VIBRATION SUPPRESSION OF WIND TURBINE BLADES USING TUNED MASS DAMPERS

Passive control of flapwise vibrations of a wind turbine blade is investigated when a single tuned mass damper (TMD) is attached to the blade. The blade is subjected to a wind pressure which changes linearly with height from the ground level due to the wind shear. The vibrations of the wind turbine blade are theoretically and numerically analyzed to determine the natural frequency diagrams, frequency responses, stationary time histories and their FFT results. It is found that several peaks appear near the specific rotational speeds in the response curves for the blade because of both the wind pressure and the parametric excitation terms. It is also demonstrated that the optimal single TMD can suppress the resonance peaks if the fixed point theorem is used to determine the optimal values of the parameters of the TMD. The influences of the mass and install position of the TMD on its performance are also examined.