Spheroidal graphite cast iron (EN-GJS), which provides a high degree of design flexibility and the possibility for lightweight design, has benefits as a material for use in structural parts in wind turbines. Comparing components made using the sand casting technique to those made using the chill casting process reveals significant potential to boost strength. However, at present, there is neither a proven design guideline nor reliable material input data for a lightweight component based on this material and fabrication process. This publication presents the results from the Gusswelleproject in chronological order. It starts with the explanation of the final setup and test plan for the full-scale rotor shaft fatigue experiment. The elaborated sensor and operational concept are then presented together with an adequate finite element method (FEM) model of the specimen and relevant neighboring components. The validation of this FEM model to ensure that the loading and the resulting local strains representing the real test bench situation is described. The usage of non-destructive testing to document the condition of the specimen from initial crack formation until integrity loss is explained followed by a comparison between the component fatigue test results and the material-based life-time forecast. A strength increase for chill-cast large components in the range of 50% is indicated. Simulation-based crack propagation studies are performed to qualitatively verify the loads responsible for the observed cracks of the component test and to further develop the possible method for crack predictions.
The 10 MW Dynamic Nacelle Testing Laboratory of Fraunhofer IWES provides a controlled environment for performing electrical and mechanical tests on a wind turbine nacelle. Apart from physical testing, system level simulations are another paradigm in the framework of nacelle testing. In this contribution, the development of a dynamic model of the load application system for the 10 MW nacelle test bench is presented. The test bench load application system controls are integrated in the model via co-simulation in Simulink. The model is evaluated using experimental results. By utilizing the modal strain recovery method, a direct comparison of the strain results of the model with the experimental results is achieved. Moreover, it is shown that the actual applied loads on the device under test can be estimated by analysing the strain readings. The developed model provides a platform for developing a high fidelity virtual nacelle test bench.
Today’s nacelle test benches are facing several challenges regarding meeting the increasing demands of modern wind turbines, which have been growing rapidly in operational range, size, and complexity. These challenges include reproducing the demanded extreme loads, dynamic load bandwidth, power capacity, and cost of testing. This contribution presents a new testing approach to tackle some of the aforementioned challenges faced by existing nacelle test benches. The method is demonstrated in a case study involving experimental measurements and simulations of a multi-megawatt wind turbine drivetrain recently tested at the DyNaLab of Fraunhofer IWES. By combining high-fidelity simulation models and partial load tests, the proposed approach has shown high potential for representing the full load response of a wind turbine nacelle. The proposed testing methodology has potential for resolving some of the challenges being faced by modern test benches in terms of obtaining full load responses on a nacelle test bench with a possibility of reducing the cost of testing.
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