Fatigue Loads Estimation Through a Simple Stochastic Model

TL;DR

This paper introduces a stochastic modeling approach to estimate wind turbine fatigue loads using minimal measurements, reducing the need for extensive sensor deployment across wind farms.

Contribution

It presents a novel stochastic differential equation framework derived from limited measurements to predict fatigue loads at multiple turbines within a wind farm.

Findings

Accurate fatigue load estimation using data from a single turbine.

Reduction in measurement costs for wind farm monitoring.

Framework applicable to various wind turbine configurations.

Abstract

We propose a procedure to estimate the fatigue loads on wind turbines, based in a recent framework used for reconstructing data series of stochastic properties measured at wind turbines. Through a standard fatigue analysis, we show that it is possible to accurately estimate fatigue loads in any wind turbine within one wind park, using only the load measurements at one single turbine and the set of wind speed measurements. Our framework consists of deriving a stochastic differential equation that describes the evolution of the torque at one wind turbine driven by the wind speed. The stochastic equation is derived directly from the measurements and is afterwards used for predicting the fatigue loads at neighboring turbines. Such a framework could be used to mitigate the financial efforts usually necessary for placing measurement devices in all wind turbines within one wind farm. Finally, we also discuss the limitations and possible improvements of the proposed procedure.