On April 7, 2022, we were happy to have @EH from the University of Sheffield present at the 5th Wind & Drivetrain Conference 2022.
Eladio Hurtado is a final year Ph.D. student of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield. In his research project, Eladio looks at wear mechanisms on wind turbine pitch bearings using a mixed approach of experimental and modeling methods.
Before starting his Ph.D., Eladio worked for eight years as a mechanical engineer, performing finite element analysis for a wide variety of industrial applications.
In his presentation, he talked about the "Effect of Supporting Structure Flexibility on the Load Distribution of a Wind Turbine Pitch Bearing"
Pitch bearing connects the blades to the hub, allowing the rotation of the blades to control the loads and power in wind turbines. These bearings are affected by different damage modes such as edge loading, core crushing, rotational wear, false Brinelling, and fretting corrosion. One of the relevant factors related to these damage modes is the load distribution among the rolling elements.
Uneven load distribution is a common feature of pitch bearings, as they are mounted on highly flexible structures (hub and blades). The effect of the bearing’s supporting structures on the load distribution has been largely studied; yet little evidence exists on the impact that modifying the flexibility of these components has on the bearing load distribution.
This work presents a load distribution analysis for a 2-meter diameter ball bearing using a finite element model of the assembly between the bearings, the blades, and the hub. Different assembly stiffness configurations are defined and compared by defining indexes to quantify the uniformity of the load distribution. It is concluded that increasing the radial stiffness of the hub produces the best results to effectively improve the load distribution among the rolling elements, resulting in the maximum contact load reduced by 20% for the studied bearing.
Please see below for the presentation slides and a live recording of his presentation:
PDF:
Live Recording:
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Multibody Dynamics Multibody Simulation Motion Multibody System Simulation Wind Turbine Dynamics Wind Turbines Simpack Drivetrain Wind Turbine Engineering Offshore
