| Wind turbines, a competitive source of emission-free electricity, are being designed with diameters and hub heights approaching 100 m, to further reduce the cost of the energy they produce. At this height above the ground, the wind turbine is exposed to atmospheric phenomena such as low-level jets, gravity waves, and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, which are not currently modeled in wind turbine design codes. These atmospheric phenomena can generate coherent turbulence that causes high cyclic loads on wind turbine blades. These fluctuating loads lead to fatigue damage accumulation and blade lifetime reduction.; The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted an experiment to record wind turbine load response and inflow measurements. The spatial resolution of the inflow measurements was insufficient to identify specific turbulence characteristics that contribute to high cyclic loads. However, strong evidence supported the hypothesis that coherent vorticity passage through the rotor was directly correlated with large blade cyclic amplitudes.; An analytic Rankine vortex model was created and implemented in wind turbine simulation codes to isolate the aerodynamic response of the wind turbine to inflow vortices. Numerous simulations computed the blade load cyclic response to vortices of varying radius, circulation strength, orientation, location with respect to the hub, and plane of rotation. The vortex in the plane of rotation most likely to occur as a result of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities produces the highest cyclic amplitudes. The response is similar for two- and three-blade wind turbines.; Advanced control was used to mitigate vortex-induced blade cyclic loading. The MATLAB(c) with Simulink(c) computational environment was used for control design. Disturbance Accommodating Control (DAC) was used to cancel the vortex "disturbance." Compared to a standard proportional-integral controller, the DAC controller reduced the blade fatigue load for vortices of various sizes and for vortices superimposed on turbulent flow fields. A full-state feedback controller that incorporates more detailed vortex inputs achieved significantly greater blade load reduction. Blade loads attributed to vortex passage, then, can be reduced through advanced control, and further reductions appear feasible. |
