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O&M and Innovative Solutions Bringing Scale and Speed to Wind...
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O&M and Innovative Solutions Bringing Scale and Speed to Wind Energy Engineering

A special issue of Wind (ISSN 2674-032X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 4995

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Pablo Jaen Sola

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment, Edinburgh Napier University, 10 Colinton Road, Edinburgh EH10 5DT, UK
Interests: wind turbine technology; powertrain design and modelling; structural optimization; operations and maintenance modelling; sustainable and circular economy
Prof. Dr. Erkan Oterkus

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering, University of Strathclyde, 100 Montrose Street, Glasgow G4 0LZ, UK
Interests: digital twins; structural health monitoring; structural analysis of offshore renewable energy devices; additive manufacturing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The current issues experienced by manufacturers and operators related to the faster-than-expected degradation of mechanical/structural components of large-scale wind turbines has put at risk significant projects and threatens the slowing down of the development of the entire sector. The main aim of this Special Issue is to put together the most up-to-date knowledge in the area to help mitigate or eliminate the mentioned problems. Bearing in mind that sustainable development and wind turbine safety are a must, the editors believe that several options exist, not only to extend the lifespan of existing machines through reduction of loading and wind turbine costs, but also to use alternative designs and concepts that are more suitable than current designs under certain conditions. With the use of emerging technologies, such as AI or additive manufacturing, more efficient models and products can be generated.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

  • Reliability centred maintenance;
  • O&M and probabilistic modelling;
  • Decision analysis;
  • Advanced structural modelling and health monitoring;
  • Component optimization and redesign options;
  • Innovative designs and concepts (e.g., airborne, multirotor, X rotor);
  • Use of emerging technologies (e.g., AI, additive manufacturing, digital twins);
  • Load alleviation through control engineering and misalignment couplings.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Pablo Jaen Sola
Prof. Dr. Erkan Oterkus
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Wind is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • reliability
  • O&M
  • structural modelling
  • design improvements
  • optimisation
  • innovative concepts
  • emerging technologies
  • load alleviation
  • condition monitoring

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 7556 KiB  
Article
A Generative Design Approach for the Dynamic Optimisation of Multi-MW Offshore Direct-Drive Wind Turbine Electrical Generator Supporting Structures Using Modal Analysis
by Daniel Gonzalez-Delgado, Pablo Jaen-Sola and Erkan Oterkus
Wind 2024, 4(2), 172-189; https://doi.org/10.3390/wind4020009 - 19 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 781
Abstract
Generative design techniques together with the rapid development of additive manufacturing represent a revolution in the field of structural optimisation processes. In this study, a static structural and modal analysis was integrated to drive a multi-objective generative design optimisation process for a 3 [...] Read more.
Generative design techniques together with the rapid development of additive manufacturing represent a revolution in the field of structural optimisation processes. In this study, a static structural and modal analysis was integrated to drive a multi-objective generative design optimisation process for a 3 MW direct-drive offshore wind turbine electrical generator rotor structure. This novel optimisation approach implements an automated fittest-for-purpose process including a static structural analysis and a modal analysis as the input for the optimisation strategy algorithm, allowing the exploration of a wide range of non-conventional topologies. If compared with the simple generator rotor disc structure, the results obtained using this innovative method achieved over 7% of weight reduction and a 39% increment in the generator operational range with the consequent growth in the wind turbine energy capture capability. Moreover, this approach generates a vast amount of structural analysis information, crucial at an early stage of the development of large-scale projects for a cost-effective scheme. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue O&M and Innovative Solutions Bringing Scale and Speed to Wind Energy Engineering)
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20 pages, 927 KiB  
Article
System-Level Offshore Wind Energy and Hydrogen Generation Availability and Operations and Maintenance Costs
by Robert Lochhead, Orla Donnelly and James Carroll
Wind 2024, 4(2), 135-154; https://doi.org/10.3390/wind4020007 - 21 May 2024
Viewed by 1302
Abstract
With the current trends of wind energy already playing a major part in the Scottish energy supply, the capacity of wind farms is predicted to grow exponentially and reach further depths offshore. However, a key challenge that presents itself is the integration of [...] Read more.
With the current trends of wind energy already playing a major part in the Scottish energy supply, the capacity of wind farms is predicted to grow exponentially and reach further depths offshore. However, a key challenge that presents itself is the integration of large producing assets into the current UK grid. One potential solution to this is green hydrogen production, which is being heavily researched in industry, with many concepts being investigated for large-scale purposes. However, the operations and maintenance (O&M) costs and availability of green hydrogen systems need to be quantified to ensure economical and technical viability, which is sparse in the available literature. The study presented in this paper investigated the availability and O&M costs of coupled wind–hydrogen systems by attempting to quantify the failure rates, repair times, repair costs and number of technicians required for key green hydrogen components. This study also utilised an O&M model created by the University of Strathclyde, which uses Monte Carlo Markov chain simulations to produce the O&M outputs. A number of assumptions were made throughout the study in relation to the O&M model inputs, and the baseline availability for the coupled wind–hydrogen system was 85.24%. Whilst the wind turbine still contributed a major part to the downtime seen in the simulations, the combined hydrogen system also contributed a significant amount, a total of 37%, which could have been due to the technology readiness levels of some the components included in the hydrogen system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue O&M and Innovative Solutions Bringing Scale and Speed to Wind Energy Engineering)
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18 pages, 6032 KiB  
Article
Towards an Integrated Design of Direct-Drive Wind Turbine Electrical Generator Supporting Structures
by Lucas Touw, Pablo Jaen Sola and Erkan Oterkus
Wind 2023, 3(3), 343-360; https://doi.org/10.3390/wind3030020 - 30 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1959
Abstract
Rotor and stator support structures of significant size and mass are required to withstand the considerable loads that direct-drive wind turbine electrical generators face to maintain an air-gap clearance that is open and stable. With the increase of scale, reducing the weight and [...] Read more.
Rotor and stator support structures of significant size and mass are required to withstand the considerable loads that direct-drive wind turbine electrical generators face to maintain an air-gap clearance that is open and stable. With the increase of scale, reducing the weight and environmental impact of these support structures is believed to be one of the key components to unlocking the true potential of direct-drive generators. An investigation on the electrical generator rotor structure of the IEA 15 MW offshore reference wind turbine was conducted. An integrated approach that considered the environmental impact, including the manufacturing energy usage and CO2 footprint, as well as the financial repercussions of structural parameter modifications as they are optimised was followed, making use of distinct commercial pieces of software. The rotor structure was parametrically optimised, and its operating loading conditions were evaluated at various size scales. The study determined that the effect of thermal loading is significant, which forces the designer to augment the mass to comply with the imposed structural requirements. The ensuing life-cycle assessment showed an increase in the environmental impact due to the consideration of this particular load, whose effect in structural deflection and stress has been typically underestimated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue O&M and Innovative Solutions Bringing Scale and Speed to Wind Energy Engineering)
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