This paper examines the operating modes of a two-bladed wind turbine structural model. Because of the gyroscopic asymmetry of its rotor, this turbine’s dynamics can be quite distinct from that of a turbine with three or more blades. This asymmetry leads to system equations with periodic coefficients that must be solved by the Floquet approach to extract the correct modal parameters. A discussion of results is presented for a series of simple models with increasing complexity. We begin with a single-degree-of-freedom system and progress to a model with seven degrees-of-freedom: tower fore-aft bending, tower lateral bending, tower twist, nacelle yaw, hub teeter, and flapwise bending of each blade. Results illustrate how the turbine modes become more dominated by the centrifugal and gyroscopic effects as the rotor speed increases. Parametric studies are performed by varying precone angle, teeter stiffness, yaw stiffness, teeter damping, and yaw damping properties. Under certain levels of yaw stiffness or damping, the gyroscopic coupling may cause yaw and teeter mode coalescence, resulting in self-excited dynamic instabilities. Teeter damping is the only parameter found to strictly stabilize the turbine model.
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November 2002
Technical Papers
Floquet Modal Analysis of a Teetered-Rotor Wind Turbine
Karl Stol,
Karl Stol
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, National Wind Technology Center, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393
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Mark Balas,
Mark Balas
Department of Aerospace Engineering Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0429
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Gunjit Bir
Gunjit Bir
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, National Wind Technology Center, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393
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Karl Stol
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, National Wind Technology Center, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393
Mark Balas
Department of Aerospace Engineering Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0429
Gunjit Bir
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, National Wind Technology Center, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393
Contributed by the Solar Energy Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for publication in the ASME JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING. Manuscript received by the ASME Solar Energy Division, May 2001, final revision, March 2002. Associate Editor: D. Berg.
J. Sol. Energy Eng. Nov 2002, 124(4): 364-371 (8 pages)
Published Online: November 8, 2002
Article history
Received:
May 1, 2001
Revised:
March 1, 2002
Online:
November 8, 2002
Citation
Stol, K., Balas, M., and Bir, G. (November 8, 2002). "Floquet Modal Analysis of a Teetered-Rotor Wind Turbine ." ASME. J. Sol. Energy Eng. November 2002; 124(4): 364–371. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1504846
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