3D simulation of wind turbine rotors at full scale. Part II: Fluid–structure interaction modeling with composite blades

TLDR

The paper presents a unified numerical framework for wind turbine rotor modeling and simulation, with Part 1 covering geometry and Part 2 addressing blade structural discretization and fluid–structure interaction procedures. The framework combines geometry construction, a rotating turbulent flow formulation, and coupling of airflow with a rotating rigid body, along with blade structural discretization, to simulate the NREL 5MW offshore baseline rotor at realistic wind and speed conditions at full scale. The methods are validated against published data and demonstrate the framework’s potential through several illustrative examples. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract In this two‐part paper, we present a collection of numerical methods combined into a single framework, which has the potential for a successful application to wind turbine rotor modeling and simulation. In Part 1 of this paper we focus on: 1. The basics of geometry modeling and analysis‐suitable geometry construction for wind turbine rotors; 2. The fluid mechanics formulation and its suitability and accuracy for rotating turbulent flows; 3. The coupling of air flow and a rotating rigid body. In Part 2, we focus on the structural discretization for wind turbine blades and the details of the fluid–structure interaction computational procedures. The methods developed are applied to the simulation of the NREL 5MW offshore baseline wind turbine rotor. The simulations are performed at realistic wind velocity and rotor speed conditions and at full spatial scale. Validation against published data is presented and possibilities of the newly developed computational framework are illustrated on several examples. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.