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Variable-fidelity shape optimization of dual-rotor wind turbines

Andrew Thelen (Department of Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA)
Leifur Leifsson (Department of Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA)
Anupam Sharma (Department of Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA)
Slawomir Koziel (Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland)

Engineering Computations

ISSN: 0264-4401

Article publication date: 17 October 2018

Issue publication date: 25 October 2018

179

Abstract

Purpose

Dual-rotor wind turbines (DRWTs) are a novel type of wind turbines that can capture more power than their single-rotor counterparts. Because their surrounding flow fields are complex, evaluating a DRWT design requires accurate predictive simulations, which incur high computational costs. Currently, there does not exist a design optimization framework for DRWTs. Since the design optimization of DRWTs requires numerous model evaluations, the purpose of this paper is to identify computationally efficient design approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

Several algorithms are compared for the design optimization of DRWTs. The algorithms vary widely in approaches and include a direct derivative-free method, as well as three surrogate-based optimization methods, two approximation-based approaches and one variable-fidelity approach with coarse discretization low-fidelity models.

Findings

The proposed variable-fidelity method required significantly lower computational cost than the derivative-free and approximation-based methods. Large computational savings come from using the time-consuming high-fidelity simulations sparingly and performing the majority of the design space search using the fast variable-fidelity models.

Originality/value

Due the complex simulations and the large number of designable parameters, the design of DRWTs require the use of numerical optimization algorithms. This work presents a novel and efficient design optimization framework for DRWTs using computationally intensive simulations and variable-fidelity optimization techniques.

Keywords

Citation

Thelen, A., Leifsson, L., Sharma, A. and Koziel, S. (2018), "Variable-fidelity shape optimization of dual-rotor wind turbines", Engineering Computations, Vol. 35 No. 7, pp. 2514-2542. https://doi.org/10.1108/EC-12-2017-0502

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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