Modeling of the UAE Wind Turbine for Refinement of FAST_AD

The Unsteady Aerodynamics Experiment (UAE) research wind turbine was modeled both aerodynamically and structurally in the FAST_AD wind turbine design code, and its response to wind inflows was simulated for a sample of test cases. A study was conducted to determine why wind turbine load magnitude discrepancies-inconsistencies in aerodynamic force coefficients, rotor shaft torque, and out-of-plane bending moments at the blade root across a range of operating conditions-exist between load predictions made by FAST_AD and other modeling tools and measured loads taken from the actual UAE wind turbine during the NASA-Ames wind tunnel tests. The acquired experimental test data represent the finest, most accurate set of wind turbine aerodynamic and induced flow field data available today. A sample of the FAST_AD model input parameters most critical to the aerodynamics computations was also systematically perturbed to determine their effect on load and performance predictions. Attention was focused on the simpler upwind rotor configuration, zero yaw error test cases. Inconsistencies in input file parameters, such as aerodynamic performance characteristics, explain a noteworthy fraction of the load prediction discrepancies of the various modeling tools