Towards blade-resolved ice accretion simulations of flexible blades using mixed-fidelity models

Abstract

We present a modular framework for blade-resolved fluid-structure interaction simulations of rotors. The framework is based on the coupling of the multi-body solver MBDyn with the fluid solver SU2 using the library preCICE. A preliminary validation is carried out against other open-source codes analysing the UAE Phase VI experiment. In the future, the framework will be used to study ice accretion on flexible blades. Indeed, blade flexibility has not been considered yet in the numerical modelling of ice accretion due to lacking computational tools and high computational costs. A first application on ice accretion is shown by analyzing the temporal evolution of the modal frequencies of an isolated blade during an icing event simulated numerically with a quasi-3D approach. The results provide insight into the nature of ice throw from wind turbines.