Multibody dynamic analysis of onshore horizontal-axis wind turbine

Horizontal-axis wind turbines have gained prominence in the recent past as an efficient power generation device, especially in locations having significant wind resources. This chapter focuses on modeling and dynamic response analysis of such turbines. Kane's approach (Kane & Levinson, 1985) is adopted to model the complete system in a multibody dynamic framework. The 3D wind field is generated for turbulent flow, and the blade element momentum theory is used to model the aerodynamic forces. The complex system dynamics is generated using an aero-hydro-servo-elastic analysis. The mathematical model also includes different control systems found in commercial turbines (e.g., torque controllers, pitch controllers, and mass dampers). A detailed numerical analysis is performed for different operating conditions using the specifications of a benchmark turbine. Overall, this chapter presents the complete mathematical modeling of a wind turbine along with different control strategies for efficient power generation.