PE-Load¶
PE-Load is a software suite for managing onshore wind turbine load simulations. It consists of the pre-processing management software PE-Load Prep and the post-processing software PE-Load Post. Both PE-Load Prep and PE-Load Post are designed to be used in combination with each other. However they are separate stand-alone applications and therefore PE-Load Prep can be used without PE-Load Post and vice versa.
PE-Load Prep¶
PE-Load Prep allows the user to configure load cases and automatically run simulations. It is possible to interface PE-Load Prep with any simulation program that uses text-based model definition files such as GH Bladed, NREL FAST, Flex5 or MSC.ADAMS. You can define load case definitions according to the usual standards or define your own interpretation. Load case definitions as well as parameter sets specific for a turbine model can be stored as templates. This allows you to run multiple simulations for a wind turbine for different standards, re-use controller settings for different turbines, or simply compare identical load simulation runs using different simulation softwares. The key objective of the program is to provide a secure, transparent and reproducible workflow and in this way reduce the effort required for the load simulations. cd The PE-Load Prep User Guide gives a broad overview over the features of PE-Load Prep, how the information management is organized and what the ideas behind the implementation of the program are. Furthermore it gives detailed information about all program features that should enable new or experienced users to use PE-Load Prep to its full extent.
PE-Load Post¶
PE-Load Post is a post-processing software for evaluating load histories. It is specifically designed for the analysis of wind turbine time series, both monitored or simulated. It includes the following features:
Characteristic load analysis including filtering histories, extracting extreme values and or running a statistical analysis of the time series.
Extreme load analysis including computing contingency tables of extreme loads.
Fatigue load analysis including rainflow-counting, computing load collectives, damage equivalent loads and load duration distributions.
Multiple ways of setting up extrapolation factors for fatigue load analysis (for example based on weibull distribution).
Flexible process flow enables user to evaluate projects at one go or step by step. Any combination of load cases and sensors can be separately evaluated for every step of the whole evaluation process.
Currently compatible with NREL Fast, Flex5 of DTU Denmark and Adams of MSC Software PE-Load Post is easily expandable to the output format of any simulation software.
The PE-Load Post User Guide explains the features of PE-Load Post, demonstrates a typical workflow and provides an insight on the algorithms used to evaluate and process times series of any kind.