Abstract
This work presents the numerical modeling, simulation and analysis of a wind turbine gearset supported by a flexible structure model. Gearboxes based on epicyclic gear trains applied to wind turbines have some advantages, i.e., compactness, robustness and low maintenance requirements. The gearbox is one of its main components because it is responsible for transforming the low angular speed of the rotor into the higher operation speed of the induction generator. Failures in this component cause loss of efficiency and directly impact the energy generated. The gearbox is attached to the nacelle, which is supported by the wind turbine tower. Wind gusts and shear can cause vibration that affects the tower and the nacelle and, therefore, all the components attached to them. To model these phenomena, a detailed model of a 600 kW turbine was built using the MBDyn software. The bearing, gear and the induction generator models were implemented as user-defined modules and were further integrated into the complete model of the wind turbine. Results showed that the gearbox components were affected by the dynamic behavior of the support structure and, therefore, its influence should be accounted for in the design of wind turbines.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Adhikari S, Bhattacharya S (2012) Dynamic analysis of wind turbine towers on flexible foundations. Shock Vibr 19(1):37–56
Cavagna L, Fumagalli A, Masarati P, Morandini M, Mantegazza P (2011) Real-time aeroservoelastic analysis of wind-turbines by free multibody software. In: Multibody dynamics. Springer, pp 69–86
Cavalca K, Cavalcante P, Okabe E (2005) An investigation on the influence of the supporting structure on the dynamics of the rotor system. Mech Syst Sig Process 19(1):157–174
Childs D (1993) Turbomachinery rotordynamics: phenomena, modeling, and analysis. Wiley, New York
Ghiringhelli GL, Masarati P, Mantegazza P (2000) A multibody implementation of finite volume \(C^0\) beams. AIAA J 38(1):131–138
Hambric SA, Shepherd MR, Campbell RL, Hanford AD (2013) Simulations and measurements of the vibroacoustic effects of replacing rolling element bearings with journal bearings in a simple gearbox. J Vibr Acoust-Trans ASME 135(3):031012-1–031012-18
Kramer E (1993) Dynamics of rotors and foundations. Springer, New York
Krause PC, Wasynczuk O, Sudhoff SD, Pekarek S (2013) Analysis of electric machinery and drive systems, vol 75. Wiley, New York
Lin J, Parker RG (1999) Analytical characterization of the unique properties of planetary gear free vibration. J Vibr Acoust 121(3):316–321
Martin L (2010) Wind energy-the facts: a guide to the technology, economics and future of wind power. Routledge, London
Masarati P (2013) A formulation of kinematic constraints imposed by kinematic pairs using relative pose in vector form. Multibody Syst Dyn 29(2):119–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11044-012-9320-0
Masarati P, Morandini M, Mantegazza P (2014) An efficient formulation for general-purpose multibody/multiphysics analysis. J Comput Nonlinear Dyn 9(4) (2014). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4025628
Morris L (2011) Direct drive vs. gearbox: progress on both fronts: will the wind turbine technology showdown leave just one technology standing? Power Eng 115(3):38–42
Müller S, Deicke M, De Doncker RW (2002) Doubly fed induction generator systems for wind turbines. IEEE Ind Appl Mag 8(3):26–33
Norton RL (1996) Machine design: an integrated approach. Prentice-Hall, New York
Okabe EP, Izuka J, Masarati P (2016) Modeling and simulation of a wind turbine gear set with hydrodynamic bearings attached to an induction generator. In: ASME 2016 international design engineering technical conferences and computers and information in engineering conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, p V006T09A029
Okabe EP, Masarati P (2014) Detailed modeling of wind turbine gear set by general-purpose multibody dynamics. In: Proceedings of the ASME 2014 international design engineering technical conferences, 17–20 August, DETC2014/MECH-34898
Polinder H, Van der Pijl FF, De Vilder GJ, Tavner PJ (2006) Comparison of direct-drive and geared generator concepts for wind turbines. IEEE Trans Energy Convers 21(3):725–733
Rachholz R, Woernle C, Staschko R (2015) Simulation of a small wind turbine with a bolted lattice tower under consideration of mass distribution and damping. In: Proceedings of the ECCOMAS thematic conference on multibody dynamics
Stol K (2003) Geometry and structural properties for the controls advanced research turbine (CART) from model tuning. NREL Report 32087
Zayas J, Derby M, Gilman P, Ananthan S (2015) Enabling wind power nationwide. Technical report, US Department of Energy
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Okabe, E.P., Masarati, P. (2019). Simulation and Analysis of the Influence of the Support Structure on a Wind Turbine Gear Set. In: Cavalca, K., Weber, H. (eds) Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Rotor Dynamics – IFToMM. IFToMM 2018. Mechanisms and Machine Science, vol 63. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99272-3_36
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99272-3_36
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99271-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99272-3
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)