Aeroelastic instability problems for wind turbines

This paper deals with the aeroelastic instabilities that have occurred and may still occur for modern commercial wind turbines: stall‐induced vibrations for stall‐turbines, and classical flutter for pitch‐regulated turbines. A review of previous works is combined with derivations of analytical stability limits for typical blade sections that show the fundamental mechanisms of these instabilities. The risk of stall‐induced vibrations is mainly related to blade airfoil characteristics, effective direction of blade vibrations and structural damping; whereas the blade tip speed, torsional blade stiffness and chordwise position of the center of gravity along the blades are the main parameters for flutter. These instability characteristics are exemplified by aeroelastic stability analyses of different wind turbines. The review of each aeroelastic instability ends with a list of current research issues that represent unsolved aeroelastic instability problems for wind turbines. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.