ND Energy is pleased to announce the next faculty luncheon seminar titled, "Computational Modeling Approaches for Structural Analysis of Ice Accretion on Wind Turbine Blades" by Emily Johnson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.

Prof. Johnson's talk will be followed by a brief discussion focused on: (1) cross-disciplinary basic research needs, (2) potential avenues for external and internal collaborations, (3) funding sources to target, and (4) potential follow-up items. All faculty from diverse disciplines are welcome to attend. Please confirm your participation by responding to the calendar invitation or contacting Subhash L. Shinde, Associate Director of ND Energy.

Abstract

For wind turbines operating in cold weather conditions, ice accretion is an established issue that remains an obstacle to effective turbine operation. While the aerodynamic performance of wind turbine blades with ice accretion has received considerable research attention, few studies have investigated the structural impact of blade ice accretion. This talk presents a computational modeling approach to simulate wind turbine blades with ice accretion that incorporates isogeometric analysis (IGA) approaches and an adaptable projection-based method to superimpose complex ice configurations onto a baseline structure. The presented ice modeling approach provides an efficient methodology to include ice accretion in the high-fidelity isogeometric shell analysis of a realistic wind turbine blade. Linear vibration and nonlinear deflection analyses of the blade are performed for various ice configurations to demonstrate the impact of different ice accretion distributions on structural performance. These analyses indicate decreases in the blade's natural frequencies and deflection under icing conditions. Such ice-induced changes reveal the need for structural design consideration for turbines operating under icing conditions, and the results presented in this work demonstrate the utility of computational modeling approaches for the analysis of large-scale structures.

Biography

Emily L. Johnson recently joined the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame as an assistant professor. Before starting at Notre Dame, she earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and the Wind Energy Science, Engineering, and Policy program at Iowa State University in 2021. Prof. Johnson's primary research interests are parametric modeling and computational mechanics, emphasizing computational design and engineering for aerospace structures, wind energy, and biomedical applications. Recent work in her research group has focused on the performance-based design of complex engineering structures.

Sponsored by ND Energy