Active load control for wind turbine blades using trailing edge flap

Abstract

The fatigue load of a turbine blade has become more important because the size of commercial wind turbines has increased dramatically in the past 30 years. The reduction of the fatigue load can result in an increase in operational efficiency. This paper numerically investigates the load reduction of large wind turbine blades using active aerodynamic load control devices, namely trailing edge flaps. The PD and LQG controllers are used to determine the trailing edge flap angle; the difference between the root bending moment and its mean value during turbulent wind conditions is used as the error signal of the controllers. By numerically analyzing the effect of the trailing edge flaps on the wind turbines, a reduction of 30-50% in the standard deviation of the root bending moment was achieved. This result implies a reduction in the fatigue damage on the wind turbines, which allows the turbine blade lengths to be increased without exceeding the designed fatigue damage limit.