A Fluid-Structure Interaction Study in Wind-Turbine Blades

当前叶片技术的局限性构成了进一步降低风能成本的技术障碍。叶片制造是劳动密集型的，需要高素质的人力，这一瓶颈反映在随着涡轮机尺寸的增加，转子成本所占份额的增加。巨大的尺寸差异使从风洞到原型尺度的实验数据外推变得复杂。因此，引入新的技术解决方案，在不影响可靠性的情况下提高叶片设计、制造和运输物流的经济性，关键是减少与叶片气动弹性动力学相关的不确定性。这项研究的目的是通过改进流固相互作用过程的数学计算模型来更好地理解潜在的物理过程。在这个虚拟测试环境中，创新的原型叶片可以在真实的全尺寸条件下进行测试，计算成本合理，它将在一个并行的HPC超级计算机平台上结合两个先进的数值模型：使用涡度-速度自适应算法的非定常分离流模型；以及使用叶片截面降维技术的非均匀复合梁结构响应模型。智力优势：这项工作的智力价值在于为复杂的流固耦合问题提供了计算数学模型，这些问题在风力机叶片设计中起着关键作用，也为更好地理解基本物理提供了基本工具。除了与涡轮机械发展的明确相关性外，研究流体-结构相互作用的非线性动力学还提供了对一个广泛出现在许多科学学科和工程学几个分支中的广泛物理主题的见解。如果由于某种机制的内在运行，在物体的相对运动中增加了旋转分量，那么科学挑战就更大了。这些现象表现在广泛的范围内，为科学发现和丰富的技术应用提供了极好的机会。广泛的影响：这项工作将推动风能技术的产业发展，同时通过激励工程学学生在应用数学和计算力学的前沿领导研究，促进本科生和研究生的教与学。这项工作还将通过与该地区的一家高科技公司协作开展的协同活动，对风力涡轮机叶片技术的发展产生变革性影响。除了对当地经济做出贡献外，这些活动还将帮助学生从工业环境中获得经验。这项工作本质上扩大了代表不足的群体参与研究的范围：参与该项目的PI和博士生都来自代表不足的群体。

0933058PontaLimitations in the current blade technology constitute a technological barrier to further reductions in wind-energy cost. Blade manufacturing is labor-intensive and requires highly-qualified manpower, a bottleneck that reflects into the increasing share of the cost of the rotor as turbine size increases. Huge size differences complicate extrapolation of experimental data from the wind tunnel to the prototype scale. Hence, a key to introduce new technological solutions that improve the economics of blade design, manufacturing and transport logistics, without compromising reliability, is to reduce the uncertainties related to blade aeroelastic dynamics. The objective of the proposed research is to get a better understanding of the underlying physics through improved mathematical computational models of the fluid-structure interaction process. This Virtual Test Environment where innovative prototype blades may be tested at realistic full-scale conditions, with a reasonable computational cost, would combine two advanced numerical models in a parallel HPC supercomputer platform: A model of the unsteady separated flow using Vorticity-Velocity Self-Adaptive algorithms; and a model of the structural response of heterogeneous composite beams using Dimensional-Reduction techniques on the blade sections.Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of this work is the advancement of computational mathematical models for the complex fluid-structure interaction problems that play a critical role in wind-turbine blade design, providing also a fundamental tool for a better understanding of the underlying physics. Besides its clear relevance to turbo-machinery development, studying the nonlinear dynamics of fluid-structure interaction provides insights into a widespread physical topic which makes appearances in many scientific disciplines and several branches of Engineering. In cases where a rotational component is added to the relative motion of a body due to the intrinsic operation of a certain mechanism, the scientific challenge is still greater. These phenomena manifest themselves at a wide range of scales and present excellent opportunities for scientific discovery with a richness of technical application.Broader Impacts: This work will advance industrial development in wind-energy technology while promoting teaching and learning at both the undergraduate and graduate levels by motivating engineering students to lead research at the frontiers of applied mathematics and computational mechanics. This work would also have transformative effects in the development of wind turbine blade technology through synergistic activities in collaboration with a high-tech company located in the region. Besides contributing to the local economy, these activities would help students gain experience from an industrial setting. This work intrinsically broadens the participation of underrepresented groups in research: both the PI and the PhD students involved in this project are from under-represented groups.