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Dr. Thanasis Barlas Senior Researcher |
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Biography: Thanasis (Athanasios) K. Barlas received a Graduate degree from the University of Thessaly (UTH), Greece, in 2004, and his Ph.D. degree from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, in 2011. He is a Dr. Dipl. Eng. Mechanical Engineer who has been active in wind turbine research for the past 15 years. He is currently a Senior Researcher with DTU Wind and Energy Systems, Roskilde, Denmark. Prior to this poistion, he has been a Researcher with the Risø-DTU (now DTU Wind and Energy Systems), Roskilde, Denmark, in 2011–2012; Research Advisor with the Laboratory of Fluid Mechanics and Turbomachinery, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UTH, Greece, in 2012–2016; and a project manager at Siemens Windpower, Denmark, in 2013-2014. His main research interests include active aerodynamic control, smart blades, unsteady airfoil and wake aerodynamics, aeroelasticity, and wind tunnel and field testing.
Topic: Smart wind turbine rotors: 20 years of R&D from concept to industrial application
Abstract: TThe lecture provides an overview of research in smart rotor applications for wind turbines, with a historical perspective and emphasis on the transition of the technology concepts to industrial application. Research efforts in active aerodynamic control, smart actuators, aeroservoelastic simulations, wind tunnel and full scale field testing are presented. The lecture introduces the early research efforts on wind turbine active control concept exploration which led to initial smart wind turbine rotor topics, inspired mainly by earlier helicopter research. The subsequent focus on specific smart rotor topics is analyzed, namely smart actuators and sensors, wind tunnel testing, aeroservoelastic modelling and controller design. Furthermore, the more mature modelling, actuator design and first full scale experimental work is presented, with emphasis on the industrial application requirements driving it. Finally, a perspective on the current status with view towards commercialization and further required research is presented.