Violent edgewise blade vibrations have in recent years been a large problem for some stall-regulated wind turbines. Owing to the complexity of the phenomenon, it has been difficult to predict the risk of these vibrations with aeroelastic load prediction tools. One problem is the choice of parameters in the aeroelastic model, e.g. structural damping and aerodynamic aerofoil characteristics. In many cases a high degree of uncertainty in the predicted response exists and the need for experimental verification methods is obvious. In this work a new method to identify the effective damping for the edgewise blade mode shape for wind turbines has been developed. The method consists of an exciter mechanism which makes it possible to excite the edgewise blade mode shapes from the wind turbine nacelle. Furthermore, the method consists of an analysis method which enables a straightforward determination of the damping. The analysis method is based on a local blade whirl description of the edgewise blade vibrations. The method is verified on a Bonus wind turbine, and for this specific turbine the effective damping for edgewise blade vibrations has been determined. The results support the further development of aeroelastic models and show potential for fine-tuning of parameters of importance for the edgewise blade vibration problem. Furthermore, the method can be used for experimental investigation of the risk of edgewise blade vibrations for a specific turbine.

Riso̸ has developed a dynamic stall model that is used to analyze and reproduce open air blade section measurements as well as wind tunnel measurements. The dynamic stall model takes variations in both angle of attack and flow velocity into account. The paper gives a brief description of the dynamic stall model and presents results from analyses of dynamic stall measurements for a variety of experiments with different airfoils in wind tunnel and on operating rotors. The wind tunnel experiments comprises pitching as well as plunging motion of the airfoils. The dynamic stall model is applied for derivation of aerodynamic damping characteristics for cyclic motion of the airfoils in flapwise and edgewise direction combined with pitching. The investigation reveals that the airfoil dynamic stall characteristics depend on the airfoil shape, and the type of motion (pitch, plunge). The aerodynamic damping characteristics, and thus the sensitivity to stall induced vibrations, depend highly on the relative motion of the airfoil in flapwise and edgewise direction, and on a possibly coupled pitch variation, which is determined by the structural characteristics of the blade.

No abstract

No abstract