The Role of Structural Nonlinearities in Wind Turbine Blade Aeroelastic Analysis
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abstract
The large aspect ratio of wind turbine blades introduces a significant susceptibility to aeroelastic phenomena. Aeroelastic analysis of airplane wings is traditionally concerned with small deformations associated with torsional motion and planar bending. On the other hand, wind turbine blades are subjected to large nonplanar, coupled deformations, introducing additional complications. Finite element analysis provides an effective and generalized method to model these structures; however, it is computationally expensive. The large aspect ratio of these blades is exploitable as these potential aeroelastically unstable structures can be modeled as nonlinear nonuniform cantilevered beams, drastically reducing computational time. In this paper, a previously developed nonlinear beam model is discussed. To illustrate the significance of retaining structural nonlinearities, the beam model is run both independently and tightly coupled with an in-house flow solver based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with a mesh deformation algorithm based on a spring analogy. Copyright 2011 by Brian A. Freno, Robert L. Brown II, and Paul G. A. Cizmas.
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49th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition