Publications

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A scaling methodology is described in the present paper for extreme-scale wind turbines (rated at 10 MW or more) that allow their sub-scale turbines to capture their key blade dynamics and aeroelastic deflections. For extreme-scale turbines, such deflections and dynamics can be substantial and are primarily driven by centrifugal, thrust and gravity forces as well as the net torque. Each of these are in turn a function of various wind conditions, including turbulence levels that cause shear, veer, and gust loads. The 13.2 MW rated SNL100-03 rotor design, having a blade length of 100-meters, is herein scaled to the CART3 wind turbine at NREL using 25% geometric scaling and blade mass and wind speed scaled by gravo-aeroelastic constraints. In order to mimic the ultralight structure on the advanced concept extreme-scale design the scaling results indicate that the gravo-aeroelastically scaled blades for the CART3 are be three times lighter and 25% longer than the current CART3 blades. A benefit of this scaling approach is that the scaled wind speeds needed for testing are reduced (in this case by a factor of two), allowing testing under extreme gust conditions to be much more easily achieved. Most importantly, this scaling approach can investigate extreme-scale concepts including dynamic behaviors and aeroelastic deflections (including flutter) at an extremely small fraction of the full-scale cost.

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Heliostat vibrations due to wind loading can degrade optical pointing accuracy while fatiguing the structural components. This paper reports the use of structural dynamic measurements for design evaluation and monitoring of heliostat vibrations. A heliostat located at the national solar thermal testing facility (NSTTF) at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been instrumented to measure its modes of vibration, strain and displacements under wind loading. The information gained from these tests will be used to evaluate and improve structural models that predict the motions/deformations of the heliostat due to gravitational and dynamic wind loadings. These deformations can cause optical errors and motions that degrade the performance of the heliostat. The main contributions of this work include: (1) demonstration of the role of structural dynamic tests (also known as modal tests) to provide a characterization of the important dynamics of the heliostat structure as they relate to durability and optical accuracy, (2) the use of structural dynamic tests to provide data to evaluate and improve the accuracy of computer-based design models, and (3) the selection of sensors and data-processing techniques that are appropriate for long-term monitoring of heliostat motions. This work also demonstrates the first measurements of rigid body modes of vibration associated with heliostat drive (azimuth and elevation) mechanisms, which are important structural dynamic response characteristics in dynamic design of heliostats.

This final report is a compilation of research efforts – funded by the US Department of Energy Wind and Water Power Technologies Office over a four-year period from FY11 through FY14. The goals of this research program were to develop and evaluate technical innovations with promise for maximizing revenues and reducing levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for offshore wind plants – more specifically the goals of the Structural Health and Prognostics Management (SHPM) program were to reduce O&M costs and increase energy capture through use of SHPM-based technologies. A technology roadmap was developed at the start of the project to guide the research efforts. This roadmap identified and outlined six major research thrust areas each having five stages of maturity. Research was conducted in each of these thrust areas, as documented throughout this report, although a major focus was on development of damage detection strategies for the most frequent blade damage conditions and damage mitigation and life-extension strategies via changes in turbine operations (smart loads management). The work summarized in this compilation report is the product of the work of many researchers. A summary of the major findings, status of the SHPM Technology Roadmap and recommendations for future work are also provided.

A wind turbine blade's structural dynamic response is simulated and analysed with the goal of characterizing the presence and severity of a shear web disbond. Computer models of a 5MW offshore utility-scale wind turbine were created to develop effective algorithms for detecting such damage. Through data analysis and with the use of blade measurements, a shear web disbond was quantified according to its length. An aerodynamic sensitivity study was conducted to ensure robustness of the detection algorithms. In all analyses, the blade's flap-wise acceleration and root-pitching moment were the clearest indicators of the presence and severity of a shear web disbond. A combination of blade and non-blade measurements was formulated into a final algorithm for the detection and quantification of the disbond. The probability of detection was 100% for the optimized wind speed ranges in laminar, 30% horizontal shear and 60% horizontal shear conditions.

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A series of design studies were performed to inv estigate the effects of flatback airfoils on blade performance and weight for large blades using the Sandi a 100-meter blade designs as a starting point. As part of the study, the effects of varying the blade slenderness on blade structural performance was investigated. The advantages and disadvantages of blad e slenderness with respect to tip deflection, flap- wise & edge-wise fatigue resistance, panel buckling capacity, flutter speed, manufacturing labor content, blade total weight, and aerodynamic design load magn itude are quantified. Following these design studies, a final blade design (SNL100-03) was prod uced, which was based on a highly slender design using flatback airfoils. The SNL100-03 design with flatback airfoils has weight of 49 tons, which is about 16% decrease from its SNL100-02 predecessor that used conventional sharp trailing edge airfoils. Although not systematically optimized, the SNL100 -03 design study provides an assessment of and insight into the benefits of flatback airfoils for la rge blades as well as insights into the limits or negative consequences of high blade slenderness resulting from a highly slender SNL100-03 planform as was chosen in the final design definition. This docum ent also provides a description of the final SNL100-03 design definition and is intended to be a companion document to the distribution of the NuMAD blade model files for SNL100-03, which are made publicly available. A summary of the major findings of the Sandia 100-meter blade development program, from the initial SNL100-00 baseline blade through the fourth SNL100-03 blade study, is provided. This summary includes the major findings and outcomes of blade d esign studies, pathways to mitigate the identified large blade design drivers, and tool development that were produced over the course of this five-year research program. A summary of large blade tec hnology needs and research opportunities is also presented.

Operations and maintenance costs for offshore wind plants are significantly higher than the current costs for land-based (onshore) wind plants. One way to reduce these costs would be to implement a structural health and prognostic management (SHPM) system as part of a condition based maintenance paradigm with smart load management and utilize a state-based cost model to assess the economics associated with use of the SHPM system. To facilitate the development of such a system a multi-scale modeling and simulation approach developed in prior work is used to identify how the underlying physics of the system are affected by the presence of damage and faults, and how these changes manifest themselves in the operational response of a full turbine. This methodology was used to investigate two case studies: (1) the effects of rotor imbalance due to pitch error (aerodynamic imbalance) and mass imbalance and (2) disbond of the shear web; both on a 5-MW offshore wind turbine in the present report. Sensitivity analyses were carried out for the detection strategies of rotor imbalance and shear web disbond developed in prior work by evaluating the robustness of key measurement parameters in the presence of varying wind speeds, horizontal shear, and turbulence. Detection strategies were refined for these fault mechanisms and probabilities of detection were calculated. For all three fault mechanisms, the probability of detection was 96% or higher for the optimized wind speed ranges of the laminar, 30% horizontal shear, and 60% horizontal shear wind profiles. The revised cost model provided insight into the estimated savings in operations and maintenance costs as they relate to the characteristics of the SHPM system. The integration of the health monitoring information and O&M cost versus damage/fault severity information provides the initial steps to identify processes to reduce operations and maintenance costs for an offshore wind farm while increasing turbine availability, revenue, and overall profit.

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When considering the future of offshore wind energy, developing cost effective methods of harnessing the offshore wind resource represents a significant challenge which must be overcome to make offshore wind a viable option. As the majority of the capital investment in offshore wind is in the form of infrastructure and operation and maintenance costs, reducing these expenditures could greatly reduce the cost of energy (COE) for an offshore wind project. Sandia National Laboratory and its partners (TU Delft, University of Maine, Iowa State, and TPI Composites) believe that vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) offer multiple advantages over other rotor configurations considering this new COE breakdown. The unique arrangement of a VAWT allows the heavy generator and related components to be located at the base of the tower as opposed to the top, as is typical of a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT). This configuration lowers the topside CG which reduces the platform stability requirements, leading to smaller and cheaper platforms. Additionally this locates high maintenance systems close to the ocean surface thus increasing maintainability. To support this project and the general wind research community, the Offshore Wind ENergy Simulation (OWENS) toolkit is being developed in conjunction with Texas A&M as an open source, modular aero-elastic analysis code with the capability to analyze floating VAWTS. The OWENS toolkit aims to establish a robust and flexible finite element framework and VAWT mesh generation utility, coupled with a modular interface that allows users to integrate easily with existing codes, such as aerodynamic and hydrodynamic codes.

The availability of offshore wind resources in coastal regions, along with a high concentration of load centers in these areas, makes offshore wind energy an attractive opportunity for clean renewable electricity production. High infrastructure costs such as the offshore support structure and operation and maintenance costs for offshore wind technology, however, are significant obstacles that need to be overcome to make offshore wind a more cost-effective option. A vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) rotor configuration offers a potential transformative technology solution that significantly lowers cost of energy for offshore wind due to its inherent advantages for the offshore market. However, several potential challenges exist for VAWTs and this paper addresses one of them with an initial investigation of dynamic aeroelastic stability for large-scale, multi-megawatt VAWTs. The aeroelastic formulation and solution method from the BLade Aeroelastic STability Tool (BLAST) for HAWT blades was employed to extend the analysis capability of a newly developed structural dynamics design tool for VAWTs. This investigation considers the effect of configuration geometry, material system choice, and number of blades on the aeroelastic stability of a VAWT, and provides an initial scoping for potential aeroelastic instabilities in large-scale VAWT designs. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Offshore wind power production is an attractive clean energy option, but the difficulty of access can lead to expensive and rare opportunities for maintenance. As part of the Structural Health and Prognostics Management (SHPM) project at Sandia National Laboratories, smart loads management (controls) are investigated for their potential to increase the fatigue life of offshore wind turbine rotor blades. Derating refers to altering the rotor angular speed and blade pitch to limit power production and loads on the rotor blades. High- fidelity analysis techniques like 3D finite element modeling (FEM) should be used alongside beam models of wind turbine blades to characterize these control strategies in terms of their effect to mitigate fatigue damage and extend life of turbine blades. This study will consider a commonly encountered damage type for wind turbine blades, the trailing edge disbond, and show how FEM can be used to quantify the effect of operations and control strategies designed to extend the fatigue life of damaged blades. The Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) will be used to post-process the displacement and stress results to provide estimates of damage severity/criticality and provide a means to estimate the fatigue life under a given operations and control strategy. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

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A series of design studies are performed to investigate the effects of advanced core materials and a new core material strategy on blade weight and performance for large blades using the Sandia 100-meter blade designs as a starting point. The initial core material design studies were based on the SNL100-01 100- meter carbon spar design. Advanced core material with improved performance to weight was investigated with the goal to reduce core material content in the design and reduce blade weight. A secondary element of the core study was to evaluate the suitability of core materials from natural, regrowable sources such as balsa and recyclable foam materials. The new core strategy for the SNL100-02 design resulted in a design mass of 59 tons, which is a 20% reduction from the most recent SNL100-01 carbon spar design and over 48% reduction from the initial SNL100-00 all-glass baseline blade. This document provides a description of the final SNL100-02 design, includes a description of the major design modifications, and summarizes the pertinent blade design information. This document is also intended to be a companion document to the distribution of the NuMAD blade model files for SNL100-02 that are made publicly available.

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Offshore wind turbines are an attractive source for clean and renewable energy for reasons including their proximity to population centers and higher capacity factors. One obstacle to the more widespread installation of offshore wind turbines in the USA, however, is that recent projections of offshore operations and maintenance costs vary from two to five times the land-based costs. One way in which these costs could be reduced is through use of a structural health and prognostics management (SHPM) system as part of a condition-based maintenance paradigm with smart loads management. Our paper contributes to the development of such strategies by developing an initial roadmap for SHPM, with application to the blades. One of the key elements of the approach is a multiscale simulation approach developed to identify how the underlying physics of the system are affected by the presence of damage and how these changes manifest themselves in the operational response of a full turbine. A case study of a trailing edge disbond is analysed to demonstrate the multiscale sensitivity of damage approach and to show the potential life extension and increased energy capture that can be achieved using simple changes in the overall turbine control and loads management strategy. Finally, the integration of health monitoring information, economic considerations such as repair costs versus state of health, and a smart loads management methodology provides an initial roadmap for reducing operations and maintenance costs for offshore wind farms while increasing turbine availability and overall profit.

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Operations and maintenance costs for offshore wind plants are significantly higher than the current costs for land-based (onshore) wind plants. One way to reduce these costs would be to implement a structural health and prognostic management (SHPM) system as part of a condition based maintenance paradigm with smart load management and utilize a state-based cost model to assess the economics associated with use of the SHPM system. To facilitate the development of such a system a multi-scale modeling approach developed in prior work is used to identify how the underlying physics of the system are affected by the presence of damage and faults, and how these changes manifest themselves in the operational response of a full turbine. This methodology was used to investigate two case studies: (1) the effects of rotor imbalance due to pitch error (aerodynamic imbalance) and mass imbalance and (2) disbond of the shear web; both on a 5-MW offshore wind turbine in the present report. Based on simulations of damage in the turbine model, the operational measurements that demonstrated the highest sensitivity to the damage/faults were the blade tip accelerations and local pitching moments for both imbalance and shear web disbond. The initial cost model provided a great deal of insight into the estimated savings in operations and maintenance costs due to the implementation of an effective SHPM system. The integration of the health monitoring information and O&M cost versus damage/fault severity information provides the initial steps to identify processes to reduce operations and maintenance costs for an offshore wind farm while increasing turbine availability, revenue, and overall profit.

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