Multi-Sectional Lift Actuation for Wind Turbine Load Alleviation

Abstract

The development of large rotors can be limited by the ability to manage dynamic loads. Active Flow Control (AFC) actuators have been proposed to reduce these dynamic loads. This paper aims to study and quantify the advantages of using multiple AFC actuators compared to using a single AFC actuator for each blade. For this study, AFC actuators are idealized and modeled as instantaneous changes to the local lift coefficient at the corresponding blade sections. We refer to this idealized actuators as sectional lift actuators (SLA). A comparison between a single SLA and two SLAs per blade is made using feedforward and feedback control. Blade loads in above-rated wind conditions are used for the comparative analysis, which is conducted using the DTU-10MW reference turbine model.