Energy xxx (2015) 1e9

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Energy
journal ho mepa ge: w w w . els ev ier. c o m / l o c a t e / e n e r g y

Aeroelastic coupling analysis of the flexible blade of a wind turbine

*
Wenwei Mo, Deyuan Li
, Xianneng Wang, Cantang Zhong
School of Electromechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China

a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 31 January 2015
Received in revised form This paper presents an aeroelastic coupling analysis of the flexible blade of a large scale HAWT (hori-
22 April 2015 zontal axis wind turbine). To model the flexibility of the blade more accurately, ‘SE’ (super-element) is
Accepted 15 June 2015
introduced to the blade dynamics model. The flexible blade is discretized into a MBS (multi-body
Available online xxx
system) using a limited number of SEs. The blade bending vibration and torsional deflection are both
considered when calculating the aerodynamic loads; thus, the BEM (blade element momentum) theory
Keywords:
used in this study is modified. In addition, the BeL (BeddoeseLeishman) dynamic stall model is
Wind turbine
integrated into the BEM-modified model to investigate the airfoil dynamic stall characteristics. The
Flexible blade
Super-element
nonlinear governing equations of the constrained blade MBS are derived based on the theory of MBS
Multi-body system dynamics coupling with the blade aerodynamics model. The time domain aeroelastic responses of the
Dynamic stall United States NREL (Na- tional Renewable Energy Laboratory) offshore 5-MW wind turbine blade are
Aeroelastic coupling obtained. The simulation results indicate that blade vibration and deformation have significant effects
on the aerodynamic loads, and the dynamic stall can cause more violent fluctuation for the blade
aerodynamic loads compared with the steady aerodynamic model, which can considerably affect the
blade fatigue load spectrum analysis and the fatigue life design.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
* Corresponding author.
Under the excitations of mechanical loads, such as aerodynamic E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Li).
loads and gravity, random vibration of wind turbine blades would
occur. With the increasing unit capacity of wind turbines, blades
are becoming longer (e.g., the NREL (National Renewable Energy
Laboratory) 5-MW wind turbine blade has very large aspect ratio)
[1]. Furthermore, blades are usually made of composite materials
with low Young's modulus and stiffness; therefore, blade magni-
tude of deformation is beyond the scope of assumption for small
blade deflection [2]. In this case, the blade operates in unsteady
conditions because of the blade vibration. The unsteady conditions
can cause the following effects: the feedback of blade vibration and
the relatively large deflection on the aerodynamic loads cannot be
ignored, and the feedback needs to be quantifiably analyzed. The
blades generally work in a high angle of attack or even in severe
stall conditions when the vibration and deformation increase. The
unsteady characteristics of the blade airfoil dynamic stall need to be
simulated accurately, which is the basis of the blade dynamic
aerodynamic load calculation [3]. Aeroelastic coupling analysis

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 based on the unsteady aerodynamic model of a flexible blade decline of blade fatigue life. Research conducted by Shipley [6]
is essential for the blade aerodynamics and structural design as showed that a dynamic stall could cause more violent fluctuation
well as the fatigue life design. W. Mo et al. / Energy xxx (2015)
for aerodynamic loads. Due to the complication of airflow flow,
2 1e9
When operating in a random wind condition, the angle of there have not been any completely accurate theoretical models
attack of a blade airfoil is time varying. If the blade torsional to simulate the airfoil unsteady aero- dynamic response. The
deformation and vibration increase, a hysteresis phenomenon semi-empirical models based on the experimental summary are
and dynamic stall will occur [4]. In this case the aerodynamic often used [7e9], including the incompressible Theodorsen thin
coefficients will considerably deviate from their static values. For wing model [10], the Onera Edlin model and the BeL
example, the error between the predicted data and the measured (BeddoeseLeishman) model, etc. [11,12]. Although the
data is approxi- mately 15%e20% for a NREL Combined development of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) makes it
Experiment turbine [5], which means that the energy output possible to calculate the airfoil aerodynamic response under
reduces by up to 20%. The hysteresis of aerodynamic loads operating conditions, its practical application in the blade
will in turn cause more violent vibration, resulting in the

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 aeroelastic coupling analysis of wind turbines does not seem The blade is discretized into a series of rigid bodies along the
possible in the near future because of its extensive cost of calcu- span, and it is assumed that the profile of each rigid body consists of
lation and complicated solving process [13]. At present, applying the same airfoil. According to the blade element theory, when the
semi-empirical models to calculate the unsteady aerodynamic
spanwise length of the blade element is small enough, the spanwise
loads are still the dominant method, among which the BeL model
flow of the airstream can be neglected, and aerodynamic loads (lift
receives much attention and recognition [14]. Liu et al. [3,4,7] and
and drag) are uniformly distributed along the span; they act on the
Dai et al. [13] adopted the BeL model to analyze the dynamic
quarter chord point or the AC (aerodynamic center). When the
aerodynamic loads of blades and investigated the unsteady
angle of attack is obtained, the airfoil steady lift CL(a), drag CD(a)
characteristics.
and moment coefficients CM(a) can be computed by interpolating
Wind turbine blades have complicated time-varying MBS
the steady aerodynamic data. Then, the lift Li, drag Di and moment
(multi-body system) coupling nonlinear airflow flow and blade
Mi loads per unit length on each blade rigid body can be calculated
elastic deformation. In addition, the interactive effects between
according to the blade element theory. Thus, the lift FL, drag FD and
blade vibration and aerodynamic loads involve the simultaneous
moment Maero exerted on the AC of the rigid body Bi can be ob-
solution for the blade dynamics equations, which are a set of time-
tained as
varying DAEs (differential and algebraic equations). Hence the
blade mechanics model needs to be analyzed with fewer DOFs FL ¼ Li x li ; F D ¼ Di x l i ; Maero ¼ Mi x li (1)
(degrees of freedom). To discretize the components, which undergo
spatial motion and elastic deformation, Molenaar [15], Zhao [16] where li is the spanwise length of rigid body Bi.
and Holierhoek [17] introduced a ‘super-element;’ thus, it is suit- When the infinitesimal span dr, an infinitesimal span of the
able for the mechanical modeling of MBS with flexible components spanwise length of a rigid body, rotates in a circle about the rotor
[18]. Li et al. [19] discretized flexible components such as wind axis, the thrust dT and the torque dQ on this annular element are
turbine blades and towers into a series of rigid bodies connected obtained by the equations below:
with joints, springs and dampers by applying the super-element
mentioned above. They then established the aeroelastic coupling dT ¼ 0:5BrcW2ðCL ðaÞcos f þ CDðaÞsin fÞdr (2)
equations of the rigid-flexible MBS of wind turbines using the
theory of MBS dynamics, the Roberson-Wittenburg modeling
methodology, and the BEM (blade element momentum) theory. dQ ¼ 0:5BrcW2ðCL ðaÞsin f - CDðaÞcos fÞrdr (3)
Eventually, the time domain aeroelastic coupling response was
obtained for a wind turbine via numerical simulation. where B is the number of blades, c is the sectional chord length, r
Taking account the aeroelastic coupling, the present studies is the density, W is the sectional relative velocity of airflow, r is
introduce the airfoil vibrational velocity and the torsional deflec- the radial distance from the rotational axis to the infinitesimal span
tion of a flexible blade in the calculation of the inflow angle and the dr, and f is the inflow angle.
angle of attack. Thus, the BEM model is correspondingly modified. The momentum theory further introduces the 3-D airstream
To investigate the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics, the BEM- flow, the tangential induction factor a0 and the axial induction
modified model incorporates with the BeL dynamic stall model. factor a. Furthermore, the tip loss and hub loss models by Prandtl
Based on the blade MBS model and the aerodynamics model, an are introduced to correct the aerodynamic load calculation when
analysis on the time domain aeroelastic coupling responses of the considering the airstream vortex characteristics on the blade tip
blade is completed. The effects of blade torsional deflection and and hub. Thus, the thrust dT and the torque dQ on this annular
bending vibration on the aerodynamic loads are quantifiably element are given as:
analyzed. The comparison and analysis on the simulation results
clearly indicate the significance and necessity of considering the dT ¼ 4prrU2∞ð1 - aÞaFdr (4)
blade flexibility and the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics in
the blade aerodynamic load calculation during the blade design 0
dQ ¼ 4pr3rU∞Uð1 - aÞa Fdr (5)
stage.
where F denotes the combined factor which includes the blade tip
2. BEM modified model and BeL model
loss and hub loss, whose value can be found in Ref. [20]. The
aerodynamic parameters involved in this BEM theory are shown in
Wind speed changes with time and altitude during blade
Fig. 1.
operation. The airstream flows along the spanwise and chordwise
directions and flow separation and vortex shedding may occur. If In this article, the effects of blade torsional deformation and
bending vibration on the aerodynamic forces embody in the effects
the blade motion combines with the blade bending vibrations
of out-of-plane and in-plane velocities on the inflow angle f and
(i.e., in-plane vibration and out-of-plane vibration) and the
torsional vibration, a blade unsteady aerodynamic effect will the angle of attack a, yielding:
occur. The un- steady aerodynamic loads can be numerically
calculated via the BEM modified model integrating the BeL
dynamic stall model.

2.1. BEM modified theory (used in steady analysis)

Usually, blade profiles consist of a series of airfoils with

different aerodynamic characteristics along the span.
Conventionally, the BEM modified theory is applied to
compute the steady aero- dynamic loads. This theory combines
the blade element theory and the momentum theory. It is widely
used in aerodynamic analysis of wind turbines due to its Fig. 1. Aerodynamic parameters of airfoil cross section and body-fixed
relatively simple calculation process and reliable calculation coordinate system of the aerodynamic center of rigid body Bi.
result.

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 W. Mo et al. / Energy xxx (2015)
1e9 3
U∞ð1 - aÞ þ fCa ðtÞ ¼ A0 - A1 expð - b1 sÞ - A2 expð - b2 sÞ (12)
tan f ¼ (6)
Veop 0
Urð1 þ a Þ þ Veip where constantsA0, A1, A2, b1 and b2 can be obtained by the
a ¼ f - qðtÞ (7) experimental data fitting with values of 1.0, 0.3, 0.7, 0.14 and 0.53,
respectively [4]. s is the non-dimensional time constant.
where Ve-op and Ve-ip are the out-of-plane and in-plane velocities,
respectively, and q(t) is the torsional angle of the blade airfoil. In s ¼ 2 1 - M 2 Wt (13)
the conventional steady analysis of aerodynamic loads, q(t) is the
local blade pitch, which is the combination of the pitch angle and
where M is the Mach number; W is the combined speed; t is the
the blade twist. If the value of the pitch angle remains zero, q is
airfoil relative thickness.
usually constant. However, in this paper, q(t) is time-varying
because it also includes the The non-circulatory normal force coefficient C IN has the impul-
blade torsional deformation caused by the time-varying sive characteristic as
aerodynamic
torsional moment, which is neglected in the conventional I 4 I
steady analysis. Eqs. (6) and (7) reflect the essence of aeroelastic N
coupling.
C ðtÞ ¼
By combining Eqs. (1) through (7) and the lift and drag aero- MfaðtÞDa (14)
dynamic data of the 2-D airfoil, the converged value of the angle
of
attack
detailedatiteration
each time step can
process was be obtained in
introduced through iteration.
Ref. [20]. The
The aero- fI
where fI aðtÞ is the non-circulatory indicial function,
aðtÞ ¼ expð-t=TJ Þ, and JT ¼ c/v
c
. c is the sectional chord length, and
dynamic loads can be computed by integrating the aerodynamic vc is the local sound velocity.
loads of the annular element along the entire span. The normal force coefficient CN can then be obtained by adding
the circulatory normal force coefficient C C N
and the non-circulatory
2.2. BeddoeseLeishman dynamic stall model (used in normal force coefficient CI N.
unsteady analysis)
CN ðtÞ ¼ CC ðtÞ þ CI ðtÞ (15)
N N
The original BeL model includes the 2-D inviscid wake, the
The tangential force coefficient CT is determined by the circu-
leading edge separation, the trailing edge separation and the
latory term,
compressibility effects [11]; therefore, it is widely used in helicopter
aerodynamics. The Danish Risø National Laboratory developed a
more simplified and practical version for the original BeL model
CT ðtÞ ¼ CNaðtÞaE2 (16)
that neglected the compressibility effects and flow separation
initiating from the leading edge, according to the operating condi-
tion of wind turbine airfoils [13]. The body-fixed coordinate system 2.2.2. Dynamic decay in the movement of the separation
XYZ on the airfoil AC is used in the BeL model, so the point of unsteady separated flow
aerodynamic The flow separation on the airfoil surface can lead to circulation
force components are the normal force coefficient CN and the loss and consequently to the reduction of the aerodynamic co-
tangential force coefficient CT. Hence, the steady aerodynamic data efficients (compared with the attached flow). The position of the
CL and CD need to be transformed into the AC coordinate system. separation point on the airfoil surface can be represented by a
variable f. f ¼ x/c, where x is the point of flow separation
N ¼ CL cos a þ CD sin a
C st (8) measured from the leading edge, and c is the sectional chord
length. Ac- cording to the Kirchhoff theory, the nonlinear
functional relation- ship between the aerodynamic force
CTst ¼ CL sin a - CD cos a (9)
coefficients and flow separation point is defined as:

2.2.1. Unsteady attached flow state pffi ffi!2

For the attached flow, the wake separation effect and the 1þ f
airstream acceleration effect on the normal force coefficient are (17)
CN ðtÞ ¼ CNaða - a0 Þ
mainly considered. These effects are represented by the 2
circulatory normal force coefficient
N C C and the non-circulatory
normal force
coefficient CIN , respectively. CT ðtÞ ¼ pffi
CNa ða
ffi- (18)
The lay characteristic of the circulatory normal force a0 ÞtgðaÞ f
coefficient
C due to the change in the angle of attack is represented as:
CN
where CNa is the normal force coefficient curve slope of the steady
aerodynamic data, and a is the angle of attack.
C ðtÞ ¼ CNa ðaE - a0 Þ (10) For the steady analysis, the values of normal and tangential
CN
steady separation point positions corresponding to a series angle
where aE is the effective angle of attack, a0 is the zero-lift angle of of attacks can be calculated by solving the inversion equations of
attack, CNa is the normal force coefficient curve slope of the steady Eqs.
aerodynamic data, which is a function of both the angle of attack, a, (17) and (18).
and the Reynolds number, Re. CNa can be obtained by fitting the In the BeL model, there exists the unsteady boundary layer
steady airfoil characteristic curve. The effective angle of attack aE response. Its effect on the static effective separation point fs can
can be calculated using the following equation: be represented by a first order lag equation:

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 W. Mo et al. / Energy xxx (2015)
4 1e9 df fs-
aEn ¼ an-1 þ fC ðtÞDa (11) (19)
ds f
a ¼
Tf

where aEn is the effective angle of attack at time step n, an-1 is where f is the dynamic separation point position. Tf is the semi-
the angle of attack at the time step n-1, Da ¼ an-an-1, and
a fC ðtÞ empirical time constant in s space, and Tf ¼ 3.0 in the present pa-
is the circulatory indicial function as: per [4].

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 W. Mo et al. / Energy xxx (2015)
1e9 5
To obtain the dynamic f, the effective angle of attack needs to be
2.2.4. Numerical calculation process of the BeL model
computed first. Hence, the offset of angle of attack due to the lag in
At the initial moment of calculation, CL and CD use the static
the leading edge pressure response is taken into account. A first
values. The computed results of the previous loop are the initial
order lag equation is used to represent the lag effect on the normal
values for the next loop. The converged, unsteady values CL and CD
force coefficient of the attached flow.
can be obtained after a period of iteration. Fig. 2 displays the flow
chart of the numerical calculation of the BeddoeseLeishman
dC0 ðtÞ 0
N ¼ CN ðtÞ - C N (20)
model [4].
ds ðtÞ
3. Multi-body dynamics model of a flexible blade
Tp
where Tp is an empirical time constant set to 1.7 [4].
Then, the effective angle of attack af can be obtained by the Large-scale wind turbine blades have a long, thin and twisted
equation below: profile with a sectional shape and size that varies along the span.
C0NðtÞ The blade is discretized into a MBS using the ‘super-element,’
af ¼ þ a0 (21) and the adjacent rigid bodies of the system are connected with
CNa cardan or revolute joints with springs and dampers [15e18].
Once af is obtained from Eq. (21), the value of the static Thus, the lateral and torsional deformation can be described
effective separation point fs can be calculated by interpolating by a limited number of DOFs. In this article, the multi-body
the steady separation points. Then, the dynamic separation point f dynamics model of a blade is established by applying the
can be obtained from Eq. (19). The normal and tangential force Roberson-Wittenburg stylized modeling methodology of multi-
coefficients body dynamics.
f f
C
N and CT including the unsteady separation effect can be obtained
by solving Eqs. (17) and (18), respectively, when the steady real- 3.1. Discretization of a flexible blade
time angle of attack a is substituted by the effective angle of
attack aE. For NREL 5-MW HAWT (horizontal axis wind turbine)
blade, 4 super-elements are used to build the blade topological
configura- tion, as shown in Fig. 3. Since the last rigid body in a
super-element is rigidly connected to the first rigid body of
2.2.3. Vortex effect of the unsteady separated flow
the next adjacent super-element, these two rigid bodies can be
When flow separation occurs, the effects of vortex build-up
merged into one rigid
and shedding should be considered. The magnitude of the
body (the merged bodies are shown in Fig. 3 as B4, B7 and B10).
vortex normal force coefficient cv(t) is defined as the difference
Consequently, a blade is divided into 13 rigid bodies with 21 total
between
the unsteady circulatory normal force coefficient C CN and the un- DOFs. The expressions of spring stiffness coefficients including the
f
steady normal force coefficient C N. bending and torsional springs are introduced in Ref. [16], while the
values of these coefficients can be found in Ref. [19].
f
cvðtÞ ¼ CC ðtÞ - C ðtÞ (22)
N N 3.2. Dynamics equations of MBS of a constrained blade
Furthermore, the total accumulated vortex normal force coeffi-
cient is allowed to exponentially decay with time, but it may also be Using the rotational DOFs of each joint in the blade as gener-
updated with new vortex lift feed. Hence, the variation character- alized coordinates, the vector of generalized coordinates
istic of C v can be represented by the following equation: describing the topological configuration of the blade is obtained
N
as:
T
qðtÞ ¼ ðq1; …; q21Þ (29)
dCv
ðtÞ dcv ð t Þ v

N ¼ - CN ðtÞ
ds ds
(23)
Tv

where Tv is an empirical time constant set to 6.0 in this study [4].

The vortex effect on the tangential force coefficient is given by
Cv v
T ðtÞ ¼ CN ðtÞaf ð1 - tvÞ (24)

where tv is the non-dimensional time parameter that is estimated

from experimental data and experience.
From the above, the total normal force coefficient and the
tangential force coefficient can be written as:
f
Cd v I
N ðtÞ ¼ CN ðtÞ þ CN ðtÞ þ CN ðtÞ (25)

f
Cd v
T ðtÞ ¼ CT ðtÞ þ CT ðtÞ (26)
The unsteady lift and drag coefficients C d and C d
are then
L D
calculated from resolving C d and C d into components perpendic-
N T
ular and parallel to the direction of the sectional relative velocity of
airflow, and adding the minimum steady drag coefficient CD0.
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C d ðtÞ d a þ Cdð
¼ CN
L dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.06.046
T
ðtÞcos
 W. Mo et al. / Energy xxx (2015)
6 1e9

tÞsin a (27)

tÞcos a þ CD0 (28) Fig. 2. Flow chart of the numerical calculation of the BeddoeseLeishman model.

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 W. Mo et al. / Energy xxx (2015)
1e9 7
According to the virtual work principle, the dynamics differen-
tial equations of the blade MBS are derived as:

Zq€ - z ¼ 0 (30)
Ref. [21] introduced the detailed expression and derivation
method for the generalized mass matrix Z and the generalized
force vector z. Hence, they are not introduced in this paper.
During operation, the blade rotational speed is subject to a
driving constraint, so the constraint equations are introduced into
the dynamics equations. The number of independent constraint
equations of the system s is:

T
F ¼ ðF1 ; …; FsÞ ¼ 0 (31)
The number of independent variables of the system-generalized
coordinates is d, d ¼ 21-s. Coupling Eqs. (30) and (31), the
dynamical equations of the blade MBS with Lagrange multipliers
can be given as:

Zq€ ¼ z - FT l
q (32)
Fðq; tÞ ¼ 0
Fig. 4. Flow chart of the aeroelastic coupling analysis.
where Fq is the system constraint Jacobian matrix, l is the
Lagrange multiplier vector,
q and -FTl represents the
contributions from all
velocity at the next time step. The obtained velocities are then
ideal constraint forces between bodies. The dynamical equations applied to find the aerodynamic forces at the next time step. With
are closed DAEs (differential-algebraic equations). The BSM this method, the aerodynamic forces and the structural response
(Baumgarte stabilization method) [21] is used to solve the DAEs. at each time step can be determined, and the code will run until
All of the generalized coordinates and Lagrange multipliers are
the termination time tend.
treated as unknown variables; then, the DAEs can be written as a In this study, it is assumed that the blade rotates at the rated
closed set of equations with more variables than Eq. (30).
( \( ( \ (33) angular speed, so the constraint equation can be written as
Z FTq z
\ ¼
q€
Fq 0 l x - 2aF_ - F ¼ q1 u e t ¼ 0 (34)
b2 F -
where x ¼ -ðFq q_ Þq q_ - 2Fqt q_ - Ftt and F and F_ are the
where the generalized coordinate q1 is the rotation of the blade
default of
the
2aFcoordinate
_ and velocity, respectively. The correction terms,

and b2F, will take effect automatically when the default occurs.
The empirical values of a or b are between 5 and 50. When a ¼
b, the stabilization response time is much shorter [21]. The
process for numerically solving Eq. (33) is as follows: q€ and l
are obtained by solving Eq. (33) using the method for solving
algebraic equations; then, q_ and q can be numerically obtained
by integrating q€.

4. Aeroelastic code development

Fig. 3. Regular mark numbers of each rigid body, the inertial coordinate system XYZ
The blade aeroelastic coupling equation must be solved by nu- and the blade coordinate system X0 Y0 Z0 .
merical integration due to its high nonlinear property. Fig. 4 dis-
plays the coupling process between the blade MBS model and
the aerodynamics model. During the simulation, unsteady aero-
dynamic forces are calculated at each time step. These forces are
treated as external forces and applied to the MBS model to
compute the values of the generalized coordinate and the
generalized

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 W. Mo et al. / Energy xxx (2015)
8 with respect to the axis of rotor and ue is the rated angular
1e9 speed
(12.1 rpm in this work). For variable speed wind turbines, the
blade rotational speed varies with the wind speed, so Eq. (34)
will be changed into a nonlinear constraint equation. In
this study,
a ¼ b ¼ 10, while the integral accuracy is 10-4.

5. Numerical results and analysis of aeroelastic

coupling

5.1. Feedback of torsional deformation and vibration of

flexible blades on the aerodynamic loads

For the conventional analysis of blade aerodynamic loads,

the feedback of torsional deformation and the vibration of
flexible blades on the aerodynamic loads are generally
neglected. However, during the operation of flexible blades of
large-scale wind turbines, the random aerodynamic and
mechanical loads will cause consid- erably large torsional
deformation and vibration, which will couple with the blade
aerodynamic loads. Thus, the aeroelastic-coupling
phenomenon of flexible blades will be more obvious. Two
different blade models are built in the present article: the first
blade model (the 1st model) includes the aeroelastic coupling
(i.e., taking into account the feedback), whereas the second
blade model (the 2nd model) neglects the aeroelastic coupling.
The blade of a NREL 5-MW wind turbine is chosen as the
research subject. The aero- dynamic load differences under
rated operating conditions be- tween these two models are
quantifiably analyzed to investigate the feedback degree of
blade vibration and the deformation on the aerodynamic loads.
The post-process module of the simulation code can analyze
the internal forces and the deformation of dangerous cross
sections. The blade structural and aerodynamic

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1e9 9
properties can be found in Ref. [1]. It is assumed that the mean
wind speed at the height of the hub is the rated wind speed (11.4
m/s), and the impulsive variation of random wind is also
taken into account.
The feedback of the blade torsional deformation and the
bending vibration on the aerodynamic loads are analyzed in
terms of the blade root bending moments, the displacements of
the blade tip and the variation of the angle of attack of each
rigid body within the blade MBS. For the second blade model,
the simulation code intro- duced in Section 2 in this paper must
be partly modified as follows:
(a) All values of the spring stiffness coefficients of the
revolute joint in each super-element must be set to extremely
large values in the simulation code (i.e., neglecting the torsional
deformation). In this case, the expression of the angle of attack,
Eq. (7), is written as:

ai ðtÞ ¼ fðtÞ - qi0 (35)

where ai(t) is the real-time angle of attack of rigid body Bi, and qi0
is the twist of the airfoil section within the rigid body.
(b) The blade bending vibrational velocities are not considered
when computing the inflow angle fðtÞ of the second blade model.
Eq. (6) is written as:
U∞ð1 - aÞ commonly referred as ‘dynamic stall.’ In such case the stall angle
tan f ¼ (36)
0
Urð1 þ a Þ of attack and the lift and drag

The dynamic simulations of the random aeroelastic responses

of the two blade models are carried out based on the BEM
modified theory. Fig. 5a and b shows the time domain responses
of in-plane and out-of-plane deflections of the blade tip,
respectively. From these two figures it is clear that the bending
deflections and vi- bration amplitudes of the blade model,
neglecting the aeroelastic coupling, are considerately larger
than those of the other blade model.
Fig. 6 shows the curves of the time-varying angle of attacks of
a cross section of these two blade models. The mean of the
calcula- tion result of the blade model neglecting the aeroelastic
coupling increases by 0.530 compared with the first blade model.
Fig. 7a and b displays the time domain responses of the edge-
wise and flapwise blade root bending moments, respectively.
Table 1 shows the analysis results on the aeroelastic coupling
effect. From Table 1, the blade root flapwise bending moment of
the sec- ond blade model increases by 18.81% compared with
the first blade model, while the displacement of the blade tip
increases by 25.63% with more violent fluctuation. The
considerable differences mainly occur because the blade
vibration and torsional deformation have significant effects on
the angle of attack. Thus, the aerodynamic forces computed by
these two blade models are different, resulting in the
considerable differences of the blade bending deflections and the
blade root bending moments.
For the large-scale wind turbines, the coupling between the
flexible blade torsional deformation and vibration and the aero-
dynamic loads should be considered to more accurately predict
the aerodynamic loads. This is essential for the optimum
design of wind turbines.

5.2. Calculation of airfoil dynamic aerodynamic loads

Accurate analysis of dynamic aerodynamic loads is the basis

for the design and verification of large-scale wind turbines, while
the precise modeling of blade unsteady aerodynamic
characteristics is the prerequisite for dynamic aerodynamic load
analysis for wind turbines. When an airfoil undergoes random
motion, a complicated stall decay phenomenon occurs,
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1 1e9

Fig. 5. The time domain responses of the blade tip: (a) in-plane deflection; (b) out-
of- plane deflection.

coefficients will deviate from their static values. Therefore, it

is necessary to establish an accurate unsteady aerodynamic
model to compute the dynamic aerodynamic loads of wind
turbines. In this article, the numerical simulation of the airfoil
dynamic stall char- acteristics of a HAWT is realized based on
the BeddoeseLesihman model. By combining the blade MBS
model and the BEM modified

Fig. 6. The curves of time-varying angle of attacks of a blade cross section.

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1e9 1

Fig. 8. The curves of the airfoil lift coefficients versus angle of attack: (a) rigid body
B 6;
(b) rigid body B9.

optimum lift over drag ratio during operation. The variation range
of angle of attack of each airfoil is also different.
As shown in Fig. 8, the lift coefficients of two typical blade cross
sections are respectively compared with steady data provided by
NREL to illustrate the dynamic stall characteristics of an airfoil. For
the rigid body B6, its cross section is the DU25_A17 airfoil,
whose static stall angle of attack is approximately 100. In the
unsteady
aerodynamic load simulation, the variation range of the angle of
attack of the airfoil operating at the rated wind speed (11.4 m/s) is
9.300e9.770, which is near the airfoil stall region. When a
dynamic
stall occurs, the lift coefficient increases considerably due to the
flow separation; however, when the angle of attack decreases, the
airfoil dynamic flow field does not quickly revert to the initial state.
There is a time lag in the lift coefficient response against the step
change of the angle of attack; hence, the hysteresis loop appears in
the unsteady lift coefficient curve, as shown in Fig. 8a. For the rigid
body B9, its cross section is the DU21_A17 airfoil, whose static stall
angle of attack is approximately 90. The variation range of the angle
of attack of the airfoil in the unsteady aerodynamic load
simulation is 5.310e6.370, which is near the linear region. In this
region, there is no obvious flow separation, and the lift coefficient
is dominantly affected by the attached flow. Hence, the
unsteady value of lift coefficient basically matches its static
value, as shown in Fig. 8b.

Fig. 7. The time domain responses of the blade root bending moments: (a)
edgewise direction; (b) flapwise direction. 5.2.2. Comparison between the steady and unsteady
aerodynamic loads
In these studies the blade MBS model combines the BEM
model, which incorporates with the BeL model, the blade
modified model (i.e., the steady aerodynamic model) and the
dynamic aerodynamic loads can be computed.
modified BEM model integrating the BeL dynamic stall model (i.e.,
the unsteady aerodynamic model). The blade root moments under
5.2.1. Comparison with steady data turbulent wind speeds are analyzed. The means of the turbulent
The research subject, the blade of a 5-MW HAWT, consists of a wind speeds are 11.4 m/s, 14.5 m/s, 18 m/s and 20 m/s,
series of different airfoils. The twists of the different airfoil cross respectively. The variation curves of an airfoil angle of attack of
sections are different, and they decrease gradually from blade root rigid body B9 operating under impulsive wind speed with the
to blade tip. This enables each airfoil cross section to obtain the mean value of 20 m/s are plotted in Fig. 9a, while the curves of
the unsteady and steady lift coefficients of the airfoil are
compared in Fig. 9b. From Fig. 9a, it is obvious that the airfoil
angle of attack is in the stall

Table 1
The aeroelastic coupling effect on the blade aerodynamic loads.
a
Contrast data The 1st model The 2nd model Percentage (%)
6 6
Blade root edgewise bending moment (N m) Mean -2.46 x 10 -2.34 x 10 -4.94
12 12
Variance 4.99 x 10 6.94 x 10 39.21
6 6
Blade root flapwise bending moment (N m) Mean 8.17 x 10 9.70 x 10 18.81
12 12
Variance 1.05 x 10 1.27 x 10 21.81
Edgewise displacement of blade tip (m) Mean -1.221 -1.145 -6.23
Variance 0.103 0.152 48.26

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 W. Mo et al. / Energy xxx (2015)
1 Flapwise displacement of blade tip (m) 1e9
Mean -4.593 -5.770 25.63
Variance 0.359 0.455 26.54
a
In the “Percentage” column, the minus denotes that the value of the second blade model is smaller than that of the first blade model.

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 W. Mo et al. / Energy xxx (2015)
1e9 1
6
x 10
5

Edgewise bending moment [N·m]

0

-5

-10 steady data

unsteady data

-15
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time [s]
7
x 10 (a)
1.5
steady data

Flapwise bending moment [N·m]

1.4 unsteady
data

1.3

1.2

1.1

0.9
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time [s]
(b)

Fig. 10. The curves of the blade root bending moments at 20 m/s mean wind speed:
(a) edgewise direction; (b) flapwise direction.

fluctuation amplitude and frequency of the load spectrum are

essential for the blade fatigue characteristic analysis and the
Fig. 9. Aerodynamic parameter curves of the blade cross section for B9 at 20 m/s
mean wind speed: (a) angle of attack; (b) lift coefficient. fatigue life design. From the comparison between the simulation
results, it is significant and necessary to introduce the dynamic
stall model into the blade aerodynamic load analysis.

region because its mean is larger than the static stall angle of attack
(90). As seen in Fig. 9b, the unsteady lift coefficient deviates 6. Conclusions
considerably from the steady data, and the maximum deviation of
the two coefficients is up to 40.53%. This means that the dynamic In this article, the aeroelastic coupling equations of a large-scale
stall phenomenon can have significant effects on the unsteady wind turbine blade were derived by the computational dynamics of
aerodynamic load calculation, and the same conclusion was also multi-body systems theory and the aerodynamics theory. The
drawn in literature [4] and [7]. aeroelastic code was developed, and then the aeroelastic coupling
Fig. 10 shows that the variation amplitude of the flapwise and simulation analysis of flexible blades was carried out based on the
edgewise bending moments of the blade root computed by the simulation code. The feedback of the blade torsional deformation
unsteady aerodynamic model are larger than those by the steady and vibration on the aerodynamic loads were quantifiably
aerodynamic model. analyzed. The BeddoeseLeishman dynamic stall model was inte-
Table 2 shows the analysis on the means and variances of the grated into the BEM-modified model in the present study to
flapwise and edgewise blade root moments. As the mean wind investigate the unsteady blade airfoil aerodynamic characteristics.
speed increases, the variation percentage of the means obtained by The simulation results between the steady and unsteady aero-
applying the two aerodynamic models changes little, but the dynamic models were compared and analyzed. It can be concluded
variation percentage of the variances increases dramatically. When that:
the wind speed is low, the blade airfoils mainly work in the linear
region; therefore, there is little difference between the calculation a. The out-of-plane vibration and torsional deformation of a
results of the steady and unsteady models. Nevertheless, when the flex- ible blade have significant effect on the aerodynamic
mean wind speed approaches to 20 m/s, most of the blade airfoils loads. The analysis on the time-domain responses of a 5-MW
work in stall conditions, so the dynamic stall makes the values of wind turbine blade working under rated wind speed
the lift and drag coefficients fluctuate more violently. Consequently, indicates that the ob- tained means and variances of the
both the fluctuation amplitude and the frequency of the unsteady flapwise blade root bending moment and the blade tip out-
aerodynamic loads increase considerably. of-plane deflection from the model that neglects the
When wind turbines operate under random loads, most of the aeroelastic coupling are approximately 20% greater than those
failure is caused by the fatigue failure of the components, and the from the model that includes the aero- elastic coupling,
respectively. This shows that the blade design
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1 1e9
Table 2
The dynamic stall effect on the blade aerodynamic loads.

Wind speed Comparative data Edgewise bending moment at the blade Flapwise bending moment at the blade
root (N m) root (N m)

Mean Variance Mean Variance

6 12 6 12
11.4 m/s Steady data -2.46 x 10 4.99 x 10 8.16 x 10 1.04 x 10
6 12 8.21 x 12
Unsteady data -2.41 x 10 5.14 x 10 1.09 x 10
a 6
Percentage (%) -1.99 3.13 10 0.53 4.83
6 12 6 11
14.5 m/s Steady data -3.38 x 10 5.08 x 10 9.85 x 10 5.32 x 10
Unsteady data 6 12 6 11
-3.34 x 10 5.29 x 10 9.94 x 10 6.26 x 10
Percentage (%) -1.10 4.12 0.88 17.80
6 12 7 11
18 m/s Steady data -4.31 x 10 5.25 x 10 1.10 x 10 4.45 x 10
6 12 7 11
Unsteady data -4.27 x 10 5.82 x 10 1.12 x 10 5.57 x 10
Percentage (%) -0.75 10.69 1.25 25.18
6 12 7 11
20 m/s Steady data -4.83 x 10 5.42 x 10 1.16 x 10 4.20 x 10
6 13 7 11
Unsteady data -4.86 x 10 1.07 x 10 1.19 x 10 9.79 x 10
Percentage (%) 0.58 97.48 2.52 133.17
a
In the ‘Percentage’ rows, the minus denotes that the magnitude of the bending moment mean obtained by utilizing the unsteady airfoil data is smaller than that obtained
by utilizing the steady airfoil data.

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