Modeling the Risk of a Failed Wind Turbine Blade Impacting a Power Transmission Line

Slegers, Nathan; Rogers, Jonathan; Costello, Mark; Puga, M.; Arons, Patricia

doi:10.1260/0309-524x.33.6.587

Cited by 6 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Five Monte Carlo simulations consisting of 10,000 blade throws each were performed for each turbine, corresponding to the five blade fragment sizes of 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% as previously outlined. As demonstrated in the Monte Carlo simulation results shown in Slegers, smaller blade fragments consistently fly farther than larger fragments because of higher initial release velocity. Figures show ground impact results of each Monte Carlo simulation for the three turbines for the 40% blade throw case.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An abbreviated version of the dynamic model used to simulate the flight of a released blade fragment is presented here. A full description of the dynamic model can be found in Slegers et al As shown in Figures and , three reference frames are employed in the dynamic model of blade motion, namely, the ground‐based frame I, the turbine‐fixed frame R and the blade‐fixed frame B. The blade‐fixed reference frame B is oriented such that the

{\vec{K}}_{B}

axis is aligned with the blade spanwise axis.…”

Section: Dynamic Model and Simulation Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This angle of attack is calculated within the simulation given blade orientation and velocity and subsequently used to generate aerodynamic forces and moments on the blade. Details of aerodynamic forces, moments as well as the weight force are omitted here for brevity; however, a full description is provided in Slegers …”

Section: Dynamic Model and Simulation Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Details of aerodynamic forces, moments as well as the weight force are omitted here for brevity; however, a full description is provided in Slegers. 9 Given a set of blade fragment release conditions, equations (1)-(4) can be integrated numerically forward in time using a Runge-Kutta algorithm until blade fragment mass center impacted with the ground. The simulation architecture, written in FORTRAN, was optimized to run Monte Carlo cases efficiently.…”

Section: Blade Throw Dynamic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A method for defining wind turbine setback standards

2011

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Setback distances established by regulatory authorities to minimize the probability of blade fragment impact with roads, structures and infrastructure can often have a significant impact on wind farm development. However, these minimum distance requirements typically rely on arbitrary rules of thumb and are not based on a physical or probabilistic analysis of blade throw. The work reported here uses a probabilistic approach to evaluate the effectiveness of current standards and to propose a new technique for determining setback distances. This is accomplished through the use of a dynamic model of wind turbine blade failure coupled with Monte Carlo simulation techniques applied to three different wind turbines. It is first shown that common setback standards based on turbine height and blade radius provide inconsistent and inadequate protection against blade throw. Then, using a simplified dynamic analysis of a thrown blade fragment, it is shown that the release velocity of the blade fragment is the critical factor in determining the maximum distance fragments are likely to travel. The importance of release velocity is further verified through simulation results. Finally, a new method for developing setback standards is proposed based on an acceptable level of risk. Given specific wind turbine operational parameters and a set of failure probabilities, the new method leverages realistic blade throw modeling to produce setback standards with a valid physical foundation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

{\vec{K}}_{B}

axis is aligned with the blade spanwise axis.…”

Section: Dynamic Model and Simulation Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dynamic Model and Simulation Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Blade Throw Dynamic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A method for defining wind turbine setback standards

2011

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“…The next level of complexity has fragment rotation and translation along the trajectory, with calculation of aerodynamic forces and moments (Slegers et al, 2009). The authors' trajectory model is based primarily on Sørensen (1984).…”

Section: Fragment Trajectorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Wind turbine rotor fragments: impact probability and setback evaluation

Larwood

Dam

2014

Clean Techn Environ Policy

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With increasing installation of wind turbines, the exposure to the hazard of impact from blade fragments increases. Local authorities use setbacks to reduce the risk by limiting the distance from wind turbines to adjacent property lines and dwellings. Unduly conservative setbacks are a deterrent to wind energy development. To determine appropriate setbacks, the authors developed a fragment trajectory model based on fragment rotation and aerodynamics. The model was used to simulate fragment trajectories at various rotor speeds, with randomly generated inputs for wind speed, wind direction, rotor azimuth, and rotor break position. Four sizes of wind turbines were studied, with rated power of 750 kW, 1.5 MW, 3 MW and 5 MW. A sensitivity analysis showed that a fragment trajectory is highly dependent on the input parameters. However, for multiple trajectories from a given turbine and rotor speed, the sensitivity of the impact probability to most inputs was negligible. The results indicate that the range increased with turbine rating and rotor speed. When the range was normalized by overall turbine height, the probability of impact at a particular normalized range decreases with turbine rating. Planning agencies use the normalized range 1 for setbacks, and the results indicate that using a common setback for all turbine sizes would be reasonable. Existing setback standards of 2-3 overall turbine heights offer better than 1 in 1,000,000 probability of impact per year; however, setbacks approaching 1 turbine height will have an order of magnitude higher probability of impact.

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A novel probabilistic approach to assess the blade throw hazard of wind turbines

Carbone

Afferrante

2013

Renewable Energy

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Modeling the Risk of a Failed Wind Turbine Blade Impacting a Power Transmission Line

Cited by 6 publications

References 5 publications

A method for defining wind turbine setback standards

A method for defining wind turbine setback standards

Wind turbine rotor fragments: impact probability and setback evaluation

A novel probabilistic approach to assess the blade throw hazard of wind turbines

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