In order to reduce to time-to-market of new wind turbines, both development time and number of trials must be reduced. This engineering challenge can be handled by means of complex dynamic simulations, made possible by to today’s computational power.
In fact, different design solutions are virtually investigated under realistic working conditions before the physical parts are available, thus improving design and reducing project costs.
The present work describes the modelling of the main subsystems of a wind turbine in AVL EXCITE, which is a multi-body simulation software already used successfully for automotive drive line simulation. Critical components such planetary gears, electric machines as well as oil supply lines are modelled trough flexible shafts, detailed toothed gears and several types of bearings.
Simulation results cover analysis as NVH, oil film pressure in bearings and interaction between the electric generator and the drive line in different network conditions.