Hi,
We will start posting all announcements relating to new releases for all our CAE tools in this topic. Subscribe to this topic to receive email notifications of additions to it. There is a check box on the lower left of this page.
Marshall
We have recently uploaded new module for simulating seismic loads on wind turbines for the design and analysis of wind turbines in earthquake-prone regions. Seismic v1.00.00 was developed through a subcontract between NREL and Missouri University of Science and Technology. The seismic module is currently implemented as a replacement for the generic user-defined platform loading routine in FAST, UserPtfmLd. All functionality existing in FAST, other than that relying on other platform models, is still intact and functions without modification. This module adds the ability to:
*Specify a platform motion time series as displacement, velocity, or acceleration independently in the X, Y, and Z axes.
*Generation of synthetic motion for platform motion time histories.
*Baseline correct motions to prevent residual displacement and velocity due to numerical error in integration.
*Perform spectral matching.
The force required to achieve the desired motion is calculated at run time for each time step and applied to the wind turbine platform in FAST using a damped oscillator model. The current implementation does not directly support consideration of base rocking, twisting or soil-structure interaction.
The release includes source code, a compiled link to FAST, documentation, and sample models. Please see wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/seismic/ for more information and to download the software.
Happy modeling!
Hi,
Rebecca Sykes of Lloyd’s Register Group Services Limited reported on the forums that I had incorrectly changed a 0.2 in the calculation of ShrMax to Alpha, the wind shear exponent. Oops! I put it back the way it was originally. Sorry about that. Thanks for the keen eyes, Rebecca!
Here is Rebecca’s post:
[url]IECWind EWS]
You can download the latest version of IECWind here:
[url]National Wind Technology Center's Information Portal | Wind Research | NREL
Marshall
We are happy to announce an updated alpha-version release of MLife (v1.00.00f-gjh), a MatLab-based tool that can efficiently process statistical and fatigue-related output needed for wind turbine certification. MLife’s calculations follow the method required by the IEC in their 61400-1 Edition 3, Annex G, design standard, and the recommendations of Germanischer Lloyd (GL) in their Guideline for Certification of Wind Turbines, 2010 edition.
New functionality of this release includes:
- Use of Design Load Cases (DLCs)
- Use of Partial Safety Factors (PSFs)
- Fatigue calculations with and without using the Goodman correction
- Short-term aggregate calculations
- Short-term damage-rate calculations
- Support for binary FAST output files
- Faster rainflow counting using a MEX-file (requires installation of Visual Studio 2010 SP1 run-time libraries, which are included in the distribution archive)
- New wind speed binning scheme
- Use of turbine availability factor
- Many bug fixes
- Updated settings file format to accommodate the new features (this version is NOT backwards compatible with previous MLife releases)
- updated user and theory manuals
The input data for MLife are typically obtained from a large series of aero-elastic simulations (FAST, for example). The software functionality of version 1.0 – including calculations of general statistics, lifetime damage, and damage-equivalent loads – has been implemented and the project is now focused on verification and validation of the tool.
Engineers at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory had created a program called MCrunch that included these features and many more, but MCrunch must store the entire dataset concurrently in memory. For such a large number of simulations, the memory requirements would exceed the amount available in an engineer’s typical computer. Staff at the NWTC recently addressed this problem by creating MExtremes for the extreme-event tables and MLife for fatigue-life predictions. These specialized tools process files sequentially, so only one data file is stored in memory at a time.
Feel free to download the software and associated documentation from the MLife webpage:
wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/postprocessors/MLife
Feedback during alpha testing will be used to identify any problems which prevent analysis and results generation in accordance to the IEC and GL recommendations mentioned previously.
You can post your comments in the Computer-Aided Engineering Software Tools forum or email them to Greg Hayman, greg.hayman@nrel.gov.
Kindest Regards,
Greg Hayman
NREL subcontractor
greg.hayman@nrel.gov
We are happy to announce a new release of WT_Perf (v3.05.00a-adp), a wind turbine perfomance evaluator based on using BEM theory.
New features and changes included in this release:
-
Modification of the solver for better convergence
-
Improved control of the solver through the addition of the NSplit parameter in the input file
-
Included a makefile for compilation on Linux systems with gfortran (requires gcc 4.6 and later and the NWTC Library v1.05.00 and later)
-
New flag in the output .oup and .bed files to indicate full convergence
-
The OutNines input parameter has been replaced with ConvFlag for controlling how non-convergent cases are reported. This has options of:
- 0 → for reporting the calculated values as is (old OutNines=false behaviour)
-
1 → to report “9’s” in place of non-converged values (old OutNines = true behaviour)
-
2 → to report NaN in place of non-converged values.
- Revised counting of cases that fail to fully converge
- Newly revised and updated users guide
- Removed the DAWT feature since that was never fully implimented
- Numerous bug fixes
This latest version of the software and documention is available for download on the WT_Perf webpage:
wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/WTPerf
You can post your comments in the Computer-Aided Engineering Software Tools forum or email them to Andrew Platt (marshall.buhl@nrel.gov).
Happy modeling,
Andy
Hi,
I’ve uploaded the latest alpha version of Crunch. Some of the changes are:
- I added the ability to read the new FAST binary files in preparation for a future release of FAST.
- I fixed a bug related to limiting what records are read based upon time.
- I made changes to modernize the code and to get it to work with the latest version (not released yet) of the NWTC Library.
- I increased the string length for path and file names to 1024 characters.
- I fixed peak listing so time did not have to be in column 1.
- I changed it so there is no longer a default input file and added a pause when it is left off the command line for all you who try to run the program by double-clicking on the executable in Windows Explorer.
- I created a makefile for people using the gfortran compiler and fixed some bugs that showed up with that compiler.
- I now supply both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows executables.
- The web site now allows downloading a tar.gz archive of the software.
In general, we have switched to MATLAB-based postprocessors, but Crunch has some features we needed for a project here that MCrunch does not have and we needed it to read the new binary files. To be honest, I prefer Crunch to MCrunch because of the speed and I am a much better Fortran programmer than a MATLAB programmer. The advantage of MATLAB is the plotting capability and the ability to generate Excel spreadsheets.
I hope to upload the latest version of the NWTC Library this week in case there are people who want to use this on Linux.
Hi,
I made some minor changes to fix bugs related to user interaction (no computations changed) and cleaned up the code some. I also created a new Python-based regression test to replace CertTest.bat. The new test will run on virtually any operating system that supports a Python interpreter.
Here are the additions to the change log:
[code]v3.02.00a-mlb, 10-Jan-2013, M. Buhl
o I created Crunch_RegTest.py so we could have a system-independent certification test. I removed
CertTest.bat and associated files from the archive and Subversion.
o I made a few mods to the .cru files and the python regression test to make them Linux compatible.
o I removed the logic for testing the validity of RealFmt in Crunch_IO.f90\GetParams() and put it
in ChkRealFmtStr in the Library’s NWTC_IO.f90\ChkRealFmtStr().
o I modified Crunch_IO to allow one to enter 0 for NumInCols and NumCols when using FAST binary
files and use the information in the binary files to provide the column information.
o I eliminated a bug that occurred when TEnd was zero.
v3.02.00b-mlb, 18-Jan-2013, M. Buhl
o I added error handling for having no readable input files or asking for the time in the
peak/valley listing if no time column was specified.
[/code]
You can download this latest version of Crunch here: [url]National Wind Technology Center's Information Portal | Wind Research | NREL
Enjoy!
Marshall
We have recently uploaded new versions of several of our NWTC CAE tools to our Web site:
[b]FAST v7.02.00d-bjj /b,
[b]ADAMS2AD (A2AD) v13.01.00b-bjj /b,
[b]AeroDyn v13.00.02a-bjj /b, and
Some of the most notable changes include:
[]A new option for creating FAST binary output files has been added. You will have to modify your primary FAST input files.[/]
[]The FAST archive now contains a “Labview” folder. This folder contains a DLL that has been designed to run FAST in LabVIEW Real-Time 2012 SP1. We assume anyone who uses this DLL is proficient with using LabVIEW software.[/]
[]FAST, A2AD, and AeroDyn have been updated to compile with NWTC Subroutine Library v1.07.00.[/]
[]The InflowWind module has been removed from AeroDyn and is now a separately distributed archive.[/]
[]We have fixed the minor bugs from FAST v7.01.00 that were reported on the forum.[/]
[]We added a makefile to compile FAST with gfortran 4.6.2. (The executable code generated by this makefile runs approximately four times slower than the code generated by IVF 12.1.)[/]
For a full list of changes included in these codes, please see the “ChangeLog.txt” files in their respective archives.
Changes to these tools should result in only negligible (if any) differences with previous simulation results.
Because we have not had the time to update these code’s respective user’s guides, we have left them as alpha versions. We have, however, documented the changes in the updated Addendum to the User’s Guides. We encourage you to read it.
Please note that these updated tools are NOT in the new FAST modularization framework. Progress on converting to the new framework is taking place, and we anticipate releasing the first versions of these tools in the framework in the coming months. Because the process of converting all of the current features of the CAE tools will take some time, we plan to make FAST v7.02.00 available concurrently with FAST 8.* (the version in the new framework).
Please use our forums to leave questions or comments.
Happy Modeling!
We have recently released the first development version of FAST, and its various modules, under the new modularization framework to our website:
FAST v8.03.02b-bjj (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/fast/alpha/)
Modules:
ElastoDyn v1.01.02b-bjj (included in link above)
ServoDyn v1.01.01b-bjj (included in link above)
AeroDyn v14.02.00c-mlb (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simula … dyn/alpha/)
InflowWind v2.00.00b-adp (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simula … ind/alpha/)
HydroDyn v2.00.10a-gjh (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simula … ind/alpha/)
SubDyn v0.04.00a-rrd (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/subdyn/)
MAP v0.87.06a-mdm (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/map/)
Other Components:
NWTC Subroutine Library v2.03.00b-bjj (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/miscel … C_Library/)
FAST Registry v2.01.00 (included in link above)
SS_Fitting v1.00.01 (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/prepro … S_Fitting/)
While we are very excited about this release and the new capability it brings to FAST, please be aware that this is the initial release. As with anything new, we encourage users to take appropriate precautions. We have tested many features, but not all. Please interpret the results carefully and report back any confirmed errors to the NREL developer(s). Further development, verification, and validation work is ongoing at NREL. Check back regularly to obtain the latest version of the code.
Happy Modeling!
Ian Prowell of MMI Engineering has recently updated the Siesmic loading module for FAST.
New features and changes in this release include:
- Ported code and example files to work with FAST v7.02.00d-bjj
- Fixed error in spectral matching so that the frequency range to match is properly interpreted
- Improved transient behavior at the end of specified motion
- Updated output format of synthetic acceleration files to match input format for easier re-use
- Streamlined code to improve readibility
You can download this latest version of Siesmic here: wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/seismic/.
Happy Modeling!
We have recently released a new version of the FAST v8 wind turbine computer-aided engineering (CAE) software tool, and its various modules to our website:
FAST v8.08.00c-bjj (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/FAST8/)
Modules:
ElastoDyn v1.01.06b-bjj (included in FAST8 link above)
AeroDyn v14.02.01c-bjj (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simula … dyn/alpha/)
InflowWind v2.00.01b-bjj (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simula … ind/alpha/)
ServoDyn v1.01.02a-bjj (included in FAST8 link above)
HydroDyn v2.01.01c-gjh (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/hydrodyn/)
SubDyn v1.01.00a-rrd (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/subdyn/)
MAP v0.97.01a-mdm (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/map/)
IceFloe v1.00.00 (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/simulators/IceFloe/)
Other Components:
NWTC Subroutine Library v2.03.03b-bjj (wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/miscel … C_Library/)
FAST Registry v2.03.01 (included in FAST8 link above)
FAST v8.08.00c-bjj is the second public release under the FAST Modularization Framework. Major changes in v8.08 and its various modules include:
- FAST v8 has undergone extensive verification and many problems with the first release have now been fixed
- Coupling between ElastoDyn, SubDyn, and HydroDyn was added, allowing FAST to model the coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic response of fixed-bottom offshore turbines, including multi-member substructures (e.g., tripods and jackets).
- The OC3-Tripod, OC4-Jacket, and OC4-DeepCwind semi-submersible were added to the certification test (as example models).
- The FAST glue code (driver program) used to couple modules together was improved, with new spatial mesh-mapping and time-stepping functionality and enhanced efficiency.
- The Static Improvement Method was implemented in SubDyn, reducing the number of modes needed to obtain an accurate solution.
- Many of the hydrodynamic load equations in HydroDyn have been updated/augmented, including new dynamic-pressure coefficients, new axial coefficients, and new lumped fluid-inertia loads.
- Support for multi-directional waves was added to HydroDyn.
- A draft HydroDyn User’s Guide and Theory Manual has been written.
- New modules for offshore surface ice loading have been developed and coupled to FAST.
- And much more…
See the updated documentation and Change Logs for a complete list of enhancements.
Happy Modeling!
We have recently released a new version of the FAST v8 wind turbine computer-aided engineering (CAE) software tool, and its various modules to our new website.
FAST v8.09.00a-bjj is the third public release under the FAST Modularization Framework. Major changes in v8.09 and its various modules from the previous release include the following:
[]Second-order wave hydrodynamic terms were added to HydroDyn, including second-order wave kinematics for use with the strip-theory solution and second-order potential flow, based on WAMIT-supplied quadratic-transfer functions (QTFs). Previous versions of HydroDyn were based solely on first-order hydrodynamics theory. The second-order hydrodynamic implementations include time-domain calculations of difference- (mean- and slow-drift-) and sum-frequency terms and support regular and irregular sea states and wave directional spreading.[/]
[]A draft SubDyn User’s Guide and Theory Manual has been written.[/]
[]The tower distributed with the OC3-tripod model in the FAST certification test was corrected.[/]
[]A few bugs have been fixed.[/]
See the updated documentation and Change Logs for a complete list of enhancements.
FAST v8.09.00a-bjj is available at nwtc.nrel.gov/FAST8.
Happy Modeling!
Documentation and an archive for IceFloe v1.00.00 were recently added to our web site.
IceFloe is a set of routines that calculates time-domain loads induced by surface ice on offshore substructures, for use with wind turbine aeroelastic simulation codes, including FAST. When coupled to an aeroelastic code, the coupling is one-way for all but one of the optional ice models; that is, the ice loads are transferred from IceFloe to the aeroelastic code, but the structural response does not impact the ice-loading calculations. IceFloe includes multiple options for a range of ice induced loading phenomena including models for both vertical and conical shaped substructures.
The source code for IceFloe necessary for compiling with FAST v8 was previously available as part of the FAST archive; the new IceFloe website now provides additional source code for IceFloe’s standalone driver and interfaces with other codes, theory information and guidance for running IceFloe. It also provides binaries for running IceFloe with other offshore wind-turbine simulation tools. You can access IceFloe here: nwtc.nrel.gov/IceFloe.
We have recently released a new version of the FAST v8 wind turbine computer-aided engineering (CAE) software tool along with its various components to our new website.
FAST v8.10.00a-bjj is the fourth public release under the FAST Modularization Framework. Major changes in v8.10 and its various modules from the previous release include the following:
- We developed an interface between FAST v8 and Simulink.
- We added high-speed shaft braking to ServoDyn.
- We added gearbox friction to ElastoDyn.
- We replaced MAP with MAP++, an updated mooring module that is also functional in 64-bit Windows®.
- We added nacelle-based tuned-mass dampers to ServoDyn.
- We added rotational interpolation to the mesh mapping routines.
- We added MoorDyn, a new lumped-mass-based mooring module (still incomplete).
- We released documentation for IceFloe, FEAMooring, and DWM.
- We updated the SubDyn User’s Guide and Theory Manual.
- We fixed a few bugs.
See the updated documentation and change logs for a complete list of enhancements and bug fixes.
Please note that the highly anticipated BeamDyn module is not included in this release. We expect to release an update to FAST v8 including BeamDyn (and other improvements) by July 2015.
FAST v8.10.00a-bjj is available at nwtc.nrel.gov/FAST8.
–
The FAST development team
We have released a new version of the FAST v8 wind turbine multi-physics engineering software tool, along with its various modules, to our website.
FAST v8.12.00a-bjj is the fifth public release under the FAST Modularization Framework. Major changes in v8.12 and its various modules from the previous release include the following:
- We introduced new features to support the analysis of advanced aero-elastically tailored blades, including the new BeamDyn nonlinear finite-element module and an overhauled version of the AeroDyn aerodynamics module (v15).
- We separated the InflowWind wind module from AeroDyn and updated InflowWind to support HAWC wind file formats and arbitrary wind directions for all wind file types.
- We developed a driver for AeroDyn v15, allowing aerodynamic analysis in standalone mode uncoupled from FAST.
- We added functionality around the interface to Bladed-style DLL controllers in the SerovDyn control and electrical-drive dynamics module.
- We added the ability to use externally generated wave elevations or full externally generated wave kinematics within the HydroDyn hydrodynamics module.
- We added an interface between FAST and the OrcaFlex commercial software package developed by Orcina for advanced hydrodynamic and mooring analysis and design.
- We completed the MoorDyn lumped-mass mooring-dynamics module.
- We completed the IceDyn surface ice-dynamics module.
- We added checkpoint-restart capability.
- We added integrations for the FAST v8-SOWFA/OpenFOAM interface (although this update to SOWFA has not yet been released).
- We fixed a few bugs and gfortran compatibility problems.
- FAST v8 has now officially been released under the Apache 2.0 open-source license.
See the updated documentation and change logs for a complete list of enhancements and bug fixes.
FAST v8.12.00a-bjj is available at nwtc.nrel.gov/FAST8.
–
The FAST development team
We have released a new version of the FAST v8 wind turbine multi-physics engineering software tool, along with its various modules, to our website.
FAST v8.15.00a-bjj is the latest public release under the FAST Modularization Framework. Major changes in v8.15 and its various modules from the previous release include the following:
- We added visualization capability based on either surface or stick-figure geometry for model reference and initial configurations and time-series animation. FAST can now generate Visualization ToolKit (VTK) output files that can be read and viewed in standard open-source visualization packages such as ParaView or VisIt. See the example FAST-generated surface visualization graphic below.
- In AeroDyn v15, we added unsteady airfoil aerodynamics, improved the existing blade-element/momentum code, and updated the documentation.
- We added tower-based tuned mass dampers (TMDs) to ServoDyn, in addition to the nacelle-based TMDs previously available. Furthermore, the TMD capability (for both nacelle- and tower-based TMDs) has been updated with expanded functionality.
- Documentation for BeamDyn has been updated.
- Documentation for routines in the NWTC_Library has been added.
- We fixed many bugs.
See the updated documentation and change logs for a complete list of enhancements and bug fixes.
FAST v8.15.00a-bjj is available at nwtc.nrel.gov/FAST8.
We have released a new version of the FAST v8 wind turbine multi-physics engineering software tool, along with its various modules, to our website.
FAST v8.16.00a-bjj is the latest public release under the FAST Modularization Framework. Major changes in v8.16 and its various modules from the previous release include the following:
- We added full-system linearization functionality for land-based wind turbines, including core (but not all) features of the InflowWind, AeroDyn v15, ServoDyn, and ElastoDyn modules and their coupling. While most physics in FAST are nonlinear, linearization of the underlying nonlinear system equations is often advantageous to understand the system response and exploit well-established methods and tools for analyzing linear systems.
- In BeamDyn, we added the full finite-element mass and stiffness matrices of the blade model at time zero to the BeamDyn summary file; these are useful for checking the standalone blade natural frequencies.
- We fixed a bug in BeamDyn related to how it is initialized when nonzero initial deflections/displacements are set in ElastoDyn.
See the updated documentation and change logs for a complete list of enhancements and bug fixes.
FAST v8.16.00a-bjj is available at nwtc.nrel.gov/FAST8.
OpenFAST is an open-source wind turbine simulation tool that was developed using the FAST Modularization Framework and originating from FAST v8. The release of OpenFAST represents a transition to better support an open-source developer community across research laboratories, industry, and academia around FAST-based aero-hydro-servo-elastic engineering models of wind-turbines and wind-plants. OpenFAST aims to provide a solid software-engineering framework for FAST development including well documented source code, extensive automated regression and unit testing, and a robust multi-platform and compiler build system.
See the new OpenFAST web page for a complete list of enhancements and to access the updated source code, compiling scripts, input files, regression tests, documentation, and executable: nwtc.nrel.gov/OpenFAST.
Please upgrade from FAST v8 to OpenFAST at your convenience. And let us know if you want to help contribute further to advance wind-turbine and wind-plant simulation as part of the OpenFAST open-source development community!
We realized we are a bit behind on making announcements here since the first release of OpenFAST. Here is a quick recap of the major enhancements over time, starting with the most recent. See the OpenFAST releases page in the OpenFAST repository for more information and to access the source code, binary executables, and models.
OpenFAST v3.0.0 - June, 2021
- New FAST.Farm extension of OpenFAST for wind-farm loads analysis
- New Structural Control submodel (StC) of ServoDyn
OpenFAST v2.6.0 - May, 2021
- Floating substructure flexibility and member-level loads, including SubDyn for floating offshore wind turbines
- Linearization with SubDyn enabled
OpenFAST v2.5.0 - January, 2021
- Linearization with dynamic inflow and unsteady airfoil aerodynamics enabled in AeroDyn
OpenFAST v2.4.0 - September, 2020
- New free-vortex wake aerodynamics submodel (OLAF) of AeroDyn
- New Aerocoustics Noise submodel of AeroDyn
- New ExtPtfrm module for super-element representation of substructures
- Linearization for floating offshore wind turbines, including HydroDyn and MAP++
- Periodic steady-state trim solution before linearization
- Mode shape visualization post-processing of linearization output
OpenFAST v2.0.0 - December, 2018
- New dynamic blade-element/momentum theory (DBEMT) submodel of AeroDyn
- Linearization with BeamDyn enabled
Happy modeling!
NREL has not been updating this forum topic with each release of OpenFAST, but here is an announcment of the OpenFAST v3.5 release, courtesy of @Andy.Platt:
Greetings from the OpenFAST development team!
We are happy to announce the release of version 3.5.0! This version of OpenFAST includes several new features, bugfixes, and improvements.
New features include Lidar simulation within the InflowWind module, the ability to simulate a marine hydro-kinetic turbines (MHK) on a floating platform with an downward pointing tower, VTK based visualization with the BeamDyn driver, and a non-uniform point distribution in the OpenFOAM module for improved coupling fidelity to CFD with actuator lines.
Other notable improvements include a much needed update to the build system including support for the Flang compiler, simplified building of FAST_SFunc for using OpenFAST with Simulink, and some general cleanup of the CMake build.
Note that there are some input file and API changes (see links below).
Release notes, links, and distribution:
Release notes: https://github.com/OpenFAST/openfast/releases/tag/v3.5.0
API changes: https://openfast.readthedocs.io/en/main/source/user/api_change.html
Example input files (regression tests): https://github.com/OpenFAST/r-test/tree/v3.5.0
We will be posting Windows executables to the release page in the next few days. Executables distributed through Conda and HomeBrew will also be available shortly.
Thank you for your continued use and support of OpenFAST! As always, if you find any issues, please report them on the GitHub page (https://github.com/OpenFAST/openfast/issues) or post comments to the discussion page for this release (https://github.com/OpenFAST/openfast/discussions/1577).
Happy wind turbine modeling!
- The OpenFAST development team