Vibration-based monitoring of a small-scale wind turbine blade under varying climate and operational conditions. Part II: A numerical benchmark

Abstract

This paper constitutes the numerical companion of the experimental work on vibration-based monitoring of a small-scale wind turbine (WT) blade. In this second part, a numerical benchmark is established for condition assessment of a Windspot 3.5-kW WT blade. The aim is to supplement the companion experimental work with a physical model exposed to diverse operational conditions, loading scenarios, and damage patterns that are not easily explorable and controllable in the laboratory. To this end, a finite element (FE) model of the considered blade is developed and subjected to a number of artificial damage scenarios, which are dynamically tested under both environmental and operational variability. The paper offers a detailed description of the numerical benchmark and the underlying assumptions, as well as the spectrum of operational conditions, the measured quantities, and the wind load model. Finally, we provide an overview and demonstration of the stand-alone application for time history analysis and generation of synthetic vibration data, which is made available via an open-access code in Sonkyo-Benchmark repository.