Monitoring and Modeling of a Wind Turbine Support Structure to Create a Digital Twin

The basis for creating a digital twin is a suitable model with a close connection to reality in the form of measurement data. In this paper it is explained how model and measurement data of the support structure of a wind turbine can be obtained. The procedure is implemented on a real wind turbine with a concrete/steel hybrid tower. The monitoring includes the acquisition of vibrations, strains and temperature as well as the determination of the dynamic Young's modulus of the concrete structure by sound velocity measurements. For modeling, a finite element model with shell elements was chosen, which takes into account stiffening effects from static loads. A comparison between model and reality is the most important premise for the use of a digital twin: Therefore, a multi-stage model validation based on modal parameters and local material stresses is performed. The Digital Twin offers different usage scenarios; here one is carried out: the fatigue calculation and remaining useful life (RUL) estimation. For this purpose, material stresses at highly stressed positions are determined using measurement data and model. The results are currently still unrealistically high lifetimes for the concrete part. The results are based on relatively short (1 h, 24 h) stress time series. This could be one reason for the high values. It could also be an indication that fatigue is a non-critical load case for the concrete part.