Current projects

The project is supported by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, and Danida, and includes the collaboration with the Tianjin University of Commerce (China). The project lasts from 2009 til 2011.

The trailing edge of wind turbine blades can be manufactured in an elastic material that makes it possible to control the shape of the trailing edge. This will reduce the considerably dynamic loads that large wind turbine blades are exposed to during operation.

The background for the project initiated in 2007 was a discussion and assessment in the project group of the uncertainties and shortcomings related to the reliable design of MW turbines. The most important issue is that the derivation of 3D airfoil data from 2D wind tunnel data still introduces uncertainty and conservatism in the rotor design process although different empirical correction methods have been developed.

The Danish Council for Strategic Research’s Programme Commission on Energy and Environment has granted funding of DKK 38.0 million for the establishment of the Danish Centre for Composite Structures and Materials for Wind Turbines (DCCSM).

Purpose of the project is to explore the applicability of low-cost natural (wood) materials for the production of wind turbines to promote the electrification of dry and windy areas of Nepal . The project includes a comprehensive program of testing of mechanical and fatigue properties of timbers and coatings for wind turbine blades, computational micromechanical analysis of the properties- microstructure relationships of wood, as well as the development, installation and field testing of small wind turbines with wooden blades in Nepal.

The goal of this project is to create a scientific basis for the development of advanced, strong materials for wind blades by optimizing their structures at microlevel.

The project objectives address cold climate aspects and will include the production of icing atlas for Sweden and Iceland based on long term meteorological statistics.

The existing power fluctuation models are either purely statistical or integrated with regional climate models with very limited resolution, and therefore these models have difficulties reproducing powerful events such as storms at the actual historical time and place. Mesoscale prediction models can reproduce such historical events much more accurately in time and place, and thus reduce the uncertainties due to the stochastic components in the power fluctuation models.

Since the overall purpose is to improve the credibility of the models, validation will play a major role in the project. Historical wind power and wind speed time series will be applied for the validation. For this purpose, a combination of data from Energinet.dk, energy companies and Risø DTU will be used. Energinet.dk will supply wind power time series for the two regions Denmark West and Denmark East, and possibly in transmission system feedin points. Energy companies will together with Risø data provide wind speed time series at a number of locations onshore and offshore.

The Bolund experiment is a field campaign that provides a new dataset for validating models of flow in complex terrain. It has been the basis for a unique blind comparison of flow models. An increasing number of wind farms are being installed in complex terrain where wind resources are good, but the wind shear and turbulence can exceed the design basis. CFD is becoming a standard tool to quantify such wind conditions and determine the optimum positions of the wind turbines. However, these flow models have usually only been validated against wind tunnel experiments with simple terrain forms.

Atmospheric pressure plasma processing can be more efficient by simultaneous irradiation of high energy ultrasound. The technique is applicable to enhancing surface modification and gas phase reactions.