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Numerical Study on the Aerodynamic and Fluid–Structure Interaction of An NREL-5MW Wind Turbine

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Abstract

A 5-MW wind turbine has been modeled and analyzed for fluid-structure interaction and aerodynamic performance. In this study, a full-scale model of a 5-MW wind turbine is first developed based on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach, in which the unsteady, noncompressible Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) method is used. The main focus of the study is to analyze the tower shadow effect on the aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine under different inlet flow conditions. Subsequently, the finite element model is established by considering fluid/structure interactions to study the structural stress, displacement, strain distributions and flow field information of the structure under the uniform wind speed. Finally, the fluid-structure interaction model is established by considering turbulent wind and the tower shadow effect. The variation rules of the dynamic response of the one-way and two-way fluid–structure interaction (FSI) models under different wind speeds are analyzed, and the numerical calculation results are compared with those of the centralized mass model. The results show that the tower shadow effect and structural deformation are the main factors affecting the aerodynamic load fluctuation of the wind turbine, which in turn affects the aerodynamic performance and structural stability of the blades. The structural dynamic response of the coupled model shows significant similarity, while the structural displacement response of the former exhibits less fluctuation compared with the conventional centralized mass model. The one-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) model shows a higher frequency of stress-strain and displacement oscillations on the blade compared with the two-way FSI model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Urban Security and Disaster Engineering of Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China

    Mi Zhao, Wan-li Yu, Pi-guang Wang, Yang Qu & Xiu-li Du

  2. State Key Laboratory of Bridge Engineering Safety and Resilience, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China

    Mi Zhao, Wan-li Yu, Pi-guang Wang, Yang Qu & Xiu-li Du

Authors
  1. Mi Zhao
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  2. Wan-li Yu
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  3. Pi-guang Wang
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  4. Yang Qu
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  5. Xiu-li Du
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Correspondence to Pi-guang Wang.

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Additional information

Foundation item: This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52078010) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. JQ19029).

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Zhao, M., Yu, Wl., Wang, Pg. et al. Numerical Study on the Aerodynamic and Fluid–Structure Interaction of An NREL-5MW Wind Turbine. China Ocean Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13344-024-0030-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13344-024-0030-1

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