sandia 2014 wind turbine blade workshop- standish

Restricted © Siemens AG 2014 All rights reserved.

Siemens Rotor R&D:An OEM Perspective

Siemens Energy, Inc. - Boulder, CO USA

2014-Aug-26 Restricted © Siemens AG 2014 All rights reserved. Boulder Wind R&D

Motivation

Future of wind power requires reducing the LCOE from wind to be directly competitive with traditional energy sources without subsidies.

• Why wind? Why not wind?

Blades are a small fraction of the total cost, but generate 100% of the AEP, and produce the majority of the design-driving loads.

• Loads = Material = Cost

Nearly all advances in blade design and technology have resulted from the combined efforts between academia, research institutions, and industry!

• Innovation is collaborative!


Agenda

Blade technology performance and validation:Laboratory Testing

• Structural testing• Aerodynamic wind tunnel testing• Aeroacoustic wind tunnel testing

Field Testing• Acoustic field-testing• Oil-flow visualization• Tuft Flow visualization• Aeroelastic deformations• NREL-SWP CRADA research turbine• Extreme gust event

Research areas of interest:


Laboratory Testing & Validation


Structural Testing

Coupon Level Simple substructure Full ScaleComplex substructureElement or Panel Level

Design TestingMfg.


Aerodynamic Wind Tunnel Testing


Acoustic Wind Tunnel Testing

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

100 1000 10000

SPL

[dB

A re

. 20e

-6 P

a]

Frequency [Hz]

Configuration 1 Configuration 2

Airfoil

Flow


Field Testing & Validation


Acoustic Field Testing


Oil-Flow Visualization


Tuft Flow Visualization

Attached flow Separated flow

Clean leading edge

Soiled leading edge

Vortexgenerators


Tip-Root Blade Perspective

Two Go-Pro cameras facing inboard/outboard

Static load testing for g-loading


ATB Deflection Validation

ImagingtargetsLeading edge

Trailing edge


ATB Deflection Validation

Root strain gaugeImage-based flap defl.


NREL-SWP CRADA Test Turbine


NREL-SWP CRADA – 108m Rotor


NREL-SWP CRADA – Highlights


NREL-SWP CRADA – Highlights

• Pressure System• Validating key aero data (360 Airfoil

Polars, Vortex Shedding, Etc)


NREL-SWP CRADA – Overspeed Event

Extreme Overspeed – January 13th 2014

Inflow• Wind Gust: 6m/s to 35 m/s over 6 seconds• Direction Change: 90 degrees

Turbine• RPM: 153% of nominal RPM (tip speed ~135 m/s!)• Yaw Change: 25 degrees over 7 seconds (0.5 deg/sec capability)• Overspeed triggered (Software & Hardware)

Measurement Systems Operational During Event• Standard load channels• Fiber Bragg Strains in Blade B• Pressure System in Blade C


NREL-SWP CRADA – Overspeed Event


Research Interests


How Can Research Advance Industry?

Universities and research laboratories possess a wealth of knowledge, experience, and opportunity. However, direct cooperation, communication and collaboration with OEMs is rather limited.

• Improve interface between industry and the research community

• Openly share non-proprietary information on our challenges and our successes

• Maturing viable technologies to a higher degree to facilitate industry implementation


Research Areas of Interest

Wind-Specific Materials Research• Failure under long-term enviromental exposure, multi-axial static and

fatigue, scaling relationships, improved resins for fatigue

Structural Modeling• Non-linear behavior during deformations, aero-structural

optimization (airfoils & planforms)

Blade Soiling• ~3-5% AEP impact!, Improved computationald and laboratory

modeling

Airfoil analysis methods for wind• Simulate VGs, flatback airfoils, trailing edge add-ons, multi-element,

etc.

Aeroacoustics• Simple, fast, robust, semi-empirical methods!

3D & Dynamic Effects• Improved 3D & dynamic corrections for BEM

Vortex Codes• Improved accuracy with realistic speed compared to BEM

Turbulence Modelling• Improved correlation between measurement and models


Conclusion

Steps towards reducing wind power LCOE will require significant

contributions from both industry and the research community

• Increase communication & collaboration

• Improve our modeling tools & methods

• Improve our field-validation techniques

Solutions must be simple, robust, and cost-effective

• Mature promising technologies in a timely manner


Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the SWP team and to NWTC for their continued support!


Thank you for your attention!Any questions?

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