Hybrid Modeling

Inverse analysis of wind turbines through vibration monitoring

Wind turbines are exposed to higly variable and irregular environmental conditions. Not suprisingly, fatigue poses the main design driver of these structures. In this work, the utilization of monitoring systems for response estimation and subsequent fatigue assessment of wind turbine support structures is investigated via vibration monitoring.

The monitoring of vibrations at optimally chosen locations, combined with the information ostemming from a reduced order numerical representation of the structure, can provide reliable estimates of the strain time histories at unmeasured critical locations. Whithin the proposed framework, this task is accomplished by means of recently-developed output-only Kalman-type algorithms, which are able to provide joint input and state estimation of structural systems.

Numerical aero-elastic simulations of wind turbines in operational conditions are carried out for the generation of vibration data. By exploiting physics-based models, sparse measurements are translated into denser stress estimates across the body of the structure, including unmeasured hotspot locations. Fatigue damage accumulation is then esimated at these points. The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed monitoring formulation, as a tool for fatigue-life prediction and optimal maintenance schemes, is assessed.

For further information, contact: Konstantinos Tatsis