Smart Wind Turbine: Analysis and Autonomous Flap

Wind turbines convert kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. Unfortunately, this process is everything but constant, as the wind source shows large fluctuations with high and low frequencies. This turbulence, together with the wind shear and yawed inflow, excites the turbine structure, thereby driving the loads and the design of...

Scenarios for offshore wind development in the Netherlands: An agent-based modelling approach

The aim of this study is to develop a method to identify the barriers to and opportunities in the development of large-scale offshore wind energy in the Netherlands, taking into account the uncertainties of the future and consequences of decisions, from technological, economical, social, political and environmental perspectives. The research...

Great expectations for offshore wind turbines: Emulation of wind farm design to anticipate their value for customers

To date, the technical feasibility of making electricity from offshore wind energy has been convincingly proven. However, the current challenge is to reduce the costs of this form of energy. One of the aspects playing a role in cost reduction is the optimisation of the wind turbine. The wind turbine influences the costs of various elements of an...

The near wake of the VAWT: 2D and 3D views of the VAWT aerodynamics

The analysis, modeling and design of the lift-driven Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) has challenged the wind energy community for many decades; this limited progress in knowledge has severely impaired the development of the VAWT, giving rise to the myth that the VAWT rotor is inherently inefficient (in comparison with the more conventional...

Constrained stochastic simulation of wind gusts for wind turbine design

Aeroelasticity of large wind turbines

Laddermill sail: A new concept in sailing

A new innovative approach to sailing has been proposed by TU Delft. It allows sailing in any desired direction, including straight into the wind. The concept consists of generating energy with a sky sail and then using it in an electric motor of the ship. The paper describes a mathematical model of laddermill sail.

Fatigue life prediction and strength degradation of wind turbine rotor blade composites

Wind turbine rotor blades are subjected to a large number of highly variable loads, but life predictions are typically based on constant amplitude fatigue behaviour. Therefore, it is important to determine how service life under variable amplitude fatigue can be estimated from constant amplitude fatigue behaviour. A life prediction contains...

Wind energy in the built environment: Concentrator effects of buildings

This thesis deals with wind energy conversion in the built environment. It gives a description of the wind resources in the built environment that can be converted into energy by a wind turbine. With a focus on maximum energy yield of the wind turbine, it especially deals with the integration of wind turbine and building in such a way that the...

Ship propulsion by Kites combining energy production by Laddermill principle and direct kite propulsion

The Laddermill: Innovative Wind Energy from High Altitudes in Holland and Australia

The Laddermill is a novel concept to harvest electricity from high altitude winds. The concept's operating principle is to drive an electric generator using tethered kites. Several kites are deployed to altitudes of more than 1 km by means of a single cable that is connected to a drum on the groundstation. The upper portion of the cable is...

Flight control and stability of a multiple kites tethered system

One of novel concepts to use the energy of high altitude winds is by launching a series of kite on a long rope and let them pull the rope thus driving the generator. A mathematical model of tethered kites system has been developed consisting of models of kites and of the cable that links them together and to the generator on the ground energy...