Session: Turbine Modeling & Technology

Paper Number: 164907

164907 - Development of a Numerical Validation Method for the Seismic Performance of Wind Turbine Nacelles 

Abstract: 

To stay on track toward a pathway that limits global warming to 1.5^oC, nearly 200 governments agreed on the need to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030. Among them, wind energy was considered a key technology for mitigating climate change. Therefore, giant wind turbines have been developed to capture more wind energy. The tip height and rotor diameter of offshore turbines are currently expected to be 300 meters and 280 meters, respectively. The nacelles and the critical components inside are consequently becoming larger and larger. However, wind farms will inevitably be located in areas with seismic risks, whether onshore or offshore. Once an earthquake causes damage to the critical components of wind turbines or the balance of plant (BOP), it can impact the operation of the entire wind farm. Given the increasing size of wind turbines and seismic risks, traditional shake table testing methods may no longer be applicable for the seismic performance verification of the entire turbine or nacelle due to the limited capacity of shake tables. However, for the critical components inside the nacelle, there may still be an opportunity to perform seismic performance verification using shake table testing. Thus, the purpose of this study is to develop a numerical validation method for the seismic performance of wind turbines. Using the test results of a small onshore wind turbine nacelle, a numerical model of the nacelle was developed and analyzed. Through the numerical validation method proposed in this study, the anchor point responses of key components can be obtained through numerical analysis. These responses can then be used for shake table testing of individual components to verify their seismic performance.

Presenting Author: Wei-Hung Hsu National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, NARLabs

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Hsu is an Associate Researcher of the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE), Taiwan, where he has been since 2015. His study topics were focused on the seismic evaluation and seismic performance verification for the non-structural components and systems in nuclear power plants and renewable power systems. In recent years, he expanded his research work to the seismic effect on liquid sloshing behavior of liquid storage tanks and the buried pipelines.

Authors:

Wei-Hung Hsu National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, NARLabs
Bai-Yi Huang National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, NARLabs
Juin-Fu Chai National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, NARLabs
Fan-Ru Lin National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, NARLabs