On wind turbine loads during the evening transition period

The late afternoon hours in the diurnal cycle precede the development of the nocturnal stable boundary layer. This “evening transition” (ET) period is often when energy demand peaks. This period also corresponds to the time of day that is a precursor to late‐afternoon downbursts, a subject of separate interest. To capture physical characteristics of wind fields in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) during this ET period, particularly the interplay of shear and turbulence, stochastic simulation approaches, although more tractable, are not suitable. Large‐eddy simulation (LES), on the other hand, may be used to generate high‐resolution ABL turbulent flow fields. We present a suite of idealized LES four‐dimensional flow fields that define a database representing different combinations of large‐scale atmospheric conditions (characterized by associated geostrophic winds) and surface boundary conditions (characterized by surface heat fluxes). Our objective is to evaluate the performance of wind turbines during the ET period. Accordingly, we conduct a statistical analysis of turbine‐scale wind field variables. We then employ the database of these LES‐based inflow wind fields in aeroelastic simulations of a 5‐MW wind turbine. We discuss how turbine loads change as the ET period evolves. We also discuss maximum and fatigue loads on the rotor and tower resulting from different ABL conditions. Results of this study suggest that, during the ET period, the prevailing geostrophic wind speed affects the mean and variance of longitudinal winds greatly and thus has significant influence on all loads except the yaw moment which is less sensitive to uniform and symmetric incoming flow. On the other hand, surface heat flux levels affect vertical turbulence and wind shear more and, as a result, only affect maximum blade flapwise bending and tower fore‐aft bending loads.     

Influence of atmospheric stability on wind turbine loads

Simulations of wind turbine loads for the NREL 5 MW reference wind turbine under diabatic conditions are performed. The diabatic conditions are incorporated in the input wind field in the form of wind profile and turbulence. The simulations are carried out for mean wind speeds between 3 and 16 m s ^{? 1} at the turbine hub height. The loads are quantified as the cumulative sum of the damage equivalent load for different wind speeds that are weighted according to the wind speed and stability distribution. Four sites with a different wind speed and stability distribution are used for comparison. The turbulence and wind profile from only one site is used in the load calculations, which are then weighted according to wind speed and stability distributions at different sites. It is observed that atmospheric stability influences the tower and rotor loads. The difference in the calculated tower loads using diabatic wind conditions and those obtained assuming neutral conditions only is up to 17%, whereas the difference for the rotor loads is up to 13%. The blade loads are hardly influenced by atmospheric stability, where the difference between the calculated loads using diabatic and neutral input wind conditions is up to 3% only. The wind profiles and turbulence under diabatic conditions have contrasting influences on the loads; for example, under stable conditions, loads induced by the wind profile are larger because of increased wind shear, whereas those induced by turbulence are lower because of less turbulent energy. The tower base loads are mainly influenced by diabatic turbulence, whereas the rotor loads are influenced by diabatic wind profiles. The blade loads are influenced by both, diabatic wind profile and turbulence, that leads to nullifying the contrasting influences on the loads. The importance of using a detailed boundary‐layer wind profile model is also demonstrated. The difference in the calculated blade and rotor loads is up to 6% and 8%, respectively, when only the surface‐layer wind profile model is used in comparison with those obtained using a boundary‐layer wind profile model. Finally, a comparison of the calculated loads obtained using site‐specific and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) wind conditions is carried out. It is observed that the IEC loads are up to 96% larger than those obtained using site‐specific wind conditions.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prediction of wind‐turbine fatigue loads in forest regions based on turbulent LES inflow fields

Large‐eddy simulations (LES) were used to predict the neutral atmospheric boundary layer over a sparse and a dense forest, as well as over grass‐covered flat terrain. The forest is explicitly represented in the simulations through momentum sink terms. Turbulence data extracted from the LES served then as inflow turbulence for the simulation of the dynamic structural response of a generic wind turbine. In this way, the impact of forest density, wind speed and wind‐turbine hub height on the wind‐turbine fatigue loads was studied. Results show for example significantly increased equivalent fatigue loads above the two forests. Moreover, a comparison between LES turbulence and synthetically generated turbulence in terms of load predictions was made and revealed that synthetic turbulence was able to excite the same spectral peaks as LES turbulence but lead to consistently lower equivalent fatigue loads. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A wind‐tunnel study of the wake development behind wind turbines over sinusoidal hills

In the present work, the wake development behind small‐scale wind turbines is studied when introducing local topography variations consisting of a series of sinusoidal hills. Additionally, wind‐tunnel tests with homogeneous and sheared turbulent inflows were performed to understand how shear and ambient turbulence influence the results. The scale of the wind‐turbine models was about 1000 times smaller than full‐size turbines, suggesting that the present results should only be qualitatively extrapolated to real‐field scenarios. Wind‐tunnel measurements were made by means of stereoscopic particle image velocimetry to characterize the flow velocity in planes perpendicular to the flow direction. Over flat terrain, the wind‐turbine wake was seen to slowly approach the ground while it propagated downstream. When introducing hilly terrain, the downward wake deflection was enhanced in response to flow variations induced by the hills, and the turbulent kinetic energy content in the wake increased because of the speed‐up seen over the hills. The combined wake observed behind 2 streamwise aligned turbines was more diffused and when introducing hills, it was more prone to deflect towards the ground compared to the wake behind an isolated turbine. Since wake interactions are common at sites with multiple turbines, this suggested that it is important to consider the local hill‐induced velocity variations when onshore wind farms are analysed. Differences in the flow fields were seen when introducing either homogeneous or sheared turbulent inflow conditions, emphasizing the importance of accounting for the prevailing turbulence conditions at a given wind‐farm site to accurately capture the downstream wake development.     

低空急流条件下水平轴风力机风轮气动特性的研究

为阐明低空急流条件下风力机风轮的气动特性,基于工程化的边界层风速模型和Von Karman谱模型建立不同来流的脉动风场,对比研究低空急流条件下NREL 5 MW风力机风轮的输出功率和气动载荷的变化规律。结果表明:如果仅以轮毂高度处的风速作为风力机变桨控制的依据,与均匀来流和剪切来流相比较,低空急流条件下,虽然来流风功率明显增大,但风轮的输出功率在较高风速时反而减小;风轮所受的不平衡气动载荷,包括横向力、纵向力、偏航力矩和倾覆力矩在较高风速时小于剪切来流的结果;且仅以轮毂高度处的风速预测得到的风轮输出功率高于实际结果,其最大相对误差为89.4%。因此,低空急流条件下,为提高风能利用率和风轮输出功率的预测精度,应考虑不同高度位置处的风速大小对风力机进行变桨控制和功率预测。     

The spectral signature of wind turbine wake meandering: A wind tunnel and field‐scale study

Field‐scale and wind tunnel experiments were conducted in the 2D to 6D turbine wake region to investigate the effect of geometric and Reynolds number scaling on wake meandering. Five field deployments took place: 4 in the wake of a single 2.5‐MW wind turbine and 1 at a wind farm with numerous 2‐MW turbines. The experiments occurred under near‐neutral thermal conditions. Ground‐based lidar was used to measure wake velocities, and a vertical array of met‐mounted sonic anemometers were used to characterize inflow conditions. Laboratory tests were conducted in an atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel for comparison with the field results. Treatment of the low‐resolution lidar measurements is discussed, including an empirical correction to velocity spectra using colocated lidar and sonic anemometer. Spectral analysis on the laboratory‐ and utility‐scale measurements confirms a meandering frequency that scales with the Strouhal number St = fD/U based on the turbine rotor diameter D. The scaling indicates the importance of the rotor‐scaled annular shear layer to the dynamics of meandering at the field scale, which is consistent with findings of previous wind tunnel and computational studies. The field and tunnel spectra also reveal a deficit in large‐scale turbulent energy, signaling a sheltering effect of the turbine, which blocks or deflects the largest flow scales of the incoming flow. Two different mechanisms for wake meandering—large scales of the incoming flow and shear instabilities at relatively smaller scales—are discussed and inferred to be related to the turbulent kinetic energy excess and deficit observed in the wake velocity spectra.     

Mesoscale modeling of coastal low‐level jets: implications for offshore wind resource estimation

Detailed and reliable spatiotemporal characterizations of turbine hub height wind fields over coastal and offshore regions are becoming imperative for the global wind energy industry. Contemporary wind resource assessment frameworks incorporate diverse multiscale prognostic models (commonly known as mesoscale models) to dynamically downscale global‐scale atmospheric fields to regional‐scale (i.e., spatial and temporal resolutions of a few kilometers and a few minutes, respectively). These high‐resolution model solutions aim at depicting the expected wind behavior (e.g., wind shear, wind veering and topographically induced flow accelerations) at a particular location. Coastal and offshore regions considered viable for wind power production are also known to possess complex atmospheric flow phenomena (including, but not limited to, coastal low‐level jets (LLJs), internal boundary layers and land breeze–sea breeze circulations). Unfortunately, the capabilities of the new‐generation mesoscale models in realistically capturing these diverse flow phenomena are not well documented in the literature. To partially fill this knowledge gap, in this paper, we have evaluated the performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting model, a state‐of‐the‐art mesoscale model, in simulating a series of coastal LLJs. Using observational data sources we explore the importance of coastal LLJs for offshore wind resource estimation along with the capacity to which they can be numerically simulated. We observe model solutions to demonstrate strong sensitivities with respect to planetary boundary layer parameterization and initialization conditions. These sensitivities are found to be responsible for variability in AEP estimates by a factor of two. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance and wake comparison of horizontal and vertical axis wind turbines under varying surface roughness conditions

A numerical study of both a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) and a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) with similar size and power rating is presented. These large scale turbines have been tested when operating stand‐alone at their optimal tip speed ratio (TSR) within a neutrally stratified atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). The impact of three different surface roughness lengths on the turbine performance is studied for the both turbines. The turbines performance, the response to the variation in the surface roughness of terrain, and the most relevant phenomena involved on the resulting wake were investigated. The main goal was to evaluate the differences and similarities of these two different types of turbine when they operate under the same atmospheric flow conditions. An actuator line model (ALM) was used together with the large eddy simulation (LES) approach for predicting wake effects, and it was implemented using the open‐source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) library OpenFOAM to solve the governing equations and to compute the resulting flow fields. This model was first validated using wind tunnel measurements of power coefficients and wake of interacting HAWTs, and then employed to study the wake structure of both full scale turbines. A preliminary study test comparing the forces on a VAWT blades against measurements was also investigated. These obtained results showed a better performance and shorter wake (faster recovery) for an HAWT compared with a VAWT for the same atmospheric conditions.     

Gaussian vs non‐Gaussian turbulence: impact on wind turbine loads

From large‐eddy simulations of atmospheric turbulence, a representation of Gaussian turbulence is constructed by randomizing the phases of the individual modes of variability. Time series of Gaussian turbulence are constructed and compared with its non‐Gaussian counterpart. Time series from the two types of turbulence are then used as input to wind turbine load simulations under normal operations with the HAWC2 software package. A slight increase in the extreme loads of the tower base fore‐aft moment is observed for high wind speeds when using non‐Gaussian turbulence but is insignificant when taking into account the safety factor for extreme moments. Other extreme load moments as well as the fatigue loads are not affected because of the use of non‐Gaussian turbulent inflow. It is suggested that the turbine thus acts like a low‐pass filter that averages out the non‐Gaussian behaviour, which is mainly associated with the fastest and smallest scales. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Blade load mitigation control design for a wind turbine operating in the path of vortices

As wind turbine rotor size continues to increase, load mitigation becomes an important control objective. Turbines with hub heights of nearly 100m operate in the stable, nocturnal boundary layer where coherent turbulence can be generated by atmospheric phenomena outside the surface layer. These coherent turbulent structures may contribute to blade fatigue loads that can be mitigated with advanced control algorithms. Disturbance accommodating control (DAC) methods were implemented in a wind turbine structural dynamics simulation code to mitigate transient blade load response induced by a simple, Rankine vortex in the inflow. As a best‐case scenario, a full‐state feedback controller (which included a very detailed disturbance model) showed that blade flap damage equivalent load caused by the vortex passing through the rotor could be reduced by 30% compared to one that resulted from simulation of a typical proportional‐integral (PI) controller. A realizable DAC controller that incorporates only the vertical shear component of the vortex reduced loads by 9% compared to that resulting from simulation of a PI controller. The load reduction was even greater when the vortex was superimposed over full‐field, homogeneous turbulence. DAC methods have the flexibility to incorporate properties of coherent turbulent inflow structures in the controller design to mitigate blade fatigue loads. Further work must be done to develop disturbance models as more details about the turbulent structures are identified. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wind turbine response to parameter variation of analytic inflow vortices

As larger wind turbines are placed on taller towers, rotors frequently operate in atmospheric conditions that support organized, coherent turbulent structures. It is hypothesized that these structures have a detrimental impact on the blade fatigue life experienced by the wind turbine. These structures are extremely difficult to identify with sophisticated anemometry such as ultrasonic anemometers. This study was performed to identify the vortex characteristics that contribute to high‐amplitude cyclic blade loads, assuming that these vortices exist under certain atmospheric conditions. This study does not attempt to demonstrate the existence of these coherent turbulent structures. In order to ascertain the idealized worst‐case scenario for vortical inflow structures impinging on a wind turbine rotor, we created a simple, analytic vortex model. The Rankine vortex model assumes that the vortex core undergoes solid body rotation to avoid a singularity at the vortex centre and is surrounded by a two‐dimensional potential flow field. Using the wind turbine as a sensor and the FAST wind turbine dynamics code with limited degrees of freedom, we determined the aerodynamic loads imparted to the wind turbine by the vortex structure. We varied the size, strength, rotational direction, plane of rotation, and location of the vortex over a wide range of operating parameters. We identified the vortex conformation with the most significant effect on the blade root bending moment cyclic amplitude. Vortices with radii on the scale of the rotor diameter or smaller caused blade root bending moment cyclic amplitudes that contribute to high damage density. The rotational orientation, clockwise or counter‐clockwise, produces little difference in the bending moment response. Vortices in the XZ plane produce bending moment amplitudes significantly greater than vortices in the YZ plane. Published in 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

风剪切下塔影效应对水平轴风力机叶片及风轮气动载荷的影响

采用CFD方法,以NH1500三叶片大型水平轴风力机为研究对象,研究额定风速剪切来流下的塔影效应对水平轴风力机叶片和风轮非定常气动载荷的影响。结果表明：剪切来流下,叶片和风轮的气动载荷均呈余弦变化规律,塔影效应的主要影响叶片方位角范围为160°~210°,且该范围不随风剪切指数的变化而变化。相同风剪切指数下,塔影效应对叶片和风轮气动载荷的均方根影响较小,对其波动影响较大。当风剪切指数从0.12增至0.30时,塔影效应下,叶片气动载荷的均方根减小,推力和转矩的波动幅度增大,偏航力矩和倾覆力矩的波动幅度减小;风轮推力和转矩的均方根减小,波动幅度变化较小,而倾覆力矩和偏航力矩的均方根增大,且波动幅度也增大。     

Upwind preview to a horizontal axis wind turbine: a wind tunnel and field‐scale study

Data collected at the Eolos wind research facility and in the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel are used to study the impact of turbulent inflow conditions on the performance of a horizontal axis wind turbine on flat terrain. The Eolos test facility comprises a 2.5MW Clipper Liberty C96 wind turbine, a meteorological tower and a WindCube LiDAR wind profiler. A second set of experiments was completed using particle image velocimetry upwind and in a wake of a miniature turbine in the wind tunnel to complement LiDAR measurements near the Eolos turbine. Joint statistics, most notably temporal cross‐correlations between wind velocity at different heights and turbine performance, are presented and compared at both the laboratory and field scales. The work (i) confirms that the turbine exerts a blockage effect on the mean flow and (ii) suggests a key, specific elevation, above hub height, where the incoming velocity signal is statistically most relevant to turbine operation and control. Wind tunnel measurements confirm such indication and suggest that hub height velocity measurements are optimal for wind preview and/or as input for active control strategies in aligned turbine configurations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of spatial and temporal resolution of the turbulent inflow on wind turbine performance estimation

The effects of spatial and temporal resolution of wind inflows generated using large eddy simulations (LES) on the scales of turbulence present in the wind inflow, and the resulting changes in wind turbine performance were investigated for neutral atmospheric boundary layer conditions. Wind inflows with four different spatial resolutions and five different temporal resolutions were used to produce different turbine responses. An aero‐elastic code assessed the dynamic response of two wind turbines to the different inflows. Auto‐spectral density functions (ASDF) of turbine responses, such as blade deflection and bending moment, that are representative of the turbine response were used to assess the effect of the inflow. The results indicated that, as additional turbulence scales were resolved, the wind turbines showed a similar increased response that was evident in both the ASDF and variance of the different wind turbine performance parameters. As a result, the amount to which turbulence is resolved in the inflow, particularly using tools such as LES, will be important to consider when using these inflows for wind turbine design and performance prediction. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Load alleviation of wind turbines by yaw misalignment

Vertical wind shear is one of the dominating causes of load variations on the blades of a horizontal axis wind turbine. To alleviate the varying loads, wind turbine control systems have been augmented with sensors and actuators for individual pitch control. However, the loads caused by a vertical wind shear can also be affected through yaw misalignment. Recent studies of yaw control have been focused on improving the yaw alignment to increase the power capture at below rated wind speeds. In this study, the potential of alleviating blade load variations induced by the wind shear through yaw misalignment is assessed. The study is performed through simulations of a reference turbine. The study shows that optimal yaw misalignment angles for minimizing the blade load variations can be identified for both deterministic and turbulent inflows. It is shown that the optimal yaw misalignment angles can be applied without power loss for wind speeds above rated wind speed. In deterministic inflow, it is shown that the range of the steady‐state blade load variations can be reduced by up to 70%. For turbulent inflows, it is shown that the potential blade fatigue load reductions depend on the turbulence level. In inflows with high levels of turbulence, the observed blade fatigue load reductions are small, whereas the blade fatigue loads are reduced by 20% at low turbulence levels. For both deterministic and turbulent inflows, it is seen that the blade load reductions are penalized by increased load variations on the non‐rotating turbine parts. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of extreme wind shear on aeroelastic modal damping of wind turbines

Wind shear is an important contributor to fatigue loads on wind turbines. Because it causes an azimuthal variation in angle of attack, it can also affect aerodynamic damping. In this paper, a linearized model of a wind turbine, based on the non‐linear aeroelastic code BHawC, is used to investigate the effect of wind shear on the modal damping of the turbine. In isotropic conditions with a uniform wind field, the modal properties can be extracted from the system matrix transformed into the inertial frame using the Coleman transformation. In shear conditions, an implicit Floquet analysis, which reduces the computational burden associated with classical Floquet analysis, is used for modal analysis. The methods are applied to a 2.3 MW three‐bladed pitch‐regulated wind turbine showing a difference in damping between isotropic and extreme shear conditions at rated wind speed when the turbine is operating closest to stall. The first longitudinal tower mode decreases slightly in damping, whereas the first flapwise backward whirling and symmetric modes increase in damping. This change in damping is attributed to an interaction between the periodic blade mode shapes and the azimuth‐dependent local aerodynamic damping in the shear condition caused by a beginning separation of the flow. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wind turbine fatigue loads as a function of atmospheric conditions offshore

In recent years, there has been a growing interest by the wind energy community to assess the impact of atmospheric stability on wind turbine performance; however, up to now, typically, stability is considered in several distinct arbitrary stability classes. As a consequence, each stability class considered still covers a wide range of conditions. In this paper, wind turbine fatigue loads are studied as a function of atmospheric stability without a classification system, and instead, atmospheric conditions are described by a continuous joint probability distribution of wind speed and stability. Simulated fatigue loads based upon this joint probability distribution have been compared with two distinct different cases, one in which seven stability classes are adopted and one neglecting atmospheric stability by following International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards. It is found that for the offshore site considered in this study, fatigue loads of the blade root, rotor and tower loads significantly increase if one follows the IEC standards (by up to 28% for the tower loads) and decrease if one considers several stability classes (by up to 13% for the tower loads). The substantial decrease found for the specific stability classes can be limited by considering one stability class that coincides with the mean stability of a given hub height wind speed. The difference in simulated fatigue loads by adopting distinct stability classes is primarily caused by neglecting strong unstable conditions for which relatively high fatigue loads occur. Combined, it is found that one has to carefully consider all stability conditions in wind turbine fatigue load simulations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical investigation of wind turbine wake development in directionally sheared inflow

Turbines in wind farms are subject to complex mutual aerodynamic interactions, which in detail depend upon the characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer. Our two objectives with this paper were to investigate the impact of directionally sheared inflow on the wake development behind a single wind turbine and to analyse the impact of the wakes on the energy yield and loading of a downstream turbine, which is exposed to partial and full wake conditions. We performed simulations with a framework based on a coupled approach of large‐eddy simulation and an actuator line representation of an aeroelastic turbine model. Our results show that directionally sheared inflow leads to a non‐symmetrical wake development, which transfers to distinct differences in the energy yield and loading of downstream turbines of equal lateral offsets in opposite direction. Therefore, the assumption of wakes being axisymmetrical could lead to notable deviations in the prediction of wake behaviour and their impact on downstream turbines for atmospheric inflow conditions, which include directional shear. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.