Validation of Wind Turbine Structural Dynamics Models

​This project studies the validity of structural dynamics models of wind turbine rotor blades. The model validity considered is of hierarchical dual level. On one hand, a detailed structural dynamics model needs to be substantiated by good correlation between experimental results of wind turbine testing and theoretical simulation results using that model. A statistical FE model calibration framework is developed to assess the robustness of the detailed FE model to uncertainty. One the other hand, after that detailed model has been validated, a model of significantly lower order based on the detailed model needs to be validated by a good model-to-model correlation. We developed an efficient modal truncation algorithm to produce a simpler model which accurately approximates its behavior in the operating frequency range of the wind turbines. We concluded that the yielded low-order model can be served in wind turbine design codes.