A comparative study of wind turbine tower vibration mitigation by tuned mass damper and rolling cylinder-type dampers

Designing an effective damper is essential for wind turbines, which can help to reduce vibration and improve the fatigue lifetime. In this study, a novel designed eddy current tuned rolling cylinder damper considering a collision model (ECTRCD-C) is initially developed to control the wind turbine vibration. To enhance the efficiency of parameter optimization for various damper types, a surrogate modeling approach based on a radial basis function network is also developed. This surrogate model enables rapid optimization of damper parameters aimed at minimizing the equivalent fatigue load (EFL). A comprehensive performance comparison of four dampers, tuned mass damper (TMD), TRCD, ECTRCD, and the proposed ECTRCD-C, is conducted, with all dampers optimally tuned via the surrogate model. The results show that the reduction ratios of EFL are 0.185, 0.167, 0.177, and 0.182, respectively, indicating that the ECTRCD-C offers vibration mitigation performance comparable to the conventional TMD. This suggests that the ECTRCD-C has strong potential as an alternative to TMDs, especially in applications where a lower mass ratio is desirable. Additionally, the aerodynamic loads under normal wind conditions are analyzed, revealing that both TMD and ECTRCD-C effectively reduce the peak values of side–side moment fatigue loads.