Announcement Detail
Monday, April 15, 2024
8:00 AM PT / 5:00 PM CET
Energy & Earth Systems TTA Webinar
Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulations in Wind Energy
Speaker: Prof. Joris Degroote, Ghent University
Abstract
Wind energy is essential in the ongoing transition to a sustainable energy system and the technology in this field is constantly evolving. The horizontal axis wind turbine is increasing in size more rapidly than previously expected, resulting in blades of more than 100m long and an increased importance of aeroelastic effects. Also emerging technologies like airborne wind energy, consisting of a tethered aircraft or kite, are influenced by aeroelasticity. Hence, techniques and models to simulate the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) in these wind energy converters have been developed. This presentation focuses on partitioned simulation of FSI, referring to the coupling of a flow solver with a structural solver, and also the connection with a controller in the case of airborne wind energy. Overset techniques are used to handle the rigid body motion and the deformation in the wind subdomain, as well as to facilitate the meshing process. With these techniques, the deformation of a wind turbine blade during a wind gust and in proximity of the tower has been investigated, and the trajectory and wing deflection of an airborne wind energy system have been simulated.
Biography
Joris Degroote obtained his PhD from Ghent University (Belgium) in 2010. He did research stays of 1 year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) as PhD student and 3 months at Technische Universität München (Germany)as post-doctoral researcher. He became associate professor at Ghent University in 2013 and full professor in 2020. His research focuses on simulation of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) and is thus purely numerical. Fundamental aspects of algorithm development and applications in mechanical energy engineering are both investigated. He developed the CoCoNuT coupling software, an object-oriented open-sourcecode for partitioned simulation of coupled problems, containing several quasi-Newton coupling techniques. He is (co)author of 175 journal publications in Web of Science and is the (co)supervisor of 17 completed and 11 ongoing PhDs.
Upcoming webinar speaker:
Mon. May 13: Dr. Alejandro Mota, Sandia National Laboratories