FlexDyn - a new OpenFAST structural dynamics module for a general, user defined wind turbine topology

Abstract

In the present work, FlexDyn, a new structural dynamics module for the OpenFAST framework is developed. FlexDyn can generate structural equations of motion through a formalism, given user-defined rigid and elastic bodies and associated Degrees of Freedom (DOFs). The Newton-Euler formalism uses beam models with shape functions for a reduced-order representation in the same way as ElastoDyn of OpenFAST. The equations of motion are formulated in minimal coordinates, equally to ElastoDyn. FlexDyn is fully integrated into the OpenFAST framework with a coupling to AeroDyn and the new SubDyn module for FE representations of floating substructures (Jonkman, et al., 2020), among others. The formalism was previously implemented and verified in the low-order aero-hydro-servo-elastic code SLOW (Lemmer, et al., 2020). The objective of the presentation is to show the methodology of the formalized generation of equations of motion and first results of the new FlexDyn module for OpenFAST. The use case is an improved aero-elastic model, which includes the torsional DOF of the blades. The torsional DOF is not included in the ElastoDyn module but can potentially contribute to the motion and load response of the blades. The fidelity level of this use case of FlexDyn is higher than that of ElastoDyn but still below that of BeamDyn, which is a full FE representation of the blades. For this reason, the computational performance is still in the range of ElastoDyn, taking advantage of the order reduction.