Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
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A team from the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University's Civil Engineering Institute, led by Viktor Elistratov, a professor at the Higher School of Hydraulic and Power Engineering, conducted the first full-scale dynamic studies of a 120 kW wind turbine at the Zapadno-Khosedayu oil field in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, north of the Arctic Circle.
The field tests were carried out by Ivan Rigel, a postgraduate student at the Institute of Scientific Research and Development and a leading engineer at the Scientific and Educational Center for Renewable Energy and Installations Based on Them, with the support of VTR Engineering, using a grant from the Russian Science Foundation.
The studies were conducted using a specialized measuring system for monitoring dynamic loads and vibrations of building structures. This system included a digital accelerometer (at the top of the tower), a strain gauge station with four external strain gauge half-bridges (at the base of the tower), and a controller for recording the results in computer memory. To measure the temperature at depth in the permafrost, a temperature measurement system was lowered into a borehole near the pile cap. This system utilized high-precision temperature sensors and an Arduino Uno controller. The results were synchronized to UTC with the wind turbine's SCADA system using a GPS module.
Using the obtained data, we measured the acceleration of the tower's top and dynamic stresses at the tower's base over time under various wind turbine operating conditions. Furthermore, an important result of the study was the temperature distribution at the base and the depth of frozen ground. The frequencies and amplitudes of the predominant dynamic responses of the supporting structural system were identified depending on the operating conditions.
The obtained vibration characteristics of the wind turbine supporting structures, taking into account the influence of its operating modes, wind characteristics and the flexibility of the permafrost base, were used to validate the computational methods of aeroservoelastic and thermophysical modeling used for the dynamic calculation of supporting structures.
The design and operation of wind turbines in Arctic conditions are complicated by extreme wind loads, permafrost, and other climatic conditions. The dynamic characteristics of wind turbines are crucial and often a determining factor in the design justification of their supporting structures. Critically important for the reliability of calculations is the availability of actual data on operating modes and the correlation between these modes and the dynamic loads acting on wind turbines in Arctic conditions, which can only be obtained through full-scale testing.
This in-kind study of the dynamic characteristics of a wind turbine operating on permafrost in the Arctic was the first in Russia. A postgraduate student also conducted the first actual measurement of the foundation temperature, revealing that the seasonal thaw depth (transition through 0°C) is 2.25 meters. "These data are unique and of particular interest for the operation of wind turbines on permafrost in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, as well as for the development of reliable methods and models for designing and improving the operational reliability of Arctic wind energy facilities," Professor Viktor Elistratov concluded Ivan Rigel's mission.
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