OpenFAST
OpenFAST is an open source wind turbine simulation tool developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). It builds upon the FAST v8 code, integrating aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, control systems, and structural dynamics to enable comprehensive, coupled nonlinear aero-hydro-servo-elastic time-domain simulations of wind turbines. OpenFAST supports various configurations, including land-based, fixed-bottom offshore, and floating offshore turbines. The platform aims to foster an open source developer community across research laboratories, industry, and academia, providing a robust software engineering framework with well-documented source code, automated testing, and a multi-platform build system. Key organizational changes from FAST v8.16 to OpenFAST include the establishment of a new GitHub repository consolidating glue codes, modules, and compiling tools; updated version numbering; and the introduction of unit testing at the subroutine level.
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OpenWindPower
OpenWindPower is an offshore wind turbine analysis software developed by Bentley Systems, designed to support both fixed foundation and floating platform projects. The software enables users to explore design alternatives, predict performance, and deliver safe, cost-effective offshore wind farm structures. For fixed foundation projects, OpenWindPower provides comprehensive capabilities for the design and analysis of offshore wind turbine foundation structures, considering wave, wind, and turbine mechanical loading to predict both fatigue and extreme loads for the substructure and nonlinear soil foundation. In floating platform projects, the software offers advanced modeling capabilities to design 3D hydrodynamic and structural models subjected to wave, current, wind, and turbine mechanical loads, facilitating time-domain simulations that compute sea pressures and inertial loads for detailed structural analysis.
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windPRO
windPRO covers everything from wind data analysis, calculation of energy yields, quantification of uncertainties, assessment of site suitability, to calculation and visualization of environmental impact. windPRO can also be used for the detailed post-construction analysis of production data. All are available in separate modules as needed. With windPRO, you can model all kinds of wind energy projects. From the simplest single turbine project to large-scale multi-mast, multi-turbine, multi-neighbor projects. Select the right wind turbine model by utilizing the catalog of over 1.000 models approved by manufacturers. The cost of energy relies heavily on the available wind resource. You can use wind resource maps in windPRO to find the best spots. Let the optimized OPTIMIZE module do the dirty work of finding the optimal turbine layout.
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WindSim
WindSim is a computational fluid dynamics-based wind farm design software that combines advanced numerical processing with compelling 3D visualization in a user-friendly interface. First launched in 2003, WindSim has evolved into a comprehensive suite covering the entire wind farm lifecycle, from initial site screening to power forecasting. The software is utilized worldwide by wind resource and energy assessors, meteorologists, and researchers at wind turbine manufacturers, project developers, government agencies, and academic institutions. WindSim's modular approach includes several key components: the Terrain module generates a 3D model of the area around a wind farm based on elevation and roughness data; the Wind Fields module simulates how terrain affects local wind conditions, accounting for speed variations, direction shifts, and turbulence; the Objects module facilitates the placement of turbines and measurement points within an interactive 3D interface.
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