Estimation and Mitigation of Fatigue Damage for Wind Turbines

A special issue of Machines (ISSN 2075-1702). This special issue belongs to the section "Electrical Machines and Drives".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2024) | Viewed by 2312

Special Issue Editors

School of Ocean Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 10275, China
Interests: structural dynamics in wind turbines; wind turbine aerodynamics and wake effects; wind farm control; offshore wind turbine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wind energy is a low-carbon and resource-efficient sustainable technology and has seen rapid growth in the past decade. However, wind turbines are large, flexible structures with complex systems that work under very complicated environmental conditions. They suffer from cyclic loadings and vibrations which cause severe fatigue damage to the structure, reducing the structural service life and increasing the operation and maintenance cost. The further development of technologies to estimate and mitigate the fatigue damage of wind turbines needs proper experimental and numerical analysis and field assessment.

This Special Issue invites contributions that address fatigue problems in wind turbines. In particular, articles that describe new methodologies, analytical and numerical tools, and field test methods dealing with engineering problems are equally encouraged for publication. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

  • Wind, wake, and wave effects
  • Fatigue management by wind farm control
  • Fatigue mitigation by model predictive control
  • Data-driven/AI method
  • Fatigue damage measurement
  • Residual fatigue lifetime estimation
  • Local fatigue crack analysis
  • Fatigue properties of wind turbine material

Dr. Guowei Qian
Dr. Davide Astolfi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • fatigue load estimation
  • fatigue design
  • fatigue mitigation
  • lifetime assessment
  • onshore wind turbines
  • offshore wind turbines

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3528 KiB  
Article
Digital Twins to Predict Crack Propagation of Sustainable Engineering Materials under Different Loads
by Xu Li, Gangjun Li and Zhuming Bi
Machines 2024, 12(2), 125; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines12020125 - 10 Feb 2024
Viewed by 778
Abstract
Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is an essential tool in a digital twin not only to verify and validate a virtual twin before it is transformed into a physical twin, but also to monitor the use of the physical twin for enhanced sustainability. This paper [...] Read more.
Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is an essential tool in a digital twin not only to verify and validate a virtual twin before it is transformed into a physical twin, but also to monitor the use of the physical twin for enhanced sustainability. This paper aims to develop a CAE model for a digital twin to predict the fatigue life of materials. Fatigue damage is represented by the size of a macro-crack that grows with a cluster of micro-cracks subjected to three different loads. The growth angle is related to the maximum circumferential tensile stress, and the growth rate is determined by the stress intensity factor (SIF) at the crack tip. The prediction model takes into consideration the main factors, including micro-cracks, crack closures, and initial configurations. Simulations are developed for the growth of macro-cracks with radially distributed micro-cracks and randomly distributed micro-cracks, and we find that (1) the macro-crack in the second case grows faster than that in the first case; (2) a pure shear load affects the macro-crack propagation more than a combined shear and tensile load or a tensional load; (3) the external stresses required to propagate are reduced when the inclination angle of the micro-crack is small and within (−25° < β < 25°); (4) micro-cracks affect the propagating path of the macro-crack and generally guide the direction of propagation. The developed model has been verified and validated experimentally for its effectiveness in predicting the fracture or fatigue damage of a structure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Estimation and Mitigation of Fatigue Damage for Wind Turbines)
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22 pages, 1239 KiB  
Article
Unveiling Inertia Constants by Exploring Mass Distribution in Wind Turbine Blades and Review of the Drive Train Parameters
by Angel Gaspar Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Juan Manuel Roldan-Fernandez and Luis Miguel Nieto-Nieto
Machines 2023, 11(9), 908; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines11090908 - 13 Sep 2023
Viewed by 785
Abstract
In studies of dynamic stability and power quality, it is necessary to know the values of the mechanical parameters determining the transient response of wind turbines. Their exact values are not as decisive as the power curve, but an inaccurate estimate can distort [...] Read more.
In studies of dynamic stability and power quality, it is necessary to know the values of the mechanical parameters determining the transient response of wind turbines. Their exact values are not as decisive as the power curve, but an inaccurate estimate can distort or even invalidate the simulation results. From a review of the literature, it has been found that, despite their importance, the values of inertia, stiffness and damping are hardly available for any turbine model. Another detected problem is the lack of confidence in the data origin. This article aims to solve the issue of the scarcity and unreliability of data on inertia, and gathers the information found on the remaining mechanical parameters. Available blade inertia values in kg · m2 are presented. Special treatment has been given to those providing the mass distribution along the blade span, for which the provided values of inertia have been compared with those obtained numerically, showing good matching. With this, different reliable relations are obtained that allow for the calculation of the turbine rotor inertia, based on the mass and length of the blade. When the center of gravity is also available, a very correlated expression (r2=0.975) is provided to obtain the inertia. The references to the stiffness and damping constant of the drive train, which are even more rare, will also be presented. In addition, the study includes a revision of gearboxes, generators and blade weight, according to their IEC-class and material. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Estimation and Mitigation of Fatigue Damage for Wind Turbines)
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