Optimal Aero-Elastic Design of a Rotor with Bend-Twist Coupling

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    Abstract

    Passive Bend-Twist Coupling (BTC) can be used in blades to alleviate loads and generate more Annual Energy Production (AEP). However, BTC is inherently aero-elastic, thus difficult to incorporate into the design with sequential design process. Multi-disciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) is an attractive approach for overcoming these challenges. This paper presents the re-design of a 100kW BTC rotor using the MDO rotor design package HAWTOpt2. In the preliminary design phase, MDO was used to assess the differences between elastic BTC (i.e. off-axis fibers) and geometric BTC (i.e. sweep). This work found that aero-elastic design optimization without BTC was able to achieve a 16% improvement, then with sweep a 18% improvement and with material coupling a 17% improvement. Due to the reduced stiffness of off-axis fibers, material coupled designs had more difficulty satisfying the tip deflection constraint. The geometric BTC concept was chosen for the final design. The design optimization was repeated with additional manufacturing constraints. The final design achieved a 12% improvement.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number042009
    Book seriesJournal of Physics: Conference Series
    Volume1037
    Issue number4
    Number of pages13
    ISSN1742-6596
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2018
    EventThe Science of Making Torque from Wind 2018 - Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), Milan, Italy
    Duration: 20 Jun 201822 Jun 2018
    Conference number: 7
    http://www.torque2018.org/

    Conference

    ConferenceThe Science of Making Torque from Wind 2018
    Number7
    LocationPolitecnico di Milano (POLIMI)
    Country/TerritoryItaly
    CityMilan
    Period20/06/201822/06/2018
    Internet address

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