OpenFAST and modelling real world turbines

[clbanjai]

Hello,

I am starting a project where I'll have to simulate some real world wind turbines and was wondering if I could get some guidance from you guys. So far, I've mostly used OpenFAST to simulate the IEA-15-MW-WT using the given fst file. I've been looking into offshore wind turbines such as the ones produced by Siemens and GE, and there's not a lot of information regarding their power curves and CT curves. I found a way to manually estimate the power curve, but the CT curve is more complicated so I was wondering if you knew of a way to generate CT Curves of a turbine given the geometry, rated power, etc using OpenFAST and also overall run simulation for turbines outside of the examples fst files.

Best,

clbanjai

[jjonkman]

Dear @clbanjai,

I'm not sure I fully understand your question. If you have an OpenFAST model of a specific wind turbine, you can use the model to calculate Cp, Ct, etc.

If you don't already have an OpenFAST model of the specific turbine of interest--or the aerodynamic, structural dynamic, and control information needed to generate an OpenFAST model--NREL has been developing capability, based on our WEIS optimization tool (https://github.com/WISDEM/WEIS) that can generate an OpenFAST model based on a limited set of information such as power curve, component masses, and component natural frequencies. Basically, this capability will start with a reference model (such as the IEA Wind 15-MW RWT) and known information about the specific turbine (power curve, etc.), and reoptimize the turbine so that it has the same properties as the known information, filling in other details (based on assumptions) along the way, with the more information that is known, the better the OpenFAST model will be.

Best regards,

[clbanjai]

oh thanks that is very useful, I will be taking a look at WEIS. Additionally, do you happen to know the name of the variable OutListParameters that would correspond to the Ct?

[jjonkman]

AeroDyn output RtAeroCt is the aerodynamic thrust coefficient of the rotor.

Best regards,