

HAWT dynamic stall response asymmetries under yawed flow conditions

Horizontal axis wind turbines can experience significant time‐varying aerodynamic loads, potentially causing adverse effects on structures, mechanical components and power production. As designers attempt lighter and more flexible wind energy machines, greater accuracy and robustness will become even more critical in future aerodynamics models. Aerodynamics modelling advances, in turn, will rely on more thorough comprehension of the three‐dimensional, unsteady, vortical flows that dominate wind turbine blade aerodynamics under high‐load conditions. To experimentally characterize these flows, turbine blade surface pressures were acquired at multiple span locations via the NREL Phase IV Unsteady Aerodynamics Experiment. Surface pressures and associated normal force histories were used to characterize dynamic stall vortex kinematics and normal force amplification. Dynamic stall vortices and normal force amplification were confirmed to occur in response to angle‐of‐attack excursions above the static stall threshold. Stall vortices occupied approximately one‐half of the blade span and persisted for nearly one‐fourth of the blade rotation cycle. Stall vortex convection varied along the blade, resulting in dramatic deformation of the vortex. Presence and deformation of the dynamic stall vortex produced corresponding amplification of normal forces. Analyses revealed consistent alterations to vortex kinematics in response to changes in reduced frequency, span location and yaw error. Finally, vortex structures and kinematics not previously documented for wind turbine blades were isolated. Published in 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Computational fluid dynamics simulation of the aerodynamics of a high solidity,small‐scale vertical axis wind turbine

A computational fluid dynamics simulation was performed for a small‐scale, high solidity (σ = 0.48) H‐type Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine. Two‐dimensional unsteady Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations were solved for the turbine numerical model, which has a large stationary domain and smaller rotating subdomain connected by a sliding mesh interface. The simulation results were first validated against steady‐state airfoil data. The model was then used to solve for three rotating blades with constant ambient flow velocity (Re = 360,000) over numerous blade speed ratios. The high solidity and the associated low blade speed ratio and rotational speed of the turbine result in complex flow–blade interaction mechanisms. These include dynamic stall resulting in vortex shedding, vortex impingement on the source blade and significant flow momentum extraction causing reduced power production from the downstream blade pass. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A simple model for deep dynamic stall conditions

The present study is focused on modeling of dynamic stall behavior of a pitching airfoil. The deep stall regime is in particular considered. A model is proposed, which has a low implementation and computational complexity but yet is able to deal with different types of dynamic stall conditions, including those characterized by multiple vortex shedding at the airfoil leading edge. The proposed model is appraised against an extensive data set of experimental (α,C_L) curves for NACA0012. The results of an existing widely used model, having comparable complexity, are also shown for comparison. The proposed model is able to well reproduce not only the classic curves of deep dynamic stall but also the curves characterized by lift oscillations at high angles of attack due to the shedding of multiple vortices. Furthermore, the model appears to be robust to variations of its parameters from the optimal values and of the airfoil geometry. Finally, the model is successfully implemented in a commercial CFD software and applied to the simulation of a vertical axis wind turbine within the actuator cylinder approach. The accuracy of the prediction of the turbine power coefficient in the whole rotation cycle is very good for the optimal working condition of the turbine, for which the model parameters were calibrated. Fairly good accuracy is also obtained in significantly different working conditions without any further calibration.     

Digital tuft analysis of stall on operational wind turbines

Operational wind turbines are exposed to dynamic inflow conditions because of, for instance, atmospheric turbulence and wind shear. In order to understand the resulting three‐dimensional and transient aerodynamics effects at a site, a 10m stall‐regulated upwind two‐bladed wind turbine was instrumented for a novel digital tuft flow visualization study. High definition video of a tufted blade was acquired during wind turbine operation in the field, and a novel digital image processing algorithm calculated the blade stall directly from the video. After processing O(10⁵) sequential images, the algorithm achieved a ?5% bias error compared with previous manual analysis methods. With increasing wind speed (5m/s to 20m/s) the fraction of tufts exhibiting stalled flow increased from 5% to 40% on the outboard 40% of the blade. The independently measured instantaneous turbine power production correlates highly with the stall fraction. Some azimuthal variation in the stall fraction associated with dynamic stall induced by vertical wind shear was seen with a maximum in the 45–90° azimuthal location. The high detail, quantitative image processing method demonstrated good agreement with the expected behaviour for a stall‐regulated wind turbine and revealed azimuthal variation because of shear‐induced dynamic stall. The amount of reliable blade stall data to be obtained from digital tuft visualization has hereby been vastly increased. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fluid–structure interaction computations for geometrically resolved rotor simulations using CFD

This paper presents a newly developed high‐fidelity fluid–structure interaction simulation tool for geometrically resolved rotor simulations of wind turbines. The tool consists of a partitioned coupling between the structural part of the aero‐elastic solver HAWC2 and the finite volume computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver EllipSys3D. The paper shows that the implemented loose coupling scheme, despite a non‐conservative force transfer, maintains a sufficient numerical stability and a second‐order time accuracy. The use of a strong coupling is found to be redundant. In a first test case, the newly developed coupling between HAWC2 and EllipSys3D (HAWC2CFD) is utilized to compute the aero‐elastic response of the NREL 5‐MW reference wind turbine (RWT) under normal operational conditions. A comparison with the low‐fidelity but state‐of‐the‐art aero‐elastic solver HAWC2 reveals a very good agreement between the two approaches. In a second test case, the response of the NREL 5‐MW RWT is computed during a yawed and thus asymmetric inflow. The continuous good agreement confirms the qualities of HAWC2CFD but also illustrates the strengths of a computationally cheaper blade element momentum theory (BEM) based solver, as long as the solver is applied within the boundaries of the employed engineering models. Two further test cases encompass flow situations, which are expected to exceed the limits of the BEM model. However, the simulation of the NREL 5‐MW RWT during an emergency shut down situation still shows good agreements in the predicted structural responses of HAWC2 and HAWC2CFD since the differences in the computed force signals only persist for an insignificantly short time span. The considerable new capabilities of HAWC2CFD are finally demonstrated by simulating vortex‐induced vibrations on the DTU 10‐MW wind turbine blade in standstill. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Indicial lift response function: an empirical relation for finite‐thickness airfoils,and effects on aeroelastic simulations

The aeroelastic response of wind turbines is often simulated in the time domain by using indicial response techniques. Unsteady aerodynamics in attached flow are usually based on Jones's approximation of the flat plate indicial response, although the response for finite‐thickness airfoils differs from the flat plate one. The indicial lift response of finite‐thickness airfoils is simulated with a panel code, and an empirical relation is outlined connecting the airfoil indicial response to its geometric characteristics. The effects of different indicial approximations are evaluated on a 2D profile undergoing harmonic pitching motion in the attached flow region; the resulting lift forces are compared with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The relevance for aeroelastic simulations of a wind turbine is also evaluated, and the effects are quantified in terms of variations of equivalent fatigue loads, ultimate loads, and stability limits. The agreement with CFD computations of a 2D profile in harmonic motion is improved by the indicial function accounting for the finite‐thickness of the airfoil. Concerning the full wind turbine aeroelastic behavior, the differences between simulations on the basis of Jones's and finite‐thickness indicial response functions are rather small; Jones's flat‐plate approximation results in only slightly larger fatigue and ultimate loads, and lower stability limits. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulating the aerodynamic performance and wake dynamics of a vertical‐axis wind turbine

The accurate prediction of the aerodynamics and performance of vertical‐axis wind turbines is essential if their design is to be improved but poses a significant challenge to numerical simulation tools. The cyclic motion of the blades induces large variations in the angle of attack of the blades that can manifest as dynamic stall. In addition, predicting the interaction between the blades and the wake developed by the rotor requires a high‐fidelity representation of the vortical structures within the flow field in which the turbine operates. The aerodynamic performance and wake dynamics of a Darrieus‐type vertical‐axis wind turbine consisting of two straight blades is simulated using Brown's Vorticity Transport Model. The predicted variation with azimuth of the normal and tangential force on the turbine blades compares well with experimental measurements. The interaction between the blades and the vortices that are shed and trailed in previous revolutions of the turbine is shown to have a significant effect on the distribution of aerodynamic loading on the blades. Furthermore, it is suggested that the disagreement between experimental and numerical data that has been presented in previous studies arises because the blade–vortex interactions on the rotor were not modelled with sufficient fidelity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.