COUNTER: Integrating wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations to a deeper level: A novel methodology using structured data-driven models
An important challenge in the operation and maintenance of wind turbines is the accurate prediction of the unsteady aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loads on the turbine rotor and the tower. Where before wind tunnel experiments were used to determine the aerodynamics of turbine rotors, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations have largely overtaken that key role in the last few decades. Sometimes both experiments and simulations are available, but few strategies exist to combine them.
The goal of this project is to create a framework for the development of a data-driven co‐simulation model that fuses data from computational fluid dynamics and experimental data from wind tunnel tests. Such co-simulation models will provide better insight and offer more efficient numerical tools for the study of complex, unsteady, nonlinear aerodynamics, e.g. in the context of the development of a digital twin.
The project will focus on two canonical systems that are representative for typical unsteady aerodynamics loads: a pitching wing and a cylinder oscillating transversely to the flow, but the principles of smart data-driven modelling for co-simulation purposes will be more broadly applicable and beneficial.
This project is funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) as a FWO fellowship with project number 1S90123N.