University of Stuttgart

Contact

Endowed Chair of Wind Energy (SWE)
at the Institute of Aircraft Design
Allmandring 5B
D-70550 Stuttgart/Germany

phone: +49 711685-68253
fax: +49 711685-68293
e-mail: swe@ifb.uni-stuttgart.de
web: www.uni-stuttgart.de/windenergie

Institute of Aerodynamics and Gas Dynamics (IAG)
Pfaffenwaldring 21
D-70550 Stuttgart/Germany

phone: +49 711 685-63401
fax: +49 711 685-63438
e-mail: skre@iag.uni-stuttgart.de
web: www.iag.uni-stuttgart.de 		SWE

The University of Stuttgart boasts a long tradition in wind energy research. Prof. U. Hütter did pioneering work on wind turbine design and composite structures as early as the 1950s. As director of the Institute of Aircraft Design he developed the StGW-34, the predecessor of many modern wind turbines. At the Institute of Aerodynamics and Gas Dynamics (IAG), Prof. F.X. Wortmann in the 1970s designed and tested airfoil sections specially suited for wind turbine applications. Thus, the basis for the rapid wind turbine industrial development during the 1990s was established.
Today, the Endowed Chair of Wind Energy (SWE), the IAG and some other groups jointly conduct wind energy research. The number of staff currently working on wind energy topics within these institutes is approx. 20, with the number steadily increasing.


Research groups involved

Endowed Chair of Wind Energy (SWE)
The SWE was endowed in January 2004 by a private-public partnership of Karl Schlecht, the founder and chairman of the supervisory board of Putzmeister AG, a well-known manufacturer of mobile concrete pumps. The SWE is the one and only German wind energy chair.
The SWE’s research activities focus on structural dynamics and control, especially for offshore applications, load monitoring and the operation of wind turbines, as well as on composite structures.

Institute of Aerodynamics and Gas Dynamics (IAG)
The IAG concentrates on numerical and experimental aerodynamics, aeroacoustics and aeroelasticity of wind turbines.


Facilities & Advanced Research Tools

Laminar Wind Tunnel Open return wind tunnel with a closed test section of 0.73 x 2.73m², flow velocity up to 90m/s, extraordinary low turbulence level of less than 2x10-4 in a range from 20 - 5000Hz, PSI-pressure scanning systems, hot-wire and traversing systems, high resolution infrared camera, stereo PIV system, acoustical in-flow microphone array and CPV-system
Gust Wind Tunnel Test section with ø 6.3m, flow velocity up to 17m/s, slotted bypass chamber for reduced blockage effects, integral balance measurements, flow visualization
Wind Turbine Field Testing Test site for small experimental wind turbines Equipment for power performance and load validation of large commercial wind turbines (incl. 100m metmast and lidar)
Wind metmast A 102m high metmast with measurements at different heights is located near Bremerhaven in the north of Germany
LIDAR A pulsed LIDAR for measurement of vertical wind profiles
Textile Composite Laboratory 2D and 3D-Preforming with CNC and Robot-assisted stitching. Advanced braiding machine and curing of the matrix in fiber reinforced materials with microwave heating Analytical laboratory for composites analysis
Composite Structure Laboratory Manufacturing and static and/or dynamic test of composite components
Static, dynamic and life-cycle testing 2 static testing machines multi-axial loading. Climate chambers for high temperature testing Hydraulic actuators for dynamic tensile/compression and torsion testing in a range of 16 - 250kN and 4kNm, climatic chambers
Software In-house developed and commercial windfarm software e.g. FLaP, WindPRO. Additionally, codes for aeroelastic turbine simulation, design of offshore support structures, analysis of measurement data e.g. SIM-PACK, Flex5, Bladed, FOCUS, FAST. CFD codes ranging from boundary element methods to Reynolds-Averaged Navier- Stokes solvers, program system ARLIS for the linear dynamic and aeroelastic analysis of wind turbines, in-house CAA codes, the CFD-based numerical optimisation environment POEM, airfoil de-sign, optimisation & analysis methods.

R&D Strategy

The key areas of scientific expertise are boundary layer meteorology, aerodynamics, aero-acoustics, fluid and structural mechanics, electrical design and control as well as machine and construction technology. The scientific expertise is advanced through field experiments tests, laboratory tests and numerical modelling.

TERM
shortmediumlong
Development of load monitoring and control techniques for large wind turbines through simulation, lab and field testing
Advanced tools and methods for the optimisation of space-frame offshore support structures
Online load monitoring and performance evaluation using standard wind turbine signals
Development of aeroelastic simulation tools of wind turbine loading in wind farms
Development of wind turbine aeroelastic simulation tools using multi body approach
Development of LIDAR technologies for support of wind turbine performance measurement and control strategies
Investigation of new structural concepts and semi-automated assistance in the manufacture of rotor blades
Multi-disciplinary research on wind turbine design through establishment of inner-faculty and inter-faculty collaboration
New measurement techniques for basic boundary layer experiments under controlled disturbance conditions. The main goal is the improvement of transition prediction tools, which enables drag reduction by passive means, i.e. transition control by specially prescribed boundary layer development.
Novel aeroacoustic sensor technologies for application in noisy, aerodynamic wind tunnels, which could replace the classical hot-wires by nano-tubes. The expected gain in signal-to-noise ratio will lead to a significant step with respect to the necessary measurement time and the quality of the data.
Use of synergy effects of aircraft, rotorcraft and wind turbines with respect to coupled unsteady CFD and aeroelastic FE simulations

Education and training activities

The University of Stuttgart, hosting 19,700 students, has a major focus on energy technologies including renewables such as wind, solar, biomass and hydro in research and teaching at five of its 10 faculties. Since 1971, more than 1,000 students have attended a lecture on wind turbines at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and Geodesy.
The SWE offers five courses on wind energy applications, wind turbine design, and measurement techniques. These courses can be extended by lectures on renewables, on the history of wind energy as well as a basic course on machine elements for aerospace applications. Teaching at the IAG includes aerodynamics, aeroacoustics, aeroelastics and airfoil design. New approaches to teaching are utilized, examples of which include project-based teaching, experiments (e.g. in the wind tunnel) integrated into lectures as well as excursions to wind turbines and the wind energy industry. Various projects at undergraduate and postgraduate (master, PhD) level are being carried out.