IMPACT OF WIND TURBINE DRIVE TRAIN CONCEPTS ON DYNAMIC GEARBOX LOADS

A. Heege1, P. Prats2 , J. Betran1, L. Bastard1, R. Santos2, D. Castell2

1SAMTECH Iberica, C/Valencia 230, E-08007 Barcelona. 2ECOTÈCNIA, C/Roc Boranat, 78, E-08005 Barcelona .

Summary

Objective of the present publication is to demonstrate by numerical simulation the impact of the drive train
concept on dynamic gearbox loads. Detailed gearbox load transients and associated fatigue load spectra are
computed and compared for 3 different rotor support concepts.

1. Introduction

It is anticipated that drive train loads depend strongly on the dynamic properties of the entire mechatronical
wind turbine system. Certain gearbox loads, in particular the axial planet carrier and planet bearing loads, are
of purely dynamic character. As a consequence they depend strongly on the respective drive train concept, on
details of the proper gearbox design and last not least on the control strategies, because “external excitations”
in terms of “aerodynamic blade loads” and “electromagnetic generator torque”, depend implicitly on control
strategies for blade pitch and generator torque.
Taking into account that simplified models do not reproduce properly the coupled axial-, radial-, bending- and
torque load transients of the gearbox, fully coupled three-dimensional mechatronical wind turbine models are
developed. The applied SAMCEF wind turbine models rely on a non-linear Finite Element approach, including
Multi-Body-System functionalities, control loops and three-dimensional aerodynamics with turbulence
/1,2,3,4,5/.
In order to investigate the performance of applied rotor support concepts, first load transients of gearbox
bearings are compared for an “emergency stop”. Secondly, starting from turbulent three dimensional wind
loads, bearing load spectra are computed and compared.

2. Investigated rotor support concepts

All models and loads are identical, except the concept for the support of the rotor. There are compared the
following layouts for the rotor support:
• Configuration A: there is chosen a widely used standard configuration where the rotor shaft is supported
by one main bearing and by the proper gearbox which is attached by 2 torque arms to the bedplate. See
figure 1.
• Configuration B: the rotor shaft is supported by two main bearings. See figure 2.
• Configuration C: there is chosen a configuration where the rotor-hub, but and not the rotor shaft, is
supported by two bearings which are coupled directly to the main frame. See figure 3.
The investigated gearbox is a standard configuration, which is based on 1 planetary stage and 2 parallel
helical stages. The wind turbine models correspond to a typical megawatt class configuration.

Figure 1: Concept A: Rotor shaft Figure 2: Concept B: Rotor shaft Figure 3: Concept C: Hub
supported by 1 main bearings supported by 2 main bearing supported by 2 main bearings

IMPACT OF WIND TURBINE DRIVE TRAIN CONCEPTS ON DYNAMIC GEARBOX LOADS

A. Heege1, P. Prats2 , J. Betran1, L. Bastard1, R. Santos2, D. Castell2

EWEC 2007 - Poster Session BL3.317 - Innovations in turbine design

 3. Numerical modelling of wind turbines by: Coupled MBS & FEM Approach

Gearbox model: All gearbox shafts, as well as rotor and generator shafts, are represented by non-linear beam
elements. Gearbox housing and planet carrier are modeled by solid FEM models, which are condensed to a
Super Elements. The frictional contact problems between flexible gears are reduced to geometrically variable,
and point wise flexible contacts.

Figure 4a: FEM models of blades, bedplate, Figure 4b: Retained nodes of bedplate Super Element
planet carrier and gearbox housing are and further modeling details
condensed for numerical efficiency to Super
Elements.

Gear geometry is defined by helix-, cone- and pressure angles, normal modulus, respective teeth number and, if
needed, further correction factors for the gear teeth. Gear teeth flexibility is defined either by non-linear gap-
functions. Every bearing of the wind turbine, including the rotor main shaft, the entire gearbox and the generator,
is modeled by non-linear stiffness functions, which account for the coupling of radial and axial bearing properties.
All bearing clearances in radial, axial and bending directions are accounted for.

Generator and Controllers: An external Dynamic Link Library/DLL defines the electro-mechanical generator
torque, the demanded yaw angle and the demanded blade pitch angle as a function of control variables like the
rotor speed and torque. Note that the controller demand of a given pitch angle, is further processed in order to
include the mechanical response of the proper pitch drive and controller. Accordingly, the mechanical pitch drive
is limited by maximum pitch speed and acceleration.

Bedplate and rotor shaft support models: Mechanical properties of the bedplate are accounted by either solid
FEM-models which are condensed to Super Elements, or by non-linear beam models.

Aerodynamic loads: Bearing in mind that blades are represented by Super Elements (or non-linear beams
respectively), the Blade Element Momentum theory (BEM) can be applied very efficiently in order to introduce
the wind loads by “Aerodynamic Blade Section Elements” which are connected to the retained blade nodes. The
three-dimensional, turbulent wind field accounts for the vertical wind shear and for the tower shadow effect

IMPACT OF WIND TURBINE DRIVE TRAIN CONCEPTS ON DYNAMIC GEARBOX LOADS

A. Heege1, P. Prats2 , J. Betran1, L. Bastard1, R. Santos2, D. Castell2

EWEC 2007 - Poster Session BL3.317 - Innovations in turbine design

 Figure 5: Aerodynamic loads accounted by Blade Element Momentum

4. Application Examples

The following numerical simulations distinguish exclusively by the applied model for the support of the rotor in
terms of bedplate and rotor bearing numbers and location.

Emergency stop: aerodynamic results

Our first numerical example is an emergency stop simulation where the wind turbine is from full power to idle.
The aerodynamic results of the “emergency stop” depicted in figures 5-8 correspond to a mean wind speed of 14
m/s with turbulence intensities according to IEC 61400-1 standard, i.e. a turbulence intensity of 18% in incoming
wind direction. Turbulence intensities in lateral and vertical directions are 15 % and 10% respectively.
Figure 7 presents the rotor shaft torque, the torque in the high speed shaft coupling (located at the gearbox exit),
the disc brake and finally the electro-magnetic generator torque. Note that rotor shaft torque refers to the left
ordinate and that remaining torque plots refer to the right ordinate of figure 7.

As shown in the pink plot of figure 8, blade pitch is nearly constant up to time 110 [s]. In the following 10 [s], in
order to reverse the rotor torque, the blade is pitched about 1.5 [rad] away from the rotor plane in the wind.
Figure 8 shows the pitch angle (left ordinate), the rotor shaft speed (left ordinate) and finally the high speed shaft
speed (right ordinate).
It is assumed that generator disconnection takes place at the time instance 110 [s] and activation of the disc
brake is delayed by 0.01 [s]. After activation of the disc brake, braking torque is augmented in 0.5 [s] from zero to
full torque of 35000 [Nm].

IMPACT OF WIND TURBINE DRIVE TRAIN CONCEPTS ON DYNAMIC GEARBOX LOADS

A. Heege1, P. Prats2 , J. Betran1, L. Bastard1, R. Santos2, D. Castell2

EWEC 2007 - Poster Session BL3.317 - Innovations in turbine design

Figure 5: Liftforces [N] for different “blade sections” Figure 6: Drag forces [N] for different “blade sections”
and total aerodynamic rotor torque [Nm] and total aerodynamic rotor thrust [N]

Figure 7: Torques [Nm] of rotor main shaft (left Figure 8: Rotor speed [rad/s], blade pitch angle [rad] and
ordinate), brake at gearbox exit, high speed shaft generator speed [rad/s] (right ordinate)
coupling and generator

Lift and drag forces are depicted for different blade sections in figures 5 & 6 with respect to each individual
local convective co-ordinate system. This local co-ordinate system is rotated as function of the, a priori
unknown, angle of attack where proper blade vibrations are accounted when computing induced velocities.
Plots of total aerodynamic torque and total aerodynamic thrust are derived a-posterior to the computation by
means of transformations of local lift and drag forces to the rotor plane co-ordinate system.

Major benefit of a “strong coupling” of aerodynamics and mechanics is that blade vibrations induced by
aerodynamic forces affect implicitly the latter. Note that the effect of wind shear and tower shadow are
considered.

Emergency stop: dynamic load transients in gearbox for different drive train concepts

An “emergency stop” event is chosen as the first example in order to demonstrate the importance of the rotor
support concept on the gearbox loads. Figure 9 presents the radial bearing forces of the planet carrier at
generator side. It can be seen that in case of concept A (light blue plot), the planet carrier bearing has to
absorb the bending moments introduced by the rotor shaft in terms of radial bearings forces. Concerning the
axial bearings loads depicted in figure 10, it is mentioned that the axial planet carrier loads depend on the ratio
of axial clearances of the rotor shaft main bearings and planet carrier bearings respectively, as well as on the
stiffness of bedplate and rotor main bearing. With a proper choice of these clearances the axial impacts
depicted in figure 10, can be reduced significantly. Figure 11 presents the radial bearing forces of one planet

IMPACT OF WIND TURBINE DRIVE TRAIN CONCEPTS ON DYNAMIC GEARBOX LOADS

A. Heege1, P. Prats2 , J. Betran1, L. Bastard1, R. Santos2, D. Castell2

EWEC 2007 - Poster Session BL3.317 - Innovations in turbine design

 showing that torsional drive train dynamics depend only in a minor degree on the rotor support concept.
However, it can be deduced from figure 10 that axial dynamics depend strongly on the respective rotor support
concept. Local resonance depends strongly on the properties of the coupling element and on the clearances of
the planet carrier bearings, because the planet carrier vibrations (see for example axial loads depicted in figure
10) can be transmitted to the second stage and propagate through the following gearbox stations.

Figure 9: Radial bearing loads [N]: planet carrier Figure 10: Axial bearing planet carrier [N] side generator.
side generator. Light blue plot: Concept A. Yellow Blue plot: Concept C.
plot: Concept B.

Figure 11: Radial bearing forces of planet 1 [N]. Figure 12: Axial bearing forces of planet 1 [N].
Light blue plot: Concept A. Yellow plot: Concept B. Blue plot: Concept C

5. Fatigue evaluations.

Following figures 13-14 present an extract of bearing & gear load cycles in terms of Rain Flow Counts/RFC.
The presented RFC data is not yet processed in order to reduce global bearing to local load cycle data in
terms of bearing component load cycles of the respective components like inner ring, outer ring, etc..

Once obtained the local load cycles, this data can be used in order to compute stresses and finally damage.
Pink plots refer to the configuration A (see figure 1) and blue plots refer to the configuration C (see figure 3).
The presented RFC’s data are obtained by gathering eight relevant transient load cases at mean wind speeds
IMPACT OF WIND TURBINE DRIVE TRAIN CONCEPTS ON DYNAMIC GEARBOX LOADS
A. Heege1, P. Prats2 , J. Betran1, L. Bastard1, R. Santos2, D. Castell2

EWEC 2007 - Poster Session BL3.317 - Innovations in turbine design

 from 5 [m/s] to 24 [m/s]. The CPU time for the execution of such a sub-set of load cases is about 5 hours on a
Pentium 4 personal computer. The counted load cycles of each load case are classified for 500 load-bins and
are extrapolated to about 140000h of operation. It is emphasized that the presented load spectra do not
account for any special event like grid loss, over speed operation or idling, but only common transient
operation modes with different turbulent wind fields.

Figure 13: Radial bearing force cycles numbers over force Figure 14: Axial bearing force cycles numbers over
amplitude [N]. Bearing location: planet carrier side rotor. force amplitude [N]. Bearing location: planet carrier
Purple plot: Concept A. Blue plot: Concept C. side generator.
plot: Concept A. Blue plot: Concept C.

6. Conclusions

The implicit dependence of “power train loads” on the dynamic characteristics of the assembled wind turbine,
excludes a decoupling of analysis techniques, in order to reduce the complexity of the numerical models. If a
gearbox is analyzed without accounting for the other properties of the wind turbine, there is evident risk that
cycle count, as well as load amplitudes are underestimated. Further on, possible
operation deflection modes might affect the alignment of the power train and should be taken into account in
fatigue evaluations. In that context it is crucial to recognize that the load amplifications within the gearbox are
generally much larger than the amplifications which would be detected by experimental measurement or
numerical simulation at rotor shaft and/or HSS shaft.

In widely used design practices of gearboxes, fatigue evaluations are based essentially on the time history of
the rotor shaft torque. Looking at the depicted transient load curves, or on the computed load cycles, it can be
seen that this design practice is only of very limited precision. Better load spectra for the different gearbox
components are obtained, if the non-linear dynamic load amplifications are introduced component wise to
correct the input rotor shaft time histories. However, this approach only corrects load amplitudes seen by
component, but not the associated load cycles.

Further improvement to fatigue load spectra of power train components is obtained by extracting Rain Flow
Counting (RFC) and Load Duration Distributions (LDD) separately for each gearbox component. As presented,
transient loads are

extracted for each power train component from the global mechatronical wind turbine model and, RFC and/or
LDD are performed separately for each bearing and gear. Thus, fatigue load spectra account as well for local
dynamic effects within the gearbox. As a consequence, load cycles of higher frequency content are included in
the fatigue spectra. Furthermore, dynamic amplifications of operation states producing local resonance are
taken into account.

IMPACT OF WIND TURBINE DRIVE TRAIN CONCEPTS ON DYNAMIC GEARBOX LOADS

A. Heege1, P. Prats2 , J. Betran1, L. Bastard1, R. Santos2, D. Castell2

EWEC 2007 - Poster Session BL3.317 - Innovations in turbine design

 In the case of structural components, FEM models might be used in order to compute the stress state
associated with each load cycle and corresponding load case. Structural components like blades or bedplate
are included in the global model, but condensed by the Super Element Method to reduce CPU time. Stress
within these components can be recovered at any instance of the transient analysis, by a back-transformation
from the condensed Super Element. Damage can then be computed from this stress history. Bearings and
gears are modelled by a MBS approach, thus reducing the analysis results to three-dimensional load
transients. Theses load transients are used as boundary conditions for detailed FEM models.
Following conclusions can be drawn from the investigated load cases:
• Configuration A - rotor shaft is supported by one main bearing: Generally, the single main bearing does
not absorb bending moments and as a consequence the planet carrier bearings transmit loads to the
gearbox housing which are absorbed by the torque arms. Using this design principle, gearbox absorb
additional loads introduced by the rotor shaft bending moment, and in less extend due to deflections of the
bedplate and main bearing.
• Configuration B - the rotor shaft is supported by two main bearings: The residual bending loads
transmitted by the rotor shaft to the gearbox depend essentially on the stiffness of the double main bearing
configuration and on the bedplate stiffness.
• Configuration C: the rotor-hub is supported by two bearings: In that case, rotor loads are transferred
directly from the hub to the bedplate. The axial and bending loads which are transmitted to the gearbox
depend in a first degree on the coupling element of the rotor shaft. The fact that the rotor hub is supported
by the bedplate permits to use substantially softer rotor shaft coupling elements. As a consequence, nearly
exclusively torsion loads are transmitted to the gearbox.

A following step is the optimization of crucial mechanical design parameters like for example the axial
clearances of planetary stage bearings, or the coupling stiffness of torque arms and rotor shaft. The respective
better choice depends for some of these design parameters on the chosen design principle.

REFERENCES

[1] Michel Geradin and Alberto Cardona, Flexible Multibody Dynamics: A Finite Element Approach. John Wiley
and Sons Ltd, 2001.

[2] Samcef/Mecano ®. User Manual version 11.0.5. SAMTECH SA, Belgium, http://www.samcef.com.

[3] A. Heege. “Computation of Wind Turbine Gearbox Loads by Coupled Structural and Mechanism Analysis”,
Proceedings “NAFEMS World Congress 2005”, Malta, 17th-20th May 2005.

[4] A. Heege, Y. Radovcic, J. Betran. “Fatigue Load Computation of Wind Turbina Gearboxes by Coupled
Structural, Mechanism and Aerodynamic Análisis”. DEWI Magazin Nr. 28 pages 61-68, Februar 2006.

[5] P. Viladomiu, M. Latorre, J. M. Cantons, A. Heege, Y. Radovcic. “Evaluation of wind turbine gearbox fatigue
load spectra including dynamic amplification factors”. European Wind Energy Conference/EWEC 2006/Athens.

IMPACT OF WIND TURBINE DRIVE TRAIN CONCEPTS ON DYNAMIC GEARBOX LOADS

A. Heege1, P. Prats2 , J. Betran1, L. Bastard1, R. Santos2, D. Castell2

EWEC 2007 - Poster Session BL3.317 - Innovations in turbine design