Wind turbine stability: Comparison of state-of-the-art aeroelastic simulation tools

Abstract

As rotor diameters and blade flexibility are increasing, current and future generation wind turbines are more susceptible to aeroelastic instabilities. It is thus important to know the prediction capabilities of state-of-the-art simulation tools in regards of the onset of aeroelastic instability. This article presents results of a code-to-code comparison of five different simulation codes using a representative wind turbine model. It is shown that the models are in good agreement in terms of isolated structural dynamics and steady state aeroelastics. The more complex the test cases become, the more significant are the differences in the results. In the final step of comparison, the aeroelastic stability limit is determined through a run-away analysis. The instability onset is predicted at different wind speeds and the underlying mechanisms differ between the tools. A Campbell diagram is used to correlate the findings of time domain simulation tools with those of a linear analysis in the frequency domain.