HARP Opt

Tool Summary LAUNCH TOOL
Name:	HARP-Opt
Agency/Company /Organization:	National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Focus Area:	Water Power
Phase:	Evaluate Effectiveness and Revise as Needed
Topics:	Analysis Tools
Resource Type:	Software/modeling tools
User Interface:	Desktop Application
Complexity/Ease of Use:	Moderate
Website:	nrel.github.io/HARP_Opt/
Cost:	Free
OpenEI Keyword(s):	HARP_Opt, Turbine, Hydrokinetic, Rotor, Optimization, Water Power
UN Region:	Northern America
Coordinates:	39.9136°, -105.2136° Show Map Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","geoservice":"geonames","types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"wmsoverlay":false,"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":14,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"markercluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"tilt":0,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"searchmarkers":"","enablefullscreen":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":39.913696624463,"lon":-105.21348953247,"icon":""}]} Hide Map
Language:	English

HARP_Opt (Horizontal Axis Rotor Performance Optimization) utilizes MATLAB's optimization algorithms and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's WT-Perf blade element momentum (BEM) code to design axial-flow wind and water (i.e. hydrokinetic) turbine rotors.

The code optimizes a rotor's performance for steady and uniform flows (no sheared or yawed flows). A variety of rotor control configurations can be designed using HARP_Opt, including fixed or variable rotor speed and fixed or variable blade pitch configuration and blades with circular or non-circular roots are supported.

HARP_Opt can function as a single- or multiple-objective optimization code. The primary optimization objective is to maximize the turbine's annual energy production (AEP). Annual energy production is calculated using a Rayleigh, Weibull, or user-defined flow distribution. Maximum power is bounded, and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is a combined objective with AEP. For hydrokinetic turbines, additional constraints are defined such that cavitation will not occur. An additional objective can be activated, in which HARP_Opt performs a structural optimization to minimize the blade mass. For the structural analysis, the blade is modeled as a thin shell of bulk isotropic material, and the blade mass is minimized using a maximum allowable strain as the constraint. Maximizing energy production and minimizing blade mass are conflicting objectives, thus HARP_Opt will identify the set of Pareto optimal solutions. To meet these objectives, HARP_Opt calculates the optimal blade shape (twist, chord, and airfoil/hydrofoil distributions) and optimal control of the rotor speed and blade pitch.

The HARP_Opt project was funded by the US Department of Energy Water Power Program. Code development and testing was performed at the NREL and the University of Tennessee.

Current Code Maintainers:

Danny Sale (University of Washington)
Michael Lawson (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)