Abstract: This talk will give an overview of the research activities currently ongoing at TU Delft on the CFD modelling for fluid-structure interactions and rotor aerodynamics. First, new methods to simulate fluid-structure interactions will be proposed and applied to cases of academic interests, such as vortex-induced vibrations and flow past very thin membrane structures. Then, the capability of the tools will be demonstrated on the aerodynamics of wind turbine rotors and airborne wind energy wings. Finally, the extension to wave-structure interactions will be shown, with the goal to simulate the dynamics of floating offshore wind turbines.
Speaker’s Bio: Dr. Axelle Viré is a tenured Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering of TU Delft. She graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), where she also completed a PhD in Physics in 2010. She then worked as a Marie Curie post-doctoral Research Fellow at Imperial College London, before moving to TU Delft at the end of 2013. She currently supervises 5 PhD students working on numerical modelling for wind energy applications, mostly focusing on high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics models for fluid-structure interactions. She applies her models to conventional wind turbines, floating offshore wind turbines, and airborne wind energy wings. She leads a portfolio of courses on wind energy at TU Delft, both on-campus and online, and coordinates the Offshore Wind Energy Minor for 3rd-year BSc students. She is an Editorial Board Member of the scientific journal Wind Energy. At the Faculty level, she chairs the Faculty Staff Council and holds the position of Diversity and Inclusion Officer.