CAREER: A Multidisciplinary Framework for Innovative Design of Wind Turbines

随着对能源独立性的重新重视，提高当前和未来发电技术的可靠性、效率和性能的需求日益增加。很明显，风力涡轮机技术将在确保国家能源独立方面发挥至关重要的作用。然而，风力发电机叶片结构失效导致维修成本高、运行间歇性等问题十分普遍，对作用于风力发电机叶片的非定常气动力的准确预测仍是一个难题。将注意力集中在新型高保真分析和设计技术的发展上是至关重要的，这些技术的速度要比目前可用的技术快10到100倍。该项目将整合研究和教育，研究和设计风力涡轮机设计技术的新方法，大大降低计算成本，同时培养下一代风能工程师。该项目将通过为创新的风力涡轮机设计建立一种优雅的方法来提高对复杂的多物理场的理解。该计划的教育部分将侧重于培养将拟议的研究转化为实际应用的学生。本项目将通过开发和应用两种非常有效的计算方法，即“多频”谐波平衡法和伴随法，研究风力涡轮机的非定常气动建模和快速设计，并将其用于优化算法中，以设计具有改进气动，气动弹性和气动声学特性的创新风力涡轮机。此外，灵敏度信息将用于量化非定常流动预测中的不确定性。为风力涡轮机开发的设计优化方法直接适用于航空发动机和陆基发电机中使用的涡轮机械。目前的设计可以改进，以提高燃油效率，更好的空气力学特性，并提高安全性。更广泛的影响教育和推广计划包括风力工程课程和风力涡轮机空气动力学和空气弹性课程的发展。其他活动包括培训下一代研究人员，让本科生参与尖端研究，以及参加针对高中教师和K-12学生的暑期拓展项目。外联工作将通过与已成立的教师和科学教育教授以及工程学院学术和学生事务办公室的合作得到加强。最后，在这个项目中开发的计算工具的可执行版本将提供给有兴趣的各方供研究使用。

PI: Kivanc EkiciInstitution: University of Tennessee-KnoxvilleTitle: CAREER: A Multidisciplinary Framework for Innovative Design of Wind Turbines With renewed emphasis on energy independence, there is an increased need to improve the reliability, efficiency and performance of current and future power generation technologies. It is clear that the wind turbine technology will play a vital role in ensuring the nation's energy independence. However, structural failure of wind turbine blades leading to high maintenance costs and intermittent operation is common, and accurate prediction of unsteady aerodynamic forces acting on wind turbine blades remains elusive. It is critical to focus attention on the development of novel high fidelity analysis and design techniques that are 10 to 100 times faster than what is currently available. This project will integrate research and education to investigate and devise novel methods for wind turbine design technology with greatly decreased computational cost, while educating next generation of wind energy engineers. The project will improve complex multi-physics understanding by establishing an elegant approach for innovative wind turbine designs. The education component of the plan will focus on training students who translate the proposed research into real-world applications.Intellectual MeritThis project will investigate unsteady aerodynamic modeling and rapid design of wind turbines by developing and applying two very efficient computational methods - a "multi-frequency" harmonic balance method and an adjoint method - which will be used in an optimization algorithm to design innovative wind turbines with improved aerodynamic, aeroelastic, and aeroacoustic characteristics. Furthermore, sensitivity information will be used to quantify uncertainty in unsteady flow predictions. Design optimization methods developed for wind turbines are directly applicable to turbomachinery used in aircraft engines and land-based power generators. Current designs may be improved for increased fuel efficiency, better aeromechanic characteristics, and increased safety. Broader ImpactsThe educational and outreach plan includes development of a wind engineering course and a wind turbine aerodynamics and aeroelasticity course. Other activities include training of next-generation researchers, involving undergraduate students in cutting-edge research, and participating in summer outreach programs that target high school teachers and K-12 students. Outreach efforts will be augmented by collaborations with an established Professor of Teacher and Science Education and the College of Engineering's Office of Academic and Student Affairs. Finally, an executable version of computational tools developed in this project will be made available to interested parties for research use.