Wind turbine rotor modelling using response surface methodology

The power generated by wind turbine rotors is difficult to model due to their nonlinear dependency on mechanical characteristics, wind velocity, and loading condition. This paper demonstrates how statistical Design of Experiment (DoE) methodology can be employed to model and characterize the behavior of a wind turbine rotor. Central Composite Design (CCD) is used to obtain the parametric metamodel of the power coefficient of a sample rotor in the neighborhood of its maximum value. As a result, the model describes and predicts the power coefficient values in a response surface as a function of pitch angle and tip speed ratio. The methodology is extended to a greater number of factors/variables to model the mechanical power extracted by the rotor and to demonstrate the advantages of CCD in modeling this type of system.