Effects of Blade Numbers on Wind-Induced Fatigue Lives of Straight-Bladed Vertical-Axis Wind-Turbine Tower Bases
Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are being reconsidered as a complementary technology to the more commercially used horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) because of their economical installation and maintenance. The selection of the blade numbers is one of the crucial concerns for VAWTs. This stu...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Metals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/12/2/321 |
| _version_ | 1797478001414242304 |
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| author | Hua-Dong Zheng Bo Zhang Sheng-Bin Wang Guan-Zheng Zhou |
| author_facet | Hua-Dong Zheng Bo Zhang Sheng-Bin Wang Guan-Zheng Zhou |
| author_sort | Hua-Dong Zheng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are being reconsidered as a complementary technology to the more commercially used horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) because of their economical installation and maintenance. The selection of the blade numbers is one of the crucial concerns for VAWTs. This study focuses on the effects of the blade numbers on the fatigue lives of VAWT tower bases subjected to wind loading. Three straight-bladed VAWTs, with the same solidity ratios but different blade numbers, varying from two to four, were designed. The aerodynamic loading incurred by the VAWTs was computed using the corrected double-disk multistreamtube (DMS) model. The dynamic equations of the turbine systems were solved using the explicit central difference method. Then, a fatigue assessment model, including the crack-initiation and crack-propagation stages, was developed for the turbine tower bases. The results indicate that the three- and four-bladed VAWTs always presented better performances than the two-bladed VAWT in terms of the fatigue life. Moreover, increasing the number of blades from two to three improves the fatigue life of the tower base more than increasing it from three to four at lower wind speeds, while the latter is the more effective way to improve the tower-base fatigue life at higher wind speeds. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T21:25:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9378a16610bc41eca8af4e66baa6ea71 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4701 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T21:25:49Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Metals |
| spelling | doaj.art-9378a16610bc41eca8af4e66baa6ea712023-11-23T21:08:30ZengMDPI AGMetals2075-47012022-02-0112232110.3390/met12020321Effects of Blade Numbers on Wind-Induced Fatigue Lives of Straight-Bladed Vertical-Axis Wind-Turbine Tower BasesHua-Dong Zheng0Bo Zhang1Sheng-Bin Wang2Guan-Zheng Zhou3School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430074, ChinaChangjiang Survey, Planning, Design and Research Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430074, ChinaChangjiang Survey, Planning, Design and Research Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430074, ChinaDepartment of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaVertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are being reconsidered as a complementary technology to the more commercially used horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) because of their economical installation and maintenance. The selection of the blade numbers is one of the crucial concerns for VAWTs. This study focuses on the effects of the blade numbers on the fatigue lives of VAWT tower bases subjected to wind loading. Three straight-bladed VAWTs, with the same solidity ratios but different blade numbers, varying from two to four, were designed. The aerodynamic loading incurred by the VAWTs was computed using the corrected double-disk multistreamtube (DMS) model. The dynamic equations of the turbine systems were solved using the explicit central difference method. Then, a fatigue assessment model, including the crack-initiation and crack-propagation stages, was developed for the turbine tower bases. The results indicate that the three- and four-bladed VAWTs always presented better performances than the two-bladed VAWT in terms of the fatigue life. Moreover, increasing the number of blades from two to three improves the fatigue life of the tower base more than increasing it from three to four at lower wind speeds, while the latter is the more effective way to improve the tower-base fatigue life at higher wind speeds.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/12/2/321vertical-axis wind turbinefatiguecrack propagationblade numbersaerodynamic loading |
| spellingShingle | Hua-Dong Zheng Bo Zhang Sheng-Bin Wang Guan-Zheng Zhou Effects of Blade Numbers on Wind-Induced Fatigue Lives of Straight-Bladed Vertical-Axis Wind-Turbine Tower Bases Metals vertical-axis wind turbine fatigue crack propagation blade numbers aerodynamic loading |
| title | Effects of Blade Numbers on Wind-Induced Fatigue Lives of Straight-Bladed Vertical-Axis Wind-Turbine Tower Bases |
| title_full | Effects of Blade Numbers on Wind-Induced Fatigue Lives of Straight-Bladed Vertical-Axis Wind-Turbine Tower Bases |
| title_fullStr | Effects of Blade Numbers on Wind-Induced Fatigue Lives of Straight-Bladed Vertical-Axis Wind-Turbine Tower Bases |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Blade Numbers on Wind-Induced Fatigue Lives of Straight-Bladed Vertical-Axis Wind-Turbine Tower Bases |
| title_short | Effects of Blade Numbers on Wind-Induced Fatigue Lives of Straight-Bladed Vertical-Axis Wind-Turbine Tower Bases |
| title_sort | effects of blade numbers on wind induced fatigue lives of straight bladed vertical axis wind turbine tower bases |
| topic | vertical-axis wind turbine fatigue crack propagation blade numbers aerodynamic loading |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/12/2/321 |
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