Authors: Guillaume Lethé J De Cuyper J Kang Matthew Furman Dick Kading
Publish Date: 2009/05/20
Volume: 23, Issue: 4, Pages: 1089-1093
Abstract
To optimize the design of their windturbines manufacturers make use of simulation tools to predict the loads that the different components need to transmit along the drivetrain from the blades to the generator Using detailed 3D Multibody simulation allows for indepth studies capturing the dynamic behavior of the overall system Multibody simulation is used to assess the structural reliability of components such as the gearbox and to make sure they resist the extreme and unpredictable loads from the wind for a reasonable lifetime LMS VirtualLab provides stateofthe art methods to model gearboxes and the meshing of gears with varying stiffness It also provides capabilities to model the rotorblade as well as the generator The complete system is built from the subsystems assembled in a versatile and modular way Using LMS VirtualLab Motion a dynamic simulation is finally performed to visualize the behavior of the system trough graphs and animations The integrated simulation capabilities within LMS VirtualLab environment also offer an efficient solution to analyze and optimize the durability performance noise emissions and overall yield of wind turbines Accurate loads are easily generated with LMS VirtualLab Motion thanks to stateoftheart contact formulations suited for system level analysis Those loads lead the engineers to evaluate the stresses occurring in each component and the vibrations generated in the structure The environment enables to quickly analyze the effect of design changes on a specific performance attribute which allows engineering teams to perform fast optimization loops from the early development stages onwardsGuillaume Lethé received his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Université Catholique de LouvainlaNeuve Belgium in 2005 He then received his Master’s in Science of Management degree from the same University in 2006 Ir Guillaume Lethé is currently Manager at the LMS International Company Belgium for the VirtualLab Motion software for Multibody dynamic simulations His research interests include mechatronic systems for on and offroad vehicles as well as dynamic simulations of windturbine systems
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