考虑风速风向联合概率分布的风电塔筒结构风致疲劳寿命评估

针对风向对风力机塔筒疲劳产生影响的问题,基于实测数据对考虑风速风向联合概率分布的风电塔筒结构的风致疲劳寿命展开研究。首先结合甘肃安西地区37 a的实测风速风向数据,给出风速风向联合概率分布。然后利用主S-N曲线法分别对不同风向和不同风速下风力机塔架结构法兰及门洞区域的响应规律进行分析。最后考虑风速风向联合概率分布,对风电塔筒结构风致疲劳寿命展开研究。结果表明：门洞朝向与风轮朝向的夹角变化和风速的改变均对风电塔筒的风致疲劳寿命有一定影响,其中门洞朝向与风轮朝向夹角为225°时疲劳寿命最长,风速为10~14 m/s时疲劳寿命变化幅度最大;考虑风速风向联合概率分布能更准确地计算风力机结构的风致疲劳寿命,且以此为依据对门洞朝向进行调整可延长其疲劳寿命,因此建议对风电塔架进行设计时,应考虑风电场所在地区的风速风向联合概率分布。     

Influence of atmospheric stability on wind turbine loads

Simulations of wind turbine loads for the NREL 5 MW reference wind turbine under diabatic conditions are performed. The diabatic conditions are incorporated in the input wind field in the form of wind profile and turbulence. The simulations are carried out for mean wind speeds between 3 and 16 m s ^{? 1} at the turbine hub height. The loads are quantified as the cumulative sum of the damage equivalent load for different wind speeds that are weighted according to the wind speed and stability distribution. Four sites with a different wind speed and stability distribution are used for comparison. The turbulence and wind profile from only one site is used in the load calculations, which are then weighted according to wind speed and stability distributions at different sites. It is observed that atmospheric stability influences the tower and rotor loads. The difference in the calculated tower loads using diabatic wind conditions and those obtained assuming neutral conditions only is up to 17%, whereas the difference for the rotor loads is up to 13%. The blade loads are hardly influenced by atmospheric stability, where the difference between the calculated loads using diabatic and neutral input wind conditions is up to 3% only. The wind profiles and turbulence under diabatic conditions have contrasting influences on the loads; for example, under stable conditions, loads induced by the wind profile are larger because of increased wind shear, whereas those induced by turbulence are lower because of less turbulent energy. The tower base loads are mainly influenced by diabatic turbulence, whereas the rotor loads are influenced by diabatic wind profiles. The blade loads are influenced by both, diabatic wind profile and turbulence, that leads to nullifying the contrasting influences on the loads. The importance of using a detailed boundary‐layer wind profile model is also demonstrated. The difference in the calculated blade and rotor loads is up to 6% and 8%, respectively, when only the surface‐layer wind profile model is used in comparison with those obtained using a boundary‐layer wind profile model. Finally, a comparison of the calculated loads obtained using site‐specific and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) wind conditions is carried out. It is observed that the IEC loads are up to 96% larger than those obtained using site‐specific wind conditions.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Model of wind shear conditional on turbulence and its impact on wind turbine loads

We analyse high‐frequency wind velocity measurements from two test stations over a period of several years and at heights ranging from 60 to 200 m, with the objective to validate wind shear predictions as used in load simulations for wind turbine design. A validated wind shear model is thereby proposed for flat terrain and that can significantly decrease the uncertainty associated with fatigue load predictions for wind turbines with large rotors. An essential contribution is the conditioning of wind shear on the 90% quantile of wind turbulence, such that the appropriate magnitude of the design fatigue load is achieved. The proposed wind shear model based on the wind measurements is thereby probabilistic in definition, with shear jointly distributed with wind turbulence. A simplified model for the wind shear exponent is further derived from the full stochastic model. The fatigue loads over different turbine components are evaluated under the full wind measurements, using the developed wind shear model and with standard wind conditions prescribed in the IEC 61400‐1 ed. 3. The results display the effect of the Wöhler exponent and reveal that under moderate turbulence, the effect of wind shear is most pronounced on the blade flap loads. It is further shown that under moderate wind turbulence, the wind shear exponents may be over‐specified in the design standards, and a reduction of wind shear exponent based on the present measurements can contribute to reduced fatigue damage equivalent loads on turbine blades. Although the influence of wind shear on extreme loads was found to be negligible, the IEC 61400‐1 wind shear definition was found to result in non‐conservative estimates of the 50 year extreme blade deflection toward the tower, especially under extreme turbulence conditions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large‐eddy simulation of stable boundary layer turbulence and estimation of associated wind turbine loads

Stochastic simulation of turbulent inflow fields commonly used in wind turbine load computations is unable to account for contrasting states of atmospheric stability. Flow fields in the stable boundary layer, for instance, have characteristics such as enhanced wind speed and directional shear; these effects can influence loads on utility‐scale wind turbines. To investigate these influences, we use large‐eddy simulation (LES) to generate an extensive database of high‐resolution ( ～ 10 m), four‐dimensional turbulent flow fields. Key atmospheric conditions (e.g., geostrophic wind) and surface conditions (e.g., aerodynamic roughness length) are systematically varied to generate a diverse range of physically realizable atmospheric stabilities. We show that turbine‐scale variables (e.g., hub height wind speed, standard deviation of the longitudinal wind speed, wind speed shear, wind directional shear and Richardson number) are strongly interrelated. Thus, we strongly advocate that these variables should not be prescribed as independent degrees of freedom in any synthetic turbulent inflow generator but rather that any turbulence generation procedure should be able to bring about realistic sets of such physically realizable sets of turbine‐scale flow variables. We demonstrate the utility of our LES‐generated database in estimation of loads on a 5‐MW wind turbine model. More importantly, we identify specific turbine‐scale flow variables that are responsible for large turbine loads—e.g., wind speed shear is found to have a greater influence on out‐of‐plane blade bending moments for the turbine studied compared with its influence on other loads such as the tower‐top yaw moment and the fore‐aft tower base moment. Overall, our study suggests that LES may be effectively used to model inflow fields, to study characteristics of flow fields under various atmospheric stability conditions and to assess turbine loads for conditions that are not typically examined in design standards. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wind gust detection and load mitigation using artificial neural networks assisted control

The design of a wind turbine implies the simulation of definite conditions as specified in the standards. Among those operational conditions, rare events such as extreme gusts or external faults are included, which may cause high structural loads. Such extreme design load cases usually drive the design of some of the main components of the wind turbine: tower, blades and mainframe. Two different strategies are hence presented to mitigate the loads, deriving from extreme load cases, on the basis of the detection of wind gusts by means of ad hoc synthesized artificial neural networks. This tool is embedded into the main control algorithm and allows it to detect the gust in advance, to anticipate the control reaction, and by doing so reducing extreme loads. One of the strategies performs a controlled stop when wind gust is detected. The other rides through wind gusts without stopping, i.e., without affecting the wind turbine normal operation. Aeroelastic simulations of the Alstom Wind's wind turbines using these techniques have shown significant reductions in the extreme loads for all standard IEC 61400‐1, edition 2 DLC 1.6 cases. In particular, the overall ultimate loads are largely reduced for blade root and tower base bending moments, with a direct impact on the structural design of those components. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effective turbulence and its implications in wind turbine fatigue assessment

The effective turbulence approximation is widely used in the wind energy industry for site‐specific fatigue assessment of wind turbines with reference to loads. It significantly reduces the amount of aero‐elastic simulations required to document structural integrity by integrating out the directional variation of turbulence. Deriving the effective turbulence involves assumptions related to load effect histories, structural dynamics, and material fatigue strength. These assumptions may lead to low accuracy of fatigue load assessments by the effective turbulence compared with full directional simulations. This paper quantifies the implications of the effective turbulence for a multimegawatt wind turbine during normal operation. Analyses based on wind measurements from almost one hundred international sites document that the effective turbulence provides accurate results compared with full sector‐wise simulations, but only when linear SN ‐curves are assumed. For a more advanced steel tower design approach using a bilinear SN ‐curve, a reduction of the cross‐sectional design parameters by almost 10% is achieved. Additional 10% reduction can be obtained if fatigue damage is estimated utilizing the wind direction information. By applying a probabilistic approach, it is shown that this reduction in the design parameter of the steel tower does not compromise the structural integrity when the current IEC 61400‐1 standard is followed. The results presented may improve decision making in site‐specific fatigue assessments of wind turbines and prevent overconservative design, which results from the use of the effective turbulence, and thereby reduce the cost of wind energy.     

The simulation error caused by input loading variability in offshore wind turbine structural analysis

Stochastic representations of turbulent wind and irregular waves are used in time domain simulations of offshore wind turbines. The variability due to finite sampling of this input loading is an important source of simulation error. For the OC4 reference jacket structure with a 5 MW wind turbine, an error of 12–34% for ultimate loads and 6–12% for fatigue loads can occur with a probability of 1%, for simulations with a total simulation length of 60 min and various load cases. In terms of fatigue life, in the worst case, the lifetime of a joint was thereby overestimated by 29%. The size of this error can be critical, i.e., ultimate or fatigue limits can be exceeded, with probability depending on the choice of number of random seeds and simulation length. The analysis is based on a large simulation study with about 30,000 time domain simulations. Probability density functions of response variables are estimated and analyzed in terms of confidence intervals; i.e., how probable it is to obtain results significantly different from the expected value when using a finite number of simulations. This simulation error can be reduced to the same extent, either using several short simulations with different stochastic representations of the wind field or one long simulation with corresponding total length of the wind field. When using several short‐term simulations, it is important that ultimate and fatigue loads are calculated based on the complete, properly combined set of results, in order to prevent a systematic bias in the estimated loads. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

不同海况下近海超大型风力机动力学响应及结构损伤分析

以超大型DTU 10 MW单桩式近海风力机为研究对象,通过p-y曲线和非线性弹簧建立桩-土耦合模型,选取Kaimal风谱模型建立湍流风场,基于P-M谱定义不同频率波浪分布,并利用辐射/绕射理论计算波浪载荷,采用有限元方法对不同海况下单桩式风力机进行动力学响应、疲劳及屈曲分析。结果表明：不同海况波浪载荷作用下塔顶位移响应及等效应力峰值远小于风及风浪联合作用,其中风浪联合作用下风力机塔顶位移响应及等效应力略小于风载荷;波浪载荷对风载荷引起的单桩式风力机动力学响应具有一定抑制作用,此外相较于波浪载荷,风载荷为控制载荷;风载荷与风浪联合作用下风力机等效应力峰值位于塔顶与机舱连接处,波浪载荷风力机等效应力峰值位于支撑结构与桩基连接处;仅以风载荷预估风力机塔架疲劳寿命将导致预估不足;随着波浪载荷的增大,风力机失稳风险加大,波浪载荷不可忽略;不同海况下,风浪联合作用局部屈曲区域位于塔架中下端,在风力机抗风浪设计时,应重点关注此处;变桨效应可大幅降低风力机动力学响应、疲劳损伤及发生屈曲的风险。     

Dynamics of offshore floating wind turbines—analysis of three concepts

This work presents a comprehensive dynamic–response analysis of three offshore floating wind turbine concepts. Models were composed of one 5 MW turbine supported on land and three 5 MW turbines located offshore on a tension leg platform, a spar buoy and a barge. A loads and stability analysis adhering to the procedures of international design standards was performed for each model using the fully coupled time domain aero‐hydro‐servo‐elastic simulation tool FAST with AeroDyn and HydroDyn. The concepts are compared based on the calculated ultimate loads, fatigue loads and instabilities. The loads in the barge‐supported turbine are the highest found for the three floating concepts. The differences in the loads between the tension leg platform–supported turbine and spar buoy–supported turbine are not significant, except for the loads in the tower, which are greater in the spar system. Instabilities in all systems also must be resolved. The results of this analysis will help resolve the fundamental design trade‐offs between the floating‐system concepts. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

风冰联合作用下大型单桩海上风电机组动力特性

考虑风荷载与冰荷载联合作用对大型单桩海上风电机组的影响,基于IEA 15 MW超大型单桩海上风电机组,采用一体化分析软件Openfast建立风冰联合作用下大型单桩耦合数值模型,开展超大型单桩海上风电机组在风冰联合作用下的动力响应分析。探究不同加载时长、冰激振动模型以及疲劳损伤组合方法对大型单桩海上风电机组的动力响应规律。计算结果显示：不同冰载数值计算模型塔基与泥面线载荷的计算结果差别较大,泥面线受冰荷载影响较大,同时泥面线位置较塔基位置承受更大的疲劳损伤,应重点关注。采用不同的荷载组合方向进行泥面线与塔基位置的疲劳损伤估计时,计算结果较风冰联合作用下疲劳损伤相对误差较大。因此,宜采用风冰联合加载的方法进行大型单桩海上风电机组的动力响应模拟,进而开展超大型单桩海上风电机组的疲劳损伤估计。     

Impact of mooring lines dynamics on the fatigue and ultimate loads of three offshore floating wind turbines computed with IEC 61400‐3 guideline

The calculation of loads for floating offshore wind turbines requires time‐domain integrated simulation tools where most of the physical concepts involved in the system dynamics are considered. The loads at the different components are used for the structural calculation and influence the design noticeably. This study quantifies the influence of mooring dynamic models on the calculation of fatigue and ultimate loads with integrated tools and compares its performance with a lower computational cost quasi‐static mooring model. Three platforms representing the principal topologies (spar, semisubmersible and tension‐leg platform) were assumed to be installed at the same 200 m depth location in the Irish coast. For each platform, the fatigue and ultimate loads were computed with an integrated floating wind turbine simulation code using both, a quasi‐static and a fully dynamic moorings model. More than 3500 simulations for each platform and mooring model were launched and post‐processed according to the IEC 61400‐3 guideline in an exercise similar to what a certification entity may require to an offshore wind turbine designer. The results showed that the impact of mooring dynamics in both fatigue and ultimate loads increases as elements located closer to the platform are evaluated; the blade and the shaft loads are only slightly modified by the mooring dynamics in all the platform designs; the tower base loads can be significantly affected depending on the platform concept; and the mooring lines tensions strongly depend on the lines dynamics, both in fatigue and extreme loads for all the platform concepts evaluated. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On wind turbine loads during the evening transition period

The late afternoon hours in the diurnal cycle precede the development of the nocturnal stable boundary layer. This “evening transition” (ET) period is often when energy demand peaks. This period also corresponds to the time of day that is a precursor to late‐afternoon downbursts, a subject of separate interest. To capture physical characteristics of wind fields in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) during this ET period, particularly the interplay of shear and turbulence, stochastic simulation approaches, although more tractable, are not suitable. Large‐eddy simulation (LES), on the other hand, may be used to generate high‐resolution ABL turbulent flow fields. We present a suite of idealized LES four‐dimensional flow fields that define a database representing different combinations of large‐scale atmospheric conditions (characterized by associated geostrophic winds) and surface boundary conditions (characterized by surface heat fluxes). Our objective is to evaluate the performance of wind turbines during the ET period. Accordingly, we conduct a statistical analysis of turbine‐scale wind field variables. We then employ the database of these LES‐based inflow wind fields in aeroelastic simulations of a 5‐MW wind turbine. We discuss how turbine loads change as the ET period evolves. We also discuss maximum and fatigue loads on the rotor and tower resulting from different ABL conditions. Results of this study suggest that, during the ET period, the prevailing geostrophic wind speed affects the mean and variance of longitudinal winds greatly and thus has significant influence on all loads except the yaw moment which is less sensitive to uniform and symmetric incoming flow. On the other hand, surface heat flux levels affect vertical turbulence and wind shear more and, as a result, only affect maximum blade flapwise bending and tower fore‐aft bending loads.     

Offshore fatigue design turbulence

Fatigue damage on wind turbines is mainly caused by stochastic loading originating from turbulence. While onshore sites display large differences in terrain topology, and thereby also in turbulence conditions, offshore sites are far more homogeneous, as the majority of them are likely to be associated with shallow water areas. However, despite this fact, specific recommendations on offshore turbulence intensities, applicable for fatigue design purposes, are lacking in the present IEC code. This article presents specific guidelines for such loading. These guidelines are based on the statistical analysis of a large number of wind data originating from two Danish shallow water offshore sites. The turbulence standard deviation depends on the mean wind speed, upstream conditions, measuring height and thermal convection. Defining a population of turbulence standard deviations, at a given measuring position, uniquely by the mean wind speed, variations in upstream conditions and atmospheric stability will appear as variability of the turbulence standard deviation. Distributions of such turbulence standard deviations, conditioned on the mean wind speed, are quantified by fitting the measured data to logarithmic Gaussian distributions. By combining a simple heuristic load model with the parametrized conditional probability density functions of the turbulence standard deviations, an empirical offshore design turbulence intensity is determined. For pure stochastic loading (as associated with standstill situations), the design turbulence intensity yields a fatigue damage equal to the average fatigue damage caused by the distributed turbulence intensity. If the stochastic loading is combined with a periodic deterministic loading (as in the normal operating situation), the proposed design turbulence intensity is shown to be conservative. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prediction of wind‐turbine fatigue loads in forest regions based on turbulent LES inflow fields

Large‐eddy simulations (LES) were used to predict the neutral atmospheric boundary layer over a sparse and a dense forest, as well as over grass‐covered flat terrain. The forest is explicitly represented in the simulations through momentum sink terms. Turbulence data extracted from the LES served then as inflow turbulence for the simulation of the dynamic structural response of a generic wind turbine. In this way, the impact of forest density, wind speed and wind‐turbine hub height on the wind‐turbine fatigue loads was studied. Results show for example significantly increased equivalent fatigue loads above the two forests. Moreover, a comparison between LES turbulence and synthetically generated turbulence in terms of load predictions was made and revealed that synthetic turbulence was able to excite the same spectral peaks as LES turbulence but lead to consistently lower equivalent fatigue loads. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wave disturbance rejection for monopile offshore wind turbines

The dimensions of offshore wind turbine (OWT) support structures are governed by fatigue considerations. For 6‐ to 10‐MW OWTs, wave loads are often dominating in terms of fatigue utilization. The present work proposes a control scheme to reduce the wave‐induced fatigue loads in OWT support structures. The control scheme applies collective pitch control to increase both the damping and stiffness of the fore‐aft vibration modes. With conventional active tower damping, efficient wave disturbance rejection is restricted to a narrow frequency range around the first fore‐aft modal frequency. The proposed control scheme achieves efficient wave disturbance rejection across a broader frequency range. Here, tower feedback control is implemented via an auxiliary control loop. Based on a low‐fidelity model, the effect of the tower feedback loop on the stability margins of the basic controller is analysed. The results show that, within certain boundaries, the stability margins are improved by the stiffness term in the tower feedback loop. Consequently, the need to reduce the bandwidth of the basic controller to accommodate tower feedback control is relaxed. Based on time‐domain simulations carried out in an aero‐hydro‐servo‐elastic simulation tool, the lifetime effects of the proposed control scheme are analysed. Compared with conventional active tower damping, a more favourable trade‐off between adverse side effects and the support structure's fatigue damage is achieved with the proposed control scheme.     

海冰作用下近海桩柱式风力机动力学响应研究

高纬度低温海域海平面存在大量运动状态的海冰,位于此处的近海桩柱式风力机容易受到不规则的海冰载荷作用,风力机平台、塔架和叶片等结构部件的动力学响应均受其影响.为定性及定量分析海冰载荷对叶片和塔架的结构动力学响应的影响程度,以NREL5 MW近海4桩柱式风力机为研究对象,耦合风载荷、波浪载荷及海冰载荷,通过Kane方法建立风力机动力学模型,其中海冰载荷通过冰力函数定义.对比分析了在IEC Lock in冰力函数、Mttnen海冰模型和无海冰作用三种工况下叶片和塔架的结构动力学响应,结果表明:海冰载荷使塔顶位移增加,在Mttnen海冰模型作用下塔顶位移增加了24.1%,在IEC Lock in模型作用下则增加了16%;两种海冰模型均不同程度地使叶片挥舞振动的频率增大,其中在Mttnen海冰模型中变化更加剧烈,这极大地增加了叶片的疲劳载荷.     

Evaluation of different wind fields for the investigation of the dynamic response of offshore wind turbines

As the size of offshore wind turbines increases, a realistic representation of the spatiotemporal distribution of the incident wind field becomes crucial for modeling the dynamic response of the turbine. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard for wind turbine design recommends two turbulence models for simulations of the incident wind field, the Mann spectral tensor model, and the Kaimal spectral and exponential coherence model. In particular, for floating wind turbines, these standard models are challenged by more sophisticated ones. The characteristics of the wind field depend on the stability conditions of the atmosphere, which neither of the standard turbulence models account for. The spatial and temporal distribution of the turbulence, represented by coherence, is not modeled consistently by the two standard models. In this study, the Mann spectral tensor model and the Kaimal spectral and exponential coherence model are compared with wind fields constructed from offshore measurements and obtained from large‐eddy simulations. Cross sections and durations relevant for offshore wind turbine design are considered. Coherent structures from the different simulators are studied across various stability conditions and wind speeds through coherence and proper orthogonal decomposition mode plots. As expected, the standard models represent neutral stratification better than they do stable and unstable. Depending upon the method used for generating the wind field, significant differences in the spatial and temporal distribution of coherence are found. Consequently, the computed structural design loads on a wind turbine are expected to vary significantly depending upon the employed turbulence model. The knowledge gained in this study will be used in future studies to quantify the effect of various turbulence models on the dynamic response of large offshore wind turbines.     

Nonlinear model predictive control of wind turbines using LIDAR

LIDAR systems are able to provide preview information of wind disturbances at various distances in front of wind turbines. This technology paves the way for new control concepts in wind energy such as feedforward control and model predictive control. This paper compares a nonlinear model predictive controller with a baseline controller, showing the advantages of using the wind predictions in the optimization problem to reduce wind turbine extreme and fatigue loads on tower and blades as well as to limit the pitch rates. The wind information is obtained by a detailed simulation of a LIDAR system. The controller design is evaluated and tested in a simulation environment with coherent gusts and a set of turbulent wind fields using a detailed aeroelastic model of the wind turbine over the full operation region. Results show promising load reduction up to 50% for extreme gusts and 30% for lifetime fatigue loads without negative impact on overall energy production. This controller can be considered as an upper bound for other LIDAR assisted controllers that are more suited for real time applications. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一种新的风电场复杂下垫面场地校准模型

针对现有方法模型简单、气象因素考虑不足和缺少异常数据检测等问题,提出一种基于相对密度离群因子（relative RDOF）异常检测和支持向量回归（SVR）组合的场地校准模型。首先,通过RDOF与四分位法对测风塔与风电机组距下垫面相同高度风速间的风速比进行异常数据检测,间接实现风速预处理;同时,根据测风塔与风电机组相同高度风切变序列的相关性,动态引入大气稳定度等级,与多种常规自然因素共同作为模型输入。然后,建立SVR场地校准模型修正风速。最后,通过算例验证,并与国际电工委员会（IEC）标准方法进行对比。结果表明,该方法可有效提升场地校准模型的风速修正精度。