Application of differential transformation method for free vibration analysis of wind turbine

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a tendency towards renewable energy sources considering the damages caused by non-renewable energy resources to nature and humans. One of the renewable energy sources is wind and energy is obtained with the help of wind turbines. To determine the behavior of wind turbines under earthquake loads, dynamic characteristics are required. In this study, the differential transformation method is proposed to determine the free vibration analysis of wind turbines with a variable cross-section. The wind turbine is modeled as an equivalent variable continuous flexural beam and blade weight is considered as a point mass at the top of the structures. The differential equation representing the free vibration of the wind turbine is transformed into an algebraic equation with the help of differential transformation method and the angular frequencies and the mode shapes of the wind turbine are obtained by the help of the differential transformation method. In the study, a sample taken from the literature was solved with the presented method and the suitability of the method was investigated. The same wind turbine example also modeled by finite element modelling software, ABAQUS. Results of the finite element model and differential transformation method are compared with each other and the results are in good agreement.