Effects of negative shear on loads for a 15 MW offshore wind turbine during low-level jet events

Abstract

Wind turbines are more often interacting with the negative shear region of a low-level jet due to increasing turbine sizes. However, the effects of negative shear on wind turbines are not sufficiently studied, particularly for offshore wind applications. In this paper, we studied the effects of negative shear on wind turbine loading. This was done using user-defined wind profiles and a model chain. The model chain consisted of a turbulence generator and a wake modelling tool coupled to an aero-hydro-servo-elastic engineering tool. We observed significant variations in the structural loading in the case of low-level jets. We also observed changes in the power spectral density estimates. Additionally, we briefly examined the wake recovery distance.