FAST v8 in parallel with MLife

Dear all,

I am currently working on a Simulink control system for an offshore wind turbine, which I am testing using the Simulink interface of FAST v8. The general idea of this control system is to take into account fatigue damage at the tower base and, depending on the latter, to switch between different control modes. This is why I am also working with MLife, which I have already used for post-processing FAST v8 outdata.

However, I was wondering if FAST v8 could be able to run in parallel MLife, and therefore obtain fatigue data while running the simulation with FAST (e.g. let’s say I run a 1-hour simulation in FAST v8; the idea is to measure fatigue every 10 minutes at the tower base, and depending on the results, switching between different control modes). I hope I have been able to explain myself clearly, and thank you in advance!

Best regards,
Oscar.Avello

Dear Oscar,

The software is set up so that MLife post-processes the results of FAST after it completes a simulation (i.e. in serial mode, not parallel mode). Could you not simply run FAST for 10 minutes, post-process those results with MLife, ran another FAST simulation for 10 minutes (with different control settings), post-process those results with MLife and repeat?

Best regards,

Dear Jason,

Thank you for your reply. The suggestion you make is actually what I have been doing to set up my control system. However, in order to test the model correct behavior, I wanted to run a long simulation where the control system had to switch between the different control modes. In particular, the transition between different modes is something I wanted to check, and this can be more easily done with long simulations rather than short ones.

I’ll be trying to work out a solution for this and share it if it works correctly! Meanwhile, if anybody has an idea on how to sort this out, I’d be glad to discuss it :slight_smile:

Thank you for your time.

Best regards,
Oscar.Avello