THE DETERMINATION OF STOCHASTIC LOADS ON HORIZONTAL-AXIS WIND TURBINE-BLADES

The FAST Code which is capable of determining structural loads of a fl exible, teetering, horizontal axis wind turbine is described and compa risons of calculated loads with rest data are given at Two wind speeds for the ESI-80. The FAST Code models a two-bladed HAWT with degrees-o f-freedom for blade bending, teeter, drive train flexibility, yaw, and windwise and crosswind tower motion. The code allows blade dimensions , stiffnesses, and-weights to differ and the code models tower shadow, wind shear, and turbulence. Additionally, dynamic stall is included a s are delta-3 and an underslung rotor. Load comparisons are made with ESI-80 test data in the form of power spectral density, rainflow count ing, occurrence histograms, and azimuth averaged bin plots. It is conc luded that agreement between the FAST Code and rest results is good.