System-level design studies for large rotors

Zalkind, Daniel; Ananda, Gavin K.; Chetan, Mayank; Martin, Dana; Bay, Christopher J.; Johnson, Kathryn; Loth, Eric; Griffith, D. Todd; Selig, Michael S.; Pao, Lucy Y.

doi:10.5194/wes-2018-80

Cited by 9 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…Notably, numerical and experimental studies have also considered highly coned downwind wind turbines, chasing the “load alignment” concept, where the loaded‐blade axis aligns with the resultant thrust‐centrifugal force vector to eliminate bending moments. Research is ongoing, but preliminary results show similar trends as discussed in this work with reduced capital costs from lighter blades and lower AEP, with the final impact on LCOE yet to be determined 25‐28 …”

Section: Power Production and Loadssupporting

confidence: 58%

Challenges, opportunities, and a research roadmap for downwind wind turbines

et al. 2021

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This study investigates the challenges and opportunities presented by downwind wind turbines and offers a roadmap of future research pathways to maximize their potential. Multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization comparison studies between upwind and downwind configurations on a modern 10‐MW offshore wind turbine are presented to support the discussion. On one hand, the downwind rotor is found to consistently have a smaller swept area under loading. As a result, the downwind design produces less annual energy production (−1.2%). On the other hand, lighter blades for the downwind configuration lead to lower capital costs (−1.7%), so there is little difference in the levelized cost of energy between the two. Key ultimate and fatigue loads are compared, with some values increasing in the downwind configuration, while others decrease. The impact of a downwind configuration on the tower and the impacts of cone and tilt angles and free‐yaw system on the levelized cost of energy are also investigated. The results show a mix of some advantages and disadvantages. Given these results, four areas of research in advanced controls, highly tilted rotors, higher fidelity aerodynamic models, and floating wind are proposed for downwind wind turbines.

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Section: Power Production and Loadssupporting

confidence: 58%

Challenges, opportunities, and a research roadmap for downwind wind turbines

et al. 2021

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“…Thus, the present study focuses predominantly on structural design and optimization to evaluate the potential for mass and cost reduction of two-bladed downwind rotors at extreme-scale. Studies examining conceptual design, aerodynamics, and control system design of the SUMR design can be found in recent works (Ananda et al, 2018; Noyes et al, 2017, 2018; Qin et al, 2016, 2020; Zalkind et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural design and optimization of a series of 13.2 MW downwind rotors

2021

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The quest for reduced LCOE has driven significant growth in wind turbine size. A key question to enable larger rotor designs is how to configure and optimize structural designs to constrain blade mass and cost while satisfying a growing set of challenging structural design requirements. In this paper, we investigate the performance of a series of three two-bladed downwind rotors with different blade lengths (104.3-m, 122.9-m, and 143.4-m) all rated at 13.2 MW. The primary goals are to achieve 25% rotor mass and 25% LCOE reduction. A comparative analysis of the structural performance and economics of this family rotors is presented. To further explore optimization opportunities for large rotors, we present new results in a root and spar cap design optimization. In summary, we present structural design solutions that achieve 25% rotor mass reduction in a SUMR13i design (104.3-m) and 25% LCOE reduction in a SUMR13C design (143.4-m).

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“…To address some of the limitations of the conventional wind turbine, a two-blade downwind rotor concept, Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotor (SUMR), was proposed, featuring a load alignment based on increased cone angle. Benefiting from the advantage in loads reduction of the SUMR concept, the preceding challenges in developing extreme-scale wind turbines can be solved and designing a 50 MW machine with a blade length over 200 m seems promising (Ananda et al, 2018; Chetan et al, 2021; Kianbakh et al, 2021; Noyes et al, 2017, 2018; Pao et al, 2021; Qin et al, 2016, 2020; Zalkind et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aero-structural design and optimization of 50 MW wind turbine with over 250-m blades

et al. 2021

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The quest for reduced levelized cost of energy has driven significant growth in wind turbine size; however, larger rotors face significant technical and logistical challenges. The largest published rotor design is 25 MW, and here we consider an even larger 50 MW design with blade length over 250 m. This paper shows that a 50 MW design is indeed possible from a detailed engineering perspective and presents a series of aero-structural blade designs, and critical assessment of technology pathways and challenges for extreme-scale rotors. The 50 MW rotor design begins with Monte Carlo simulations focused on optimizing carbon spar cap and root design. A baseline design resulted in a 250-m blade with mass of 502 tonnes. Subsequently, an aero-structural design and optimization were performed to reduce the blade mass/cost with more than 25% mass reduction and 30% cost reduction by determining optimal blade chord and airfoil thickness for best aero-structural performance.

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System-level design studies for large rotors

Cited by 9 publications

References 28 publications

Challenges, opportunities, and a research roadmap for downwind wind turbines

Challenges, opportunities, and a research roadmap for downwind wind turbines

Structural design and optimization of a series of 13.2 MW downwind rotors

Aero-structural design and optimization of 50 MW wind turbine with over 250-m blades

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