Mechanical & Industrial Engrg 673 - Wind Turbine Design

This class focuses on the design and analysis of wind turbines. This is accomplished via a semester long wind turbine design project, which utilizes modern wind turbine design and analysis codes, including those of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, such as TurbSim, Aerodyn, BModes and FAST as well as ancillary codes written in Excel, VBA or Matlab. Students will learn about the theory behind these codes as well as how to develop the input files, run the codes and analyze the results. A technology review assignment will also be required for students to acquaint themselves with one particular technology in detail. This class operates similar to a seminar. There will be lectures on specific topics, but there will also be open discussions during class times. There will be a significant amount of reading assignments, from a variety of sources, to help introduce the various topics and as well as ?traditional? homework problems. Students will be expected to learn somewhat independently; that is, the assignments and design project are not straightforward repetition of topics covered in class lectures. Instead, lectures are used to introduce a topic and then the students must use that knowledge to complete the assignment. The design project includes of a sequence of linked assignments. This is a design class, so there will be a certain amount of trial and error. Prospective students should already be familiar with the basics of wind energy, including blade element/momentum theory. Ideally, students will have previously taken MIE 573 Engineering of Windpower Systems, or the equivalent. Students should also be familiar with the basics of computer programming, including the use of Matlab. For questions or additional information contact the instructor, Prof. Manwell, manwell@ecs.umass.edu.

Open to graduate Mechanical Engineering majors. Instructor permission is otherwise required to be enrolled.