RESEARCH ON FLUTTER BOUNDARY PREDICTION METHOD FOR LONG AND FLEXIBLE BLADES OF ULTRA-LARGE WIND TURBINES

Zhang Xianfeng; Wang Su; Ma Lu; Guo Hao; Shen Xin; Du Zhaohui

doi:10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2024-2174

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Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (5) : 190-196. DOI: 10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2024-2174

RESEARCH ON FLUTTER BOUNDARY PREDICTION METHOD FOR LONG AND FLEXIBLE BLADES OF ULTRA-LARGE WIND TURBINES

Zhang Xianfeng¹, Wang Su², Ma Lu¹, Guo Hao¹, Shen Xin^2,3, Du Zhaohui^2,3

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Abstract

Under the large-scale development trend of wind turbines, the flexibility of blades increases and the flutter margin decreases. The possible flutter problems have become an important consideration in the safety design of wind turbines. Simulating runaway conditions has always been one of the main approaches for predicting the flutter boundary of wind turbines. However, the validity of this method when applied to the strongly nonlinear characteristics of long and flexible blades over 100 meters in length requires examination. In this paper, the IEA 15 MW wind turbine blade is taken as the research object, and a dynamic model of the blade's aeroelastic system is established. The aeroelastic response under the simulated runaway conditions is analyzed and compared with the predicted flutter boundary obtained through numerical simulation under fixed boundary conditions. The results indicate that although the final predicted flutter characteristics of the blade are consistent, the predicted flutter boundary obtained by simulating the runaway conditions is significantly lags behind the prediction results under fixed boundary conditions. Further analysis reveals that under the simulated runaway conditions, the blades were already in an aeroelastic instability state before the instability of the wind turbine rotor speed occurred. During this process, the increase in the rotor speed absorbed a significant amount of energy, which delayed the accumulation of the blade flutter amplitude. The blades merely vibrated slightly in the form of the 1st flap mode and strengthened slowly until the vibration rapidly diverged within a short period of time after reaching the uncontrollable flutter boundary.

Key words

wind turbines / blades / aeroelasticity / flutter boundary / blade element momentum theory / geometrically exact beam

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Zhang Xianfeng, Wang Su, Ma Lu, Guo Hao, Shen Xin, Du Zhaohui. RESEARCH ON FLUTTER BOUNDARY PREDICTION METHOD FOR LONG AND FLEXIBLE BLADES OF ULTRA-LARGE WIND TURBINES[J]. Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica. 2026, 47(5): 190-196 https://doi.org/10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2024-2174

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