Sharif Digital Repository

Since the air density reduces as altitude increases, operation of small wind turbines (SWTs), which usually have no pitch adjustment, remains challenging at high altitudes due largely to the reduction of starting aerodynamic torque. By reducing the moment of inertia through the use of hollow blades, this study aims to speed up the starting while maintaining the structural integrity of the blades and high output power. A horizontal axis turbine with hollow blades was designed for two sites in Iran with altitude of 500 m and 3000 m. The design variables are the distributions of the chord, twist, and shell thickness and the improvement of output power and starting are the design goals.... 

A wind turbine transformer internal resonance, excited by high frequency transients i.e.; under its energization through a short length of cable, is considered to obtain a proper transformer design method. A multi-objective optimum design method (using TOC and inrush current energy factor as objective functions) is employed and the optimal Pareto solutions for this design are derived. Selected design from the Pareto optimal solutions are then modeled using the lumped RLC ladder network, valid over a wide frequency range. The obtained frequency responses are then compared with each other to investigate the effect of multi-objective design on different aspects of the transformer winding... 

In this paper, the modal-based indices are used in damage identification of the wind turbine blade. In contrast of many of previous researches, the geometric nonlinearity due to the large structural deformation of the modern wind turbines blade is considered. In the first step, the finite element model (FEM) of the rotating blade is solved to obtain the modal features of the deformed structure under operational aerodynamic loading. Next, the accuracy and efficiency of the various modal-based damage indices including the frequency, mode shape, curvature of mode shape, modal assurance, modal strain energy (MSE) and the difference of indices (between the intact and damaged blades) are... 

A wind turbine transformer (WTT) is designed using a 3D wound core while the transformer's total owning cost (TOC) and its inrush current performance realized as the two objective functions in a multi-objective optimization process. Multi-objective genetic algorithm is utilized to derive Pareto optimal solutions. The effects of inrush current improvement on other operating and design parameters of the transformer such as: losses, dimensions, and weights are investigated. An approach is presented to select one design from optimal Pareto solutions based on relative improvement of the inrush current performance. Finally, this multi-objective optimum wind turbine transformer design is compared... 

Tethered airborne wind energy systems are among emerging renewable energy technologies in recent years. These systems can harness greater power densities at higher altitudes with lower costs of installation and energy production in comparison with those from conventional ground-based energy harnessing technologies. A Buoyant Airborne Turbine (BAT) as a flying aerostat has a horizontal axis wind turbine within its shell and can elevate up to 600m. There are a number of pertinent parameters such as BAT configurations/component dimensions or its aerodynamic characteristics that impact the system total power performance. Identifying the optimum values of these parameters by conducting... 

This paper proposes a generalized analytical approach to evaluate the reliability of active distribution networks. The studies are implemented in the context of renewable-based energy hubs. The reliability of energy demands is determined as a function of reliability characteristics of energy hub input resources and converters as well as hub operating strategies. The framework proposed in this paper involves the main attributes of different distributed generation technologies as well as vehicle-to-grid (V2G)-capable vehicles in the reliability studies. Dealing with the uncertainty in energy services provided by the wind turbine output generation and V2G programs, efficient probabilistic... 

Environmental issues and energy crisis have caused the world attention to the renewable energies; especially the wind power, since they have low cost and high reliability. To achieve higher capacity, wind turbines have increased in their size over the years. However, the large size of the modern turbines has exacerbated the problem of vibrations, which results in lower efficiency and power generation. Because of the large deformations, the conventional linear theories cannot model the blades accurately, due to the importance of nonlinear effects in large scale wind turbines. In this research, a nonlinear kinematic model of the wind turbine blade is developed using the Hamilton's principle.... 

In most of the existing studies, the frequency response in the variable speed wind turbines (VSWTs) is simply realized by changing the torque set-point via appropriate inputs such as frequency deviations signal. However, effective dynamics and systematic process design have not been comprehensively discussed yet. Accordingly, this paper proposes a proportional-derivative frequency controller and investigates its performance in a wind farm consisting of several VSWTs. A band-pass filter is deployed before the proposed controller to avoid responding to either steady state frequency deviations or high rate of change of frequency. To design the controller, the frequency model of the wind farm is... 

Extensive experiments were conducted to study the effect of various parameters on the surface pressure distribution and transition point of an aerofoil section used in a wind turbine blade. In this paper details of the variation of transition point on the aforementioned aerofoil are presented. The aerofoil spanned the wind-tunnel test section and was oscillated sinusoidally in pitch about the quarter chord. The imposed variables of the experiments were free stream velocity, amplitude of motion, mean angle-of-attack, and oscillation frequency. The spatial-temporal progressions of the leading-edge transition point and the state of the unsteady boundary-layer were measured using eight... 

A series of unsteady low speed wind tunnel tests on a section of a 660 Kw wind turbine blade under construction were conducted to examine the effects of distributed surface contamination on its performance characteristics. Our data shows that the airfoil is very sensitive to the applied surface roughness. Results show that contamination decreases static maximum lift coefficient more than 40 percent. In the dynamic test this effect is the same and is about 38 percent. Contamination decreases the width of the dynamic diagrams loop such and leads to the smooth stall on the airfoil  

The Social Cost of nuisance noise from a wind turbine is defined here as the additional cost to reduce the noise level at a receptor to an exceptable, non-nuisance value, i.e. to mitigate this cost. This acceptable sound level is considered to be 35 dB. Our example is a 10-kW (nominal power) wind turbine considered to supply the electrical energy needs of a 3-storey residential building in Tehran and Manjil. The turbine generates sound at 75 dB. To reduce the sound level at the third floor of the building to 35 dB, it was necessary to increase the height of the turbine from 24 m to 48 m. The initial installed cost of the turbine thereby increased from US$45.000 to US$55,000. The cost of... 

In this article, the effects of the changes in the mass of the floating wind turbine (as a multi-body system) on its nonlinear vertical vibrations are investigated. The fluctuations of the hydrodynamic added mass of the floating platform and the mass of the vibration absorbers, which added to the structure to mitigate the lateral vibrations, change the mass and consequently the dynamics of the vertical vibrations. In this regard, first, the governing equations of the vertical vibrations of the floating wind turbine are derived. The FAST code is used to validate the proposed model of the dynamics of the vertical vibrations through numerical simulations. Then, derived equations are solved... 

Wind turbine blade life prediction is the most important parameter to estimate the power generation cost. Due to the price and importance of wind blade, many experimental and theoretical methods were developed to estimate damages and blade life. A novel multiaxial fatigue damage model is suggested for the life prediction of a wind turbine blade. Fatigue reduction of fiber and interfiber characteristics are separately treated and simulated in this research. Damage behavior is considered in lamina level and then extended to laminate; hence, this model can be used for multidirectional laminated composites. The procedure of fatigue-induced degradation is implemented in an ABAQUS user material... 

Wind turbine blade life prediction is the most important parameter to estimate the power generation cost. Due to the price and importance of wind blade, many experimental and theoretical methods were developed to estimate damages and blade life. A novel multiaxial fatigue damage model is suggested for the life prediction of a wind turbine blade. Fatigue reduction of fiber and interfiber characteristics are separately treated and simulated in this research. Damage behavior is considered in lamina level and then extended to laminate; hence, this model can be used for multidirectional laminated composites. The procedure of fatigue-induced degradation is implemented in an ABAQUS user material...