biplaneblade

create and analyze biplane wind turbine blades with 1D beam finite elements and 2D cross-sectional analysis

This repository holds the source code used for the analysis of a 100-meter biplane wind turbine blade, as described in Chapter 5 of P. Roth-Johnson (2014), 'Aero-Structural Design Investigations for Biplane Wind Turbine Blades,' Ph.D. Dissertation, UCLA.

Current workflow

1. run path_to_blade_lib/prep_stnXX_mesh.py - write initial TrueGrid input file with boundary curves: mesh_stnXX_start.tg
2. manually edit mesh_stnXX_start.tg to create block meshes fitted to boundary curves; save as mesh_stnXX_finish.tg
3. run TrueGrid on mesh_stnXX_finish.tg to write ABAQUS output file: mesh_stnXX.abq
4. run path_to_blade_lib/layer_plane_angles_stnXX.py - write updated grid object to VABS input file: mesh_stnXX.vabs
5. run path_to_blade_lib/run_vabs.py - use VABS to calculate mass and stiffness matrices
6. mesh_stnXX.vabs.K - mass and stiffness matrices are in this file!
7. run path_to_blade_lib/plot_MK.py - plot VABS data
8. run path_to_blade_lib/write_DYMORE_input_file.py - write VABS output for a DYMORE input file to blade_OD.dat and blade_MK.dat
9. manually copy contents of blade_OD.dat and blade_MK.dat into blade.dat.
10. run rundymore.bat to load the structural model
11. run plot_DYMORE_results.py to postprocess results in FIGURES directory
12. run clean.bat to erase all DYMORE results

Folder structure

The archive of all the blade input files looks like this:

• biplane_blade/
  • blade_definition.csv
  • materials.csv
  • airfoils/
    • Cylinder.txt
    • ...
    • NACA_64-618.txt
  • stn01/
    • mesh_stn01_start.tg (initial TrueGrid input file with part boundary curves)
    • mesh_stn01_final.tg (final TrueGrid input file with grids inside curves)
    • mesh_stn01.abq (exported grid file in ABAQUS format)
    • mesh_stn01.vabs (VABS input file of geometry and materials)
    • mesh_stn01.vabs.K (VABS output of mass and stiffness matrices)
  • stn02/
  • ...
  • stn34/
• biplane_blade_lib/
  • plot_selected_stations.py
  • prep_stn01_mesh.py
  • ...
  • prep_stn34_mesh.py
  • layer_plane_angles_stn01.py
  • ...
  • layer_plane_angles_stn34.py
  • run_vabs.py
  • plot_MK.py
  • write_DYMORE_input_file.py
  • plot_DYMORE_results.py
• sandia_blade/
  • blade_definition.csv
  • materials.csv
  • airfoils/
    • Cylinder.txt
    • ...
    • NACA_64-618.txt
  • stn01/
    • mesh_stn01_start.tg (initial TrueGrid input file with part boundary curves)
    • mesh_stn01_final.tg (final TrueGrid input file with grids inside curves)
    • mesh_stn01.abq (exported grid file in ABAQUS format)
    • mesh_stn01.vabs (VABS input file of geometry and materials)
    • mesh_stn01.vabs.K (VABS output of mass and stiffness matrices)
  • stn02/
  • ...
  • stn34/
• sandia_blade_lib/
  • plot_selected_stations.py
  • prep_stn01_mesh.py
  • ...
  • prep_stn34_mesh.py
  • layer_plane_angles_stn01.py
  • ...
  • layer_plane_angles_stn34.py
  • run_vabs.py
  • plot_MK.py
  • write_DYMORE_input_file.py
  • plot_DYMORE_results.py