3.

Loads on the 17-DOF FOWT model

3.1. Aerodynamic, gravity loads

The aerodynamic loads are calculated using either the classical, quasi-static blade element momentum (BEM) model or the
unsteady BEM model with dynamic inflow [45]. In both cases, the BEM model includes tip loss, turbulent wake state and skewed
wake corrections. The classical BEM model is derived from airplane propeller theory [38], and the unsteady BEM model is
modified by gyrocopter theory to cope with yaw misalignment of any angle [39]. Both BEM models ultimately estimate the
effective local wind speed Ve and the flow angle ϕ at a given point along each blade:

√ 2 2
tanϕ=v1/ v2 , Ve(x3)= v 1 + v 2 (2.18)

where v1 and v2 are the axial and tangential local wind speeds as shown in Figure 2.7

Fig2.7. Definitions of the aerodynamic loads and physical distances. (a) 2D distributed aerodynamic loads, effective wind
velocity Ve, angles and airfoil cord length c.

2.5.1 2D aerodynamic loads

The blade element theory assumes that the lift, drag and momentum on a blade section of rotor blade can
be calculated using the two-dimensional airfoil data and the local relative velocity. The relative velocity is
obtained from the vector summation of free-stream wind velocity, the induced wind velocity and the blade
section tangential velocity. It must be pointed out however that only the components in the blade section
plane are considered. The velocity component along the blade z coordinate is neglected as well as three
dimensional effects.

The effective local wind speed Ve and the flow angle ϕ can be converted into dis-tributed lift pl and drag pd loads. The lift and
drag loads can then be transformed into normal pN and tangential pT distributed loads and integrated along each blade to get the
total aerodynamic loads. As seen in Figure 2.7, the distributed aerodynamic moment pm is also determined from the 2D airfoil
data. The flow angle ϕ is the sum of the angle of attack α, the blade twist θ and the blade pitch angle β. The distributed lift pl, drag
pd and moment pm loads are given by the 2D airfoil data as:

1
Pl ( z , α ) = ρ A V 2e(z)c(z)C l(α )
2
1
Pd ( z , α ) = ρ A V 2e(z)c(z)C d(α )
2
1
Pl ( z , α ) = ρ A V 2e(z)c(z)C m(α )
2
where ρA is the air density, c(x3) is the airfoil chord length and Cl(α), Cd(α) and Cm(α) are the lift, drag and moment coefficients
of the given airfoil, respectively. The normal pN and tangential pT distributed loads are found by 2D coordinate trans-formation:

[ ][
PN
PT
= cos φ sin φ
sin φ−cos φ ]
2.5.2 Momentum theories

The BEM model couples the global effects of the fluid dynamic interaction between the wind turbine and the wind with the local
2D aerodynamic lift and drag. The turbine
thrust force T exerted on the wind makes the wind slow down and expand behind the turbine. This is captured by 1D momentum
theory where the wind turbine is seen as a infinetly thin disc that provides frictionless drag. The thrust force is given by the
pressure drop Δp over the disc and the area A, T = ΔpA. The pressure is increased in front of the disc to above the ambient
pressure p0 far upwind by half the pressure drop. Right behind the disc, the pressure is below the ambient pressure and it
increases to ambient pressure again far downwind. The pressure drop is given by Bernoulli’s law for a streamline passing through
the disc, Δp = 1 ρA(V 2 −V 2).
The expansion of the wake is illustrated in Figure 2.8 where the wind moves along parallel streamlines from far upwind with the
velocity V0 to far downwind with the wind speed Vd. The wind speed at the turbine Va is the mean of V0 and Vd. By
conservation of mass, the tube of parallel streamlines expands from the area A0 far upwind to Ad far downwind. The aerodynamic
moment the wind turbine exerts on the wind creates a counter rotating wake behind the turbine which is captured by angular
momentum theory. The wake rotates opposite to the rotor speed as illustrated by the spiral in Figure 2.8

2.8: Visualization of the expanding wake by the change of 1D axial

momentum from the turbine thrust T and the counter-rotating wake
by the change of angular momentum from the turbine moment M.

2.5.3 Blade element momentum (BEM) models

The effective wind speed Ve is estimated differently by the two BEM models as shown in Figure 2.9

Classical BEM
In the classical BEM theory, the relative axial velocity V1 and the relative tangential velocity V2 are given by:

V1(z,t)=(1-a) V0 +v1(z,t)-u1(z,t) (2.23)

V2(z,t)=(1-a’)Vrot +v2(z,t)-u2(z,t) ( 2.24)

where v1(x3,t) and v2(x3,t) are the normal and tangential velocity of the turbulence. u1(x3,t) and u2(x3,t) are the normal and
tangential velocity of the blade from struc-tural vibrations. Vrot = rΩ(t)cosθC is the tangential rotational speed at the radial
distance r = rH + x3 from the hub center

Figure 2.9: Visualization of the expanding wake by the change of

1D axial momentum from the turbine thrust T and the counter-
rotating wake by the change of angular momentum from the
turbine moment M.
The induced velocity w is acting in the negative lift direction
perpendicular to the relative wind speed and is split up in an ax-ial and tangential part.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
'
V 1 (z , t) = V 0 , 1 + 0 + W n ( z , t) + v 1 (z , t) − u1 (z , t)
V 2 (z , t) V 0 , 2
'
r Ω ( t ) cos θ c W t (z , t) v 2 (z , t) u2 (z , t)
The axial induction factor a including two cases for inclusion of the Galuert’s turbulent wake state correction and the tangential
induction factor a′ are found by:

{
1 1
2
, for a ≤
4 F sin φ 3
+1
σ CN
2
( 1−a ) 1
a= a+ , a '=
1 4 F sin φ cos φ
1− ( 5−3 a ) a −1
4 1 σ CT
2
, for a>
4 F sin φ 3
+1
σ CN

where σ(x3) = nBc(x3) 2_x3 is the solidity and F is the Prandtl’s tip loss factor defined as:

2 n L −z
F= cos ( e ) , f = b B
−1 −f
π 2 z sin ϕ

[ ][
CN
CT
= cos φsin φ
sin φ−cos φ ][ ]
Cl
Cd

If the rotor is not perpendicular to the wind speed, the Pitt and Peters’ [113, 114, 115] skewed wake correction modifies the axial
induction factor to account for the effect of the aerodynamic restoring moment

0 0 ⊤ and the rotor plane normal n = TF TSe1, found by cosγ = e1 n where e1 = 1 0 0 ⊤ is the
where RRotor is the radius of the rotor and γ is the angle between the undisturbed
wind speed V0 = V0
unit vector of the rotor plane normal in
the local shaft CS. θ is the azimuth angle where the blade is deepest into the wake, found by tan θ0 = n2 where n2 and n3 are
the second and third component of the rotor normal vector n. χ is the the

[
a=a 1+15
π r
64 R
tan ( )
χ
2 ]
cos ( Ψ j−θ0 ) , χ =( 06 a+1 ) γ

angle between the rotor normal and the wake wind speed Va [116] as shown in Figure 2.10

Unsteady BEM

The relative wind speed in the unsteady BEM model is given by:

'
V =V 0+ V Rot +W + v−u
The local undisturbed wind velocity is given by
⊤ ⊤ ⊤
V′ = TB,jTS TF V0 0 0⊤. 0
The normal Wn and tangential Wt components of the induced velocity vector W are given by:

Wn = W cosϕ, Wt = W sinϕ

The unsteady BEM estimates the local wake velocity on the assumption that the lift force is the only effect creating the induced
velocity W. The induced velocity acts in the opposite direction of the distributed lift force pl and is given by:

−n B Pl
W=
4 π ρ A rF|V '0 +f g W n|

where F is the Prandtl’s tip loss factor and the normal component of the induced velocity is Wn = Wn 0 0 ⊤.

The turbulent wake correction is introduced by the factor fg:

{(
1 , for a ≤ ac

)
f g= ac ac
2− , for a> ac
a a

with ac ≈ 0.2 [117]. The axial induction factor is estimates as a = |V ||−|Va| with Va = V0,1 + WnV0,2 0 ⊤. The skewed wake
correction is accounted for by

where W0 = W cosϕ sinϕ⊤ is the uncorrected induced velocity found by Eq. (2.32). The angle between the rotor normal
vector n and the resulting wind speed after the rotor Va is given by cos χ = Va TB,je1 evaluated at r/R = 0.7 and is constant
along the blade.
⊤ ⊤

Dynamic wake

The dynamic effect of the wake is captured by a first order filter of the quasi-static wake Wqs from Eq. (2.32) and the previous
time step Wqs 1 to form H:
i i−1
iW qs−W qs
H=W + k τ 1qs
∆t
where k = 0.6 and the time constant τ1 and the later used τ2 are given by:

[ (R ) ]
2
1.1 Rrotor , τ 2=τ 1 0.39−0.26
r
τ1=
1−1.3 a V 0 rotor

The value of the axial induction factor to estimate τ1 must not exceed 0.5. An intermediate value Wi and the final value Wi
of the induced velocity can now be found from the previous step (Wint1 and Wi−1):
int W ∫ ¿ =H +¿¿
i−
i

i
W =W ∫ ¿ +¿¿ i

2.2.2. Dynamic stall (2023_10_Morini_Tesi_01.pdf)

The dynamic response of the aerodynamic loads depends on the fluid state in the bound ary layer, which can be attached or
separated, depending on the past flow and airfoil motion. Dynamic stall models predict the performance of the airfoil under these
un steady conditions, providing a lift coefficient (Cl)- AoA (α) relation based on the time history of α, relying on time constants
connected to the time needed for the boundary layer to adapt to configuration changes [7]. Some of the models present in
OpenFAST are described in the following sections.

Øye model Øye’s dynamic stall model [4, 7] is a one-state model which considers trailing edge stall. It computes the aerodynamic
data by linear combination of two extreme cases: the fully separated or fully inviscid flow, using its only state x = fs, defined as
the unsteady separation function, as a relaxation factor. The first-order, differential, state equation is the following: ˙ fs(t) = − 1 Tf
fs(t) + 1 Tf fst s (α34(t)) it can be noted that fs reaches fst s when the system is in steady state. Finally, the output unsteady lift
coefficient is calculated as: Cl,dyn(α34, t) = fs(t)Cl,inv(α34) + (1 − fs(t))Cl,fs(α34) (2.26) (2.27)
Blade element theory

The blade element theory assumes that the lift, drag and momentum on a blade section of rotor blade can
be calculated using the two-dimensional airfoil data and the local relative velocity. The relative velocity is
obtained from the vector summation of free-stream wind velocity, the induced wind velocity and the blade
section tangential velocity. It must be pointed out however that only the components in the blade section
plane are considered. The velocity component along the blade z coordinate is neglected as well as three
dimensional effects.

urel = u0 + ui − Ω × r

a0 induction factors by equation (3.51). The inflow angle _ between the rotation direction and

relative velocity is given by equation (3.52).

The lift and drag forces per unit span imposed the wind on the blade section are given by eqs
(3.55) and (3.56), where the coefficients of lift Cl and drag Cd are a function of the angle of
attack
_ as well as the flow regime dimensionless Reynolds number Re which is considered constant
for
most applications.
The angle of attack is given as a function of the inflow angle _, the blade pitch angle thetap
and
the local twist angle _, equation (3.57).

It is more convenient tough to represent the aerodynamic forces on the blade section in the
rotor

coordinate system, equations (3.58) and (3.59),

Momentum theory under steady yaw

“The autogyro in forward flight rotor is just like a yawed wind turbine rotor”[8] and the
relationship
between the induced velocity normal to the autogyro rotor for a given trust was first
proposed
by Glauert [15]. The autogyro is an aircraft with a conventional propeller and a freely spinning
rotor slightly tilted backwards. The propeller provides forward trust while the autogyro rotor