Structural design and optimization of a series of 13.2 MW downwind rotors

Abstract

The quest for reduced LCOE has driven significant growth in wind turbine size. A key question to enable larger rotor designs is how to configure and optimize structural designs to constrain blade mass and cost while satisfying a growing set of challenging structural design requirements. In this paper, we investigate the performance of a series of three two-bladed downwind rotors with different blade lengths (104.3-m, 122.9-m, and 143.4-m) all rated at 13.2 MW. The primary goals are to achieve 25% rotor mass and 25% LCOE reduction. A comparative analysis of the structural performance and economics of this family rotors is presented. To further explore optimization opportunities for large rotors, we present new results in a root and spar cap design optimization. In summary, we present structural design solutions that achieve 25% rotor mass reduction in a SUMR13i design (104.3-m) and 25% LCOE reduction in a SUMR13C design (143.4-m).

Keywords

13.2 MW wind turbine structural design downwind rotors levelized cost of energy root optimization

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adwen (2017) AD 8-180 prototype: Adwen enters final stage of installation. Adwen. Available at: https://w3.windfair.net/wind-energy/pr/24714-adwen-prototype-nacelle-hub-blades (accessed 17 December 2020).

Ananda

Bansal

Selig

(2018) Aerodynamic design of the 13.2 MW SUMR-13i wind turbine rotor. In: 2018 wind energy symposium, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Kissimmee, Florida, USA, January 8–12, 2018.

Ashuri

Martins

Zaaijer

, et al. (2016) Aeroservoelastic design definition of a 20 MW common research wind turbine model. Wind Energy 19(11): 2071–2087.

Bayati

Belloli

Bernini

, et al. (2016) On the aero-elastic design of the DTU 10MW wind turbine blade for the LIFES50+ wind tunnel scale model. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 753: 022028.

Berg

Resor

(2012) Numerical manufacturing and design tool (NuMAD v2. 0)for wind turbine blades: Users guide. Technical report no. SAND2012-728, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM.

Bir

(2005) User’s guide to BModes (software for computing rotating beam-coupled modes). No. NREL/TP-500-39133, National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Golden, CO (United States).

Bir

(2006) User’s guide to PreComp (pre-processor for computing composite blade properties). Technical report, National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Golden, CO (United States).

Chen

Joffre

Avitabile

(2018) Underwater dynamic response at limited points expanded to full-field strain response. Journal of Vibration and Acoustics 140(5): 051016.

Chetan

Griffith

Yao

(2019a) Flutter predictions in the design of extreme-scale segmented ultralight morphing rotor blades. In: 2019 wind energy symposium, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, San Diego, California, USA, January, 7–11, 2019. p.1298.

10.

Chetan

Sakib

Griffith

(2019b) Aero-structural design study of extreme-scale segmented ultralight morphing rotor blades. In: AIAA aviation 2019 forum, Dallas, Texas, USA, June, 17–21, 2019. p.3347.

11.

Cox

Echtermeyer

(2012) Structural design and analysis of a 10MW wind turbine blade. Energy Procedia 24: 194–201.

12.

DNV (2015) Rotor Blades for Wind Turbines. Standard DNVGL-ST-0376.

13.

GE (2019) Haliade-X offshore wind turbine platform. General Energy. Available at: https://www.ge.com/renewableenergy/wind-energy/offshore-wind/haliade-x-offshore-turbine (accessed 30 September 2020).

14.

GE (2020) GE renewable energy launches the uprated Haliade-X 13 MW wind turbine for the UK’s Dogger Bank Wind Farm. General Energy. Available at: https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/ge-renewable-energy-launches-uprated-haliade-x-13-mw-wind-turbine-uk-dogger-bank (accessed 30 September 2020).

15.

Griffith

(2013a) The SNL100-01 blade: Carbon design studies for the Sandia 100-meter blade. Technical report, SAND2013-1178, Sandia National Laboratories.

16.

Griffith

(2013b) The SNL100-02 blade: Advanced core material design studies for the Sandia 100-meter blade. Technical report, SAND2013-10162, Sandia National Laboratories.

17.

Griffith

(2017) 50 MW segmented ultralight morphing rotors (SUMR) Y1 meeting with ARPA-E. Unpublished.

18.

Griffith

Ashwill

(2011) The Sandia 100-meter all-glass baseline wind turbine blade: SNL100-00. Report no. SAND2011-3779: 67, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque.

19.

Griffith

Chetan

(2018) Assessment of flutter prediction and trends in the design of large-scale wind turbine rotor blades. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1037: 042008.

20.

Griffith

Johanns

(2013) Large blade manufacturing cost studies using the Sandia blade manufacturing cost tool and Sandia 100-meter blades. Technical report, Sandia National Laboratories.

21.

Griffith

Richards

(2014) The SNL100-03 blade: Design studies with flatback airfoils for the Sandia 100-meter blade. Technical report, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM.

22.

Hayman

(2012) MLife theory manual for version 1.00. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 74(75): 106.

23.

IEC (2005) Part 1: Design requirements. In: International Standard. Geneva: IEC, pp.61400–61401.

24.

Johanns

Griffith

(2013) User manual for Sandia blade manufacturing cost tool: Version 1.0. Technical report, Sandia National Laboratories.

25.

Jonkman

Buhl

Jr (2005) FAST user’s guide. Technical report no. NREL/EL-500-38230, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO.

26.

Huang

(2020) Study of optimal large-scale offshore wind turbines. Renewable Energy 154: 161–174.

27.

LM (2016) Meet a record-breaker: LM 88.4 P. LM Wind Power. Available at: https://www.lmwindpower.com/en/products/blade-types/longest-blade-in-the-world (accessed 17 December 2020).

28.

MathWorks (2020) Global optimization toolbox user’s guide. The MathWorks, Inc. Available at: https://www.mathworks.com/help/pdf_doc/gads/gads.pdf (accessed 30 September 2020).

29.

Nijssen

Lahuerta

Wandji

, et al. (2016) INNWIND deliverable 4.15 innovations on component level for coming 20MW turbines (final report). Technical report. INNWIND.EU Available at: http://www.innwind.eu/publications/deliverable-reports (accessed 30 September 2020).

30.

Noyes

Loth

Qin

(2017) A FAST investigation of a 2 blade, load-aligned, downwind rotor for a 13.2 MW wind turbine. In: 35th AIAA applied aerodynamics conference, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Denver, Colorado, USA, June 5–9, 2017.

31.

Noyes

Qin

Loth

(2018) Pre-aligned downwind rotor for a 13.2 MW wind turbine. Renewable Energy 116: 749–754.

32.

NREL (2020) New reference turbine gives offshore wind an upward draft. NREL. Available at: https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2020/reference-turbine-gives-offshore-wind-updraft.html (accessed 30 September 2020).

33.

Qin

Loth

Lee

, et al. (2016) Blade load reduction for a 13 MW downwind pre-aligned rotor. In: 34th wind energy symposium, San Diego, California, USA, January 4–8, 2016. p.1264.

34.

Qin

Loth

Zalkind

, et al. (2020) Downwind coning concept rotor for a 25 MW offshore wind turbine. Renewable Energy 156: 314–327.

35.

Sartori

Bellini

Croce

, et al. (2018) Preliminary design and optimization of a 20MW reference wind turbine. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1037: 042003.

36.

Schubel

Crossley

(2012) Wind turbine blade design. Energies 5(9): 3425–3449.

37.

Budynas

Nisbett

Shigley

(2011). Shigley’s mechanical engineering design. New York: McGraw-Hill.

38.

Siemens

(2020) Powered by change: Siemens Gamesa launches 14 MW offshore direct drive turbine with 222-meter rotor. SIEMENS Gamesa. Available at: https://www.siemensgamesa.com/en-int/newsroom/2020/05/200519-siemens-gamesa-turbine-14-222-dd (accessed 30 September 2020).

39.

Stehly

Beiter

(2020) 2018 cost of wind energy review. Technical report, National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Golden, CO (United States).

40.

SUMR (2018) 50 MW segmented ultralight morphing rotors (SUMR) IAB review. Unpublished.

41.

USDOE (2008) 20% wind energy by 2030. Technical report, US Department of Energy.

42.

Vision

(2015) A new era for wind power in the United States. US Department of Energy.

43.

Wiser

Hand

Seel

, et al. (2016) Reducing wind energy costs through increased turbine size: is the sky the limit? Rev. Berkeley National Laboratory Electricity Markets and Policy Group.

44.

Yao

Griffith

Chetan

, et al. (2019) Structural design of a 1/5th scale gravo-aeroelastically scaled wind turbine demonstrator blade for field testing. In: AIAA Scitech 2019 forum, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics San Diego, California, January 7–11, 2019.

45.

Yao

Griffith

Chetan

, et al. (2020) A gravo-aeroelastically scaled wind turbine rotor at field-prototype scale with strict structural requirements. Renewable Energy 156(C): 535–547.

46.

Young

Budynas

Sadegh

, et al. (2002) Roark’s Formulas for Stress and Strain, vol. 7. New York: McGraw-Hill.

47.

Zalkind

Ananda

Chetan

, et al. (2019) System-level design studies for large rotors. Wind Energy Science 4(4): 595–618.