Fluid–Structure Interaction Analysis of a Wind Turbine Blade with Passive Control by Bend–Twist Coupling

Jorge Mario Tamayo-Avendaño, Ivan David Patiño-Arcila, César Nieto-Londoño and Julián Sierra-Pérez ()
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Jorge Mario Tamayo-Avendaño: Grupo de Investigación en Ingeniería Aeroespacial, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín 050031, Colombia
Ivan David Patiño-Arcila: Grupo de Investigación e Innovación Ambiental (GIIAM), Institución Universitaria Pascual Bravo, Medellín 050034, Colombia
César Nieto-Londoño: Grupo de Investigación en Ingeniería Aeroespacial, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín 050031, Colombia
Julián Sierra-Pérez: Grupo de Investigación en Ingeniería Aeroespacial, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín 050031, Colombia

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 18, 1-26

Abstract: The idea of improving the energy output for small wind turbines without compromising the remaining aspects of the technology, such as costs and structural integrity, is very appealing in the context of the growing concern for global warming and the goal of providing electricity to remote and isolated regions. This work aims to contribute to the development of distributed wind generation by exploring the effects of bend–twist coupling on the performance of a wind turbine with a focus on a small rotor based on the NREL Phase VI blade geometry. After defining a structure in composite materials exhibiting the coupling behavior along with a reference counterpart, a comparative numerical analysis is performed using a Fluid–Structure Interaction (FSI) analysis. The main numerical framework is based on commercial software and consists of a finite-volume solver for fluid physics, a finite-element solver for solid physics, and a coupling interface for the interaction problem. The results, complemented with the predictions from a one-way analysis based on the blade-element momentum theory are used to define the increments in rotor torque. The analysis of the annual energy yield shows a 3% increase due to the bend–twist coupling used as a passive pitch mechanism, considering a Rayleigh distribution with an 11 m/s average wind speed. Simultaneously, the coupling causes increments of 0.2% and 0.3% for the blade root flapwise moment and the rotor thrust force, respectively, when considering parked conditions and a simplified extreme wind model.

Keywords: wind turbine; composite blade; passive control; bend–twist coupling; fluid–structure interaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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