Developing wind projects in complex terrain using wind software

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Excerpt: The emergence of software and science can turn even complex terrain into productive wind farms. As potential sites with simple, flat terrain are developed, more wind projects are built in or near forests and complex terrain. These sites—associated with harsh flow conditions—are likely t …

Simulation Software: Software finds a blade profile with 48% more lift

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Excerpt: T he aerodynamic shape of wind- turbine blades generates lift and torque, which is eventually turned into electrical power. Improving a blade’s shape so it captures just a percent or two more would be a significant improvement. One such redesign project shows how Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) …

Fatigue-life calculations certified for turbine castings

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Excerpt: GL Renewables Certification has certified the engineering software nCode DesignLife. The structural integrity software for the fatigue calculations of cast and forged structural machinery components in wind turbines has been evaluated on the basis of GL RC's Guideline for the Certification of Wind T …

NREL supercomputer reveals invisible rotor wakes

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Excerpt: A supercomputer that quickly runs complex airflow models promises to provide insight into harnessing energy from the wind, sun, and other renewable sources. Red Mesa, a 180-teraflop computer (180 trillion floating-point operations/sec) is operating at Sandia National Laboratories in …

An app for wind professionals

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Excerpt: A new app called Wind expert brings together a large range of wind turbine products, and enables wind farm performance and financial analysis. The app features a comprehensive database of links to relevant associations, toolkits, government incentives and in-­depth market reports. The app was cr …

O-Ring calculator app

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Excerpt: A manufacturer of seals and bearings offers an O-Ring calculator app. Trelleborg Sealing Solutions says the app calculates O-Ring dimensions and tolerances and recommends sizes and the company’s part numbers. The company also offers apps for ISO fits and tolerances as well as unit and hardness con …

When lightning strikes

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Excerpt: Electric utilities, energy companies, and wind-farm operators will say that adverse weather can cost their operations a significant amount when it affects their infrastructure. Lightning is one weather phenomena that challenges wind-farm operations. Fortunately, recent products and software allow op …

Site Assessment 101

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Excerpt: A first step in the development of a wind farm is to identify land with sufficient wind to support a commercial project. This calls for a series of studies, one of which is the wind-study assessment that looks at historical wind data. There may be a meteorological or met tower in the area that has a …

Software 101

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Excerpt: Design firms run on engineering and support software. One recent announcement reported on an OEM and engineering software firm teaming up to develop what might be called TurbineCAD. The final product has not been announced. Programs worth noting (and available) to the wind industry simulate t …

Certification firm to evaluate simulation software

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Excerpt: A certification firm has started a project to evaluate the LMS Samtech software tool SAMCEF For Wind Turbines (S4WT). The software allows simulating the complete dynamic behavior of wind turbines under realistic wind conditions. The objective of the project is to validate and to certify S4WT for …