Aeroelastic instabilities of large offshore and onshore wind turbines

Offshore turbines are gaining attention as means to capture the immense and relatively calm wind resources available over deep waters. This paper examines the aeroelastic stability of a three-bladed 5MW conceptual wind turbine mounted atop a floating barge with catenary moorings. The barge platform was chosen from the possible floating platform concepts, because it is simple in design and easy to deploy. Aeroelastic instabilities are distinct from resonances and vibrations and are potentially more destructive. Future turbine designs will likely be stability-driven in contrast to the current loads-driven designs. Reasons include more flexible designs, especially the torsionally-flexible rotor blades, material and geometric couplings associated with smart structures, and hydrodynamic interactions brought on by the ocean currents and surface waves. Following a brief description of the stability concept and stability analysis approach, this paper presents results for both onshore and offshore configurations over a range of operating conditions. Results show that, unless special attention is paid, parked (idling) conditions can lead to instabilities involving side-to-side motion of the tower, edgewise motion of the rotor blades, and yawing of the platform.