BEM theory adaptation taking into account the wind speed vertical gradient for wind

turbines of high class part 2 numerical analysis of the aerodynamic interaction

Julian Genov, and Ivan Kralov

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 2048, 020016 (2018); doi: 10.1063/1.5082034

View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5082034
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/apc/2048/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics

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BEM theory adaptation taking into account the wind speed vertical gradient for wind turbines of high class part 1
a theoretical formulation
AIP Conference Proceedings 2048, 020015 (2018); 10.1063/1.5082033
 BEM Theory Adaptation Taking Into Account the Wind
Speed Vertical Gradient for Wind Turbines of High Class
Part 2 Numerical Analysis of the Aerodynamic Interaction
Julian Genov 1, a) and Ivan Kralov1, b)
1
Department of Mechanics, Technical University of Sofia, Sofia 1000, Republic of Bulgaria

a) Corresponding author: j_genov@mail.bg

b) kralov@tu-sofia.bg

Abstract. The article provides the realization of the proposed methodology in the publication "BEM theory adaptation
taking into account the wind speed vertical gradient for wind turbines of high class. Part 1 – A theoretical formulation". A
wind turbine prototype NREL 5MW is investigated. The comparison of the obtained results in the article with the
prototype characteristics confirms the adequacy of the proposed modification of the method and at the same time shows
new important effects of the aerodynamic interaction which are expressed in a cyclic impact on the wind turbine blades.
This gives much more possibilities for the accurate study of the fatigue loads in the turbine's blades and for the synthesis
of an individual pitch control with an objective a greater power to be achieved and for adjusting of the mechanical loads.

I. ALGORITHM AND BASE DATA FOR THE USED PROTOTYPE TURBINE

For a verification of the presented by the authors in [1] modification of the BEM theory, which considers the
influence of the vertical velocity gradient of the wind, in this publication an analysis of the aerodynamic interaction
is done as well as the arising loads on the turbine and its blades. The wind generator of a high class is used for
prototype – NREL 5MW, developed by the USA National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The aim is to prove the
correctness of the obtained dependencies by a comparison with literary experimental results regarding the main
characteristics of the aerodynamic interaction for this turbine [2], [3], [4], while showing significant dynamic
fluctuations in the loads of the individual turbine's blades caused by the vertical gradient of the wind velocity.
In Table 1 the characteristics of the turbine's blade constituents are given. On Fig.2 the lift, drag and pitch
moment coefficients for the section profiles are shown.
The relations between torque, angular velocity of the turbine and wind velocity obtained by a complex model
including the turbine transmission with three stage gear and the generator with its control system and the electric
network are shown on Fig. 1.
On Fig.3 the block scheme of the algorithm for realization of the presented in [1] modification of the BEM
theory is shown.
The calculations have been made at an interval of the angle of turbine rotation of 5 degrees and with step of 0,1
m by the length of the blade axis.
By the reason of the fluctuations due to the vertical velocity gradient of the wind, the dynamic characteristic
"torque vs. wind speed" may be different then the static one from Fig.1 (b) and this leads to a different value of the
turbine velocity, from the initial one used. This effect will be more significant when it is applied active pitch control
and will be reflect to the correctness of the results. For this reason, the algorithm includes an iterative cycle which
leads to an accordance between turbine velocity and torque, as it is shown on Fig.1 (a).
The calculations has been made for wind speeds between the minimal of 3 m/s and the nominal of 11,4 m/s and
from the nominal to the maximal working of 25 m/s.

Proceedings of the 44th International Conference on Applications of Mathematics in Engineering and Economics
AIP Conf. Proc. 2048, 020016-1–020016-8; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5082034
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1774-8/$30.00

020016-1
TABLE 1. Characteristics of the turbine's bblade sections [2]

Beginning
Constructivve Chord
Section profile of the EƐ Re 10-6
SLWFKȕ0 OHQJWKƐ
section r
(-) (m) (°) (m)
Hub 0.000 - - - -
Cylinder 1.500 13.308 3.542 1.000 2.44
Elipsoid 1 3.400 13.308 3.710 0.930 3.12
Elipsoid 2 5.544 13.308 3.854 0.780 4.40
Elipsoid 3 8.631 13.308 4.167 0.610 5.45
DU40 - A17 11.750 13.310 4.557 0.477 6.31
15.850 11.480 4.652 0.383 7.11
DU35 - A17
19.950 10.165 4.458 0.331 7.80 (a)
DU30 - A17 24.066 9.011 4.249 0.290 8.35
28.150 7.795 4.007 0.260 8.80
DU25 - A17
32.250 6.544 3.748 0.238 9.20
36.351 5.361 3.502 0.219 9.40
DU21 - A17
40.450 4.188 3.256 0.202 9.53
44.550 3.125 3.010 0.180 9.51
48.650 2.319 2.764 0.180 9.42
NACA 52.750 1.526 2.518 0.180 9.13
64-618 56.167 0.863 2.313 0.180 8.78
58.905 0.370 2.086 0.180 8.47
61.633 0.106 1.419 0.180 8.10
63.000 0.000 0.779 0.180 7.88 (b)
FIGURE 1. Characteristics of the wind turbine
NREL 5MW (a) turbine veloocity vs. torque
(b) torque win
nd velocity

DU 40 DU 35

DU 30 DU 25

DU 21 NACA 64

FIGURE 2. Lift, ddrag and pitch moment coefficients for the section profiles [3]

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FIGURE 3. Block schheme of the algorithm for realizing the modified BEM theory [1
1]

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 II. OBTAINED RESULTS
The model was implemented in the program environment of MATLAB.
The obtained results for the nominal wind speed at VHub =11,4 m/s are shown on Fig.4 and Fiig.5.

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e) (f)

FIGURE 4. Modeling distributions for thee nominal wind speed: (a) angle of an attack, (b) axial induction
n factor, (c) tangential
induction factorr, (d) Prandatl’s loss factor, (e) thrust force, (f) torque force

angle of rotation, deg angle of rotation, deg

angle of rotation, deg angle of rotation, deg

(a) (b)

020016-4
 angle of rotation, deg angle of rotation, deg

angle of rotation, deg angle of rotation, deg

(c) (d)

(e)

FIGURE 5. Modeling results for the nominal wind speed: (a) thrust forces of the blades and turbine, (b) torque forces of the
blades and turbine, (c) torque moments of the blades and turbine, (d) lateral and vertical forces, (e) turbine power

Due to the blade’s positions symmetry, the pulsations of the total axial force, torque and power generated are
with small amplitude in a comparison to their mean values: FThrust=6,2329.105±1,28.103 N, Mwt=4,2215.106±1920
Nm, Pwt=5,356.106 w. These values are absolutely close to the published data for this turbine [2].

The change in the load of the individual turbine blades, during of the turbine rotation, is very large and is
caused namely of the vertical gradient of the wind velocity:
x for FThrust the amplitude A Thrust is 0,40628.105N, which is nearly 20% of its average value FThrust =2,082.105N;
av

x ɡɚ)Torque the amplitude A Torque is 1,6052.104 N, which is 41,7% of its average value FTorque =3,8473.104 N.
av

These values are average for the blade. For some elements of it (as is evident from Fig.4 for the middle positions
by the blade axis) they are significantly larger.

Reducing to an equivalent Rankin-Froude-Betz's model

For some purposes, most often for wind turbine control, it is useful to simplify the discussed model. Here an
approximation with the one-dimensional Rankine-Froude-Betz model is presented.
The thrust and power coefficients are calculated as:

av av
FThrust Pwt
CThrust i
, Cp = i
, (1)
FThrust (z hub ) Pwt (z hub )

020016-5
 i 2
FThrust (z hub ) 0, 5UA d Vf (z hub )
where: .
i 3
Pwt (z hub ) 0, 5UA d Vf (z hub )

For the integral induction factor ɚ different values are obtained when is calculated by C Thrust and by C p . For
this reason ɚ is obtained by the optimization procedure with a mini-max criterion formed by the deviations between
obtained by (1) and by the axial induction factor thrust and power coefficients:

­° ª 4 a 1  a   C Thrust 4a 1  a 2  C p º½°
J  a  min ®max « , »¾ . (2)
¯° ¬« »°
a C Thrust Cp ¼¿

The average thrust force and torque calculated by the induction factor so defined differs no more than 5% of the
real values, with exception of the cases when the wind speed is close to the minimal.

The obtained results for the wind velocities in the working diapason are given in Table 2.
The functional dependencies for some of them are depicted in Fig.6.
The distributions of the thrust and torque forces acting on the blade elements for different wind speeds between
the lowest of 3 m/s to the nominal of 11,4 m/se are depicted in Fig.7.

TABLE 2. Obtained results for the wind velocities in the working diapason

Vf 3LWFKDQJOɟȕ Zwtr av
FThrust M av
wt
Pwtav CThrust Cp a
m/s deg tr/min 1/s kN MNm MW - - -
3 0.00 6.97 0.730 37.0 0.053241 0.038860 0.538 0.188 0.342
4 0.00 7.18 0.752 106.7 0.325716 0.244902 0.873 0.501 0.326
5 0.00 7.51 0.786 154.4 0.658100 0.517560 0.808 0.542 0.259
6 0.00 7.94 0.831 206.7 1.054802 0.877041 0.752 0.532 0.237
7 0.00 8.47 0.887 262.2 1.530413 1.357440 0.700 0.518 0.218
8 0.00 9.22 0.965 329.7 2.044856 1.974342 0.674 0.505 0.206
9 0.00 10.30 1.079 415.0 2.594580 2.798549 0.671 0.503 0.205
10 0.00 11.43 1.197 511.8 3.204408 3.835507 0.670 0.502 0.204
10.5 0.00 11.80 1.236 558.0 3.544856 4.380354 0.663 0.495 0.200
11 0.00 11.99 1.256 598.5 3.925783 4.945617 0.648 0.486 0.194
11.4 0.00 12.10 1.267 625.6 4.254310 5.390675 0.630 0.476 0.187
12 2.75 12.10 1.267 542.5 4.254371 5.390752 0.493 0.408 0.141
13 5.51 12.10 1.267 471.3 4.255132 5.391717 0.365 0.321 0.100
14 7.66 12.10 1.267 419.4 4.253839 5.390078 0.280 0.257 0.076
15 9.48 12.10 1.267 380.4 4.255933 5.392731 0.221 0.209 0.059
16 11.13 12.10 1.267 348.5 4.254364 5.390743 0.178 0.172 0.047
17 12.64 12.10 1.267 322.7 4.256122 5.392971 0.146 0.144 0.038
18 14.07 12.10 1.267 299.8 4.250831 5.386266 0.121 0.121 0.032
19 15.42 12.10 1.267 280.5 4.251241 5.386785 0.102 0.103 0.027
20 16.71 12.10 1.267 263.6 4.252468 5.388340 0.086 0.088 0.023
21 17.95 12.10 1.267 248.7 4.252856 5.388833 0.074 0.076 0.019
22 19.14 12.10 1.267 235.5 4.257366 5.394547 0.064 0.066 0.017
23 20.30 12.1 1.267 223.3 4.253881 5.390132 0.055 0.058 0.014
24 21.42 12.10 1.267 212.4 4.254932 5.391463 0.048 0.051 0.013
25 22.51 12.10 1.267 202.6 4.254687 5.391152 0.042 0.045 0.011

020016-6
 deg

(a) (b) (c)

106 Turbine Power vs Wind Speed Power Coefficient vs Wind Speed

6 0.6

5 0.5

4 0.4

3 0.3

2 0.2

1 0.1

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25
m/s m
m/s
(d) (e) (f)

FIGURE 6. Functional dependencies from m the wind speed velocities of: (a) pitch angle, (b) equivalent axial induction factor, (c)
turbine thrust force, (d) turbinee power, (e) equivalent thrust coefficient, (f) equivalent power coefficient
c

(a) (b)
FIGURE 7. Distributions of the forces actiing on the blade elements for different wind speeds between thee lowest of 3 m/s to the
nominal oof 11,4 m/s: (a) for torque forces, (b) for thrust forces

020016-7
 CONCLUSION
In this paper a detailed calculation of the characteristics of aerodynamic interaction using the proposed
modification of BEM theory and accounting the vertical gradient of the wind velocity is performed for a given
prototype. The obtained results are closer to the experimental and operating data presented in the literature, which in
fact is a verification of the adequateness of the modification. Furthermore the approach gives possibilities for
analysis of the additional dynamic load arising by the vertical change of the wind speed. The results prove that the
fluctuation levels of these dynamic loads are significant. In this way it becomes obvious that presented adaptation of
the theory, the methodology and the obtained results are very useful for the determination of the turbine blade loads
and for fatigue calculations as well as for the synthesis of more effective individual blade pitch control. The
approach may also used for many other applications, for example the one solved by CFD computation in [6].

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