A fatigue analysis interface for YawDyn and ADAMS{reg_sign}
- Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States). Mechanical Engineering Dept.
A software interface has been developed between wind turbine dynamics codes such as YawDyn and ADAMS and the LIFE2 code for fatigue life estimation. This work is sponsored by NREL with the intent of making it straightforward and practical for wind turbine designers to determine those aspects of their design and wind environment that will cause the most fatigue damage. This insight will allow them to focus limited resources upon the design parameters that can most effectively be manipulated to improve the fatigue lifetime. This paper presents an overview of the fatigue analysis interface, which is still being developed and improved. It will also present results from the application of the method to the NREL Combined Experiment (Phase 3) rotor. This rotor was selected as the first example for the quality of data and documentation that is available--even though it cannot be considered typical of current commercial turbines. The influence upon fatigue lifetime of the blade root will be presented for the following wind and design parameters: (1) turbulence in the ambient wind; (2) startup and shutdown cycles including emergency stops; (3) free-yaw vs. fixed-yaw operation; and (4) blade first-flap natural frequency (4p resonance vs 3.5p frequency). The analysis first estimates a baseline fatigue life for the actual turbine operating in a low-turbulence environment. Then each of the above parameters is varied individually to determine its effect on the lifetime. Each lifetime estimate can require dozens of YawDyn or ADAMS simulations, so the Fatigue Analysis Interface is essential to streamlining the process and making it practical.
- OSTI ID:
- 372108
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960154--; ISBN 0-9648731-8-4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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