Aeroelastic measurements and simulations of a small wind turbine operating in the built environment

Small wind turbines, when compared to large commercial scale wind turbines, often lag behind with respect to research investment, technological development, and experimental verification of design standards. In this study we assess the simplified load equations outlined in IEC 61400.2-2013 for use in determining fatigue loading of small wind turbine blades. We compare these calculated loads to fatigue damage cycles from both measured in-service operation, and aeroelastic modelling of a small 5 kW Aerogenesis wind turbine. Damage cycle ranges and corresponding stress ratios show good agreement when comparing both aeroelastic simulations and operational measurements. Loads calculated from simplified load equations were shown to significantly overpredict load ranges while underpredicting the occurrence of damage cycles per minute of operation by 89%. Due to the difficulty in measuring and acquiring operational loading, we recommend the use of aeroelastic modelling as a method of mitigating the over-conservative simplified load equation for fatigue loading.