luca sartori

Development of a numerical procedure for the Free-form optimization of wind turbine blades. The model was developed as part of my M.Sc Thesis, and allows to design simultaneously the main characteristics of the blade (chord, twist, structure) and a set of airfoils along the blade. The goal of the optimization is to minimize the Cost Of Energy under a set of constraints which are based on several load cases prescribed by international standards (IEC-61400). The procedure is based on a multi-disciplinary implementation, so that a full aero-elastic coupling is achieved and all the relevant aspects of the design could be taken into account.

Reliability analysis of railway-related infrastructures. The goal of the project is the estimation of the reliability and the expected availability of the Translhor light transit system to be built in the Municipality of Mestre (Venice, Italy). The procedure is based on the RAMS anlysis, which represents the state-of-art in the reliability engineering: in this context, my main activity was to collect accurate and reliable data about the failure rate of several mechanical components. Then, following the well-established MIL-HDBK-217 procedure, to perform FMECA and Fault-Tree analysis in order to identify the critical issues of the design.

During the 8-months period, my focus was on two main activities: 1) The aeroelastic analysis and design of the InnWind rotor (http://www.innwind.eu/). This activity involved the creation of a multi-body model of the wind turbine, its study with the software Cp-Lambda and the validation of the results with the other Partners of the project. 2) The improvement of the Free-Form Algorithm (FFA) I had started in my Thesis. This activity resulted in a paper which is currently under review.

The goal of my doctoral project is to investigate advanced methodologies for the design of next-generation wind turbines. The study will explore several innovative design techniques, including multi-disciplinary optimization algorithms, active/passive loads alleviation strategies, carbon fiber structures and Low Induction Rotors. As member of the AVATAR project (www.eera-avatar.eu), I am also involved in the aero-elastic analysis and design of the 100m-long blade.