Fluid-Structure Interaction of Renewable Energy System

The primary goal of this project is to develop a high-fidelity simulation techniques that are capable of modeling the interaction of full scale wind turbine structures with air flow and ocean water and capture the fatigue behaviors of the large wind turbine blade under millions of loading cycles over the long life span. Full-scale wind turbine structure is modeled with Kirchhoff-Love shell and rotaion-free beam using isogeometric analysis. Residual based variational multiscale simulations (RBVMS) combined with the techniques of enforcement of weak boundary conditions and track of non-matching meshes have been applied to the problem of wind and turbine interaction for high Reynolds number aerodynamics. With assistance of level set method, the free-surface flow is modeled by two-phase Navier-Stokes equations, which enables the simulations of the interaction between the free-surface ocean waves and floating wind turbines. A framework of fatigue damage model based on continuum damage mechanics and residual stiffness approach and driven by the dynamic data application system (DDDAS) was established, aiming at simulating high-cycle fatigue of wind turbine composite blades. The final results indicate accurate prediction of the damage zone formation, damage progression, and eventual failure of the composite turbine blade.