Best practice for verification of wind turbine numerical models

Abstract

The analysis of wind turbines relies on aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulation tools. OC3, 4, 5, 6 projects showed that much effort is required to obtain consistency in numerical models set up and the agreement in the simulation results. To mitigate the uncertainty in the model setup and to reduce the time spent on its verification, a robust verification procedure is necessary. The presented verification procedure provides a structured and efficient way of checking and comparing aeroelastic wind turbine models. In case a discrepancy between the two models or the model and documentation is found, a procedure for finding the source of this discrepancy is suggested. During several successful applications of the presented verification procedure, it proved to reduce the effort, the number of iteration loops and thus the consumed time that is required to achieve a verified model.