Aeroelastic analysis of wind turbines using a tightly coupled CFD–CSD method

This paper presents aeroelastic analyses of wind turbines, using the compressible flow Helicopter Multi-Block (HMB2) solver of Liverpool University, coupled with a Computational Structural Dynamics method. For this study, the MEXICO and NREL Phase VI wind turbines were employed. A static aeroelastic method was first employed for the analysis of the MEXICO blade and the effect of the torsional stiffness was studied at 10, 15 and 24 m/s axial wind speeds. The torsional deformations showed strong dependency on this parameter and the blade region from mid-span to the tip was the most susceptible to aeroelastic effects. The work progressed by studying both the static and dynamic response on the NREL wind turbine, where the nacelle and the tower were considered. Mean deflections between the static and dynamic methods showed consistency and, due to the structural properties of this blade, flapping modes were dominant. The dynamic aeroelastic method enabled an assessment of the effect of flapping on the blade loads, in conjunction with the effect of tower. Aeroelastic effects were found to be secondary for the MEXICO blade, but had a stronger effect on the larger NREL Phase VI blade.