BECAS - Newsletter

INSIDETHISISSUE:
New BECAS version!

List of improvements

New folder structure

Teaching with BECAS

Join the community

Publications

Acknowledgements

Do you want to show your

results using BECAS? Send it to
us and we will include it here
in the next newsletter!

November 2014
Issue 2

NEW BECAS v3.0 IS NOW AVAILABLE!

Aftertwoyearsofhardwork(andacoupleofpaternityleaves)weareproudto
announce the new BECAS v3.0 has been released! This is the latest stable
versionofBECASssourcecodeincludingalargenumberofnewfunctionalities
andsignificantimprovementsinefficiencyandusability,namely:

A new strength analysis module featuring failure criteria relevant for

compositestructuresisnowfullyimplementedandvalidated;

A new fracture mechanics module based on the Virtual Crack Closure

Techniquehasbeenimplementedandvalidated;

Newtemplatefilesareincludedtosupporttheusersdevelopingtheirown
frameworks.

Significant overall improvements to the code have led to increased

efficiencyandusability.

The preprocessing tools ShellExpander and Airfoil2Becas have been

updated to include the composite failure criteria and handle arbitrary
numberofregionsforcompositelayupdefinition,respectively.

A new plugin to OpenMDAO, a framework for multidisciplinary analysis

andoptimization,isnowavailable.
A detailed list of the improvements is provided below. The code is readily
availabletoanyonehavingaccesstotheBECASsoftwarerepository.

A new website is being created and will be available at the same address
enablingamoredynamicinteractionwithcurrentandprospectiveusers.

Finally, we would like to thank everyone that contributed to this version and
mostlythankyouforyourcontinuedinterestinBECAS!Asalways,feelfreeto
writeuswithanycommentsandsuggestions.

TheBECASTeamatDTUWindEnergy

Technical University of Denmark

Frederiksborgvej 399

Department of Wind Energy

4000 Roskilde

Tel

45 46 77 50 00

www.vindenergi.dtu.dk

November - 2014

Page 2

DETAILED LIST OF IMPROVEMENTS IN BECAS v3.0

DuringthelastcoupleofyearsBECAShasmaturedsignificantlyandisnowroutinelyusedbya
numberofwindturbineblademanufacturers.AtDTUWindEnergy,aworkflowcombiningBECAS
andHAWC2hasbeendevelopedandemployedinthestructuraldesignandanalysisoftheDTU
10MWReferenceWindTurbineblade(cf.Figure1).

Figure1WorkflowforstructuralanalysisofwindturbinebladesusingBECAS.

BECASv3.0istheculminationofalargeeffortmostofitconcerningvalidation.Thenewfeatures
include:

New strain and stress analysis module incorporating strength analysis capabilities (e.g.,
maximum strain, maximum stress, and TsaiWu failure criteria) is finalized and fully
validated(seeFigure2).

A new fracture analysis module based on the

Virtual Crack Closure Technique is implemented
andextensivelyvalidated.Itisnowpossibleusing
BECAS to evaluate strain energy release rates
associated with cracks or delaminations (see
Figure3).

BECAS is in OpenMDAO, a framework for

multidisciplinary analysis and optimization. An
Figure2Shearstrains12attheconnection
example where BECAS is used for aeroelastic between shear web, cap, and leading edge
optimization of a wind turbine blade section is panel.ResultsobtainedusingthenewBECAS
strength analysis module show a very good
here.Thepluginwillbeavailablehere.
agreement with ABAQUS 3D solid finite

elementmodel.
New template files have been included in the
BECAS distribution to demonstrate the use of the code. For example, the DTU 10 MW
ReferenceWindturbineBladecannowbeeasilyanalyzedusingoneofthetemplates.

TheBECASdistributionnowincludestwocompanioncodesFRANS(asimplebeamfinite
elementcode)andSHEFE(asimple3Dsolidfiniteelementcode).Manyofthetemplatefiles
make use of these tools allowing users to understand the type of workflows possible to

Technical University of Denmark

Frederiksborgvej 399

Department of Wind Energy

4000 Roskilde

Tel

45 46 77 50 00

www.vindenergi.dtu.dk

Page 3

BECAS Newsletter

devisebasedonBECAS.TheaimistocontinueextendingthesecodesaswedevelopBECAS
intoafullyfledgedwindturbinestructuralanalysissoftware.

BECAS is now able to handle cross section meshes with

multiple element types. New element types have been
implemented in BECAS and BECAS3d. The six node
quadratic triangular element T6 has been implemented
and validated. A new very efficient hybrid solid finite
element is included in SHEFE which can be used with
BECAS3d.Thisisworkinprogresstoaccommodatefuture
functionalities,namely,layeredsolidelements.

Continuousworkontheassemblyandsolverroutineshas
resultedinafurtherincreaseincomputationalefficiency.
Figure 3 - New fracture analysis

module based on VCCT allows

The concept of node and element labels (i.e., number for accurate evaluation of the
introduced by user) and node and element numbers crack tip strain energy release
(numberingusedbyBECAS)isproperlyimplemented.This rates GI, GII, and GIII.
makesitpossibletousedifferentorderingoftheelementsandnodesintheinputfiles.This
isveryusefulwheninterfacingwithcommercialFEcodes.

BECASisnowcompatiblewithOctave,anopensourceMatlablikeprogramminglanguage.
UserswithoutaccesstoMatlabcannowworkwithBECASsourcecodetoo.

The preprocessing program ShellExpander creates BECAS input files based on the
information contained in 3D finite element shell models. The updates to ShellExpander
include a number of minor bug fixes and the ability to write input files for the new
compositefailurecriteriainBECAS.

ThepreprocessingprogramAirfoil2BECAScreatesBECASinputfilesbasedonalistofairfoil
coordinates. The Airfoil2BECAS code has been completely reorganized and is no longer
limitedtoacertainnumberofregionsforcompositelayupdefinition(seeFigure4).

Figure 4 New input mechanism for Airfoil2BECAS.

Finally,theBECASdocumentationhasbeenupdated!TheUsersManualisimprovedand
extended to describe the new features. New validation examples are included. Papers
describing the development of BECAS are distributed in order to support the
documentation.

Technical University of Denmark

Frederiksborgvej 399

Department of Wind Energy

4000 Roskilde

Tel

45 46 77 50 00

www.vindenergi.dtu.dk

November - 2014

Page 4

NEW FOLDER STRUCTURE

Thefolderstructurehasbeenreorganizedasthenewtemplatesnowmakeuseofthedifferent
codes besides BECAS. In order to get started with BECASv3.0 we recommend you do the
following:

1. Create a folder where you wish to work from henceforth referred to as BECAS
installationdirectory.

2. Using your preferred subservion client checkout the following folders into the BECAS
installationdirectory(seeFigure5forthefinalfolderstructure):

BECAS/stable/BECASv3.0
templates
shellexpander/stable/shellexpander1.5
airfoil2becas/stable/airfoil2becas2.0
SHEFE/stable/SHEFEv0.2
FRANS/stable/FRANSv0.2

3. DefinethepathtotheBECASinstallationdirectoryusingoneofthethreeoptions:
a. PlacetheBECASinstallationdirectoryattheroot(e.g.,C:\\BECASinWindows);
b. Defined the environment variable BECAS_PATH defining the location of the
BECASinstallationdirectory;
c. Pick the template .m file you wish to run inside the templates folder and
manuallysettheinputofBECAS_initializeasacharacterstringconsistingofthe
pathtotheBECASinstallationdirectory.

4. Runthetemplatefileandhavefun!

Figure 5 Folder structure in BECAS installation directory necessary to run template files
located inside templates folder.

Technical University of Denmark

Frederiksborgvej 399

Department of Wind Energy

4000 Roskilde

Tel

45 46 77 50 00

www.vindenergi.dtu.dk

Page 5

BECAS Newsletter

TEACHING WITH BECAS

BECASiscurrentlyusedatDTUWindEnergyinthecoursesLoads,AerodynamicsandControlof
Wind Turbines (46320), Structural analysis and design optimization of wind turbine blades
(46415), and for a number of MSc and PhD projects at DTU. The template file included in
BECASv3.0 for analyzing the DTU10MW reference wind blade was developed for the course
46415.ItispossibleusingthistemplatetomodifythestructuraldesignoftheDTU10MWrotor
bladetoanalyzeitsstructuralresponse.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

Wegivethesourcecode;youcanjointhecommunitydevelopingBECAS.Wearealwayslooking
for a new pair of hands to help us develop BECAS further. If you are a student looking for a
purposefulproject,acompanywithaninnovativeidea,oryouwouldsimplyliketoparticipate,
donothesitatetocontactus.

PUBLICATIONS

ThisisalistofthepublicationsdirectlyrelatedtodevelopmentworkinBECAS:
Blasques, J. P., & Stolpe, M. (2012). Multimaterial topology optimization of laminated
compositebeamcrosssections.CompositeStructures,94,32783289(here).

Blasques, J. P. (2014). Multimaterial topology optimization of laminated composite beams

witheigenfrequencyconstraints.CompositeStructures,111,4555(here).

Blasques, J. P., & Bitsche, R. (2014). An efficient and accurate method for computation of
energy release rates in beam structures with longitudinal cracks. Engineering Fracture
Mechanics.10.1016/j.engfracmech.2014.11.002(here).

Blasques, J. P., Bitsche, R., Fedorov, V., & Lazarov, B. S. (2014). Accuracy of an efficient
frameworkforstructuralanalysisofwindturbineblades.(submitted).

Blasques,J.P.,Bitsche,R.,Fedorov,V.,&Eder,M.A.(2013).ApplicationsoftheBEamCross
sectionAnalysisSoftware(BECAS).InA.Logg,KA.Mardal,&A.Massing(Eds.),Proceedings
ofthe26thNordicSeminaronComputationalMechanics.(pp.4649)(here).

Gallardo C. (2013). New layered finite element formulations for BECAS. MSc Thesis,
DepartmentofWindEnergy,TechnicalUniversityofDenmark.

Technical University of Denmark

Frederiksborgvej 399

Department of Wind Energy

4000 Roskilde

Tel

45 46 77 50 00

www.vindenergi.dtu.dk

November - 2014

Page 6

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ThesupportofthefollowingprojectsforthedevelopmentofBECASisgratefullyacknowledged:
TheDanishEnergyAgencythroughtheEnergyTechnologyDevelopmentandDemonstration
Program (EUDP) within the project Experimental Blade Research phase 2, journal nr.
640110006.

TheDanishEnergyAgencythroughtheEnergyTechnologyDevelopmentandDemonstration
Program(EUDP)withintheprojectStiffeningofWindTurbineBladesMitigatingleading
edgedamages,journalnr.640130115.

TheDanishEnergyAgencythroughtheEnergyTechnologyDevelopmentandDemonstration
Program(EUDP)withintheprojectLightRotor.

DetFrieForskningsrdTeknologiogProduktionafteragrantfortheprojectNewOptimal
DesignToolsforFutureWindTurbineBlades.

TheVillumFoundationthroughtheNextTopproject.

TheDanishEnergyAgencythroughtheEnergyTechnologyDevelopmentandDemonstration
Program (EUDP) within the project Overcoming Critical Design Challenges of Wind
Turbines,journalnr.640110346.

Technical University of Denmark

Frederiksborgvej 399

Department of Wind Energy

4000 Roskilde

Tel

45 46 77 50 00

www.vindenergi.dtu.dk