The main concern of the present publication is the computation of dynamic loads of wind turbine power trains, with particular emphasis on planetary gearbox loads. The applied mathematical approach relies on a non‐linear finite element method, which is extended by multi‐body system functionalities, and aerodynamics based on the blade element momentum theory. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Design optimization has already become an important tool in industry. The benefits are clear, but several drawbacks are still present, being the main one the computational cost. The numerical simulation involved in the solution of each evaluation is usually costly, but time and computational resources are limited. Computational resources can be easily increased because, nowadays, its cost is rapidly decreasing. Anyway, there is always an upper limit due to financial constraints. On the other hand, time is key in industry. Lead time must be reduced to ensure competitiveness. It means the design stage has a reduced time slot. In addition, industrial problems are multi-objective and multi-disciplinary, which increases the cost and the complexity. The present communication is focused on describing a practical application developed together with a wind energy company, who aimed to optimize the design of a Tuned Mass Damper. It is a structural device installed within the tower of a wind turbine aimed to stabilize the oscillations and reduce the tensions and the fatigue loads. The paper describes the decision process to define the optimization problem, as well as the issues and solutions applied to deal with a huge computational cost, with a multi-objective and multi-disciplinary environment including some gaps in the definition of specific points. Focusing on the optimization methodology, the communication will describe the application of RMOP, CIMNE's in-house optimization platform in comparison of the company's in-house optimization platform.