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.