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HAWT Nacelle

The Nacelle is a rigid-body type object. The user can import a mesh or define the shape with the in-built shape commands (e.g. cylinder or Box) using the usual rigid-body methods.

Drawing

The geometry of rigid bodies must be explicitly defined as a meshed surface or as an assembly of bar elements, may be either read from a simple text file or defined by using predefined surfaces shapes.

Mesh Data File: Type in the address for the file that contains surface meshing data or browse to the file to import meshing data. Click here for more details about the file format. The center of imported mesh - i.e. node with (0,0,0) coordinates - can be located either at the reference point of the Rigid Body or at any selected fairleads or hang-off point. The center of mesh located at the reference point of the Rigid Body by default.

Predefined Shapes: An alternative to using the mesh data files is to define the rigid body surface as a predefined shape. Meshing and distribution of triangle elements required for display in the 3D View window or to handle contact with lines is done automatically by the GUI in this case. Select the Mesh option and then choose the type of shape from the drop-down list

Fairlead/Hang-off Points

Refer to the fairlead/hang-off points topic for details.

Physical properties

To define the physical properties of the nacelle (including its contents), the following data are required:

  • Mass of the nacelle in ton (Lump mass at CM)

  • Inertia matrix Ixx, Iyy and Izz (at CM)

  • Drag coefficient wrt nacelle direction. (As the nacelle is not symmetrical, drag due to a wind not inline with the nacelle will be influenced by a higher Cd).

The reference node of the nacelle is located at the top of the tower (X, Y, Z+ TowerHt). It is clamped on the tower top.