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A new method provides a more realistic description of loads on large-scale wind turbines than was previously possible. A team of researchers has developed a more accurate mathematical model of wind fluctuations across the rotor surface. This allows for a better capture of sudden, localized gusts of wind. These localized loads are a key factor in premature material fatigue, especially in larger wind turbines.
Wind turbines are getting bigger and bigger. As a consequence, their components are subjected to ever greater stress or “loads”, such as those caused by sudden gusts of wind and other forms of turbulence. A team of researchers from the University of Oldenburg, in collaboration with partners from the ICM – Institut Chemnitzer Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e.V. and wind turbine manufacturer Nordex, has made an important advance in the modelling of these loads. In three articles published in the scientific journal Wind Energy Science, the researchers, including turbulence expert Professor Dr Joachim Peinke from the Forwind – Centre for Wind Energy Research, present a new concept with which the mechanical forces that act on rotors can be modelled more accurately than with previous standard models. “With this approach we present a potential tool for load estimations that could be used in the planning and design of wind turbines,” Peinke explains.
The rotor area of today’s offshore wind turbines – the circular area swept by the rotor blades as they rotate – can be more than 200 metres in diameter. At full capacity, such wind turbines generate 20 megawatts of power – enough to supply 200,000 people with electricity. One challenge posed by this increased size is that the turbines and their components are constantly bent as a result of fluctuating wind forces. These deformations cause material fatigue, which can lead to cracks or even fractures. “Up to now, for the sake of simplicity manufacturers have worked on the assumption that gusts of wind always hit the entire rotor area evenly,” explains co-author Jörg Schwarte from Nordex.
For smaller turbines, this assumption was adequate, but with larger wind turbines, turbulent wind conditions play a greater role in fatigue-induced wear. The key finding of this new collaborative study is that sudden gusts of wind which are concentrated on small areas are the key factor in material fatigue. To ensure that wind turbines are better adapted to these loads, manufacturers therefore need a more accurate mathematical description of the wind acting on the rotor and its fluctuations.
In three articles, the team proposes a new measure for describing the effects of local gusts. The researchers developed a method for calculating the forces that act on the rotor blades based on the current wind conditions, which experts call the “wind field”. They describe this load using a simple parameter which they refer to as the “centre of wind pressure”. “If the wind flow is uniform, the centre of wind pressure lies exactly in the middle of the rotor area,” explains Peinke. However, if a gust of wind affects only part of the rotor area, the centre of pressure shifts away from the centre, causing the rotor blades to bend more in that area and generating a torque that acts on the turbine’s drivetrain.
To develop this new load concept, the team used measurement data from modern turbines, as well as detailed wind data recorded by an array of measuring masts as part of the GROWIAN campaign, a project carried out in Schleswig-Holstein in the late 1980s. Dr Jan Friedrich of the University of Oldenburg used the data to reconstruct wind fields acting on the rotor area and based on this reconstruction the researchers performed what is known as aeroelastic simulations, in which they simultaneously calculated the wind flows and bending moments acting on different parts of the wind turbines.
Through complex flow simulations, the team demonstrated that the Centre of Wind Pressure concept accurately describes the actual loads on the turbine. “Although we were able to use the university’s high-performance computing cluster to do this, the simulations for large turbines can only be calculated in detail for a few minutes at a time,” explains Marcel Bock, a PhD student at the University of Oldenburg and lead author of one of the papers. In the third paper, a team led by Peinke and PhD student Daniela Moreno developed a stochastic model for the Centre of Wind Pressure, which simplifies the calculations and could make it possible for manufacturers to carry out long-term simulations over several years.
“The bending is particularly severe when the centre of wind pressure shifts to the outer edge of the rotor blade,” explains Dr Carsten Schubert from the ICM. The team reports that such extreme events are not detected by the control systems of current turbine systems, and therefore not mitigated. Thanks to the new studies, this may now become possible. In addition, Oldenburg-based wind researcher Dr Matthias Wächter explains that the findings could also contribute to improving wind turbine design: “Manufacturers make estimates of all expected material deformations over a lifetime of around 20 years and plan the materials and robustness of the components accordingly.”
However, they have to grapple with many uncertainties in this regard – primarily because it is impossible to calculate wind conditions with sufficient accuracy. “Reducing these uncertainties would be a major advantage, as premature component failures are a significant cost factor in wind energy,” says co-author Gritt Pokriefke from Nordex. New, detailed wind measurements are currently being performed at the WiValdi research wind farm on the River Elbe, in which ForWind is also involved.
The three publications are largely a result of the PASTA research project (Precise design methods of complex coupled oscillation systems of modern wind turbines in turbulent excitation), which was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy over a period of three and a half years and coordinated by Nordex.
Prof. Dr. Joachim Peinke, E-Mail: peinke@uol.de
Carsten Schubert et al.: “Introduction of the Virtual Center of Wind Pressure for correlating large-scale turbulent structures and wind turbine loads”, Wind Energy Science, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-11-1267-2026
Daniela Moreno et al.: “From the center of wind pressure to loads on the wind turbine: a stochastic approach for the reconstruction of load signals”, Wind Energy Science 10, 2729–2754, 2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-2729-2025
Marcel Bock et al.: “Comparison of different simulation methods regarding loads, considering the centre of wind pressure”, Wind Energy Science, 11, 103–126, 2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-11-103-2026
https://uol.de/twist
https://forwind.de/
Wind turbine rotors are exposed to heavy loads from gusts of wind. This can lead to premature materi ...
Copyright: Jaroslaw Puczylowski
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Elektrotechnik, Energie, Maschinenbau, Physik / Astronomie, Werkstoffwissenschaften
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Wind turbine rotors are exposed to heavy loads from gusts of wind. This can lead to premature materi ...
Copyright: Jaroslaw Puczylowski
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