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- Doctoral Dissertations (5)
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Articles 1 - 26 of 26
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Wind-Wave Misalignment Effects On Multiline Anchor Systems For Floating Offshore Wind Turbines, Doron T. Rose
Wind-Wave Misalignment Effects On Multiline Anchor Systems For Floating Offshore Wind Turbines, Doron T. Rose
Masters Theses
Multiline anchors are a novel way to reduce the cost of arrays of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), but their behavior is not yet fully understood. Through metocean characterization and dynamic simulations, this thesis investigates the effects of wind-wave misalignment on multiline anchor systems. Four coastal U.S. sites are characterized in order to develop IEC design load cases (DLCs) and analyze real-world misaligned conditions. Stonewall Bank, Oregon showed the highest 500-year extreme wave height, at 16.6 m, while Virginia Beach, Virginia showed the highest 500-year wind speed, at 56.8 m/s. Misalignment probability distributions, at all sites, are found to converge …
A Study On Scaling Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Geometry And Hydrostatics With Increasing Turbine Size, Samuel Davis
A Study On Scaling Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Geometry And Hydrostatics With Increasing Turbine Size, Samuel Davis
Honors College
Floating offshore wind offers a clean and sustainable alternative to fossil fuels for the future of energy production. In Maine in particular, there is a great opportunity to take advantage of the wind resource off the coast and become a global leader in offshore wind. With the Maine coastal waters being too deep for fixed-bottom turbine structures, floating platforms that support the turbines have the opportunity to gain traction as the technology matures. As wind turbines increase in size and capacity, the floating hulls must also increase in size. The research presented in this thesis aimed to calculate and examine …
Evaluating The Impact Of Increased Cycling On Thermal Power Plants Due To Wind Energy Penetration In The Midwest: A Case Study, Joscelyne Larson
Evaluating The Impact Of Increased Cycling On Thermal Power Plants Due To Wind Energy Penetration In The Midwest: A Case Study, Joscelyne Larson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
One of the most significant shifts in the mix of U.S. electricity generation over the past few years has been the rapid expansion of renewable energy resources, especially solar and wind. However, fossil fuels are still necessary to fulfill the world’s energy requirements. Despite efforts to increase the use of renewable energy sources, these sources can be at times unreliable, causing countries around the world to continue to rely on base load units such as coal and natural gas. This decrease in fossil fuels and increase in renewable energy sources presents many complex issues in terms of power system planning, …
Wind-Powered Continuous Reverse Osmosis Water Desalination, Aliah Adriana Binti Khairul Hisham
Wind-Powered Continuous Reverse Osmosis Water Desalination, Aliah Adriana Binti Khairul Hisham
Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship
Water scarcity is a grave issue that is faced by lots of people worldwide. This phenomenon is further exacerbated by climate change, overpopulation, and water-intense industrial activities. To combat this issue, reverse osmosis (RO) water desalination system is broadly introduced in order to produce freshwater while maintaining the desired thermodynamic efficiency and economic feasibility. RO water desalination is a process of separating freshwater from salt water using a semi-permeable membrane. In status quo, there are various forms of energy present in RO system (e.g: hydraulic, mechanical, electrical energy, etc.) to power the hydraulic components. The conversion from one form of …
Injustice Within Renewable Energy Life Cycles: Can Irena Offer A Solution?, G. Webster Ross
Injustice Within Renewable Energy Life Cycles: Can Irena Offer A Solution?, G. Webster Ross
IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt
This paper explores case studies of green colonialism, supply chain injustices, and poor e-waste management within renewable energy life cycles, and investigates how the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) may be the best suited organization to address and mitigate these issues on a global scale. While renewable energy technology is often heralded as the key to a sustainable future, the life cycle of these technologies is riddled with human rights violations and other injustices. To begin with, many of the minerals required for assembling the hardware are mined in unregulated environments, resulting in several injustices such as health and safety …
100% Renewable Energy Grid For Rural Electrification Of Remote Areas: A Case Study In Jordan, Loiy Al-Ghussain, Mohammad Abujubbeh, Adnan Darwish Ahmad, Ahmad M. Abubaker, Onur Taylan, Murat Fahrioglu, Nelson K. Akafuah
100% Renewable Energy Grid For Rural Electrification Of Remote Areas: A Case Study In Jordan, Loiy Al-Ghussain, Mohammad Abujubbeh, Adnan Darwish Ahmad, Ahmad M. Abubaker, Onur Taylan, Murat Fahrioglu, Nelson K. Akafuah
Institute of Research for Technology Development Faculty Publications
Many developing countries suffer from high energy-import dependency and inadequate electrification of rural areas, which aggravates the poverty problem. In this work, Al-Tafilah in Jordan was considered as a case study, where the technical, economic, and environmental benefits of a decentralized hybrid renewable energy system that can match 100% of the city demand were investigated. A tri-hybrid system of wind, solar, and hydropower was integrated with an energy storage system and optimized to maximize the match between the energy demand and production profiles. The optimization aimed at maximizing the renewable energy system (RES) fraction while keeping the levelized cost of …
A Multiline Anchor Concept For Floating Offshore Wind Turbines, Casey Fontana
A Multiline Anchor Concept For Floating Offshore Wind Turbines, Casey Fontana
Doctoral Dissertations
Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) hold great potential for the renewable energy industry, but capital costs remain high. In efforts to increase FOWT substructure efficiency and reduce costs, this thesis investigates a novel multiline anchor concept in which FOWTs share anchors instead of being moored separately. The goal of this thesis is to evaluate the force dynamics, design, and potential cost reduction of the system. Anchor forces are simulated using the NREL 5 MW reference turbine and OC4-DeepCwind semisubmersible platform, and multiline anchor force is computed as the vector sum of the contributing mooring line tensions. The use of a …
Analysis Of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Array Optimization, Peter-Claver Nwanze, Keith Bazemore, Jessica Lyons, J. Ann Mitchem
Analysis Of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Array Optimization, Peter-Claver Nwanze, Keith Bazemore, Jessica Lyons, J. Ann Mitchem
ENERGY Research and Lesson Plans
Wind energy is the fastest growing form of renewable energy, with a multitude of possibilities for expansion. This, as well as other forms of renewable energy, will facilitate understanding of the growing concerns regarding global warming by decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels. Wind energy requires wind speeds of at least six miles per hour; therefore, only certain geographical areas are suitable for the use of this technology. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether the orientation of an array of wind turbines increases or decreases energy production and efficiency. In this study, various arrays consisting of five …
Integrated Free-Form Method For Aerostructural Optimization Of Wind Turbine Blades, Ryan Barrett, Andrew Ning
Integrated Free-Form Method For Aerostructural Optimization Of Wind Turbine Blades, Ryan Barrett, Andrew Ning
Faculty Publications
A typical approach to optimize wind turbine blades separates the airfoil shape design from the blade planform design. This approach is sequential, where the airfoils along the blade span are pre-selected or optimized and then held constant during the blade planform optimization. In contrast, integrated blade design optimizes the airfoils and the blade planform concurrently and thereby has the potential to reduce cost of energy (COE) more than sequential design. Nevertheless, sequential design is commonly performed because of the ease of precomputation, or the ability to compute the airfoil analyses prior to the blade optimization. This research compares two integrated …
Automated Cfd Optimization To Maximize Wind Farms Performance And Land Use, Rafael Valotta Rodrigues
Automated Cfd Optimization To Maximize Wind Farms Performance And Land Use, Rafael Valotta Rodrigues
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In this research, a computational system was designed to analyze and optimize the layout of wind farms under variable operational conditions. At first, a wind turbine computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed covering the near wake. The near wake flow field was validated against near wake velocity data from the MEXICO experiment. The CFD simulation demonstrated that the tip speed ratio and the pitch angle greatly influence the near wake behavior, affecting the velocity deficit and the turbulence intensity profile in this region. The CFD model was extended to cover the far wake, aiming to become a computational tool …
Principles Of Wind Energy Production, Willie Haynes, Dianne Lhotte, Johnetta Moore
Principles Of Wind Energy Production, Willie Haynes, Dianne Lhotte, Johnetta Moore
ENERGY Research and Lesson Plans
Three public school teachers designed basic wind turbine energy production tests to help them teach wind energy principles to middle and high school students. Variables affecting wind turbine energy production were identified (distance from wind tunnel, blade design, angle of attack, and wind speed), and experiments were conducted to test each variable. This research aligns with Georgia DOE curriculum standard STEM-FET-3.7: Apply STEM knowledge and skills through hands-on research and lab experiments that are focused upon recreating the inventions and social solutions that were realized in the past, present, and possible future. These experiments will be a part of an …
Benefits Of Two Turbine Rotor Diameters And Hub Heights In The Same Wind Farm, Andrew Pj Stanley, Andrew Ning, Katherine Dykes
Benefits Of Two Turbine Rotor Diameters And Hub Heights In The Same Wind Farm, Andrew Pj Stanley, Andrew Ning, Katherine Dykes
Faculty Publications
Significant turbine-wake interactions greatly reduce power output in a wind farm. If different turbine hub heights and rotor diameters are included in the same wind farm, the wake interference in the farm will be reduced, resulting in a lower cost of energy (COE) than a farm with identical turbines. In this paper, we present a method to model wind farm COE in farms with hub heights and rotor diameters that vary across the wind farm. We also demonstrate how to optimize these wind farms to minimize COE. The results show that COE can be greatly reduced in wind farms with …
Bio-Based Wind Turbine Blades: Renewable Energy Meets Sustainable Materials For Clean, Green Power, Rachel Koh
Bio-Based Wind Turbine Blades: Renewable Energy Meets Sustainable Materials For Clean, Green Power, Rachel Koh
Doctoral Dissertations
Wood, once the material of choice for wind turbine blades, was phased out in the late 20th century as the growing size of blades imposed stricter material requirements and glass- and carbon-fiber composites gained industry popularity. However, the last several years have seen great advances in bio-based composite materials technology, including flax, hemp, and wood composites and laminates. These materials are increasingly utilized in high-performance, structurally demanding applications, largely because they are a more sustainable choice than many other engineering materials. Today, as the first glass-fiber wind turbine blades are ready to retire, wind developers are presented with an enormous …
The Impact Of Power Curve Estimation On Commercial Wind Power Forecasts - An Empirical Analysis, Gianni Goretti, Aidan Duffy, Tek Tjing Lie
The Impact Of Power Curve Estimation On Commercial Wind Power Forecasts - An Empirical Analysis, Gianni Goretti, Aidan Duffy, Tek Tjing Lie
Conference papers
An increasing number of utilities participating in the energy market require short term (i.e. up to 48 hours) power forecasts for renewable generation in order to optimize technical and financial performances. As a result, a large number of forecast providers now operate in the marketplace, each using different methods and offering a wide range of services. This paper assesses five different day-ahead wind power forecasts generated by various service providers currently operating in the market, and compares their performance against the state-of-the-art of short-term wind power forecasting. The work focuses on how power curve estimations can introduce systematic errors that …
Wind Energy, Bob Deckard, Jaimee Howard
Wind Energy, Bob Deckard, Jaimee Howard
ENERGY Research and Lesson Plans
No abstract provided.
The Role Of Active Flow-Control Devices In The Dynamic Aeroelastic Response Of Wind Turbine Rotors, Muraleekrishnan Menon Menon Muraleedharan Nair
The Role Of Active Flow-Control Devices In The Dynamic Aeroelastic Response Of Wind Turbine Rotors, Muraleekrishnan Menon Menon Muraleedharan Nair
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
The significance of wind as a renewable source of power is growing with the increasing capacity of individual utility-scale wind turbines. Contemporary wind turbines are capable of producing up to 8 MW and consequently, their rotor sizes are rapidly growing in size. This has led to an increased emphasis on studies related to improvements and innovations in load-control methodologies. Most often than not, controlling the loads on an operational turbine is a precarious scenario, especially under high wind loading. The up-scaling of turbine rotors would thus benefit from a rationale change in load control through methodologies such as variable-speed stall, …
Automatic Development And Adaptation Of Concise Nonlinear Models For System Identification, William G. La Cava
Automatic Development And Adaptation Of Concise Nonlinear Models For System Identification, William G. La Cava
Doctoral Dissertations
Mathematical descriptions of natural and man-made processes are the bedrock of science, used by humans to understand, estimate, predict and control the natural and built world around them. The goal of system identification is to enable the inference of mathematical descriptions of the true behavior and dynamics of processes from their measured observations. The crux of this task is the identification of the dynamic model form (topology) in addition to its parameters. Model structures must be concise to offer insight to the user about the process in question. To that end, this dissertation proposes three methods to improve the ability …
Lattice Boltzmann Methods For Wind Energy Analysis, Stephen Lloyd Wood
Lattice Boltzmann Methods For Wind Energy Analysis, Stephen Lloyd Wood
Doctoral Dissertations
An estimate of the United States wind potential conducted in 2011 found that the energy available at an altitude of 80 meters is approximately triple the wind energy available 50 meters above ground. In 2012, 43% of all new electricity generation installed in the U.S. (13.1 GW) came from wind power. The majority of this power, 79%, comes from large utility scale turbines that are being manufactured at unprecedented sizes. Existing wind plants operate with a capacity factor of only approximately 30%. Measurements have shown that the turbulent wake of a turbine persists for many rotor diameters, inducing increased vibration …
Wind Farm Wake Modeling And Analysis Of Wake Impacts In A Wind Farm, Yujia Hao
Wind Farm Wake Modeling And Analysis Of Wake Impacts In A Wind Farm, Yujia Hao
Doctoral Dissertations
More and more wind turbines have been grouped in the same location during the last decades to take the advantage of profitable wind resources and reduced maintenance cost. However wind turbines located in a wind farm are subject to a wind field that is substantially modified compared to the ambient wind field due to wake effects. The wake results in a reduced power production, increased load variation on the waked turbine, and reduced wake farm efficiency. Therefore the wake has long been an important concern for the wind farm installation, maintenance, and control. Thus a wake simulation tool is required. …
New Generator Control Algorithms For Smart-Bladed Wind Turbines To Improve Power Capture In Below Rated Conditions, Bryce B. Aquino
New Generator Control Algorithms For Smart-Bladed Wind Turbines To Improve Power Capture In Below Rated Conditions, Bryce B. Aquino
Masters Theses
With wind turbines growing in size, operation and maintenance has become a more important area of research with the goal of making wind energy more profitable. Wind turbine blades are subjected to intense fluctuating loads that can cause significant damage over time. The need for advanced methods of alleviating blade loads to extend the lifespan of wind turbines has become more important as worldwide initiatives have called for a push in renewable energy. An area of research whose goal is to reduce the fatigue damage is smart rotor control. Smart bladed wind turbines have the ability to sense aerodynamic loads …
A Lab-Scale Experimental Framework For Studying The Phenomenon Of Autorotation, Sigitas Rimkus
A Lab-Scale Experimental Framework For Studying The Phenomenon Of Autorotation, Sigitas Rimkus
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
While wind energy has emerged as a popular source of renewable energy, the traditional wind turbine has an inherent limitation, namely that it only generates power in the presence of sufficiently high and consistent wind speeds. As a result, wind farms are typically built in areas with a high probability of the required wind speeds, which are geographically sparse. One way of overcoming this drawback is to tap into the energy available in winds at high altitudes which are not only consistent and of high magnitude, but also globally pervasive. An airborne wind energy device based upon the phenomenon of …
An Introductory Study Of The Dynamics Of Autorotation For Wind Energy Harvesting, Bilal Salih
An Introductory Study Of The Dynamics Of Autorotation For Wind Energy Harvesting, Bilal Salih
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Wind turbines have been used for decades to harvest wind energy. They are suitable only to work on close to ground, and have several drawbacks that are related to the availability of the wind and the amount of extracted power compared with the cost of construction. On the other hand, there is an abundant wind power that is available at high altitudes. The wind jet streams at high elevations 8 - 12 kms are pervasive and persistent, and can potentially produce immense wind energy. Even at moderate elevations of 4 - 5 kms, wind power densities are much higher than …
Computational And Experimental Study On Vertical Axis Wind Turbine In Search For An Efficient Design, Mohammad M. Bashar
Computational And Experimental Study On Vertical Axis Wind Turbine In Search For An Efficient Design, Mohammad M. Bashar
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Wind alone can fulfill most of the energy requirement of the world by its efficient conversion in to energy. Though Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) is more popular but needs high wind speed to generate energy. On the other hand Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) needs low wind speed and can be installed anywhere which are some of the reasons for this research. The main objective of this research is to improve the design and performance of VAWT to make it more attractive, efficient, durable and sustainable. For a VAWT the blades perform the main role to extract energy from …
Broncoblade: An Open Source Wind Turbine Blade Analysis Tool, Alex R. Quinlan
Broncoblade: An Open Source Wind Turbine Blade Analysis Tool, Alex R. Quinlan
Masters Theses
This thesis reports the development and validation of BroncoBlade, a horizontal axis wind turbine analysis tool. BroncoBlade prepares finite element models and integrates them with an aeroelastic simulator. Analysis results for the SNL100-00 baseline blade are evaluated against reference results published by Sandia National Laboratories. Variations on the SNL100-00 blade incorporating carbon fiber are compared to the baseline blade.
The Aerodynamics And Near Wake Of An Offshore Floating Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine, Thomas Sebastian
The Aerodynamics And Near Wake Of An Offshore Floating Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine, Thomas Sebastian
Open Access Dissertations
Offshore floating wind turbines represent the future of wind energy. However, significant challenges must be overcome before these systems can be widely used. Because of the dynamics of offshore floating wind turbines -- surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch, and yaw -- and the resulting interactions between the rotor and generated wake, the aerodynamic analysis methods and design codes that have found wide use throughout the wind energy industry may be inadequate. Application of these techniques to offshore floating wind turbine aerodynamics may result in off-optimal designs, effectively handicapping these next-generation systems, thereby minimizing their full potential. This dissertation will demonstrate …
Advanced Blade Testing Methods For Wind Turbines, Puneet Malhotra
Advanced Blade Testing Methods For Wind Turbines, Puneet Malhotra
Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014
This thesis consists of a detailed analysis of different blade testing methods and improvements to a novel concept for tri-axial testing of large wind turbine blades. As the blades are one of the most critical components of the wind turbine, they have to be tested in order to ensure that their specifications are consistent with the actual performance of the blade. It must be demonstrated that the blade can withstand both the ultimate loads and the fatigue loads to which the blade is expected to be subjected during its design service life. There are basically two types of blade testing: …