Wind turbine design and optimization

风力涡轮机的非定常、气动弹性特性及其成本敏感性带来了其他地方没有的独特设计挑战。尽管在设计越来越大的风力涡轮机方面取得了很大的进步，但在分析预测方面仍然存在很大的不确定性，特别是在空气动力学和非线性结构响应领域。充分的空气动力学验证数据明显缺乏。公用事业规模的机器的庞大规模可能会造成技术和社会障碍。一种经常被支持的替代方案是在最终使用地点安装小型机器（1-10千瓦）。对这些小型机器的流动条件和设计的了解相对不发达。需要先进的分析工具来推动未来的设计创新，如小翼和弯曲-扭曲耦合叶片，适用于所有尺度。还需要更好的数值优化技术，应用于完全耦合的多学科气动弹性问题。拟议的研究计划旨在解决这些领域，总结如下：

The unsteady, aeroelastic behaviour of wind turbines and their cost sensitivity poses unique design challenges not found elsewhere. Notwithstanding great strides made in designing increasingly large wind turbines, there remains large uncertainty in analysis predictions, particularly in the areas of aerodynamics and non-linear structural response. Adequate aerodynamic validation data is conspicuously lacking. The sheer size of utility-scale machines can create technical and social impediments. One alternative that is often espoused is to install small machines (1-10's kW) locally to end-use locations. Knowledge of the flow conditions and design of these smaller machines is relatively undeveloped. Advanced analysis tools are required to drive future design innovations, such as winglets and bend-twist coupled blades, across all scales. Better numerical optimization techniques, applied to the fully coupled multidisciplinary aeroelastic problem, are also needed. The proposed research program is aimed at addressing these areas, summarized as follows: