Cable connected active tuned mass dampers for control of in-plane vibrations of wind turbine blades

•A new variation on the classical active tuned mass damper (ATMD) is proposed in this paper.•The proposed cable connected ATMD (CCATMD) is an ATMD with a pre-tensioned cable attached.•Movement of ATMD induces a cable force acting opposite to the turbulent aerodynamic loading.•An optimal control algorithm with CCATMD controls vibration in wind turbine blades.•CCATMD shows improved control performance over passive tuned mass damper or classical ATMD.

In-plane vibrations of wind turbine blades are of concern in modern multi-megawatt wind turbines. Today׳s turbines with capacities of up to 7.5 MW have very large, flexible blades. As blades have grown longer the increasing flexibility has led to vibration problems. Vibration of blades can reduce the power produced by the turbine and decrease the fatigue life of the turbine. In this paper a new active control strategy is designed and implemented to control the in-plane vibration of large wind turbine blades which in general is not aerodynamically damped. A cable connected active tuned mass damper (CCATMD) system is proposed for the mitigation of in-plane blade vibration. An Euler–Lagrangian wind turbine model based on energy formulation has been developed for this purpose which considers the structural dynamics of the system and the interaction between in-plane and out-of-plane vibrations and also the interaction between the blades and the tower including the CCATMDs. The CCATMDs are located inside the blades and are controlled by an LQR controller. The turbine is subject to turbulent aerodynamic loading simulated using a modification to the classic Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory with turbulence generated from rotationally sampled spectra. The turbine is also subject to gravity loading. The effect of centrifugal stiffening of the rotating blades has also been considered. Results show that the use of the proposed new active control scheme significantly reduces the in-plane vibration of large, flexible wind turbine blades.