Geartrain Reduction for Real-Time Simulation of a Multibody Wind Turbine Gearbox Model

This paper presents a reduction strategy for a multibody model of a 7.5 MW gearbox located at Clemson University’s Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility in North Charleston, SC. A model reduction is needed because of a high frequency dynamic associated with the input shaft of the gearbox which prevents the model from being executed in real-time. This particular gearbox has an atypical input stage configuration whereby the load path is split into two parallel shafts before being recombined at the sun shaft. The strategy includes removing model elements associated with high frequency vibration, merging model elements, and locating model elements where needed. The presented strategy successfully removes the problematic eigenvalues, maintains basic dynamic character, and results in a multibody gearbox model suitable for real-time simulation.