Nonlinear model predictive pitch control of aero-elastic wind turbine blades

Shaimaa K. El-Baklish, Ayman A. El-Badawy, Gianluca Frison and Moritz Diehl

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 161, issue C, 777-791

Abstract: This paper proposes a Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller (NMPC) for pitch control of Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs) in Region 3 to avoid flutter aero-elastic instability. First, an aero-elastic HAWT rotor model was derived based on extended Hamilton’s principle using the coupled flap-wise and torsional motions of each blade. As for the aerodynamic loading, expressions for lift and pitching moment are obtained based on modifications of Theodorsen’s fixed wing strip theory for a rotating HAWT blade. The model is spatially discretized using the Assumed Modes Method with the first three flap-wise and two torsional mode shapes for the fixed cantilevered blade under free loading. This was applied to the 5-MW NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) reference HAWT. The time-domain response under aerodynamic loading of the developed model was compared to FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structure and Turbulence) aero-servo-elastic HAWT simulator. Then, an NMPC pitch controller was designed using the developed model for prediction. This was compared to another NMPC pitch controller which used a lumped-mass drive-train model as a prediction model and to the baseline gain-scheduled PI pitch controller.

Keywords: Model predictive control; Active pitch control; Horizontal-axis wind turbines; Blades; Aero-elasticity; Flutter (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:161:y:2020:i:c:p:777-791

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.07.094

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