Cable connected active tuned mass dampers for control of in-plane vibrations of wind turbine blades

In-plane vibrations of wind turbine blades are of concern in modern multi-megawatt wind turbines. Today?s turbines with capacities of up to 7.5 MW have very large, flexible blades. As blades have grown longer the increasing flexibility has led to vibration problems. Vibration of blades can reduce the power produced by the turbine and decrease the fatigue life of the turbine. In this paper a new active control strategy is designed and implemented to control the in-plane vibration of large wind turbine blades which in general is not aerodynamically damped. A cable connected active tuned mass damper (CCATMD) system is proposed for the mitigation of in-plane blade vibration. An Euler–Lagrangian wind turbine model based on energy formulation has been developed for this purpose which considers the structural dynamics of the system and the interaction between in-plane and out-of-plane vibrations and also the interaction between the blades and the tower including the CCATMDs. The CCATMDs are located inside the blades and are controlled by an LQR controller. The turbine is subject to turbulent aerodynamic loading simulated using a modification to the classic Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory with turbulence generated from rotationally sampled spectra. The turbine is also subject to gravity loading. The effect of centrifugal stiffening of the rotating blades has also been considered. Results show that the use of the proposed new active control scheme significantly reduces the in-plane vibration of large, flexible wind turbine blades.     

风力机叶片气动噪声的影响参数

随着风力机的大型化发展,风电机组噪声对环境的影响不容忽视,必须对风力机气动噪声进行预测和控制。选取基于NACA、DU翼型的某风力机叶片作为研究对象,采用修正BPM半经验模型计算叶片的气动噪声特性,通过改变翼型族、弦长、机组运行状态、风切变指数、来流风向参数,研究叶片外形几何参数、机组运行工况对叶片气动噪声源的影响。计算结果从多个角度总结出水平轴风力机叶片气动噪声的变化规律,为开发高效低噪风电叶片提供参考。     

Remote monitoring of ice loading on wind turbine blades based on total internal reflection

The paper presents an optical method for monitoring of transparent icing, which is applicable for remote monitoring of wind turbine blade icing. The method is based on the effect of total internal reflection of light. A point light source is formed on a wind turbine blade. When icing appears on the blade, a light circle is formed around the light source at the ice–air interface as a result of refraction and reflection of light beams; the observed size of the beam depends on the icing thickness. Using several light sources, the method enables field monitoring of icing on the wind turbine blades.     

Scale effects in the bending vibrations of helicopter rotor blades

Scale effects and dynamic similarity in the bending vibrations of helicopter rotor blades are examined by expressing the first three modes of bending vibration of a uniform, conventional rotor blade by a series of Legendre polynomials as suggested by Wilde and others. The natural frequency ratios for these three modes are then determined as functions of a dynamic similarity parameter over the entire range of designs and operating conditions from very flexible, rapidly rotating blades to highly rigid, slowly turning conditions.     

Torsional vibrations of non-uniform rotating blades with attachment flexibility

The torsional vibrations of non-uniform pretwisted rotating blades are studied by using finite element methods based on both the Rayleigh-Ritz and Galerkin formulations. The apparent differences between the matrices obtained from these formulations are explained and, as obtained by using three different orders of elements, results are presented for blades with flexibly attached roots and for a non-uniform blade representative of a bearingless rotor. A parametric study is carried out to resolve a controversy regarding the relative importance of certain terms in the equations of motion of pretwisted rotating blades. In Appendix I, an exact solution is presented for the torsional vibrations of flexibly attached rotating blades with piecewise constant inertia and elastic properties, which serves as a benchmark solution for the finite element results.     

低A声级贯流风机叶片周向角不等距优化设计

叶轮产生离散噪声的原因是叶片间周向夹角均匀布置,因此降低叶轮离散噪声的有效手段就是破坏叶片周向夹角的均匀布置,通过合理布置各叶片夹角降低叶轮离散噪声。本文提出了采用叶片周向角不等距布置降低叶轮总离散噪声A声级的一种优化设计模型,模型充分考虑了A计权函数与波动力对脉动流场响应参数Sc乘积有关的综合衰减曲线的高低频段衰减较大的特性和人可听域频率范围在20-2000Hz之间的特点,通过算例验证采用该模型可以降低总离散噪声A声级。     

Granular dampers for the reduction of vibrations of an oscillatory saw

Instruments for surgical and dental application based on oscillatory mechanics submit unwanted vibrations to the operator’s hand. Frequently the weight of the instrument’s body is increased to dampen its vibration. Based on recent research regarding the optimization of granular damping we developed a prototype granular damper that attenuates the vibrations of an oscillatory saw twice as efficiently as a comparable solid mass.     

Behavior of nonlinear fluid viscous dampers for control of shock vibrations

Fluid viscous dampers have been widely used for suppression of high velocity shocks. While linear fluid viscous dampers have been used for a long time, nonlinear fluid viscous dampers show considerable promise due to their superior energy dissipation characteristics and significant reduction in the damper force compared to a linear fluid viscous damper for the same peak displacement. This paper presents results from experimental study to characterize fluid viscous dampers when subjected to half-cycle sine shock excitation. The mathematical formulation and a numerical study to evaluate the relative performance of structures with fluid viscous dampers subjected to short-duration shock (impulse) loading are also discussed. The influence of damper nonlinearity (α) and the supplemental damping ratio (ξ_sd) on response has been investigated. The supplemental damping ratio of nonlinear fluid viscous dampers when subjected to shock excitation is found by equivalent linearization using the concept of equal energy dissipation. The paper also presents some design charts, which can be used for preliminary decisions on parameters of nonlinear dampers to be used in design.     

Very-High-Cycle-Fatigue of in-service air-engine blades, compressor and turbine

In-service Very-High-Cycle-Fatigue(VHCF)regime of compressor vane and turbine rotor blades of the Al-based alloy VD-17and superalloy GS6K,respectively,was considered.Surface crack origination occurred at the lifetime more than 1500 hours for vanes and after 550 hours for turbine blades.Performed fractographic investigations have shown that subsurface crack origination in vanes took place inspite of corrosion pittings on the blade surface.This material behavior reflected lifetime limit that was reached by the criterion VHCF.In superalloy GS6K subsurface fatigue cracking took place with the appearance of flat facet.This phenomenon was discussed and compared with specimens cracking of the same superalloy but prepared by the powder technology.In turbine blades VHCF regime appeared because of resonance of blades under the influenced gas stream.Both cases of compressor-vanes and turbine blades in-service cracking were discussed with crack growth period and stress equivalent estimations.Recommendations to continue aircrafts airworthiness were made for in-service blades.     

Infrared thermography to detect residual ceramic in gas turbine blades

A serious problem in the production of gas turbine blades is the detection of residual ceramic cores inside the cooling passages; in fact, the presence of even small ceramic pieces affects turbine performance and may cause difficulties in successive manufacturing. Therefore, it is important to have a non-destructive technique that must be capable of detecting tiny ceramic fragments in a fast and easy way. In this perspective, the suitability of infrared thermography was investigated within cooperation between the University of Naples and the Europea Microfusioni Aerospaziali S.p.A. (EMA). Several blades of three different types were inspected revealing that in many cases infrared thermography can discover small ceramic fragments which were missed by X-ray inspection. In addition, infrared thermography allows gaining of information about other types of anomalies (e.g., surface defects) during the same testing step (by eventually changing the test parameters) and then saving time and money. The obtained results look promising in view of introducing infrared thermography among industrial instrumentation as an alternative to, or integrated with, the most currently utilized non-destructive techniques.     

A model for the characterization of friction contacts in turbine blades

Stresses produced by the forced vibrations can lead to a significant reduction of the life of turbo engine blades. To predict the vibration amplitudes of this components an accurate dynamic analysis is necessary. The forced response calculation of these dynamic systems is strongly affected by the presence of the contact interfaces (i.e., underplatform dampers, shrouds, root joints). Different contact models are available in literature. These models make use of contact parameters, contact stiffness and friction coefficient to evaluate the damping and stiffness related to the contact interfaces. In this paper a model is proposed to characterize friction contact of non-spherical contact geometries obeying the Coulomb friction law with constant friction coefficient and constant normal load. The hysteresis curves of the oscillating tangential contact forces vs. relative tangential displacements and the dissipated energy at the contact are obtained for different contact geometries. The developed model is suitable to be implemented in numerical solvers for the calculation of the forced response of turbine blades with embedded friction contacts.     

Flow on blades of wells turbine for wave power generation

Wells turbine has the cascade whose stagger angle is 90°, namely the blades are perpendicular to the axial velocity. Good performance is required from 0° to 90° angle of attack because the turbine is operated in the oscillating airflow produced with wave energy. Furthermore, very interesting and complex flows are experimentally observed by the oil film method for large angles of attack where the performance is strongly influenced, especially, the self-starting. This paper tries to analyze the mechanism of these three-dimensional flows around the turbine with the flow visualization and the numerical analysis, focusing on the off-design condition.     

Damping of flexural vibrations in turbofan blades using the acoustic black hole effect

The results of the experimental study into the damping of flexural vibrations in turbofan blades with trailing edges tapered according to a power-law profile are reported. Trailing edges of power-law profile (wedges), with small pieces of attached absorbing layers, materialise one-dimensional acoustic black holes for flexural waves that can absorb a large proportion of the incident flexural wave energy. The experiments were carried out on four model blades made of aluminium. Two of them were twisted, so that a more realistic fan blade could be considered. All model blades, the ones with tapered trailing edges and the ones of traditional form, were excited by an electromagnetic shaker, and the corresponding frequency response functions have been measured. The results show that the resonant peaks are reduced substantially once a power-law tapering is introduced to the blade. An initial study into the aerodynamic implications of this method has been carried out as well, using measurements in a closed circuit wind tunnel. In particular, the effects of the trailing edge of power-law profile on the airflow-excited vibrations of the fan blades have been investigated. It has been demonstrated that trailing edges of power-law profile with appropriate damping layers are efficient in reduction of the airflow-excited vibrations of the fan blades. The obtained results demonstrate that power-law tapering of trailing edges of turbofan blades can be a viable method of reduction of blade vibrations.     

Dynamic analysis of horizontal axis wind turbine by thin-walled beam theory

A mixed flexible-rigid multi-body mathematical model is applied to predict the dynamic performance of a wind turbine system. Since the tower and rotor are both flexible thin-walled structures, a consistent expression for their deformations is applied, which employs a successive series of transformations to locate any point on the blade and tower relative to an inertial coordinate system. The kinetic and potential energy terms of each flexible body and rigid body are derived for use in the Lagrange approach to formulate the wind turbine system's governing equation. The mode shapes are then obtained from the free vibration solution, while the distributions of dynamic stress and displacement of the tower and rotor are computed from the forced vibration response analysis. Using this dynamic model, the influence of the tower's stiffness on the blade tip deformation is studied. From the analysis, it is evident that the proposed model not only inherits the simplicity of the traditional 1-D beam element, but also able to provide detailed information about the tower and rotor response due to the incorporation of the flexible thin-walled beam theory.     

Measurements of radiation vibrations of turbomachine blades using an optical-fiber displacement-sensing system

Turbomachine blades are critical equipment in the energy, chemical, aviation, and shipbuilding industries. Turbomachine-blade vibrations can cause high cycle fatigue, which reduces the blade lifetime. Their stable operation is a determining factor of safe and efficient production. In order to monitor and detect the turbomachine-blade vibrations and check whether whole or partial performance is normally operating, we design a reflective intensity-modulated optical-fiber sensing system for radial vibration detection of turbomachine blades and introduce the basic principles of the detection system in detail. We study some key technologies such as the control system of the laser-diode (LD) constant power and an optical-fiber coupling system with the optical-fiber-bundle structure. We analyze the sensor output characteristics and present some numerical simulations. In view of our experimental results, we show that the system elaborated can eliminate the effects caused by light-intensity fluctuations, optical-fiber flexural losses, and changes in the surface reflection coefficient, and can detect the radial vibrations of turbomachine blades in the presence of strong electromagnetic interference and under high temperatures.     

Nonlinear parametric instability of wind turbine wings

Nonlinear rotor dynamic is characterized by parametric excitation of both linear and nonlinear terms caused by centrifugal and Coriolis forces when formulated in a moving frame of reference. Assuming harmonically varying support point motions from the tower, the nonlinear parametric instability of a wind turbine wing has been analysed based on a two-degrees-of-freedom model with one modal coordinate representing the vibrations in the blade direction and the other vibrations in edgewise direction. The functional basis for the eigenmode expansion has been taken as the linear undamped fixed-base eigenmodes. It turns out that the system becomes unstable at certain excitation amplitudes and frequencies. If the ratio between the support point motion and the rotational frequency of the rotor is rational, the response becomes periodic, and Floquet theory may be used to determine instability. In reality the indicated frequency ratio may be irrational in which case the response is shown to be quasi-periodic, rendering the Floquet theory useless. Moreover, as the excitation frequency exceeds the eigenfrequency in the edgewise direction, the response may become chaotic. For this reason stability of the system has in all cases been evaluated based on a Lyapunov exponent approach. Stability boundaries are determined as a function of the amplitude and frequency of the support point motion, the rotational speed, damping ratios and eigenfrequencies in the blade and edgewise directions.