Fatigue damage of

mechanical components
in land based and
offshore wind turbines
TECHNICAL SEMINAR

SHARATH.B.N
M.Tech. 2nd Semester
BMS College of Engineering

Land based
Wind Turbines
Off-shore based

Base designs for floating wind

turbines

Abstract
Comparison of fatigue damage of gears and bearings between turbines.
Global analysis is carried out using aero-hydro-servo-elastic code.
Loads are applied to the gearbox modelled using Multi Body Simulation
(MBS).
Fatigue damage is calculated based on SN-curve and Palmgren-Miner
hypothesis under identical wind conditions.
Results are compared.

1. Global analysis
using aero-hydroservo-elastic code
(SIMO-RIFLEXAeroDyn).

2. Forces, moments
and motions are
applied to the gear
box.

3. Multi Body
Simulation model

4. Fatigue damage
analysis is carried
out.

Land based and spar wind turbine

models (NREL)
Modelled using SIMO-RIFLEX-AeroDyn.
SIMO models the rigid body hydrodynamics od the hull and the rigid
body components of the turbine.
RIFLEX Finite element solver.
AeroDyn Forces and moments on blades based on Blade
Element/Momentum (BEM) or Generalized Dynamic Wake (GDW)
theories.
The spar was modelled as a rigid body.

General characteristics

5 MW gearbox model (NOWITECH)

Consists of three stages 2 planetary and 1 parallel
helical gears.

MBS model

Fatigue damage in gears

Gear tooth bending fatigue damage by Palmgren-Miner
hypothesis,

Nt is the number of stress cycles in one hour

Kc and m are SN curve parameters
a,c are the Weibull shape and scale parameters of stress range

 The stress range is obtained by Load Duration

Distribution (LDD) method.
Stress range is a function of both external load
fluctuations and gear rotational speed.
Stress cycle counting method for gears is different from
that of other structural components.

Fatigue damage in bearings

Bearing life and damage calculation is based on
Lundberg-Palmgren equation

P is the dynamic equivalent radial load given by

L is the bearing life, defined as the number of
cycles that 90% of the bearings achieve, under a
certain test conditions
a is 3 for ball bearing and 3.33 for roller bearings
C is the basic load rating and constant for a given
Damage
is obtained
bearing

by

li is the number of load cycles in 1

hour
associated with load range Pi

Results

Results
the comparison factor for fatigue damage between the two
turbines

Equivalent load on INPB is

Conclusions from the study

It is found that the main bearing carrying axial loads
sustains higher damage in spar than the land-based
turbine.
Other gears and bearings encounter lower or equal
damages in spar turbine when compared with the landbased.
The bearing life is unequal for upwind and downwind
planet bearings in spar wind turbine similar to the landbased turbine.

Technical paper
Amir Rasekhi Nejad, Erin E. Bachynskib, Zhen Gaoa,
Torgeir Moan.
Fatigue Damage Comparison of Mechanical Components
in a LandBased and a Spar Floating Wind Turbine, Procedia
Engineering 101, 2015

THANK YOU