The Wind Turbine industry continues to drive towards high market penetrationand profitability. In order to keep Wind Turbines in field for as long as possiblecomputational analysis tools are required. The open source tool QBlade[38] softwarewas extended to now contain routines to analyse the structural properties of WindTurbine blades. This was achieved using 2D integration methods and a Tapered Euler-Bernoulli beam element in order to find the mode shapes and 2D sectional properties.This was a key step towards integrating the National Renewable Energy LaboratoriesFAST package[32] which has the ability to analyse Aeroelastic Responses. The QFEMmodule performed well for the test cases including: hollow isotropic blade, rotatingbeam and tapered beam. Some improvements can be made to the torsion estimationof the 2D sections but this has no effect on the mode shapes required for the FASTsimulations.

The wind industry is always seeking ways to better understand the performance of a wind turbine and improve its efficiency. During the operation phase and maintenance, wind turbines go through regular optimization. Due to the regular change in wind speed and direction, wind turbines need to be regulated and positioned accordingly. For a specific wind speed, there are a specific set of pitch angle positions. The study aims to quantify the errors in pitch angle positions and validate how much would the loss be if it deviates from its ideal pitch angle position. In this study, airfoil data from an NREL 5 MW turbine is used. Qblade is used in the simulation for error estimation. The simulation is based on BEM theory. A wind turbine blade is developed based on the given airfoil data. Multi-parameter BEM simulation is conducted for a range of wind speed, pitch angle, and rpm. Later the ideal pitch angle position for each wind speed bin is recorded. During the simulation process, downscaling the 5 MW to a 1.5 MW turbine was executed. Validation of the downscaling method was also executed. It showed good agreement with the obtained SCADA data of a working turbine. Later, pitch angle errors are introduced in the simulation.  The results are presented in two cases. Case 1 showed that at below-rated wind speed, there is a significant loss in power production if the error in pitch angle up to 1 degree.  Case 2 also shows error up to 5 degrees in region 2. This study contributes to a better understanding of the effect of pitch angle errors and their loss of power. This study took into account steady wind condition only and does not include climatic conditions or turbulence. A further study focusing on simulating in a high-fidelity setting, including real-time wind or topography conditions, is recommended to achieve a further understanding of the pitch angle errors in a wind turbine.

This report concerns the research, design, implementation and application of an airfoil trailing-edge noise prediction tool in the development of new, quieter airfoil for large-size wind turbine application. The tool is aimed at enabling comparative acoustic performance assessment of airfoils during the early development cycle of new blades and rotors for wind turbine applications. The ultimate goal is to enable the development of quieter wind turbines by the Wind Energy Industry. The task was accomplished by developing software that is simultaneously suitable for comparative design, computationally efficient and user-friendly. The tool was integrated into a state-of-the-art wind turbine design and analysis code that may be downloaded from the web, in compiled or source code form, under general public licensing, at no charge. During the development, an extensive review of the existing airfoil trailing-edge noise prediction models was accomplished, and the semi-empirical BPM model was selected and modified to cope with generic airfoil geometry. The intrinsic accuracy of the original noise prediction model was evaluated as well as its sensitivity to the turbulence length scale parameter, with restrictions imposed accordingly. The criterion allowed comparison of performance of both CFD-RANS and a hybrid solver (XFLR5) on the calculation of the turbulent boundary layer data, with the eventual adjustment and selection of the latter. After all the elements for assembling the method had been selected and the code specified, a collaboration project was made effective between Poli-USP and TU-Berlin, which allowed the seamless coupling of the new airfoil TE noise module, \"PNoise\", to the popular wind turbine design/analysis integrated environment, \"QBlade\". After implementation, the code calculation routines were thoroughly verified and then used in the development of a family of \"silent profiles\" with good relative acoustic and aerodynamic performance. The sample airfoil development study closed the initial design cycle of the new tool and illustrated its ability to fulfill the originally intended purpose of enabling the design of new, quieter blades and rotors for the advancement of the Wind Energy Industry with limited environmental footprint. / Este trabalho descreve a pesquisa de elementos iniciais, o projeto, a implantação e a aplicação de uma ferramenta de predição de ruído de bordo de fuga, no desenvolvimento de aerofólios mais silenciosos para turbinas eólicas de grande porte. O objetivo imediato da ferramenta é permitir a comparação de desempenho acústico relativo entre aerofólios no início do ciclo de projeto de novas pás e rotores de turbinas eólicas. O objetivo mais amplo é possibilitar o projeto de turbinas eólicas mais silenciosas, mas de desempenho aerodinâmico preservado, pela indústria da Energia Eólica. A consecução desses objetivos demandou o desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta que reunisse, simultaneamente, resolução comparativa, eficiência computacional e interface amigável, devido à natureza iterativa do projeto preliminar de um novo rotor. A ferramenta foi integrada a um ambiente avançado de projeto e análise de turbinas eólicas, de código aberto, que pode ser livremente baixado na Web. Durante a pesquisa foi realizada uma ampla revisão dos modelos existentes para predição de ruído de bordo de fuga, com a seleção do modelo semi-empírico BPM, que foi modificado para lidar com geometrias genéricas. A precisão intrínseca do modelo original foi avaliada, assim como sua sensibilidade ao parâmetro de escala de turbulência transversal, com restrições sendo impostas a esse parâmetro em decorrência da análise. Esse critério permitiu a comparação de resultados de cálculo provenientes de método CFD-RANS e de método híbrido (XFLR5) de solução da camada limite turbulenta, com a escolha do último. Após a seleção de todos os elementos do método e especificação do código, uma parceria foi estabelecida entre a Poli-USP e a TU-Berlin, que permitiu a adição de um novo módulo de ruído de bordo de fuga, denominado \"PNoise\", ao ambiente de projeto e análise integrado de turbinas eólicas \"QBlade\". Após a adição, as rotinas de cálculo foram criteriosamente verificadas e, em seguida, aplicadas ao desenvolvimento de aerofólios mais silenciosos, com bons resultados acústicos e aerodinâmicos relativos a uma geometria de referência. Esse desenvolvimento ilustrou a capacidade da ferramenta de cumprir a missão para a qual foi inicialmente projetada, qual seja, permitir à Indústria desenvolver pás mais silenciosas que irão colaborar com o avanço da energia eólica através da limitação do seu impacto ambiental.

This report concerns the research, design, implementation and application of an airfoil trailing-edge noise prediction tool in the development of new, quieter airfoil for large-size wind turbine application. The tool is aimed at enabling comparative acoustic performance assessment of airfoils during the early development cycle of new blades and rotors for wind turbine applications. The ultimate goal is to enable the development of quieter wind turbines by the Wind Energy Industry. The task was accomplished by developing software that is simultaneously suitable for comparative design, computationally efficient and user-friendly. The tool was integrated into a state-of-the-art wind turbine design and analysis code that may be downloaded from the web, in compiled or source code form, under general public licensing, at no charge. During the development, an extensive review of the existing airfoil trailing-edge noise prediction models was accomplished, and the semi-empirical BPM model was selected and modified to cope with generic airfoil geometry. The intrinsic accuracy of the original noise prediction model was evaluated as well as its sensitivity to the turbulence length scale parameter, with restrictions imposed accordingly. The criterion allowed comparison of performance of both CFD-RANS and a hybrid solver (XFLR5) on the calculation of the turbulent boundary layer data, with the eventual adjustment and selection of the latter. After all the elements for assembling the method had been selected and the code specified, a collaboration project was made effective between Poli-USP and TU-Berlin, which allowed the seamless coupling of the new airfoil TE noise module, \"PNoise\", to the popular wind turbine design/analysis integrated environment, \"QBlade\". After implementation, the code calculation routines were thoroughly verified and then used in the development of a family of \"silent profiles\" with good relative acoustic and aerodynamic performance. The sample airfoil development study closed the initial design cycle of the new tool and illustrated its ability to fulfill the originally intended purpose of enabling the design of new, quieter blades and rotors for the advancement of the Wind Energy Industry with limited environmental footprint. / Este trabalho descreve a pesquisa de elementos iniciais, o projeto, a implantação e a aplicação de uma ferramenta de predição de ruído de bordo de fuga, no desenvolvimento de aerofólios mais silenciosos para turbinas eólicas de grande porte. O objetivo imediato da ferramenta é permitir a comparação de desempenho acústico relativo entre aerofólios no início do ciclo de projeto de novas pás e rotores de turbinas eólicas. O objetivo mais amplo é possibilitar o projeto de turbinas eólicas mais silenciosas, mas de desempenho aerodinâmico preservado, pela indústria da Energia Eólica. A consecução desses objetivos demandou o desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta que reunisse, simultaneamente, resolução comparativa, eficiência computacional e interface amigável, devido à natureza iterativa do projeto preliminar de um novo rotor. A ferramenta foi integrada a um ambiente avançado de projeto e análise de turbinas eólicas, de código aberto, que pode ser livremente baixado na Web. Durante a pesquisa foi realizada uma ampla revisão dos modelos existentes para predição de ruído de bordo de fuga, com a seleção do modelo semi-empírico BPM, que foi modificado para lidar com geometrias genéricas. A precisão intrínseca do modelo original foi avaliada, assim como sua sensibilidade ao parâmetro de escala de turbulência transversal, com restrições sendo impostas a esse parâmetro em decorrência da análise. Esse critério permitiu a comparação de resultados de cálculo provenientes de método CFD-RANS e de método híbrido (XFLR5) de solução da camada limite turbulenta, com a escolha do último. Após a seleção de todos os elementos do método e especificação do código, uma parceria foi estabelecida entre a Poli-USP e a TU-Berlin, que permitiu a adição de um novo módulo de ruído de bordo de fuga, denominado \"PNoise\", ao ambiente de projeto e análise integrado de turbinas eólicas \"QBlade\". Após a adição, as rotinas de cálculo foram criteriosamente verificadas e, em seguida, aplicadas ao desenvolvimento de aerofólios mais silenciosos, com bons resultados acústicos e aerodinâmicos relativos a uma geometria de referência. Esse desenvolvimento ilustrou a capacidade da ferramenta de cumprir a missão para a qual foi inicialmente projetada, qual seja, permitir à Indústria desenvolver pás mais silenciosas que irão colaborar com o avanço da energia eólica através da limitação do seu impacto ambiental.

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