BeamDyn
BeamDyn is a time-domain structural-dynamics module for slender beam structures.
The module has been coupled into the FAST aero-hydro-servo-elastic wind turbine multi-physics engineering tool, where it is used to model blade structural dynamics. BeamDyn is designed to analyze beams that are made of composite materials, initially curved and twisted, and subject to large displacement and rotation deformations. BeamDyn can also be used for static analysis of beams.
BeamDyn is based on the geometrically exact beam theory and is implemented using Legendre spectral finite elements. Geometrically exact beam theory supports full geometric nonlinearity and large deflection, with bending, torsion, shear, and extensional degree-of-freedom; anisotropic composite material couplings (using full 6 x 6 mass and stiffness matrices, including bend-twist coupling); and a reference axis that permits blades that are not straight (supporting built-in curve, sweep, and sectional offsets).
BeamDyn: a High-Fidelity Wind Turbine Blade Solver in the FAST Modular Framework, Wind Energy (2017)
This software was developed by Qi Wang and Michael A. Sprague of NREL.
Newer versions and ongoing development now take place in GitHub in the OpenFAST repository.
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