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Wind turbine design optimization under environmental uncertainty

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
Article number082601
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>15/03/2016
<mark>Journal</mark>Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power
Issue number8
Volume138
Number of pages10
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date3/02/16
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Wind turbine design optimization is typically performed considering a given wind distribution. However, turbines so designed often end up being used at sites characterized by different wind distributions, and this results in significant performance penalties. This paper presents a probabilistic integrated multidisciplinary approach to the design optimization of multimegawatt wind turbines accounting for the stochastic variability of the mean wind speed. The presented technology is applied to the design of a 5 MW rotor for use at sites of wind power class from 3 to 7, where the mean wind speed at 50 m above the ground ranges from 6.4 to 11.9 m/s. Assuming the mean wind speed to vary stochastically in such range, the rotor design is optimized by minimizing mean and standard deviation of the levelized cost of energy. Airfoil shapes, spanwise distributions of blade chord and twist, blade internal structural layup and rotor speed are optimized concurrently, subject to structural and aeroelastic constraints. The probabilistically designed turbine achieves a more favourable probabilistic performance than the initial baseline turbine. The presented probabilistic design framework is portable and modular in that any of its analysis modules can be replaced with counterparts of user-selected fidelity.

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Copyright © 2016 by ASME