ARTICLE IN PRESS

Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 2011–2018

www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Application of combined analytical/FEA coupled

aero-structure simulation in design of wind turbine
adaptive blades
Alireza Maheri, Siamak Noroozi, John Vinney
Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol,
BS16 1QY, UK

Received 29 June 2006; accepted 28 October 2006

Available online 9 January 2007

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the application of combined analytical/FEA coupled aero-structure

simulation in design of bend-twist adaptive blades. A genetic algorithm based design tool, in which
the power curve is predicted through a combined coupled aero-structure simulation, has been
developed. A bend-twist adaptive blade has been designed to be used on the rotor of a constant speed
stall regulated wind turbine. The bend-twist adaptive blade is assumed to be made out of anisotropic
composite materials. The designed blade has the same aerofoil and chord distribution as the original
blade used on the wind turbine, but with a different pre-twist distribution. The simulated results show
a significant improvement in the average power of the studied stall regulated wind turbine when
employing the designed adaptive blades.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Adaptive blade design; Smart blade; Wind turbine; Bend twist adaptive blade

1. Introduction

A particular advantage of the fibrous composite materials is that various elastic

couplings can be induced in the structures made out of them. Planning structural couplings
in the rotor blades is relatively a new field in wind turbine industry. This approach known
as adaptive or smart blades employs the blade itself as the controller to sense the wind

Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 117 3282643; fax: +44 117 3283800.
E-mail address: Ali2.Maheri@uwe.ac.uk (A. Maheri).

0960-1481/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.renene.2006.10.012
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2012 A. Maheri et al. / Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 2011–2018

Nomenclature

E12, E23, E13 modulus of elasticity

G12, G23, G13 modulus of rigidity
M flap bending moment
M* normalised flap bending moment
NGen no. of generations
NPop population size
P rotor mechanical power
pitch pitch angle
R rotor radius; Rayleigh probability distribution function
Rhub hub radius
r radial axis
r* normalised radial axis
t shell thickness
V wind speed
Vav site average wind speed
VI cut-in wind speed
VO cut-out wind speed
b induced twist
y fibre angle
n12, n23, n13 Poisson’s ratio
O rotor speed

turbine run condition and flow variations and adjust its aerodynamic characteristics to
affect the wind turbine performance. Comparing to active control systems, adaptive blades
have many advantages. Since they do not use moving mechanical parts and hence
problems like icing and soiling do not obstacle their operation, they are more reliable.
They do not need actuation energy and they are cheaper and lighter and do not need
maintenance.
Investigations towards exploring the potential benefits of using bend-twist adaptive
blades (BTAB) have shown that, theoretically, these blades can be used to enhance the
energy capture capabilities and decrease the fatigue loading [1,2]. But, since in these
investigations the induced twist due to the elastic coupling has been pre-assumed and has
not been modelled or predicted realistically, the results are only qualitative and therefore
unreliable. From another aspect, many investigations have been carried out regarding the
structural aspects of adaptive blades [3–5]. An overall assessment of these studies suggests
that these blades can be manufactured with the desired level of elastic coupling. Despite
knowing the two facts of that using BTAB has the potential of producing cheaper energy
and that they can be manufactured, making this concept practical has been obstructed by
the lack of a suitable method for the design of the BTAB.
Traditional methods for the engineering design of a wind turbine blade represent a
reversed design procedure. It means that through a search within possible solutions (design
space) the solution that optimises the objective is selected. This solution is a set of design
parameters including aerodynamic and structural characteristics of the blade. In
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optimisation, since some of design parameters are related through nonlinear relations,
conventional analytical methods are not applicable and consequently optimisation process
must be based on numerical search in design space. Having a robust and efficient method
of search in design space is essential to reduce the number of evaluations. Also, objective
evaluation must be fast to reduce the evaluation time.
In BTAB the induced twist is the structural response of the blade to its aerodynamic
characteristics. This aerodynamic-structure interaction makes the simulation of these kinds
of wind turbines a coupled aero-structure (CAS) process, which is iterative in nature with a
FE solver running in a correction loop [6]. In aerodynamic objective evaluation, in
addition to the aerodynamic characteristics of the blade many structural and material
parameters are also involved. Therefore, the aerodynamic design of these blades cannot be
carried out without having the sufficient knowledge about the structural properties and
configurations of the blades and without running a FE-based CAS simulator for objective
evaluation. Also, involvement of structural and material parameters in aerodynamic design
increases the number of required evaluations exponentially.

2. Design methodology, objective, constraint and parameters

A stall regulated wind turbine has been selected as the design case study. It has been
attempted to keep the geometry and topology of the new designed blades similar to the
original blades as far as possible. This makes the comparison between the performance of
the original ordinary blade and the designed adaptive one simple. Therefore, the design
parameters have been limited to the four parameters of (i) shell thickness, (ii) ply angle
of the anisotropic composite material of the blade to make it bend-twist elastic coupled,
(iii) pre-twist distribution and (iv) rotor radius (to keep the output power limited
at its rated value). Since the designed BTAB has the same chord and aerofoil distri-
bution as the original blade, the results obtained are not necessarily the best that can be
achieved.
Design methodology used in this study is a reversed design procedure in which the
numerical search in the design space is a genetic algorithm (GA) based one. The objective
of the design is to maximise the average power Pav of the wind turbine, defined as
Z VO
Pav ¼ PRðV Þ dV . (1)
VI

In which, R(V) is the wind velocity probability distribution function, P is the wind
turbine power and VI and VO are cut-in and cut-out velocities, respectively. In this study, a
Rayleigh probability distribution function, given by Eq. (2) has been used.
  "   #
2p V 2 p V 2
RðV Þ ¼ exp  , (2)
V 4 V av 4 V av

where Vav stands for the site average wind velocity.

The only constraint under which the design must be carried out is having the maximum
output power limited to the rated power of the wind turbine:

PðV ÞpPrated . (3)

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3. Objective evaluation and design tool

The objective evaluation is based on the method of combined analytical/FEA-based

CAS simulation, proposed by Maheri et al. [7]. This method of simulation employs the
induced twist distribution and the flap bending at the hub of the blade, predicted through a
FEA-based CAS simulation at a reference wind turbine run condition, to determine the
wind turbine performance at other wind turbine run conditions. This reduces the
computational time significantly and makes the aerodynamic design/optimisation of
BTAB practical. They showed that comparing with a full FEA-based CAS simulation,
when using the proposed combined method the required computational time for
generating a power curve, as needed to calculate the average power Pav, reduces to less
than 5%, with only about 1% relative difference in the results.
In their semi-analytical approach in modelling of a BTAB as a beam, they used two
simplifying assumptions applicable on the blade deformation and loading rather than
warping functions. This makes it possible to express the induced twist in the blade in terms
of flap bending (source load of induced twist in bend-twist adaptive blades) and blade
effective stiffness distributions. The effective stiffness distribution can be determined by
running a FEA-based CAS simulation at a reference wind turbine run condition.
They also showed that the normalised flap bending moment, M* ¼ M/Mhub, is a very
weak function of wind turbine run condition and concluded that once the induced twist
b(r*) is calculated at a reference wind velocity, pitch angle and rotor speed, it can be used
for prediction of the induced twist b(r*) at other wind velocities, pitch angles and rotor
speeds as follows

bðr Þref
bðr ; V ; O; pitchÞ ¼ M hub ðV ; O; pitchÞ . (4)
M hub;ref

In which, r ¼ ðr  Rhub Þ=ðR  Rhub Þ and bðr Þref ¼ bðr ; V ref ; Oref ; pitchref Þ is the reference
induced twist and M hub;ref ¼ M hub ðV ref ; Oref ; pitchref Þ is the reference flap bending at the
hub, both obtained from the FEA-based CAS simulation of the wind turbine, at reference
condition.
To put the above design method in practice, a GA-based design tool has been developed.
Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the design process and objective evaluation. This code
employs an ordinary wind turbine simulator, (based on blade element momentum theory),
for power prediction (for each wind speed). The computer code WTAB [8], has been linked
to the code to perform the required FEA-based CAS simulation at the reference run
condition for each individual (design solution). WTAB is a very efficient code that can
conclude a FEA-based CAS simulation (with 4400 number of DOF and eight iterations of
the correction loop) in about 25 s CPU-time on a 3 GHz PC. In the present study the
number of generations and the population size, (two GA parameters), have been set to
NGen ¼ 100 and NPop ¼ 5, respectively. It means that 500 objective evaluations (including
FEA-based CAS simulation) must be performed.
To increase the robustness of the search process, generation of new population takes
place under specific criteria. For example, a fibre angle that produces an induced twist
toward stall must not be accompanied with a rotor radius shorter than the original one. By
doing this, the individuals that cannot produce a high fitness are eliminated prior to
objective evaluation.
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Produce NPop design solutions (individuals)

(GA-based search under specific criteria)
For each generation

• Rotor radius FE-based

• Pre-twist CAS (r*)ref, Mhub,ref
• Fibre orientation simulation
Shell thickness
•

Induced
Mhub at V
twist For each wind
Eq. ( 4) speed VI ≤ V ≤ VO

Blade Corrected Ordinary

topology blade wind turbine Power Eq. (1)
corrector topology simulator

Constraint

Average
Fitness Penalty function power

Optimum
objective
For each individual

Correction Loop (runs

until the final convergence in Mhub)
Operation Result/Data Initial data

Fig. 1. Design procedure.

4. Results and discussion

A constant-speed stall-regulated WTA-27 wind turbine has been considered as the

design case. The original rotor radius and design speed are 13.757 m and 53.3 rpm,
respectively. The rated power is 300 kW and a fixed pitch of 1.21 (toward stall) generates a
maximum power (equal to the rated value) at a wind speed of about 18 m/s. This wind
turbine with its original blades produces an average power of Pav ¼ 41.4 kW based on a
Rayleigh probability distribution function with a site average wind speed of Vav ¼ 5.6 m/s.
In design of BTAB for this wind turbine it is assumed that the adaptive blade has a
constant shell thickness. Also, the bend-twist elastic coupling is generated due to mirror lay
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up of the entire upper and lower surfaces of the blade with respect to each other. That is
the mechanical properties of the blade material together with the fibre orientation are
constant span-wise. The assumed blade material (graphite epoxy) has the mechanical
properties of: E1 ¼ 142 GPa, E2 ¼ E3 ¼ 9.8 GPa, G23 ¼ 4.8 GPa, G12 ¼ G13 ¼ 6.1 GPa,
n12 ¼ n13 ¼ 0.50 and n23 ¼ 0.42.
In the present study, since no constraint is applied on the structural characteristics and
behaviour of the blade (i.e. tip deflection, inter-laminate stresses, natural frequency, etc.),
the designed shell thickness or fibre angle may do not satisfy the usual structural design
criteria. Running the design code for the above case gives an optimal objective of
Pav ¼ 47.8 kW at a rotor radius of R ¼ 14.4 m, a fibre orientation of y ¼ 241 with respect
to the longitudinal axis of the blade (which produces an induced twist toward stall), a shell
thickness of t ¼ 4.2 mm and a pre-twist distribution as shown in Fig. 2.
This shows a significant improvement of about 15.5% in energy capture capabilities of
the wind turbine operating in a site with Rayleigh probability distribution function and an
average wind speed of 5.6 m/s.
This amount of enhancement in the average power is partly due to the 4.7% increase in
the rotor radius and partly due to the adaptivity nature of the blades. It should be noted
that increasing the blade span, if not accompanied with the effect of bend-twist elastic
coupling, does not necessarily cause an improvement. In other words, the adaptivity of the
BTABs not only makes the blades more efficient but also allows us to design longer blades
optimally without changing the design rotor speed.
Fig. 3 shows the simulated power curves of the wind turbine when using ordinary and
adaptive blades. According to this figure, BTABs produce more power in low and
moderate wind speeds, whilst the generated power by the original ordinary blades is higher
in high wind speeds. However, since the high wind speeds, comparing to the low and
moderate wind speeds, have much smaller probabilities, their contribution in the average
power is insignificant.
The power coefficients of the wind turbine with ordinary and adaptive blades are shown
in Fig. 4. It shows that the rotor with ordinary blades operates more efficiently in wind
speeds of greater than 13 m/s. That is the observed improvement in the generated power
corresponding to the adaptive blades in the range of 13–17 m/s is mostly because of using
longer blades. This behaviour can be explained by referring to Fig. 5, which shows the
induced twist at the tip of the blade against wind speed. Since in wind speeds of greater

10

8
Pre-Twist (deg)

6 Bend-Twist Adaptive Blades

4 Ordinary Blades

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Span Location, r∗ (-)

Fig. 2. Pre-twist distribution.

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300

250

Power (KW)
200

150
Bend-Twist Adaptive Blades
100 Ordinary Blades

50

0
5 10 15 20 25
Wind Speed (m/s)

Fig. 3. Power curve.

0.5 Bend-Twist Adaptive Blades

Power Coefficient, CP (-)

Ordinary Blades
0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
5 10 15 20 25
Wind Speed (m/s)

Fig. 4. Power coefficient.

8
Tip Induced Twist (deg)

0
5 10 15 20 25
Wind Speed (m/s)

Fig. 5. Tip induced twist.

than 13 m/s the topology of the adaptive blade is almost invariant, the adaptive blades
practically act as ordinary blades.
Fig. 6 shows the effect of site average wind speed on the amount of improvement in the
average power producing by the designed BTABs. More enhancements in the average
power in low and moderate site average wind speeds can be observed. This is consistent
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16

%Increase in Pav
12

0
5.6 7 9
Site average wind speed, Vav (m/s)

Fig. 6. Energy capture enhancement at different site average wind speeds.

with the behaviour of the power curves and power coefficients shown in Figs. 3 and 4,
respectively.

5. Conclusion

The Combined analytical/FEA-based CAS simulation method has made the design of
BTABs practical. In the present study by designing a BTAB and showing that significant
improvement in the energy capture capabilities of a stall-regulated wind turbine can be
achieved, one of the potential benefits of using these blades has been proven quantitatively.
However, to run a complete design, many more design parameters (both aerodynamic and
structural), and more constraint must be involved. A coupled design in which the
aerodynamic objective evaluation depends on the finite element analysis of the blade
structure could be very time consuming and therefore not efficient.

References

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