Field Testing of Wind Turbine Towers with Contact and Noncontact Vibration Measurement Methods
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 34, Issue 1
Abstract
Wind turbine tower vibration parameters are critical for design and maintenance of wind farms. In this paper, measurement campaigns of two in-service 65-m tall wind turbine towers are investigated. Different field vibration measurements with contact and noncontact sensors, including integrated circuits piezoelectric accelerometers, passive servovelocimeters, a laser Doppler vibrometer, and an interferometric radar, were conducted in the campaigns. Frequencies, damping ratios, and mode shapes were identified based on the measurements by use of a stochastic subspace identification method. Performances of the contact and noncontact sensors were compared in time and frequency domains. Also, time-frequency spectra were used to figure out noncontact measurement sections with high quality. Because the superior frequency ranges of contact and noncontact sensors are different, a data fusion method, which can take advantage of both types of sensors, was introduced. The practicality of field vibration measurements for modal parameter identification is discussed, and the results are compared with those from simplified finite-element models of the tested wind turbine towers.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the support from International Collaboration Program of Science and Technology Commission of Ministry of Science and Technology, China (2016YFE0105600); International Collaboration Program of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality and Sichuan Province (16510711300 and 18GJHZ0111); 111 Project (B18062); National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1710111 and 51878426); Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities of China; National Science Foundation (CMMI-1763024 and CMMI-1762917); and China Scholarship Council.
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©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jan 2, 2019
Accepted: May 20, 2019
Published online: Nov 12, 2019
Published in print: Feb 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Apr 12, 2020
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