Hybrid Mesh Deformation Tool for Offshore Wind Turbines Aeroelasticity Prediction

This paper describes a new development aiming to deform multi-block structured viscous meshes during fluid-solid interaction simulations. The focus is put on the deformation of external aerodynamic configurations accounting for large structural displacements and 3D multi-million cells meshes. In order to preserve the quality of the resulting mesh, it is understood as a fictitious continuum during the deformation process. Linear elasticity equations are solved with a multigrid and parallelized solver, assuming a heterogeneous distribution of fictitious material Young modulus. In order to improve the efficiency of the system resolution an approximate initial solution is obtained prior to the elastic deformation, based on Radial Basis Functions and Transfinite interpolators. To validate the performances of the whole algorithm, the DTU-10MW reference offshore wind turbine described by Bak et al. is analyzed (Description of the DTU 10 MW reference wind turbine. Technical report. Technical University of DenmarkWind Energy, Roskilde, 2013).