Modular mechatronic modelling for wind turbine generating systems based on an integrated finite element approach

in Proceedings of the First Joint International Conference on Multibody System Dynamics (2010, May)

Wind energy is nowadays the fastest-growing energy source in the world, which has been attracting a lot of research interest in wind turbine generator systems. This paper concerns the modelling and ... [more ▼]

Wind energy is nowadays the fastest-growing energy source in the world, which has been attracting a lot of research interest in wind turbine generator systems. This paper concerns the modelling and simulation of wind turbine generating systems using the flexible multibody simulation software SAMCEF/MECANO. Firstly, it introduces the formulation of an extension of the generalized-alpha method, which is integrated into the flexible multibody dynamics solver for strongly-coupled simulation of mechatronic systems, and then emphasizes on the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) and the controller models, which are developed as modular components of the wind turbine package. The mechatronic systems are simulated upon this strongly-coupled approach and simulation results show the validity of the newly-developed solver and the models. The interest of this work is to analyze the control-generator-structure interactions in a wind turbine. The general aim is to develop a computer-aided tool for customization, fast-prototyping and optimal design of wind turbine systems based on the dynamic simulation of the overall system. [less ▲]