Computational Analysis of the Aeroelastic Behaviour of Wind-Turbine Blades

A. D. OTERO (EXPOSITOR); F. L. PONTA; L. I. LAGO

Las Vegas, Nevada

Conferencia; The 2009 International Conference of Scientific Computing; 2009

Limitations in the current blade technology constitute a technological barrier that must be broken in order o continue the reductions in wind-energy cost. The goal is to introduce new technological solutions that improve the economics of blade design, manufacturing and transport logistics. A key for a breakthrough in wind-turbine technology is to reduce the uncertainties related to blade dynamics by the improvement of the quality of numerical simulations of the fluid-structure interaction process. In this paper, we shall introduce a new approach aimed to create a Virtual Test Environment where the aeroelastic dynamics of innovative prototype blades may be tested at realistic full-scale conditions, with a reasonable computational cost. It combines two advanced numerical models implemented in a parallel HPC supercomputer platform: A model of the dynamics of unsteady separated flows using Vorticity–Velocity Adaptive algorithms; and a model of the structural response of heterogeneous composite blades using Variational–Asymptotic Beam Sectional techniques.