Witold Robert Skrzypinski is a PhD student in the Wind Energy Division. Here he tells about himself, what it is like to be a PhD student at Risø and about his project on Vibration of wind turbine blades at standstill.  |  | | |
Facts:
Name: Witold Robert Skrzypinski
Education: Master of Science in Engineering Design and Applied Mechanics (DTU); Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Computer Science (Technical University of Lodz, Poland)
Project title: Analysis and modeling of unsteady aerodynamics with application to wind turbine blade vibration at standstill conditions
Supervisors: Mac Gaunaa, Thomas Buhl, Franck Bertagnolio
Employment at Risø DTU: December 2008 – December 2011
Arrived in Denmark: September 2006 | |
Passionate colleagues
I have worked at Risø for less than half a year and it’s my first job. I started as a research assistant and after a short while I got enrolled as a PhD student. What I like most about Risø is that people I work with are really passionate about what they do.
Working here seems to be a different experience compared with what I hear from some of my friends who go to work in the morning, sit there for a couple of hours, and the moment the bell rings, happily go home. People here not only burst with knowledge but are also fun, full of ideas and initiative. An example would be how a few scientists from Risø got involved in the DTU’s design of the wind powered vehicle. The vehicle took part in a race in the Netherlands, summer 2008 (www.windturbineracer.com).
Currently, the new car is being designed at DTU with the aid of Risø’s employees. Last year, the car’s rotor design was my Master’s project. This year I have the pleasure of being partly involved in the rotor design for the new wind car. But all of this is on a side of my actual Ph.D. project which is surely not less attractive than the wind car.
Uncontrolled wind turbines
The subject of my research is “Vibration of wind turbine blades at standstill”, a relatively new subject, which, to my knowledge, has not been covered by any other PhD work yet. The problem is that wind turbines, after they are erected on the ground and before they are connected to the grid, are not controlled to position themselves in advantageous positions relative to the wind. Therefore the wind may hit the blades from any direction.
The problem is that the aerodynamic part of the computational tools used for determining the aeroelastic behavior of wind turbines is not validated for the peculiar flow angles, for which vibrations are seen in the computations. In fact, we are pretty certain, that the present models are not modeling the dynamics properly.
That means that we don’t even know whether the problems indicated in the computations are what cause the problems in real life, where rumors of blade failure have been circulating. Due to the sensitive nature of admitting problems with aspects of commercial products, information from the wind turbine industry has been very limited.
The main goal of my project is to pinpoint the physical phenomena responsible for standstill vibration of wind turbines, and – if time allows for it – governing this vibration in an engineering type model. My academic preparation for facing this problem was my recently finished Master’s program at DTU where I took a number of courses related to wind turbines and their dynamics.
From theory in Poland to practical group work in Denmark
Before I started at DTU, I studied at one of the Polish technical universities. It was a totally different experience compared to what I faced at DTU. Although I think of Polish education as being to a high standard, it is of a more theoretical nature compared to what is practiced at DTU. In Denmark, I did a lot more group work and project work. This way of studying I now find very effective because it helps to face actual problems in real life, after one is done with the studies.
What is particularly nice about being a foreigner in Denmark is that almost everybody speaks English. So it’s not that much of a struggle to work all the practical matters after one arrives here with an intention of staying a bit longer.
Picture of the windturbineracer
Learning the language
Since I cannot speak English in Denmark for the rest of my life, I have been going to one of the language schools in Copenhagen for a while. Learning the language has taken most of my evenings, and I am still not so good at understanding what my colleagues speak about during lunch when the conversation speeds up. But I do not give up on my language education, hoping for a break through both in my PhD project and my language skills.
Witold Robert Skrzypinski |