Fluid-structure coupling for the stability and energy performance of a wind turbine with hyper- flexible blades, under different hydrodynamic flow reg

To understand and prevent the risk of wind turbine failure in an Offshore environment, it is critical to carry out multi-scale and multidisciplinary studies, which include the interaction of wind with a single turbine and also the interactions between turbines. The distance between each turbine thus needs to be optimised to reduce turbulence effects from turbines on others located downstream, and more research is required for the design (or re-design) of the turbines, including the blades which are becoming longer, slimmer and more flexible. Recent research has highlighted that using flexible blades for wind turbines can dramatically increase their efficiency.

The project will have two main objectives. The first one is to develop a 3D fluid-structure interaction (FSI) numerical model to investigate loading effects and stability for 'hyper'-flexible wind turbine blades. This model will couple the structural flexible state of the wind turbine blades and the surrounding fluid flow under various flow conditions, including wind velocity and direction. The second objective will be to numerically investigate wake effects for 'hyper'-flexible blades-based wind turbines. A Moving Immersed Boundary Method for FSI (MIBM) will be applied. This method accounts for the real shape of the moving blades, to overcome turbulence models limitations, and to characterize with high accuracy the vortex structures downstream of the rotor.