Multibody dynamic modelling of a direct wind turbine drive train
Journal article, 2020

Wind turbines normally have a long operational lifetime and experience a wide range of operating conditions. A representative set of these conditions is considered as part of a design process, as codified in standards. However, operational experience shows that failures occur more frequently than expected, the costlier of these including failures in the main bearings and gearbox. As modern turbines are equipped with sophisticated online systems, an important task is to evaluate the drive train dynamics from online measurement data. In particular, internal forces leading to fatigue can only be determined indirectly from other locations’ sensors. In this contribution, a direct wind turbine drive train is modelled using the floating frame of reference formulation for a flexible multibody dynamics system. The purpose is to evaluate drive train response based on blade root forces and bedplate motions. The dynamic response is evaluated in terms of main shaft deformation and main bearing forces under different wind conditions. The model was found to correspond well to a commercial wind turbine system simulation software (ViDyn)

Wind turbine drive train dynamics

bearing damage index

beam elements

floating frame of reference formulation

flexible multibody dynamics

main shaft deflection

Author

Saeed Asadi

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Dynamics

Håkan Johansson

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Dynamics

Wind Engineering

0309-524X (ISSN) 2048402x (eISSN)

Vol. 44 5 519-547

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Subject Categories

Energy Engineering

Energy Systems

Areas of Advance

Energy

DOI

10.1177/0309524X19849827

More information

Latest update

9/28/2020