ME 2016: Initial Value Numerical Methods
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In this ME 2016 - Computing Techniques project, I used various initial value numerical methods to model the vibrations in wind turbines. A wind turbine’s motion is modeled using ODE45 (a built-in MATLAB function), Euler's Method, and Heun's Method.
The plots from left to right depict the wind turbine’s displacement calculated by ODE45, Euler’s Method, and Heun’s Method respectively. According to the plots, Euler’s Method is not as accurate as ODE45 and Heun’s Method.
By sweeping frequency, the resonate frequency was determined at the peak of the displacement vs frequency plot. The resonate frequency of the wind turbine model was 1.72 Hz with a displacement of .308 m.
This code performs either Euler’s or Heun’s method to solve initial value differential equations.