Coupled dynamics simulation using FAST when a blade suddently break down

Wind & Water Structural Analysis
1

Dear Dr. jason,

I want to simulate the coupled dynamics of IEA-15MW when a blade suddently break down at a specified spanwise position (say 0.5R) using FAST.

I find this kind of simulations are rarely reported in wind energy communities, and I am trying to use FAST for such simulations with some code customizations.

Now, I have two plans for blade breakup simulation using FAST:

(1) Simplyly set the aerodynamic forces and gravity force to zeros for a certain range of blade span, say 0.5R-1.0R.

(2) Reconstruct the AeroDyn mesh and BeamDyn mesh (or ElastoDyn? ) when the breakup occures.

Could you give me some advice and briefly comment on my two plans whether they correctly representing the real blade breakdown event?

Best regards,

Lin Yang.

2

Dear @Lin.Yang,

Can you clarify what you mean when you refer to blade break down? Are you referring to cracks appearing in the plies? Or you referring to a complete loss of the portion a blade, where the tip separates from the root?

The former would require a stiffness change (not an aerodynamic change) and the latter would require not just an aerodynamic change, but a change to the mass of the blade.

Best regards,

3

Dear jason,
Thanks for your quick reply. The blade breakdown i mean is some porpotion of the blade are totally lost, including mass, stiffness,forces…Perhaps I need to prepare two blade files to construct FAST data structures, and switch upon blade break?

best regards.

Lin Yang.

---- Replied Message ----

From | Jason Jonkman via NREL Forumnotifications@nrel.discoursemail.com |

  • | - |
    Date | 07/10/2025 19:51 |
    To | yanglin205@163.com |
    Cc | |
    Subject | [NREL Forum] [Wind & Water/Structural Analysis] Coupled dynamics simulation using FAST when a blade suddently break down |

| Jason.Jonkman
July 10 |

  • | - |

Dear @Lin.Yang,

Can you clarify what you mean when you refer to blade break down? Are you referring to cracks appearing in the plies? Or you referring to a complete loss of the portion a blade, where the tip separates from the root?

The former would require a stiffness change (not an aerodynamic change) and the latter would require not just an aerodynamic change, but a change to the mass of the blade.

Best regards,

4

Dear @Lin.Yang,

OpenFAST is not really set up to support a complete loss of a portion of a blade. It would require a source code change to implement.

Best regards,