Hurricane Eyewall Winds and Structural Response of Wind Turbines
- University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Northeastern University
- University of Colorado; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- National Center for Atmospheric Research
This paper describes the analysis of a wind turbine and support structure subject to simulated hurricane wind fields. The hurricane wind fields, which result from a Large Eddy Simulation of a hurricane, exhibit features such as very high gust factors (> 1.7), rapid direction changes (30 degrees in 30 sec) and substantial veer. Wind fields including these features have not previously been used in an analysis of a wind turbine and their effect on structural loads may be an important driver of enhanced design considerations. With a focus on blade root loads and tower base loads, the simulations show that these features of hurricane wind fields can lead to loads that are substantially in excess of those that would be predicted were wind fields with equally high mean wind speeds but without associated direction change and veer used in the analysis. This result, if further verified for a range of hurricane and tropical storm simulations, should provide an impetus for revisiting design standards.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1567030
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5000-74194
- Journal Information:
- Wind Energy Science Discussions, Journal Name: Wind Energy Science Discussions
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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