about us
About Our Team
Dr. David Laino
VP of Research and Development
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, 1997, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah M.S. Mechanical Engineering, 1994, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah B.S. Aeronautical Engineering, 1991, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 1991
David has been working with Windward Engineering since 1999 and has extensive experience in development and application of computer software for analysis of wind turbine mechanical systems, and the use of such programs in the design and analysis of wind turbine systems and components, particularly loads evaluation for certification purposes. Various projects include assisting the development of wind turbine certification standards, analyzing designs of wind turbine blades and towers, and designing components for a small, grid-connected home wind turbine.
With David's computer programming knowledge he has developed computer codes with the goal of creating and validating design models for prediction of aeroelastic loads on wind turbine systems, with an emphasis on sources of fatigue loads. As part of his Ph.D. project, David developed an integrated approach to wind turbine fatigue analysis using existing computer analysis techniques.
David has also worked at the US National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO, Summer 1992, '93, '94 where he developed wind turbine computer modeling capabilities to analyze innovative designs, and evaluate proposed safety standards. He also analyzed and compared test and simulation data in validation studies.
David is an active member of the American Wind Energy Association and Co-Administrator of the US Technical Advisory Group to IEC Technical Committee for Wind Turbine Standards. He is also active on the Small Wind Coordinating Committee that is drafting rules for certification of small wind turbines in North America
David has also published a number of papers that are well know in the industry.
Published Papers:
Laino, D.J., and Hansen, A.C.,
"Current Efforts Toward Improved Aerodynamic Modeling",
Technical Paper AIAA-2004-0826,
Presented at the ASME Wind Energy Symposium, Reno, NV, January 2004.
Laino, D.J., and Hansen, A.C.,
"Continued Validation of the AeroDyn Subroutines Using NREL Unsteady Aerodynamics Experiment Data",
Technical Paper AIAA-2003-0518,
Presented at the ASME Wind Energy Symposium, Reno, NV, January 2003.
Laino, D.J., Hansen, A.C., and Minnema, J.E.,
"Validation of the AeroDyn Subroutines Using NREL Unsteady Aerodynamics Experiment Data",
Technical Paper AIAA-2002-0039,
Presented at the ASME Wind Energy Symposium, Reno, NV, January 2002.
Laino, D.J.,
"Statistical Analysis of Wind Turbine Rotor Tower Clearance",
Technical Paper AIAA-2001-0048,
Presented at the ASME Wind Energy Symposium, Reno, NV, January 2001.
Laino, D.J., and Pierce, K.G.,
"Evaluating Statistical Loads Extrapolation Methods",
Technical Paper AIAA-2000-0064,
Presented at the ASME Wind Energy Symposium, Reno, NV, January 2000.
Lobitz, D.W. and Laino, D.J.,
"Load Mitigation with Twist-Coupled HAWT Blades",
Technical Paper AIAA-99-0033,
Presented at the ASME Wind Energy Symposium, Reno, NV, January 1999.
Laino, D.J. and Hansen, A.C.,
"Sources of Fatigue Damage to Wind Turbine Blades",
Technical Paper AIAA-98-0065,
Presented at the ASME Wind Energy Symposium, Reno, NV, January 1998.
Laino, D.J. and Hansen, A.C.,
"An Integrated Approach to Wind Turbine Fatigue Analysis",
ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Vol. 119, August 1997.
Laino, D.J.
"Evaluating Sources of Wind Turbine Fatigue Damage",
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Utah, 1997.
Laino, D.J.
"Sources of Fatigue Damage to Passive Yaw Wind Turbine Blades",
Proceedings of Windpower '97, the American Wind Energy Association Conference, Austin, TX, June 1997.
Hansen, A.C. and Laino, D.J.,
"Validation Study for AeroDyn and YawDyn Using Phase III Combined Experiment Data",
Technical Paper AIAA-97-0943,
Presented at the ASME Wind Energy Symposium, Reno, NV, January 1997.
Pierce, K.G. and Laino, D.J.,
"Modeling the Effects of Control Systems on Wind Turbine Fatigue Life",
Proceedings of Windpower '96, the American Wind Energy Association Conference, Denver, CO, June 1996.
Laino, D.J. and Hansen, A.C.,
"A Fatigue Analysis Interface for YawDyn and ADAMS®",
Presented at the ASME Wind Energy Symposium, Houston, TX, January 1996.
Laino, D.J. and Kelley, N.D.,
"Investigating the Micon 65 Turbine Using YawDyn with Simulated Turbulence",
Proceedings of Windpower '95, the American Wind Energy Association Conference, Washington, DC, March 1995.
Laino, D.J., Davis, D.A., Pierce, K.G., Minnema, J.E., and Hansen, A.C.,
"Computer Modeling of Wind Turbine Systems",
Proceedings of Windpower '94, the American Wind Energy Association Conference, Minneapolis, MN, May 1994.
Laino, D.J. and Butterfield, C.P.,
"Using YawDyn to Model Turbines with Aerodynamic Control Systems,"
Proceedings of Wind Energy 1994, the 13th ASME Wind Energy Symposium, New Orleans, LA, January 1994.
Laino, D.J., Butterfield, C.P., Thresher, R.W. and Dodge, D.,
"Evaluation of Select IEC Standard Wind Turbine Design Cases on the Combined Experiment Wind Turbine Model",
Presented at the 16th ASME Wind Energy Symposium, Houston, TX, February 1993.
