AERSP 880 Syllabus

AERSP 880: Wind Turbine Systems

This syllabus is divided into several sections. You can read it sequentially by scrolling down the length of the document or by clicking on any of the links below to “jump” to a specific section. It is essential that you read the entire document as well as material covered in the course Orientation. Together these serve as our course "contract."

• Instructor
• Course Overview
• Course Materials
• Assignments and Grading
• Course Schedule
• Course Policies

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Instructor

Dr. Susan Stewart
Associate Teaching Professor
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Penn State.

• E-mail: Please use the course e-mail system (see the Inbox tab in Canvas). This is the best way to reach me at all times.
• Office Hours: I will check for and reply to messages throughout the work day. Please contact me to make an appointment if you’d like to speak to me at a given time. I am fairly flexible and will make every effort to accommodate your schedule.

NOTE: Please also consider making use of the "Questions and Answers" discussion forum on Canvas, because other students may be able to share experience dealing with certain issues. Just like all of us, I have other work and family responsibilities in addition to AERSP 880. So even though I have every intention of addressing questions efficiently, at times I need to delegate my time and plan ahead to get everything done. Because of this, I would like to institute a policy that it is expected that I will read and respond to e-mail and discussion forums at least once per day (more likely several times) during the work week (Monday through Friday). I will make an effort to be online occassionally in the evenings and on the weekends, but please don't count on it! Note: This means I will be able to answer questions posted up until NOON on the day before an Assignment is due. There will be no guarantees on anything posted later than noon will be addressed in sufficient time for you to complete the assigned work effectively, so make sure you take this into account as you're planning your own schedule.

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Course Overview

Prerequisites: Strong Math & Science Background, recommended undergraduate fluid mechanics and statics (engineering mechanics).

This course provides an overview of the wind turbine as a system, including the influence of the wind resource and external factors that impact the wind energy enterprise. It builds upon a fundamental understanding of fluid mechanics, statics, and systems engineering to provide students with the full systems perspective of a wind turbine including an in-depth understanding of modern design configurations.

This course promotes an understanding of energy and sustainability science through the detailed analysis of wind energy systems with comparisons to conventional energy resources, it also addresses aspects of energy and sustainability project development by introducing the linkages between site specific wind resources and wind turbine design for optimum economics, and it promotes the use of advanced critical thinking by challenging the students to trace the progression of modern wind turbine design while examining the external factors which have defined the specific evolutionary route.

Toward these objectives, students who successfully complete AERSP 880 will be able to:

• understand the structure and current state of the wind industry and how these influence project development.
• communicate the design evolution of commercial wind turbines from its infancy to modern technology today.
• describe the specific attributes of the wind resource that influence wind turbine design and siting as well as operation for maximum revenue.
• analyze wind turbine components and compare various design configurations.
• compute performance characteristics of the main components of the wind turbine.

What I Expect of You

This course requires a minimum of 8-12 hours of student activity each week, depending on the speed at which you work. Included in the 8-12 hours each week is time to complete assignments, projects and related activities. Some weeks, you may spend less time than that, so keep this in mind in the tougher weeks (when you'll be making up the difference!). You'll be glad to know that you don't have to show up for class at a certain time! All you need to do is complete each project and a quiz before the published deadline at the end of the week.

I have worked hard to make this the most effective and convenient educational experience possible. The Internet may still be a novel learning environment for you, but in one sense it is no different than a traditional college class: how much and how well you learn is ultimately up to you. You will succeed if you are diligent about keeping up with the class schedule and if you take advantage of opportunities to communicate with me, as well as with your fellow students.

You will need to check out the course discussion forums regularly (you can register to receive automatic updates). That's where students and the instructors share comments, pose questions, and suggest answers. I strongly encourage you to get in the habit of logging in to the course website every day to check in on the class. With only occasional exceptions, I check message boards six (and usually seven) days a week. You can be sure that I will read, but not necessarily respond to, every single message. If I anticipate not logging in for more than a day, I will let you know and also clearly state when you can next expect to hear from me.

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Required Course Materials

All materials needed for this course are presented online through our course website and in Canvas, with the exception of the course textbook - Wind Energy Handbook, which is available in digital format through the Penn State Library (details below). In order to access all materials, you need to have an active Penn State Access Account user ID and password (used to access the online course resources).

• Wind Energy Handbook, Second Edition, by Tony Burton. 2011.

I am also adding the following two textbooks which have been referenced frequently in the course:

• Wind turbines: fundamentals, technologies, application, and economics, Second Edition, by Erich Hau. 2006.
• Wind Energy Explained, Theory Design and Application, Second Edition, by James Manwell. 2009.

Look these titles up on the PSU Library website in Lion Search and look for the "Full text online" link.

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Assignments and Grading

AERSP 880 will rely upon a variety of methods to assess and evaluate student learning, including:

• Quizzes: Each lesson is accompanied by a quiz that will assess understanding of the course material. Quizzes will be due by 11:59 pm Eastern the day they are due (I have built in an extra grace period of 1 day - quizzes submitted in this window will be accepted with a 20% grade penalty). Additionally, the lowest quiz grade will be dropped. (20%)
• Anticipatory Questions: Each lesson will begin with anticipatory questions. You are asked to give the question(s) a couple minutes of thought before you begin reading through the lesson material and jot down your initial thoughts in the entry box. Perhaps think of it as a hypothesis on the answer. You are not graded on the accuracy of this submission. Instead, there will be a question on the quiz at the end of the lesson which asks you to reflect on this question again based on what you've learned in the lesson. You will receive full credit on this question if you have both answered the original Anticipatory question and written a thoughtful response on the quiz. If you have not answered the anticipatory question, your quiz response will be reduce by 1/2 of the point value of the question.
• Assignments (35%): The assignments will take on a variety of formats throughout the course of the semester.
  • Homework assignments will generally be design assignments that encourage the use of advanced critical thinking skills. Assignments will be graded on the depth of research, accuracy of results, use of appropriate references and/or tools, and clear communication of results.
    • Homework assignments will be due by 11:59 PM on the day of submission. There is again a grace period provided if the submission is received by 10 am Eastern the morning after the assigned due date a 10% penalty will be assessed.
    • The lowest score will be dropped from the Homework assignment category.
  • Discussion Assignments: Several of the lessons will incorporate discussion questions that you will answer individually using a Discussion Forum in Canvas.
    • For discussion assignments, the first submission should be submitted before the assigned due date, but the discussion forum will remain open for several days to encourage ongoing discussions.
  • Case Studies: Some assignments or portions of assignments will be distinguished as Case Studies. These are intended to be more open ended questions that simulate real world situations you might experience in the work environment. In the real world, you are not always provided with every detail you need to solve a problem, but you will need to seek out some answers and make engineering judgements as you pursue a solution. You will be encouraged to communicate with other course participants as you formulate your own individual response to these case studies. Discussion boards will be created to stimulate this discussion and in some cases an industry representative will be available to also answer questions to help guide your responses. Assignments will be graded on the description of the methodology used, a clear presentation of all assumptions made and any references (or otherwise justifications) needed to back up these assumptions, accuracy of the results (within a margin of error) as well as clear communication of the results.
    • Case Studies will be due by 11:59 PM on the day of submission. There is again a grace period provided if the submission is received by 10 am Eastern the morning after the assigned due date a 10% penalty will be assessed.
• Semester Project: There will be a project assigned near the end of the semester. (15%)
• Exams: a mid-semester exam will be used to assess the students’ comprehension of the course material and to provide intermediate feedback on course progress (15%) while a comprehensive final exam will assess the overall level of understanding of the material covered in the course (15%).

**Note that adherence to standards of the University's Academic Integrity Policy are expected in every aspect of this course. Submissions to discussion assignments, quizzes, exams, and homework assignments are to be in your own words or properly cited as necessary. Please see the Course Policy section below.

It is important that your work be submitted in the proper format to the appropriate Canvas Assignment Page or Discussion Forum and by the designated due date. Many of these activities require some interpretation and independent thinking on your part. As you are working on the assignment, you are encouraged to share ideas and questions you may have in the "Questions ?" Discussion Forum located in Canvas. I will read daily and reply as needed. I strongly advise that you not wait until the last minute to complete these assignments—give yourself time to ask questions, think things over, and chat with others. You'll learn more, do better...and be happier!

Grades are assigned by the percentage of possible points earned in each Lesson's activities, as shown below.

Assignment Grading

Assignment	Percent of Grade
Quizzes (lowest score will be dropped)	20%
Homework Assignments (lowest score will be droppedl)	35%
Project	15%
Mid-Term Exam	15%
Final Exam	15%
Total	100%

I will use the Canvas gradebook to keep track of your grades. You can see your grades in the gradebook, too, by clicking the Grades link in the course in Canvas. Overall course grades will be determined as follows. Percentages refer to the proportion of all possible points earned.

Letter Grades

Grade	Percent
A	93–100%
A-	90–92.9%
B+	87–89.9%
B	83–86.9%
B-	80–82.9%
C+	77–79.9%
C	70–76.9%
D	60–69.9%
F	<60%
X	Unsatisfactory (student did not participate)

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Course Policies