Analysis A03 Lx: tower natural frequencies of vibration

Introduction

Aim

To verify if the natural frequencies of the tower’s flexible modes are sufficiently detuned from the excitation frequencies.

Constraints

Level 1 (L1)

ID

Constraint

Units

Value

Description

1

Min_twr_1st_fa_freq

Hz

0.375^

Min tower natural frequency, fore-aft modes

2

Min_twr_1st_ss_freq

Hz

0.375^

Min tower natural frequency, side-side modes

3

Max_twr_1st_fa_freq

Hz

0.50^

Max tower natural frequency, fore-aft modes

4

Max_twr_1st_ss_freq

Hz

0.50^

Max tower natural frequency, side-side modes

Level 2 (L2)

ID

Constraint

Units

Value

Description

1

Min_twr_1st_fa_freq_L2

Hz

0.375^

Min tower natural frequency, 1st fore-aft mode

2

Min_twr_1st_ss_freq_L2

Hz

0.375^

Min tower natural frequency, 1st side-side mode

3

Max_twr_1st_fa_freq_L2

Hz

0.50^

Max tower natural frequency, fore-aft modes

4

Max_twr_1st_ss_freq_L2

Hz

0.50^

Max tower natural frequency, side-side modes

Notes

^

For IEA 15MW Reference Wind Turbine (Updated reference values here)

^^

Value agreed in WIND-14 STIFF-STIFF TOWER DESIGN FOR FLOATING WIND TURBINES (Previous TIC LCPE project)

^^^

DNV-RP-0289, Section 5.5 Serviceability limit state

Note

The suggested min value, to compare the tower natural frequency against, is, for a stiff-stiff tower, equal to three times the max rotational speed of the rotor (i.e., 3P max).

The suggested max value, to compare the tower natural frequency against, is, for a stiff-stiff tower, equal to six times the min rotational speed of the rotor (i.e., 6P min).

Methodology

Level 1 (L1)

At level 1, the WEIS eigenanalysis capability is leveraged, and the natural frequencies of the modes of vibration of the tower are read from the WEIS output xlsx file.

The two parameters read are:

  • floatingse.fore_aft_freqs: natural frequencies of vibration of the fore-aft modes of vibration of the tower.

  • floatingse.side_side_freqs: natural frequencies of vibration of the side-side modes of vibration of the tower.

The advantage of this analysis at this level is its speed, but it is considered less accurate than the level 2 analysis (see below).

Level 2 (L2)

At level 2, two OpenFAST aero-hydro-servo-elastic coupled model of dynamics simulations are conducted. More specifically, two free decay tests are conducted, by imposing an initial displacement at the tower top, once in the fore-aft direction, and once in the side-to-side direction.

Considering a no wind, no waves, no currents environment, the tower top is deformed in the fore-aft direction (1st simulation) and side-to-side direction (2nd simulation), by imposing a displacement of the tower top as starting value of the simulation.

Then, a frequency analysis of the free decay tower top displacement response signal is performed (SCUBE postprocessing), identifying the peak frequency, which is assumed to be the 1st natural frequency of the tower.

These frequencies are then compared against the values specified in the constraint input spreadsheet.

Note

Differently from L1, at L2 two OpenFAST aero-hydro-servo-elastic coupled model of dynamics simulations are run, and postprocessed.

Nonetheless, since only two simulations are run, and since they are rather short (around 5 seconds), also this analysis is rather quick, taking only a few minutes.

Perform the analysis

Prepare the input file

The SCUBE input data can be found in the folder scube\data.

Constraints

  • Open the file CNSTR.xlsx

  • Familiarise yourself with the variables, explained in the legend sheet

  • Select the sheet constraints_A03_L1 for level 1 (L1) analysis, or constraints_A03_L2 for level 2 (L2) analysis

  • A pre-prepared list of constraints and values can be found. Adjust the value for each constraint (where available) if necessary

  • Save and close the spreadsheet file

Tower

  • Open the file INPUT_tower.xlsx

  • Familiarise yourself with the variables, explained in the legend sheet

  • Specify the geometry of the cans in the geometry sheet

  • Specify the aerodynamic drag properties of the tower in the drag sheet (if unsure, leave the default values, they can be applied to a wide range of dimensions)

  • Specify the tower material characteristics in the material sheet (the default values are for the steel ASTM A572 Grade 50, see more here)

  • Save and close the spreadsheet file

Environment

For this analysis, this input file is not used, so you can ignore it.

Run the analysis

  • Open a miniforge/miniconda/conda terminal prompt

  • Activate the WEIS environment you set up (see Installation)

conda activate weis-env
  • Navigate to the root folder scube

  • Launch the analysis with the following command

python main.py A03 L1

or

python main.py A03 L2

Expected conda prompt outcome

If all goes well, you should see something similar to the following.

Level 1 (L1)

Using weis.aeroelasticse in rosco.toolbox...

 ******* SCUBE: preprocessing - updating tower geometry *******

 ******* SCUBE: processing - WEIS analysis *******

================
wisdem.wt.wt_rna
================
NL: NLBGS 1 ; 5.75918932e+11 1
NL: NLBGS 2 ; 12997931 2.2569029e-05
NL: NLBGS 3 ; 302117.706 5.24583738e-07
NL: NLBGS 4 ; 7598.06643 1.31929444e-08
NL: NLBGS 5 ; 190.765705 3.3123708e-10
NL: NLBGS Converged
RuntimeWarning: C:\Users\mauri\miniforge3\envs\weis-env2\Lib\site-packages\wisdem\commonse\utilization_dnvgl.py:322
The number of calls to function has reached maxfev = 50.RuntimeWarning: C:\Users\mauri\miniforge3\envs\weis-env2\Lib\site-packages\wisdem\commonse\cylinder_member.py:513
divide by zero encountered in scalar divideRuntimeWarning: C:\Users\mauri\miniforge3\envs\weis-env2\Lib\site-packages\wisdem\commonse\cylinder_member.py:514
divide by zero encountered in scalar divide----------------
Design Variables
----------------
name  val  size  lower  upper
----  ---  ----  -----  -----

-----------
Constraints
-----------
name  val  size  lower  upper  equals
----  ---  ----  -----  -----  ------

----------
Objectives
----------
name  val  size
----  ---  ----

Run time (A03_L1): 42.0291702747345

 ******* SCUBE: postprocessing - results VS constraints analysis *******
UserWarning: C:\Users\mauri\miniforge3\envs\weis-env2\Lib\site-packages\openpyxl\worksheet\_read_only.py:85
Data Validation extension is not supported and will be removed
         ******* Constraint definitions imported *******

         ******* Simulation output xlsx and yaml files data loaded *******

         ******* Constraint verification started *******

                 Check of constraint Min_twr_1st_fa_freq

                 Check of constraint Min_twr_1st_ss_freq

                 Check of constraint Max_twr_1st_fa_freq

                 Check of constraint Max_twr_1st_ss_freq

         ******* Constraint verification completed *******
             Constraint Constraint Type Constraint um  Constraint Value  Simulated Value Status                                   Description
0   Min_twr_1st_fa_freq             Min            Hz             0.375            0.537   Pass   Min tower natural frequency, fore-aft modes
1   Min_twr_1st_fa_freq             Min            Hz             0.375            1.100   Pass   Min tower natural frequency, fore-aft modes
2   Min_twr_1st_fa_freq             Min            Hz             0.375            1.630   Pass   Min tower natural frequency, fore-aft modes
3   Min_twr_1st_ss_freq             Min            Hz             0.375            0.529   Pass  Min tower natural frequency, side-side modes
4   Min_twr_1st_ss_freq             Min            Hz             0.375            1.430   Pass  Min tower natural frequency, side-side modes
5   Min_twr_1st_ss_freq             Min            Hz             0.375            3.980   Pass  Min tower natural frequency, side-side modes
6   Max_twr_1st_fa_freq             Max            Hz             0.500            0.537   Fail   Max tower natural frequency, fore-aft modes
7   Max_twr_1st_fa_freq             Max            Hz             0.500            1.100   Fail   Max tower natural frequency, fore-aft modes
8   Max_twr_1st_fa_freq             Max            Hz             0.500            1.630   Fail   Max tower natural frequency, fore-aft modes
9   Max_twr_1st_ss_freq             Max            Hz             0.500            0.529   Fail  Max tower natural frequency, side-side modes
10  Max_twr_1st_ss_freq             Max            Hz             0.500            1.430   Fail  Max tower natural frequency, side-side modes
11  Max_twr_1st_ss_freq             Max            Hz             0.500            3.980   Fail  Max tower natural frequency, side-side modes

 ******* SCUBE: Validation report with formatting exported successfully *******

[INFO] Time taken: 0:00:45

Level 2 (L2)

See the full output here.

Common errors

Permission error

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'data/INPUT_tower.xlsx'

The file INPUT_tower.xlsx is still open on your pc. In order to be safely read by SCUBE, the file needs to be closed.

A similar error can occur for CNSTR.xlsx