Optimized Design of Bio-Inspired Wind Turbine Blades

To enhance the aerodynamic performance of wind turbine blades,this study proposes the adoption of a bionic airfoil inspired by the aerodynamic shape of an eagle.Based on the blade element theory,a non-uniform extraction method of blade elements is employed for the optimization design of the considered wind turbine blades.Moreover,Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD)is used to determine the aerodynamic performances of the eagle airfoil and a NACA2412 airfoil,thereby demonstrating the superior aerodynamic performance of the former.Finally,a mathematical model for optimizing the design of wind turbine blades is introduced and a comparative analysis is conducted with respect to the aerodynamic performances of blades designed using a uniform extraction approach.It is found that the blades designed using non-uniform extraction exhibit better aerodynamic performance.

Research on the Icing Diagnosis ofWind Turbine Blades Based on FS–XGBoost–EWMA

In winter,wind turbines are susceptible to blade icing,which results in a series of energy losses and safe operation problems.Therefore,blade icing detection has become a top priority.Conventional methods primarily rely on sensor monitoring,which is expensive and has limited applications.Data-driven blade icing detection methods have become feasible with the development of artificial intelligence.However,the data-driven method is plagued by limited training samples and icing samples;therefore,this paper proposes an icing warning strategy based on the combination of feature selection(FS),eXtreme Gradient Boosting(XGBoost)algorithm,and exponentially weighted moving average(EWMA)analysis.In the training phase,FS is performed using correlation analysis to eliminate redundant features,and the XGBoost algorithm is applied to learn the hidden effective information in supervisory control and data acquisition analysis(SCADA)data to build a normal behavior model.In the online monitoring phase,an EWMA analysis is introduced to monitor the abnormal changes in features.A blade icing warning is issued when themonitored features continuously exceed the control limit,and the ambient temperature is below 0℃.This study uses data fromthree icing-affected wind turbines and one normally operating wind turbine for validation.The experimental results reveal that the strategy can promptly predict the icing trend among wind turbines and stably monitor the normally operating wind turbines.

Numerical simulation on directional solidification and heat treatment processes of turbine blades

Study on turbine blades is crucial due to their critical role in ensuring the efficient and reliable operation of aircraft engines.Nickel-based single crystal superalloys are extensively used in the hot manufacturing of turbine blades due to their exceptional high-temperature mechanical properties.The hot manufacturing of single crystal blades involves directional solidification and heat treatment.Experimental manufacturing of these blades is time-consuming,capital-intensive,and often insufficient to meet industrial demands.Numerical simulation techniques have gained widespread acceptance in blade manufacturing research due to their low energy consumption,high efficiency,and rapid turnaround time.This article introduces the modeling and simulation of hot manufacturing in single crystal blades.The discussion outlines the prevalent mathematical models employed in numerical simulations related to blade hot manufacturing.It encapsulates the advancements in research concerning macro to micro-level numerical simulation techniques for directional solidification and heat treatment processes.Furthermore,potential future trajectories for the numerical simulation of single crystal blade hot manufacturing are also discussed.

Nonlinear Flap-Wise Vibration Characteristics ofWind Turbine Blades Based onMulti-Scale AnalysisMethod

This work presents a novel approach to achieve nonlinear vibration response based on the Hamilton principle.We chose the 5-MW reference wind turbine which was established by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL),to research the effects of the nonlinear flap-wise vibration characteristics.The turbine wheel is simplified by treating the blade of a wind turbine as an Euler-Bernoulli beam,and the nonlinear flap-wise vibration characteristics of the wind turbine blades are discussed based on the simplification first.Then,the blade’s large-deflection flap-wise vibration governing equation is established by considering the nonlinear term involving the centrifugal force.Lastly,it is truncated by the Galerkin method and analyzed semi-analytically using the multi-scale analysis method,and numerical simulations are carried out to compare the simulation results of finite elements with the numerical simulation results using Campbell diagram analysis of blade vibration.The results indicated that the rotational speed of the impeller has a significant impact on blade vibration.When the wheel speed of 12.1 rpm and excitation amplitude of 1.23 the maximum displacement amplitude of the blade has increased from 0.72 to 3.16.From the amplitude-frequency curve,it can be seen that the multi-peak characteristic of blade amplitude frequency is under centrifugal nonlinearity.Closed phase trajectories in blade nonlinear vibration,exhibiting periodic motion characteristics,are found through phase diagrams and Poincare section diagrams.

Surface Defect Detection and Evaluation Method of Large Wind Turbine Blades Based on an Improved Deeplabv3+Deep Learning Model

The accumulation of defects on wind turbine blade surfaces can lead to irreversible damage,impacting the aero-dynamic performance of the blades.To address the challenge of detecting and quantifying surface defects on wind turbine blades,a blade surface defect detection and quantification method based on an improved Deeplabv3+deep learning model is proposed.Firstly,an improved method for wind turbine blade surface defect detection,utilizing Mobilenetv2 as the backbone feature extraction network,is proposed based on an original Deeplabv3+deep learning model to address the issue of limited robustness.Secondly,through integrating the concept of pre-trained weights from transfer learning and implementing a freeze training strategy,significant improvements have been made to enhance both the training speed and model training accuracy of this deep learning model.Finally,based on segmented blade surface defect images,a method for quantifying blade defects is proposed.This method combines image stitching algorithms to achieve overall quantification and risk assessment of the entire blade.Test results show that the improved Deeplabv3+deep learning model reduces training time by approximately 43.03%compared to the original model,while achieving mAP and MIoU values of 96.87%and 96.93%,respectively.Moreover,it demonstrates robustness in detecting different surface defects on blades across different back-grounds.The application of a blade surface defect quantification method enables the precise quantification of dif-ferent defects and facilitates the assessment of risk levels associated with defect measurements across the entire blade.This method enables non-contact,long-distance,high-precision detection and quantification of surface defects on the blades,providing a reference for assessing surface defects on wind turbine blades.

Investigation of Oil Vapours in Hydro-Generator

The article discusses engineering approaches to solving the problem of oil vapours in generators. Due to the design characteristics of each power plant, it is difficult to find a typical solution. Nevertheless, the article suggests ways to reduce the amount of oil mist. For their implementation, a calculation methodology based on the substitution scheme of the hydraulic path of the bearing support unit is created which takes into account the design features of the bearing and the parameters of the environment around the oil bath. The methodology employed is presented. The numerical method of modelling the aerodynamic fields of the entire hydro generator is used to estimate the air flows and pressures in the oil bath zone of the thrust bearing. Additionally, the method made it possible to track suspected oil particles that could get from the thrust-bearing bath into the surrounding area of the generator. Measures are proposed to reduce the level of oil mist through the competent design of the oil vapour removal system from the bearing bath.

Foreign Object Damage to Fan Rotor Blades of Aeroengine Part II: Numerical Simulation of Bird Impact

Bird impact is one of the most dangerous threats to flight safety. The consequences of bird impact can be severe and, therefore, the aircraft components have to be certified for a proven level of bird impact resistance before being put into service. The fan rotor blades of aeroengine are the components being easily impacted by birds. It is necessary to ensure that the fan rotor blades should have adequate resistance against the bird impact, to reduce the flying accidents caused by bird impacts. Using the contacting-impacting algorithm, the numerical simulation is carded out to simulate bird impact. A three-blade computational model is set up for the fan rotor blade having shrouds. The transient response curves of the points corresponding to measured points in experiments, displacements and equivalent stresses on the blades are obtained during the simulation. From the comparison of the transient response curves obtained from numerical simulation with that obtained from experiments, it can be found that the variations in measured points and the corresponding points of simulation are basically the same. The deforming process, the maximum displacements and the maximum equivalent stresses on blades are analyzed. The numerical simulation verifies and complements the experiment results.

Determination of wax pattern die profile for investment casting of turbine blades

In order to conform to dimensional tolerances, an efficient numerical method, displacement iterative compensation method, based on finite element methodology （FEM） was presented for the wax pattern die profile design of turbine blades. Casting shrinkages at different positions of the blade which was considered nonlinear thermo-mechanical casting deformations were calculated. Based on the displacement iterative compensation method proposed, the optimized wax pattern die profile can be established. For a A356 alloy blade, substantial reduction in dimensional and shape tolerances was achieved with the developed die shape optimization system. Numerical simulation result obtained by the proposed method shows a good agreement with the result measured experimentally. After four times iterations, compared with the CAD model of turbine blade, the total form error decreases to 0.001 978 mm from the orevious 0.515 815 mm.

Foreign Object Damage to Fan Rotor Blades of Aeroengine Part I:Experimental Study of Bird Impact

The conditions of experiment for bird impact to blades have been improved. The experiment of bird impact to the fan rotor blades of an aeroengine is carried out. Through analyzing the transient state response of blades impacted by bird and the change of blade profile before and after the impact, the anti-bird impact performance of blades in the first fan rotor is verified. The basis of anti-foreign object damage design for the fan rotor blades of an aeroengine is provided.

Convergence Analysis of the Numerical Solution for Cathode Design of Aero-engine Blades in Electrochemical Machining

As a main difficult problem encountered in electrochemical machining （ECM）, the cathode design is tackled, at present, with various numerical analysis methods such as finite difference, finite element and boundary element methods. Among them, the finite element method presents more flexibility to deal with the irregularly shaped workpieces. However, it is very difficult to ensure the convergence of finite element numerical approach. This paper proposes an accurate model and a finite element numerical approach of cathode design based on the potential distribution in inter-electrode gap. In order to ensure the convergence of finite element numerical approach and increase the accuracy in cathode design, the cathode shape should be iterated to eliminate the design errors in computational process. Several experiments are conducted to verify the machining accuracy of the designed cathode. The experimental results have proven perfect convergence and good computing accuracy of the proposed finite element numerical approach by the high surface quality and dimensional accuracy of the machined blades.

Hashin Failure Theory Based Damage Assessment Methodology of Composite Tidal Turbine Blades and Implications for the Blade Design

A damage assessment methodology based on the Hashin failure theory for glass fiber reinforced polymer(GFRP)composite blade is proposed. The typical failure mechanisms including the fiber tension/compression and matrix tension/compression are considered to describe the damage behaviors. To give the flapwise and edgewise loading along the blade span, the Blade Element Momentum Theory(BEMT) is adopted. In conjunction with the hydrodynamic analysis, the structural analysis of the composite blade is cooperatively performed with the Hashin damage model. The damage characteristics of the composite blade, under normal and extreme operational conditions,are comparatively analyzed. Numerical results demonstrate that the matrix tension damage is the most significant failure mode which occurs in the mid-span of the blade. The blade internal configurations including the box-beam, Ibeam, left-C beam and right-C beam are compared and analyzed. The GFRP and carbon fiber reinforced polymer(CFRP) are considered and combined. Numerical results show that the I-beam is the best structural type. The structural performance of composite tidal turbine blades could be improved by combining the GFRP and CFRP structure considering the damage and cost-effectiveness synthetically.

EFFECTS OF SPLITTER BLADES ON THE LAW OF INNER FLOW WITHIN CENTRIFUGAL PUMP IMPELLER

Analysis on the inner flow field of a centrifugal pump impeller with splitter blades is carfled out by numerical simulation. Based on this analysis, the principle of increasing pump head and efficiency are discussed. New results are obtained from the analysis of turbulence kinetic energy and relative velocity distribution： Firstly, unreasonable length or deviation design of the splitter blades may cause great turbulent fluctuation in impeller channel, which has a great effect on the stability of impeller outlet flow; Secondly, it is found that the occurrence of flow separation can be decreased or delayed with splitter blades from the analysis of blade loading; Thirdly, the effect of splitter blades on reforming the structure of ＂jet-wake＂ is explained from the relative velocity distribution at different flow cross-sections, which shows the flow process in the impeller. The inner flow analysis verifies the results of performance tests results and the PIV test.

Videometric research on deformation measurement of large-scale wind turbine blades

Utilization of wind energy is a promising way to generate power,and wind turbine blades play a key role in collecting the wind energy effectively.This paper attempts to measure the deformation parameter of wind turbine blades in mechanics experiments using a videometric method. In view that the blades experience small buckling deformation and large integral deformation simultaneously, we proposed a parallel network measurement(PNM) method including the key techniques such as camera network construction,camera calibration,distortion correction,the semi-automatic high-precision extraction of targets,coordinate systems unification,and bundle adjustment,etc. The relatively convenient construction method of the measuring system can provide an abundant measuring content,a wide measuring range and post processing.The experimental results show that the accuracy of the integral deformation measurement is higher than 0.5 mm and that of the buckling deformation measurement higher than 0.1mm.

Numerical Investigation of the Performance of an Axial-Flow Pump with Tandem Blades

The performance characteristics of an axial-flow pump with tandem blades are studied based on the numerical computations. The arrangement of the pump impellers is established through the analysis of velocity triangles. With the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software NUMECA, the turbulent flow in the tandem axial-flow pump is simulated in various flow conditions. The detail flow structure in the leading edge region of the rear impeller is described, and the influence of the deflection angle of the rear blade on the head performance is studied. According to the simulation, the performance comparison is made between the tandem axial-flow pump and the conventional two-stage axial-flow pump with a uniform impeller size. Results of the study indicate that the tandem axial-flow pump can work in a wider range with high efficiency.

Enhancing the surface hardness and roughness of engine blades using the shot peening process

The effects of shot peening on the mechanical properties of steel 1070 were studied to enhance the material’s properties and surface characteristics.In this study,pressure and exposure time were the main parameters governing surface hardness and surface roughness.The optimal time duration and pressure were determined after several experimental trials.Changes in hardness and surface roughness were monitored as the pressure of the shot and the exposure time were varied.Furthermore,the microstructure was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and the images were enhanced by image processing techniques to evaluate the surface changes.Pareto charts were constructed to estimate the effects of pressure and time on both surface hardness and surface roughness.The novelty of this study is the concentration on engine blades which are frequently used in aircrafts to determine the optimal time–pressure combination for shot peening to achieve suitable mechanical and surface properties.The results show that shot peening pressure(up to 482.6 kPa for 7 min)has positive effect on enhancing the surface and mechanical properties for steel 1070 blades;however,an increase in either pressure or time above that level adversely affected both surface hardness and surface roughness.

The Development of Highly Loaded Turbine Rotating Blades by Using 3D Optimization Design Method of Turbomachinery Blades Based on Artificial Neural Network & Genetic Algorithm

In order to improve turbine internal efficiency and lower manufacturing cost, a new highly loaded rotating blade has been developed. The 3D optimization design method based on artificial neural network and genetic algorithm is adopted to construct the blade shape. The blade is stacked by the center of gravity in radial direction with five sections. For each blade section, independent suction and pressure sides are constructed from the camber line using Bezier curves. Three-dimensional flow analysis is carried out to verify the performance of the new blade. It is found that the new blade has improved the blade performance by 0.5%. Consequently, it is verified that the new blade is effective to improve the turbine internal efficiency and to lower the turbine weight and manufacturing cost by reducing the blade number by about 15%.

Genetic variation in LBL1 contributes to depth of leaf blades lobes between cotton subspecies, Gossypium barbadense and Gossypium hirsutum

Leaf is a essential part of the plants for photosynthetic activities which mainly economize the resources for boll heath. Significant variations of leaf shapes across the Gossypium sp. considerably influence the infiltration of sunlight for photosynthesis. To understand the genetic variants and molecular processes underlying for cotton leaf shape, we used F2 population derived from upland cotton genotype P30A （shallow-lobed leaf） and sea-island cotton genotype ISR （deep-lobed leaf） to map leaf deep lobed phenotype controlling genes LBL1 and LBL2. Genetic analysis and localization results have unmasked the position and interaction between both loci of LBL1 and LBL2, and revealed the co-dominance impact of the genes in regulating depth of leaf blades lobes in cotton. LBL1 had been described as a main gene and member of transcription factor family leucine zipper （HD-ZIPI） from a class I homologous domain factor Gorai.OO2G244000. The qRT-PCR results elaborated the continuous change in expression level of LBL1 at different growth stages and leaf parts of cotton. Higher expression level was observed in mature large leaves followed by medium and young leaves respectively. For further confirmation, plants were tested from hormonal induction treatments, which explained that LBL 1 expression was influenced by hormonal signaling. Moreover, the highest expression level was detected in brassinolides （BR） treatment as compared to other hormones, and this hormone plays an important role in the process of leaf blade lobed formation.

Numerical simulation of cavitation turbulence in Francis turbine runner with splitter blades

Cavitation will reduce the turbine performance and even damage the turbine components.To verify the effects of splitter blades on improving the cavitation performance,the cavitation flow inside a Francis turbine runner with splitter blades was numerically simulated by using the Singhal cavitation model and the standard k-ε turbulence model.The distributions of static pressure and gas volume fractions on the surface of the runner blades were predicated under different conditions,and the cavitation in the flow field of the runner was analyzed.The results show that the static pressure and gas volume fractions are more uniformly distributed on the short blades than those on the long blades in Francis turbines with splitter blades,and there is almost no cavitation on the short blades;their distributions are more uniform under small flow conditions than those under large flow conditions;and large gas volume fractions are concentrated at the outlet tip near the band on the suction side of the long blade.The installation of splitter blades can improve the cavitation performance of conventional Francis turbines.

Vibrations measurements for shrouded blades of steam turbines based oneddy current sensors with high frequency response

With the development of power plants towards high power and intelligent operation direction,the vibrations or failures of blades,especially the last stage blades in steam turbines,happen more frequently due to the unstable operating conditions brought by flexible operation.A vibration measuring method for the shrouded blades of a steam turbine based on eddy current sensors with high frequency response is proposed,meeting the requirements of non-contact heath monitoring.The eddy current sensors produce the signals which are related to the area changing of every blade’s shroud resulting from the rotation of stator.Then an improved blade tip timing(BTT)technique is proposed to detect the vibrations of shrouded blades by measuring the arrival time of each area changing signal.A structure of eddy current sensors is developed in steam turbines and an amplitude modulation/demodulation circuit is designed to improve the response bandwidth up to 250 kHz.Vibration tests for the last stage blades of a steam turbine were carried out and the results validate the efficiency of the improved BTT technique and the high frequency response of the eddy current sensors presented.

Resonance of electromagnetic and mechanic coupling in hydro-generator

Electromagnetic and mechanical forces are main reasons of oscillations in hydro-generators.The oscillation is fairly complicated as to the coupling of them.Using the method of multiple scales in nonlinear oscillations,instabilities of hydro-generator rotors caused by the unbalanced magnetic pull,which comes from the eccentricity of the rotor,are discussed.Considering nonlinear properties of the unbalanced magnetic pull,the super-harmonic resonance phenomena are observed as the critical rotating speed of rotors is close to twice of the operating speed.This is verified by a model experiment,and should be considered during the design of hydro-generator rotors.