Aeroelastic Simulation of Full-Machine Wind Turbines Using a Two-Way Fluid-Structure Interaction Approach

Two-way fluid–structure interaction (FSI) simulation of wind turbines has gained significant attention in recent years due to the growth of offshore wind energy development. Strong coupling procedures in these simulations predict realistic behavior with higher accuracy but result in increased computational costs and potential numerical instabilities. This paper proposes a mixed weak and strong coupling approach for the FSI simulation of a 5 MW wind turbine. The deformation of the turbine blade is calculated using a weak coupling approach, ensuring blade deflection meets a convergence criterion before rotating to the next azimuthal position. Fluid and solid solvers are partitioned, utilizing the commercial software packages STAR-CCM+ and Abaqus, respectively. Flexible and rigid blade cases are modeled, and the calculated loads, power, and blade tip displacement for the rotor at a constant rotating speed are compared. The proposed model is validated, showing good agreement with the existing literature and results comparable to those from another validated wind turbine simulator. The effect of rotor–tower interaction is evident in the results. Based on our calculations, the power production of flexible blades is evaluated to be 9.6% lower than that of rigid blades.