Study on Vibration Control of Wind Turbine With an Optimised Eddy Current Tuned Rolling Cylinder Damper

Abstract

The increasing scale and capacity of wind turbines, driven by advancements in wind power technology, present significant challenges in managing fatigue loads and vibrations. To address these challenges, we have designed an eddy current tuned rolling cylinder damper (ECTRCD) which incorporates eddy current–induced damping into the traditional tuned rolling cylinder damper (TRCD) and optimised the parameters including the radius ratio, mass ratio, frequency ratio and damping ratio. The optimal frequency ratio is observed between 0.9 and 1, with the damping ratio around 0.05 and the radius ration of 1/6. On the contrary, the optimal damping performance improves as the mass ratio increases. Additionally, the reduction ratio of the equivalent fatigue load is 17.7% by the ECTRCD with the optimal parameters (a radius ratio of 1/6, a mass ratio of 1.2%, a frequency ratio of 0.943 and a damping ratio of 0.059). Compared with the TRCD, the enhancement in this value is modest, with only a 1% improvement. Nevertheless, the displacement at the tower top in the side-to-side direction is significantly mitigated, particularly under high wind speeds. This finding underscores the potential of the ECTRCD as a promising alternative to conventional TRCDs, offering enhanced damping performance and improved structural stability.