Balancing performance and complexity: A review of structural control for wind turbine blades and towers

Abstract

The rapid upscaling of wind turbines to multi-megawatt capacities has introduced significant structural flexibility challenges, rendering vibration mitigation a governing design constraint. This paper provides a critical review of state-of-the-art structural control strategies—passive, active, and semi-active—applied to turbine blades and towers. While passive systems remain the industry standard due to mechanical simplicity, this review highlights their susceptibility to frequency detuning under variable operational conditions. Conversely, active control offers superior vibration suppression but is constrained by high parasitic power consumption and reliability concerns. Consequently, the review identifies semi-active control as the optimal solution for next-generation turbines, balancing high-performance adaptability with fail-safe reliability. The paper concludes that future developments must focus on adaptive semi-active strategies for floating offshore and multi-hazard environments, advocating for a paradigm shift towards control co-design to reduce the levelized cost of energy.