SH

S.F.M. Harmsen

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2 records found

Master thesis (2019) - Stefan Harmsen, Simon Watson, Wouter Engels
This master’s thesis project related inflow conditions to atypical fatigue loading of wind turbines. The research was fully based on experimental data obtained in another project. First an expected fatigue loading was defined based on the mean wind speed and the turbulence intensity. Differences between expected and measured fatigue loading were determined and analyzed using regression and clustering. The most important results regard the out-of-plane bending moment measured at the blade root and the side-to-side bending moment measured at the tower bottom. In addition to the mean wind speed and the turbulence intensity, the out-of-plane bending moment is found to correlate with wind shear. The side-to-side bending moment, on the other hand, correlates with wind veer and with different wind directions. In this case, the clustering result performs better in estimating the difference between expected and measured fatigue loading than the linear regression model. ...

Project Matryoshka

This report details the design of a mission aimed to find and analyse active Venusian volcanoes, if they exist. These volcanoes are interesting because active volcanism would significantly contribute to the understanding of the Venusian atmosphere, its extreme climate and geological processes. This knowledge would in turn help us understand Earth better. The design is based on the concept selected previously in the Midterm report and consists of five vehicles: a spacecraft, an aeroshell, an aircraft and two landers. The spacecraft with aeroshell will be launched into a Hohmann transfer orbit to Venus in 2023. Upon arrival, the satellite will map the surface, and find the most promising region for volcanic activity. It will then deploy the aeroshell containing the aircraft and landers. The satellite then changes its orbit to one that allows for it to act as a relay between the Venusian vehicles and Earth. After entry and having slowed down sufficiently to deploy a parachute, the first lander will be dropped. This lander will act as a reference for the lander inside the aircraft. Next, the aircraft is deployed after which it will start following flight tracks that allow for it to stay in the Sunlight. These tracks are designed by taking into consideration the power systems, thermal system and propulsion system, and then optimising such that the electronics do not overheat and that the battery size is reasonable. While flying, the aircraft will take measurements to locate volcanoes. Once a very promising location is found, the aircraft will deploy the second lander from an altitude of about 32 km. This lander will then descend further down and land on the surface where it will perform measurements. Combining the measurements of all vehicles it is expected that the mission can also complete a number of secondary objectives to further improve the knowledge of Venus... ...