FLUID STRUCTURE INTERACTION (FSI) ANALYSIS OF HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINES (HAWTS)

Abstract

Today, growth in renewable energy is increasing and wind energy is one of the key renewable energy sources which is helping to reduce carbon emissions and build a better sustainable world. Developed countries and worldwide organizations are investing in technology and industrial application development. However, extensive experiments over wind turbines are expensive, and numerical simulations are a cheaper alternative way for advanced analysis over wind turbines. The aerodynamic and structural properties of the wind turbines can be analysed, validated, and optimised using CFD and FSI tools. In this paper, the NREL Phase VI wind turbine aerodynamic and aeroelastic properties were analysed using OpenFOAM. In addition, an arbitrary hybrid turbulence model (VLES) was implemented and compared with the traditional RANS model. Only two different wind speeds were used, and it was found that the RANS model gives accurate results than VLES for low wind speed. Furthermore, the results of the VLES model can be improved by using higher-order schemes and high-resolution mesh. One Way FSI simulation was performed but the results were inaccurate due to the limitations of the extended OpenFOAM version.