Gearbox and Drivetrain Models to Study Dynamic Effects of Modern Wind Turbines

Wind turbine drivetrains consist of components that directly convert kinetic energy from the wind to electricalenergy. Therefore, guaranteeing robust and reliable drivetrain designs is important to prevent turbine downtime. Currentdrivetrain models often lack the ability to model both the impacts of electrical transients as well as wind turbulenceand shear in one package. In this paper, the capability of the FAST wind turbine computer-aided-engineering tool,developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is enhanced through the integration of a dynamic model of thedrivetrain. The dynamic drivetrain model is built using Simscape in the MATLAB/Simulink environment and incorporatesdetailed electrical generator models. This model can be used to evaluate internal drivetrain loads due to excitationsfrom both the wind and generator.