precice / openfast-adapter

Couples the wind energy engineering tool OpenFAST to CFD solvers via the coupling library preCICE

preCICE-Openfast Adapter

⚠️ The state of the adapter is experimental.

OpenFAST is a multi-physics engineering tool for the aero-servo-elastic simulation of wind turbines. It includes modules for the modeling of aerodynamic, structural, and electrical behaviour of on- and offshore wind turbines.

This project aims to couple OpenFAST with CFD simulation tools with the coupling library preCICE. Therefore, a preCICE-OpenFAST Adapter is being developed. The Adapter calls OpenFAST via the C++ API to drive the turbine simulation. Additionally, it calls the preCICE library to communicate and coordinate with CFD solvers like OpenFOAM.

As a first test case, the Adapter should be able to perform the coupled simulation of a single NREL5MW onshore turbine. OpenFAST calculates the forces and internal state of the turbine, while OpenFOAM is used as CFD solver to compute the inflow (see image).

Source: OpenFAST documentation, visited on 07.11.2023

Dependencies

• OpenFAST v3.5.0
• preCICE v3.0.0 by installation from source from the develop branch

Note

If you are using a different version of OpenFAST and want to run the provided cases, make sure to check if the OpenFAST input files are suitable for your version

Run a simulation

• Install the adapter
• Select a simulation case
• Compile the necessary scripts
• Run the coupled simulation

Instructions on how to compile the files and run the simulation are given in each case.

Installation

Clone the repository and switch to the source directory:

git clone https://github.com/precice/openfast-adapter.git
cd openfast-adapter/src

We use cmake for the compilation by invoking a make script:

bash Allmake

The adapter is built locally in the bin folder. To make it accessible on the whole system, you need to export the installation path after compilation.

Open the .bashrc file

cd ~
nano .bashrc

and add the following line:

export PATH={path_to_repository}/openfast-adapter/bin:$PATH

Now run

source .basrhc

and restart your terminal.

You're good to go! If you want to re-compile the adapter, make sure to clean the old installation first by running src/Allclean.

Known installation issues

The installation may fail to detect OpenFAST.H, causing the installation process to end with the error message

fatal error: OpenFAST.H: No such file or directory
    1 | #include <OpenFAST.H>

One solution is to change the include command in line 1 of openfast-adapter.cpp and provide the direct path to the OpenFAST.H file of your OpenFAST installation:

#include "/yourPath/openfast/install/include/OpenFAST.H"

While in no way perfect, this solution adresses the issue and allows to proceed with the installation.

References

A more detailed description of the concept behind the adapter can be found in this report. Please consider citing the report if you are using the adapter.

License and attribution

Parts of the code in src/openfast-adapter were reused from a OpenFAST C++ API example, which is licensed under the Apache 2 license.

Development contribution

The initial version of this adapter was developed by Leonard Willeke during his research stay at Delft University of Technology in the group for Wind Energy in collaboration with Evert Wiegant.