The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently released a more robust version of its FAST software under a modularization framework that represents a generational change in how computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools are developed. NREL’s FAST has evolved over the past three decades into one of the most powerful and flexible CAE tools available through open source to wind technology developers today. FAST models the coupled aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, controls and electrical drives, and structural dynamics of land-based and offshore fixed-bottom and floating wind turbines.

The new version of FAST (FAST v8) offers many features requested by the wind engineering community, including the analysis of wind turbines installed on multimember offshore substructures and improved documentation to support proper application of the tool. FAST v8 also includes an improved coupling approach with enhanced numerical robustness and efficiency as well as new modules for offshore surface ice loading.

FAST v8 resolves many of the problems associated with the first release and sets the stage for future development, including coupling of the BeamDyn nonlinear blade structural-dynamics module and the transformation from a turbine-centric tool to a tool capable of modeling turbine-to-turbine interaction (wake/array effects and control) within wind plants.

FAST v8 and its documentation are available on NREL’s Computer-Aided Engineering Tools page.