Physical simulations are helping to ensure that German wind turbines meet stringent manufacturing standards, by identifying potential areas of stress and weak spots on the turbines.
TÜV SÜD Industrie Service, a regulator for wind turbines, has been implementing the LMS Virtual.Lab simulation program to implement in silico experiments that subject virtual copies of the turbines to difference wind loads. These results of these simulations tell scientists the expected lifetimes of different components, and help to pinpoint hotspots for stress.
The growing demands for green electricity has meant that the number of wind turbines has grown dramatically in recent years, and it’s expected to more than double by 2010. The use of virtual experiments is helping the organisation to deal with this extra demand.
‘Performing “virtual certification” through analysis and simulation enables TÜV SÜD to evaluate more wind turbines faster and in far greater detail than is otherwise possible – or practical – through physical testing,’ says Albert Limmer from TÜV SÜD.
