Sandia 2014 Wind Turbine Blade Workshop- Westphal

1. Siemens Rotor R&D:
An OEM Perspective
Siemens Energy, Inc. - Boulder, CO USA
Restricted © Siemens AG 2014 All rights reserved.

2. Motivation
Future of wind power requires reducing the LCOE
from wind to be directly competitive with traditional
energy sources without subsidies.
• Why wind? Æ Why not wind?
Blades are a small fraction of the total cost, but
generate 100% of the AEP, and produce the majority
of the design-driving loads.
• Loads = Material = Cost
Nearly all advances in blade design and technology
have resulted from the combined efforts between
academia, research institutions, and industry!
• Innovation is collaborative!
2014-Aug-26 Restricted Page 2 © Siemens AG 2014 All rights reserved. Boulder Wind R&D

3. Agenda
Blade technology performance and validation:
Laboratory Testing
• Structural testing
• Aerodynamic wind tunnel testing
• Aeroacoustic wind tunnel testing
Field Testing
• Acoustic field-testing
• Oil-flow visualization
• Tuft Flow visualization
• Aeroelastic deformations
• NREL-SWP CRADA research turbine
• Extreme gust event
Research areas of interest:
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4. Laboratory Testing & Validation
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5. Structural Testing
Coupon Level Element or Panel Level Simple substructure Complex substructure Full Scale
Mfg. Design Testing
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6. Aerodynamic Wind Tunnel Testing
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7. Acoustic Wind Tunnel Testing
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
Airfoil
Flow
Configuration 1 Configuration 2
100 1000 10000
SPL [dBA re. 20e-6 Pa]
Frequency [Hz]
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8. Field Testing & Validation
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9. Acoustic Field Testing
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10. Oil-Flow Visualization
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11. Tuft Flow Visualization
Clean leading edge
Soiled leading edge
Attached flow Separated flow
Vortex
generators
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12. Tip-Root Blade Perspective
Two Go-Pro cameras facing inboard/outboard
Static load testing for g-loading
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13. ATB Deflection Validation
Imaging
Leading edge targets
Trailing edge
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14. ATB Deflection Validation
Root strain gauge
Image-based flap defl.
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15. NREL-SWP CRADA Test Turbine
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16. NREL-SWP CRADA – 108m Rotor
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17. NREL-SWP CRADA – Highlights
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18. NREL-SWP CRADA – Highlights
• Pressure System
• Validating key aero data (360Ý Airfoil
Polars, Vortex Shedding, Etc)
2014-Aug-26 Restricted Page 18 © Siemens AG 2014 All rights reserved. Boulder Wind R&D

19. NREL-SWP CRADA – Overspeed Event
Extreme Overspeed – January 13th 2014
Inflow
• Wind Gust: 6m/s to 35 m/s over 6 seconds
• Direction Change: 90 degrees
Turbine
• RPM: 153% of nominal RPM (tip speed ~135 m/s!)
• Yaw Change: 25 degrees over 7 seconds (0.5 deg/sec capability)
• Overspeed triggered (Software & Hardware)
Measurement Systems Operational During Event
• Standard load channels
• Fiber Bragg Strains in Blade B
• Pressure System in Blade C
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20. NREL-SWP CRADA – Overspeed Event
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21. Research Interests
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22. How Can Research Advance Industry?
Universities and research laboratories possess a wealth of knowledge,
experience, and opportunity. However, direct cooperation, communication
and collaboration with OEMs is rather limited.
• Improve interface between industry and the
research community
• Openly share non-proprietary information
on our challenges and our successes
• Maturing viable technologies to a higher
degree to facilitate industry implementation
2014-Aug-26 Restricted Page 22 © Siemens AG 2014 All rights reserved. Boulder Wind R&D

23. Research Areas of Interest
Wind-Specific Materials Research
• Failure under long-term enviromental exposure, multi-axial static and
fatigue, scaling relationships, improved resins for fatigue
Structural Modeling
• Non-linear behavior during deformations, aero-structural
optimization (airfoils & planforms)
Blade Soiling
• ~3-5% AEP impact!, Improved computationald and laboratory
modeling
Airfoil analysis methods for wind
• Simulate VGs, flatback airfoils, trailing edge add-ons, multi-element,
etc.
Aeroacoustics
• Simple, fast, robust, semi-empirical methods!
3D & Dynamic Effects
• Improved 3D & dynamic corrections for BEM
Vortex Codes
• Improved accuracy with realistic speed compared to BEM
Turbulence Modelling
• Improved correlation between measurement and models
2014-Aug-26 Restricted Page 23 © Siemens AG 2014 All rights reserved. Boulder Wind R&D

24. Conclusion
Steps towards reducing wind power LCOE will require significant
contributions from both industry and the research community
• Increase communication & collaboration
• Improve our modeling tools & methods
• Improve our field-validation techniques
Solutions must be simple, robust, and cost-effective
• Mature promising technologies in a timely manner
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25. Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the SWP team and to
NWTC for their continued support!
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26. Thank you for your attention!
Any questions?
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