The National Wind Technology Center of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is comparing several computer codes used to design and analyze wind turbines. The first part of this comparison is to determine how well the programs predict the aerodynamic behavior of turbines with no structural degrees of freedom. Without general agreement on the aerodynamics, it is futile to try to compare the structural response due to the aerodynamic input. In this document, we compare the aerodynamic loads for three programs: Garrad Hassan's BLADED, our own WT_Perf, and the University of Utah's YawDyn. This report documents a work in progress and compares only two-bladed, downwind turbines.
Buhl, M. L.; Wright, A. D.; Tangler, J. L.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Design Methods, Tools & Standards
Wind Plant Modeling & Simulation
Technical Report