Abstract

It is shown how to reconstruct the total rotor loads from complex numerical wind turbine simulations of support structures, using a simplified one-dimensional equation of motion with effective parameters determined through simple numerical experiments. The reconstructed forces match the original forces very well with only a few percent differences in response and fatigue lifetime. This is in strong contrast to what happens when one naïvely uses the element forces, which leads to a resonance problem.

The method opens up the possibility for detailed studies of rotor loads and aerodynamic damping by numerical simulations.

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