Suppression of the vibrations of wind turbine towers

We investigate the suppression of the vibrations of a wind turbine tower using colocated feedback to achieve strong stability. We decompose the system into one model describing the vibrations in the plane of the turbine axis and another model in the plane of the turbine blades. In the plane of the turbine axis, we obtain a non-uniform Spacecraft Control Laboratory Experiment (SCOLE) model with either force control or torque control. We show that this system is strongly stabilizable by static output feedback from either the velocity or the angular velocity of the nacelle. In the plane of the turbine blades, we model the wind turbine tower as a non-uniform SCOLE system coupled with a two-mass drive-train model, the control being the torque created by the electrical generator. We prove that generically, this system can be strongly stabilized by feedback from the angular velocity of the nacelle and the angular velocity of the generator rotor.