Consideration of the uncertainty in the dimensioning of a gearbox of a wind turbine

Abstract

The paper deals with the design approach of a subdefinite mechatronic system and focuses on the sizing stage of a gearbox of a wind turbine based on the interval computation method. Indeed, gearbox design variables are expressed by intervals to take into account the uncertainty in the estimation of these parameters. The application of the interval computation method allows minimizing the number of simulations and enables obtaining a set of solutions instead of a single one. The dynamic behavior of the gearbox is obtained using the finite element method. The challenge here is to get convergent results with intervals that reflect the efficiency of the applied method. Thus, several mathematical formulations have been tested in static study and evaluated in the case of a truss. Then the interval computation method was used to simulate the behavior of the wind turbine gearbox.