Transient Thunderstorm Downbursts and Their Effects on Wind Turbines

Hieu H. Nguyen and Lance Manuel
Additional contact information
Hieu H. Nguyen: Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Lance Manuel: Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA

Energies, 2014, vol. 7, issue 10, 1-22

Abstract: The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standard 61400-1 for the design of wind turbines does not explicitly address site-specific conditions associated with anomalous atmospheric events or conditions. Examples of off-standard atmospheric conditions include thunderstorm downbursts, hurricanes, tornadoes, low-level jets, etc. The simulation of thunderstorm downbursts and associated loads on a utility-scale wind turbine is the focus of this study. Since the problem has not received sufficient attention, especially in terms of design, we thus focus in this paper on practical aspects. A wind field model that incorporates component non-turbulent and turbulent parts is described and employed in inflow simulations. The non-turbulent part is based on an available analytical model with some modifications, while the turbulent part is simulated as a stochastic process using standard turbulence power spectral density functions and coherence functions whose defining parameters are related to the downburst characteristics such as the storm translation velocity. Available information on recorded downbursts is used to define two storm scenarios that are studied. Rotor loads are generated using stochastic simulation of the aeroelastic response of a model of a utility-scale 5-MW turbine. An illustrative single storm simulation and the associated turbine response are used to discuss load characteristics and to highlight storm-related and environmental parameters of interest. Extensive simulations for two downbursts are then conducted while varying the storm’s location and track relative to the turbine. Results suggest that wind turbine yaw and pitch control systems clearly influence overall system response. Results also highlight the important effects of both the turbulence as well as the downburst mean wind profiles on turbine extreme loads.

Keywords: downbursts; thunderstorms; wind turbine loads (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: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/7/10/6527/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/7/10/6527/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:7:y:2014:i:10:p:6527-6548:d:41131

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().