DC1: Impact of unsteady atmospheric flows on airborne wind energy systems

Objectives

To improve the reliability of AWE, a stronger understanding is needed on the interactions of unsteady atmospheric flows and tethered aircraft. This includes e.g. gusts. fronts. and wave-like outbreaks, as well as turbulence. Realistic evaluation of tethered aircraft response requires a stable aero-servo-elastic simulation tool of suitable fidelity. Transient flow events contribute to unsteady loads on the tether and other components, that can exceed their design limits; furthermore they can push into an unstable flight regime and cause catastrophic failure. The objective of this project is to create and combine knowledge on relevant atmospheric flow statistics with AWE time-domain analysis and uncertainty quantification, to determine loads statistics and failure probabilities. The methodology will be used to investigate different AWE topologies and control strategies in the context of stability, reliability, and loads.

Expected Results

Identification of flow conditions and structures that can lead to catastrophic failure for different types of AWE; flow metrics and simulation models specifically tailored for AWE; a high-fidelity time-domain simulation tool for turbulent flows with transients; uncertainty quantification methods for evaluating AWE load statistics and failure probabilities; investigation into how different AWE topologies and control architectures impact the reliability and stability of AWE.

Supervisory team

Mac Gaunaa is main supervisor, Mark Kelly and Michael McWilliam are co-supervisors.

Planned secondments

Kitemill (M27-M33) to verify load statistics with flight test data, supervised by Espen Oland.