Reliability analysis of wind turbines under non‐Gaussian wind load

Based on translation models, both Gaussian and non‐Gaussian wind fields are generated using the harmony superposition method for examining the reliability of a typical wind turbine at operational and parked conditions. Using the blade aerodynamic model and multibody dynamics, wind turbine responses are calculated and then probability characteristics are analyzed in details. The short‐term extreme response distribution is estimated by the average conditional exceedance rate method at each mean wind speed bin, and the long‐term extreme response distribution is then determined by further integrating the short‐term extreme response distribution conditional on wind speed with the distribution of mean wind speed. Additionally, crack initiation life and crack propagation life are evaluated using the linear cumulative damage theory and linear crack propagation theory, respectively. The results indicate that non‐Gaussian characteristics of wind inflows have a noticeably greater influence on both extreme response and fatigue damage, and the Gaussian assumption cannot suit wind turbine in complex terrain.     

The effects of wind on people; New criteria based on wind tunnel experiments

Experiments on the effects of wind on people are described. About 40 people were involved in tests in a wind tunnel at the National Physical Laboratory. The wind tunnel was specially-adapted to produce gusty winds. The volunteers performed a number of everyday tasks at wind speeds of 4 and 8·5 m/s with and without turbulence. The steadiness and direction of walking were measured when the volunteers entered the tunnel and walked up and down. Forces on the ground were also measured. Six groups of volunteers gave subjective verbal assessments of wind conditions ranging from 4 to 12·5 m/s.From the experiments we have drawn conclusions as to what kinds of wind speed, gustiness and variation of wind speed are found to be tolerable, are found to affect performance, and are found to affect the people's balance while walking. We find people to be sensitive to variation in the wind so that previous criteria for acceptable wind speeds need to be revised downwards. New criteria are proposed to enable architects and planners to use wind speed and gustines data to predict whether wind conditions are likely to be acceptable or not.     

On the estimation of wind speed in urban canyons for ventilation purposes—Part 1: Coupling between the undisturbed wind speed and the canyon wind

The present paper presents a computational methodology to calculate the wind speed in canyons when there is a coupling between the undisturbed wind speed and the airflow inside the canyon. This can happen when the undisturbed wind speed above the canyon exceeds a threshold values, i.e. 4 m/sec. The proposed algorithms are presented in details. Experimental data collected through extensive monitoring in four urban canyons in Athens Greece, are used to validate the accuracy of the proposed model. A very good agreement between the experimental and the theoretical is found for most of the cases. The proposed model can be used to calculate the wind speed in canyons for natural ventilation purposes or for any other type of studies where the wind speed is required.     

Across‐wind dynamic response of high‐rise building under wind action with interference effects from one and two tall buildings

Systematic studies on the across‐wind dynamic interference effects on two and three tall buildings are presented in this paper. It is found that surrounding and upstream interfering building(s) can significantly affect the across‐wind load on the interfered principal building. Generally speaking, two interfering buildings can cause more adverse dynamic effects on the principal building than a single one does. The results show that the maximum interference factor (IF) among three buildings increases 80% over that between two buildings in terrain category B which has been defined in Chinese load code for design of building structures; a noticeable difference of 29% of IF is also observed in terrain category D. Vortex shedding from the upstream buildings can lead to vortex‐induced resonance, resulting in excessive across‐wind loads on the downstream building. Although interference effects in terrain category D are much smaller than those in exposure category B, the maximum IF is found to be 1·83 in the case of three buildings with the same size in terrain category D and 2·27 in other configurations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extreme wind speeds in mixed wind climates

In this paper, a technique is discussed which enables extreme wind speed probabilities in mixed wind climates to be determined. It is shown that in such wind climates the method is likely to yield more accurate probability estimates than the traditional Gumbel analysis of annual wind speed maxima, particularly for annual probabilities of less than 2% (i.e. return periods greater than 50 years). The technique requires a separate analysis of each significant wind-producing meteorological phenomenon and practical methods of achieving this are presented. Extreme wind speed parameters obtained from each analysis may then be combined to yield a “composite extreme wind speed diagram” and several examples illustrating this procedure are shown. By means of a numerical simulation of a typical mixed wind climate, a detailed study is made of the distribution of extreme wind gusts from different meteorological phenomena. This study indicates that a Gumbel analysis of 20 annual maxima may severely underestimate low annual probability (i.e. long return period) gust speeds.     

Steady suction for controlling across‐wind loading of high‐rise buildings

To reduce across‐wind effects on high‐rise buildings, this paper introduces a new active aerodynamic control named steady suction. To test its effect, the control mechanism of steady suction is discussed first, and then, a synchronization pressure test was conducted in a wind tunnel to measure the across‐wind loading on a high‐rise model (Commonwealth Advisory Aeronautical Research Council standard high‐rise building model). A series of analytical methods were used to compare the different effects on across‐wind aerodynamic forces caused by different parameters. The results show that when the wind blows straight on the wide side of the model, steady suction arranged on the narrow side close to the leading edge can effectively reduce the fluctuating base moment. When the wind blows straight on the narrow side, steady suction arranged on the middle of the wide side effectively reduces the fluctuating base moment. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building mounted wind turbines and their suitability for the urban scale—A review of methods of estimating urban wind resource

In this paper, a review is presented of academic literature regarding urban wind speeds for building mounted wind turbines. Site measurement of wind speed requires time and money that often are not available for small micro-generation projects. Research into wind speed estimation for the urban environment has shown that street canyons affect urban wind flow, that wind speed up over the roof ridge is only evident for isolated single buildings, that the wind resource “seen” by a building mounted wind turbine is affected by positioning (height above roof ridge and position relative to the prevailing wind direction), that urban terrain roughness is high, and that adjacent buildings can cause wind shadow. This multiplicity of factors makes it difficult to generalise a wind resource estimation methodology for the urban environment. Scaling factors may prove to be a practical solution, provided the accuracy of their use is well understood.     

Small wind turbine power control in intermittent wind gusts

This paper analyzes control strategies for a small scale wind turbine in intermittent winds using a computer model based on wind data collected on-site and computer simulation data. Standard generator control with a lowered gain was found to produce the greatest power capture by biasing the rotational speed towards high energy wind gusts. Optimal gain was able to be determined by calculating an estimated wind speed using physical and measured quantities. An augmentation to the standard control provides a method for capturing power safely beyond the rated wind speed.     

Peak factor estimation of non‐Gaussian wind pressure on high‐rise buildings

A vast quantity of measurements of wind‐induced non‐Gaussian effects on buildings call for the burgeoning development of more advanced extrema estimation approaches for non‐Gaussian processes. In this study, a well‐directed method for estimating the peak factor and modeling the extrema distribution for non‐Gaussian processes is proposed. This method is characterized by using two fitted probability distributions of the parent non‐Gaussian process to separately fulfill the estimations of the extrema on long‐tail and short‐tail sides. In this method, the Johnson transformation is adopted to be the probabilistic model for fitting the parent distribution of the non‐Gaussian process due to its superior fitting goodness and universality. For each dataset, two Johnson transformations will be established by two parameter estimation methods to individually estimate the extrema on two sides. Then a Gumbel assumption is applied for conveniently determining the non‐Gaussian peak factor. This method is validated through long‐duration wind pressure records measured on the model surfaces of a high‐rise building in wind tunnel test. The results show that the proposed method is more accurate and robust than many existing ones in estimating peak factors for non‐Gaussian wind pressures.     

On modelling of typhoon‐induced non‐stationary wind speed for tall buildings

Typhoon‐induced wind around tall buildings may not be stationary because it is a large body of rotating air. A new approach is thus proposed in this paper for characterizing typhoon‐induced wind speed. Typhoon‐induced non‐stationary wind speed is modelled as a deterministic time‐varying mean wind speed component plus a zero mean stationary fluctuating wind speed component. The time‐varying mean wind speed is naturally extracted from the measured wind speed time history using empirical mode decomposition (EMD). Wind characteristics described in the traditional approach based on a stationary wind model are redefined and extended in the non‐stationary wind model. The new approach is then applied to wind data measured at the Di Wang building during Typhoon York. The results show that most of recorded wind samples are non‐stationary but they can be decomposed into a time‐varying mean wind speed component plus a well‐behaved zero mean fluctuating wind speed component admitted as a stationary random process with Gaussian distribution. Other wind characteristics such as probability distribution of fluctuating wind speed, turbulence intensity, gust factor, and wind spectrum obtained by the new approach seem to be more realistic than those gained by the traditional approach. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parametric wind design

Although gradual, the changes in the weather patterns are also noticeable and impactful to architectural design. If the local microclimate is taken into account early in the conceptual stage of design, the longevity of the ultimate structure can be greatly enhanced, despite challenging environmental factors. Parametric designing enables to discover the optimal architectural shape based on specific weather data. The paper intends to investigate how this design approach, coupled with Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations, can be used to create a wind-induced architecture. Both the benefits and the limitations of this approach are explored in detail. The interaction between an architectural shape and wind flow is tested in a study called ‘FlowBrane’. The process of (1) designing a parametrically changeable geometry, (2) testing its behavior in the wind, and (3) evaluating the results allows looping back to the initial geometric design, continuing to improve the design and ultimately the performance of the architecture in the specific wind conditions of the chosen site. However, the need to test multiple geometries separately and to adjust the wind simulation for each test (and for every wind direction) remains a disadvantage that should be addressed in further research.     

Nonlinear interactive analysis of cooling tower–foundation–soil interaction under unsymmetrical wind load

This paper deals with physical and material modelling of a cooling tower–foundation–soil system. The physical modelling has been carried out using solid 20-noded isoparametric element to model the cooling tower, annular raft foundation and soil media. The cooling tower–foundation–soil system was analysed under vertical and lateral load generated due to self-weight and wind loads. The soil nonlinearity has been taken into consideration using hyperbolic nonlinear elastic constitutive law. The response of the structure has been investigated with respect to displacement and stresses. Moreover, an attempt has been made to study the effect of the linear and nonlinear interactive analyses compared with conventional analysis. It was seen that the interactive analysis of the cooling tower–foundation–soil media plays a major role in releasing the stresses in the cooling tower, particularly at the bottom ring beam.     

Stochastic seismic response analysis of offshore wind turbine including fluid‐structure‐soil interaction

This paper presents the stochastic seismic response analysis of offshore wind turbines subjected to multi‐support seismic excitation by using a three‐dimensional numerical finite element model considering viscous boundaries. The seawater‐offshore wind turbine‐soil interaction system is modelled by the Lagrangian (displacement‐based) fluid and solid‐quadrilateral‐isoparametric finite elements. The random seismic excitation is described by the filtered white noise model and applied to each support point of the three‐dimensional finite element model of the coupled interaction system. The research conducts a parametric study to estimate the effects of variable seawater level, different foundation soil types and support site conditions on the stochastic behaviour of the offshore wind turbine coupled interaction system. The finite element model of coupled interaction system was also analyzed to examine the effect of the surrounding ice sheet on the stochastic response of the coupled system with and without ice sheet. The results obtained for different cases are compared with each other. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Peak factors of non‐Gaussian wind forces on a complex‐shaped tall building

This paper focuses on the development of peak factor formulas of non‐Gaussian wind pressure processes after reviewing the current estimation methods of non‐Gaussian peak factors. A skewness‐dependent peak factor is proposed by accounting for the contribution of skewness and kurtosis parameters in some existing Hermite moment‐based formulas. The possible correction on the upcrossing rate used in the translation process approach is also investigated. Wind tunnel pressure data on a practical 43‐story building with unusual shape is used to validate the accuracy of the skewness‐dependent peak factor by investigating various statistical properties of wind‐induced fluctuating pressure field on the complex‐shaped tall building example. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Specification of the design wind load based on wind tunnel experiments

Once a high-quality wind tunnel experiment with no major flaws on the experimental side has been performed and the data have been processed/translated appropriately to the design-decisive variable, the final step is to estimate the appropriate load or load effect coefficient for the specification of the design wind load. Four questions arise: what is the appropriate length of a single run in the wind tunnel, what is the appropriate fractile of the observed extreme coefficients, how many independent experiments are required to estimate this fractile and what should be the target confidence interval. The paper tries to give some answers to these questions and discusses the findings in regard to some wind load codes.     

Compensation of high-frequency components of wind load by wind tunnel testing

To analyze the wind-induced response of structures, wind tunnel tests are often carried out to determine the wind loads on structures. However, due to the influence of similarity requirements in wind tunnel tests, the resulting data from the model test still needs to be translated by similarity rules for predicting the real loads on prototype structures. During this process, an inevitable result is that the high-frequency components of fluctuating wind loads get lost, which leads to some unexpected errors in the subsequent wind-induced response analysis. To solve this problem, a frequency compensation method is put forward. The purpose of this method is to reconstruct the high-frequency part of fluctuating wind loads based on experimental data and some basic principles of the aerodynamics of bluff bodies. The causes and effects of the frequency compensation problem are discussed first, then a practical method of frequency compensation is proposed by combining the fluctuating wind energy spectrum theory and the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition technique. Based on this method, the wind-induced response of a single-layer reticulated shell is analyzed to show the validity and necessity of this method.     

广州塔风荷载及风洞试验研究

广州塔总高600m,塔体外形复杂,基本周期长,对风荷载的响应比较敏感,风荷载成为结构设计的主要控制荷载。针对广州塔的特点,分两阶段进行了风工程研究,第一阶段解决外界风的输入问题,第二阶段解决结构在风荷载作用下的响应问题。风荷载及风洞试验的主要成果可作为类似工程结构设计的参考资料。     

Measurements of wind drag on people standing in a wind tunnel

This report describes an experiment in which measurements were made of the wind drag on 331 people standing in turn in a wind tunnel. The results were analysed in terms of projected areas and drag coefficients, as is customary with wind tunnel measurements. Areas were then expressed as ratios to a person's total body surface area, calculated from weight and height. It was found that these area ratios and the drag coefficients could be related to the type of clothing, and eight categories were selected. The results thus provide a simple way of estimating the wind drag on a person for a known windspeed if his weight, height and type of cloting are known.     

北京当代MOMA风载及风环境数值模拟研究

根据计算流体动力学(CFD)的基本原理,基于计算流体力学软件Fluent平台,对当代MOMA工程的建筑群进行数值风洞模拟.获得12个不同风向下建筑物表面风压分布参数和建筑群区域不同高度的风环境参数.结果表明,建筑群的互相干扰既会影响建筑物表面的风压分布,又对不同区域的风向和风速有重要影响.来流上游建筑物的阻挡,会造成下游建筑物迎风表面压力值的减少,局部的风速加剧又会加大周围建筑物表面压力值;在产生流动分离和涡脱落的区域风速较高,而背风区域的风向与来流风向有较大差异.数值模拟获得的结果为建筑群的优化设计提供了重要参考.