Preliminary validation of ATOM: An aero-servo-elastic design tool for next generation wind turbines

Abstract

Upscaling wind turbines has resulted in levelised cost of energy (LCoE) reductions. However, larger turbine diameters pose significant design challenges, often with conflicting requirements. For example, non-linear dynamics of aeroelastic tailored blades must be accurately predicted whilst, for the sake of efficient gradient-based design, it is also desirable to simplify the numerical definition of such blades - keeping design variables (DVs) to a minimum. This work presents and validates two features of the ATOM code (Aeroelastic Turbine Optimisation Methods), developed at the University of Bristol, that enable accurate and efficient modelling of large-scale wind turbine blades. Both an efficient parameterisation method and high-order beam elements illustrate the capacity for increasing the speed of gradient evaluations whilst accurately predicting blade dynamics - either by reducing DVs or simulation time. As a preliminary validation, aero-servo-elastic simulations from ATOM and an industry-standard software - DNV GL Bladed - are compared against field measurements gathered from an existing 7 MW turbine.