Design of an efficient experiment for identification-based stability analysis of operating wind turbines

This paper proposes a new approach to calculate aeroelastic stability of operating wind turbines using system identification, and explores how an efficient numerical experiment can be designed. The data-driven method is based on time series including induced motion of the blades, which can stem from any fidelity simulation. While this study utilises HAWC2, the findings enable the usage of e.g. computational fluid dynamics in a fluid-structure-interaction simulation. Different forcing sequences are suitable to excite the blade, but especially the doublet and chirp show favourable characteristics and results for an application of no more than five seconds. System identification, the Multivariable Output-Error State sPace (MOESP) algorithm in particular, is used to find an algebraic equivalent of the simulated turbine. Using the output-only version, about 20 seconds of simulated time are sufficient to identify the system such that the predicted response matches the input with an R²-score of > 99.8 %. A comparison with HAWCStab2 shows frequency differences of < 0.5% across the wind speed range, matching mode shapes but some bigger deviations in aeroelastic damping.