A Comprehensive Investigation of Linear and Nonlinear Beam Models on Flexible Wind Turbine Blade Load Calculations

Abstract

This study was performed to investigate the effects of structural nonlinearity and large deformations on the aeroelastic loads of flexible wind turbine blades. First, a blade structural analysis model was established using the geometrically exact beam (GEB) theory. Subsequently, the blade element momentum (BEM) theory was corrected using the geometrically exact method leading to the development of a geometrically exact blade element momentum (GE-BEM) model. The results from the GE-BEM model indicated that flapwise deformations always reduce blade fatigue loads, while torsional deformations decrease fatigue loads under low wind speeds but increase them under high wind speeds. Finally, the linear Euler–Bernoulli beam and the GEB were compared to explore the influence of geometric nonlinearity on the blade aeroelastic loads, which revealed that the Euler beam model underestimates the blade loads. The simulations that used the GEB model produced torsional root twist fatigue loads that were 57.49% greater than those generated when the Euler beam model was used. Furthermore, the flapwise bending moment fatigue loads at the root were 8.24% greater than those obtained by the Euler beam model. The smallest discrepancy between the results of the two models was 7.26%, and it corresponded to the edgewise fatigue load.