Carlo L. Bottasso
Technical University of Munich & Politecnico di Milano
Carlo L. Bottasso received a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano in Italy. Dr. Bottasso holds the Chair of Wind Energy at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, where he directs the Wind Energy Institute. His research interests are in wind energy and rotorcraft technology, with particular reference to modeling and simulation, aeroservoelasticity and control. His currently serving as President of the European Academy of Wind Energy (EAWE).
Although many different factors have contributed to the reduction in CoE, one aspect of the design of wind turbines that clearly stands out is the increase in size, both for onshore and offshore applications. Larger swept... [ view full abstract ]
Although many different factors have contributed to the reduction in CoE, one aspect of the design of wind turbines that clearly stands out is the increase in size, both for onshore and offshore applications. Larger swept areas and taller towers are the principal causes behind the increased energy yield of modern designs. This has not only lead to improved capacity factors, but it is also enabling the penetration of wind into geographical areas with lower average wind speeds, which were once not economically viable.
However, design challenges are not only related to size. A better understanding of the physics, improved modeling and analysis capabilities, increased experience, better manufacturing processes and an overall steady maturation of technology is pushing industry to seek more optimized designs. As a result, blades have become not only more aerodynamically efficient, but also slender, lightweight and flexible, while towers are not only taller but also softer than in earlier designs. Indeed, we are quickly moving from the era of loads, dominated by stiff designs, to the new era of flexibility, where aeroelasticity and controls play a bigger role. A consequence of this general trend is the need to include early on in the design process all those aspects that, by their mutual interactions, affect the performance, life, safety, operation and maintenance of a wind turbine.
In fact, as already seen for other similarly complex engineering applications, an improvement in the sophistication of the technology and more optimal and less conservative designs require automated multidisciplinary design procedures implemented in advanced computer programs. Multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization (MDAO) tries to address these needs, by providing automatic procedures that translate the design process into a constrained optimization and numerically solve the resulting problem. Automated design codes are clearly not meant to replace the experienced designer, but they can greatly improve knowledge and understanding of the design space, leading to better solutions and reduced development times.
This presentation discusses models and methods for the automated design optimization of wind turbines. This discipline is relatively new, and it is expected to quickly evolve in the years to come.
