Recent studies have revealed the large potential of vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) for high-energy-density wind farms due to their favorable wake recovery characteristics. The present study provides an experimental demonstration and proof-of-concept for the wake recovery mechanism of the novel X-Rotor VAWT. The phase-locked flowfield is measured at several streamwise locations along the X-Rotor’s wake using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV) with fixed-pitch offsets applied to the blades. The streamwise vortex system of the upper half of the X-Rotor is first hypothesized and then experimentally verified. The induced wake deformations of the vortex systems are discussed in comparison with previous studies concerning traditional H-type VAWTs. The results suggest that positive blade pitch is more favorable for accelerated wake recovery due to the dominant tip-vortex generated on the upwind windward quadrant of the cycle. Utilizing theoretical blade load variations along the span explains distinct unsteady flow features in the near wake generated at select quadrants of the rotor rotation, shedding light on the potential of the two pitch schemes.

Previous numerical studies suggested the motions of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWTs) may enhance their wake recovery rates due to having different modes of wake dynamics from the bottom-mounted counterparts. However, the majority of previous research were conducted with models having relatively low fidelities and/or focusing on laminar inflow conditions. Models with lower fidelities are not able to capture the dynamics of tip-vorticies reliably while inflow conditions without turbulence are unrealistic out in the fields. In light of this, this paper performed high fidelity numerical simulations (large eddy simulation with actuator line technique) using full scale surging (prescribed and harmonic) FOWT rotor with different inflow turbulence intensities and multiple surging settings systematically to better understand the wake dynamics of FOWT. The results showed that the differences of wake structures between fixed and (harmonic) surging rotors were pronounced when under laminar inflow conditions, where the Surging Induced Periodic Coherent Structures (SIPCS) could be detected straightforwardly; while the differences were much less significant when under inflow conditions with realistic turbulence intensities, and the SIPCS were clearly revealed only after phase-locked averaging. Moreover, when under laminar inflow conditions, the values of mean disk-averaged streamwise velocity at x/D=8 could be above 30% larger for the surging cases than the fixed case, while the increases were down to around 0 .5∼2% when under inflow conditions with realistic turbulence intensities.

not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown With increasing wind energy capacity and installation of wind turbines, new inspection techniques are being explored to examine wind turbine rotor blades, especially during operation. A common result of surface damage phenomena (such as leading-edge erosion) is the premature transition of laminar to turbulent flow on the surface of rotor blades. In the KI-VISIR (Künstliche Intelligenz Visuell und Infrarot Thermografie – Artificial Intelligence-Visual and Infrared Thermography) project, infrared thermography is used as an inspection tool to capture so-called thermal turbulence patterns (TTP) that result from such surface contamination or damage. To compliment the thermographic inspections, high-resolution photography is performed to visualise, in detail, the sites where these turbulence patterns initiate. A convolutional neural network (CNN) was developed and used to detect and localise the turbulence patterns. A unique dataset combining the thermograms and visual images of operational wind turbine rotor blades has been provided, along with the simplified annotations for the turbulence patterns. Additional tools are available to allow users to use the data requiring only basic Python programming skills.

The risk of missing data and subsequent incomplete data records at wind farms increases with the number of turbines and sensors. We propose here an imputation method that blends data-driven concepts with expert knowledge, by using the geometry of the wind farm in order to provide better estimates when performing nearest neighbors imputation. Our method relies on learning Laplacian eigenmaps out of the graph of the wind farm through spectral graph theory. These learned representations can be based on the wind farm layout only, or additionally account for information provided by collected data. The related weighted graph is allowed to change with time and can be tracked in an online fashion. Application to the Westermost Rough offshore wind farm shows significant improvement over approaches that do not account for the wind farm layout information.

This study presents results from a long-term measurement campaign on a research wind turbine in the field. Pressure measurements are conducted at 25% blade radius over several months. Together with inflow measurements provided by a LiDAR system, they form an extensive dataset which is used in the validation of numerical aerodynamic models.  The model validation is conducted based on both ten-minute average data as well as time-resolved unsteady data. Initially, it is investigated how representative ten-minute average pressure measurements are of the underlying unsteady aerodynamics. Binned ten-minute average pressure distributions are then analysed together with their numerical counterpart, consisting of a combination of rotor and airfoil level aerodynamic/aeroelastic simulation results using average environmental and operating conditions as input. Finally, time-resolved measurements and simulation results are compared, validating the aeroelastic tools’ capability to reproduce unsteady aerodynamics.  Overall, reasonable agreement is found between numerical simulations and field experiment data showcasing two aspects: Low-fidelity numerical tools remain relevant for simulating modern multi-megawatt wind turbines and long-term pressure measurements provide invaluable means for validating such tools.

Floating offshore wind (FOW) is a renewable energy source that is set to play an essential role in addressing climate change and the need for sustainable development. However, due to the increasing threat of climate emergency, more wind turbines are required to be deployed in deep water locations, further offshore. This presents heightened challenges for accessing the turbines and performing maintenance, leading to increased costs. Naturally, methods to reduce operational expenditure (OpEx) are highly desirable. One method that shows potential for reducing OpEx of FOW is LIDAR-assisted pitch control. This approach uses wind velocity measurements from a nacelle-mounted LIDAR to enable feedforward control of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), and can result in reductions to the variations of structural loads. Results obtained from a previous study of combined feedforward collective and individual pitch control (FFCPC+FFIPC) are translated to OpEx reductions via reduced component failure rates for future FOW developments, namely in locations awarded in the recent ScotWind leasing round. The results indicate that LIDAR-assisted pitch control may allow for an up to 5% reduction in OpEx, increasing up to 11% with workability constraints included. The results varied across the three ScotWind sites considered, with sites furthest from shore reaping the greatest benefit from LIDAR-assisted control. This work highlights the potential savings and reduction in the overall levelised cost of energy for future offshore wind turbine projects deliverable through the implementation of LIDAR-assisted pitch control.

Quantitation of damping is of great significance for the design and condition assessment of wind turbines. The authors’ previous theoretical and numerical studies showed that compared to damping ratios, a modal aerodynamic damping matrix can better describe the damping coupling in the fore-aft (FA) and side-side (SS) tower motions. In the present study, an improved damping identification method was first proposed to identify this damping matrix with artificial exciters and then verified by using OpenFAST simulations under different excitation frequencies, excitation force amplitudes, and different turbulent wind fields. Following the numerical study, a scaled wind turbine model with a geometric scale ratio of 1/75 was carefully designed based on the NREL 5 MW wind turbine prototype, in which the scaled blade design follows the rule in thrust coefficient similarity. An identification study was performed with this scaled model by a series of wind tunnel tests. The modal aerodynamic damping matrix was identified under steady-state harmonic excitation in the operating state and compared with the identified results by a free decay method and the theoretical values. The results experimentally confirm the correctness of the aerodynamic damping matrix theory under uniform wind and the feasibility of the improved identification method in practice.