Bladed - Zero Blade Deflection

Zero Blade Deflection

Wind turbine blades typically deflect during operation and this results in reduction in generated electrical power. We will use a steady wind field to examine the effect of blade deflection on generated electrical power.

Start-up

Double click on the Bladed icon to launch GH Bladed.

The red circles next to each calculation and simulation in the calculation window indicate none of the required input parameters are defined. The yellow circle indicates that only a part of the required inputs are defined for a given simulation. Green circle indicates all the inputs are fully defined and the simulation is ready to be carried out.

We will fist load a demo project and then adjust the desired parameters. The demo project should be in the Bladed directory. This demo project simulates a 2MW wind turbine.

File > Open Project > demo_a.prj

Wind

The demo project uses a pre-defined turbulence wind file. We will change the wind characteristic to steady. Click on to edit the wind characteristic. The default wind is set to 3D Turbulent Wind with a mean wind speed of 12 m/s. This turbulent wind is defined in the demo wind file. For our case, we will use a steady wind of 11 m/s. Change the option to No Variation and change the Wind speed to 11 m/s. Click on Apply to save the changes.

click here for full view

click here for full view

Blade Modes

GH Bladed performs modal analysis based on the defined blade stiffness. The modes are used to predict blade deflection. Thus, we can eliminate the blade modes to simulate zero blade deflection. Double click on Modal Analysis.

Change the number of blade modes to 0. Click OK to close the Modal Analysis Parameters window.

Simulation

We will run Start simulation because it simulates the start up response of a wind turbine. Highlight Start, and click on Run Now.