https://wes.copernicus.org/articles/11/1097/2026/wes-11-1097-2026.pdf
From LinkedIn
Oriol Cayon DomingoOriol Cayon Domingo • 1st1stPhD Candidate at TU Delft | (Airborne) Wind EnergyPhD Candidate at TU Delft | (Airborne) Wind Energy3d • 3 days ago • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn
New paper out in Wind Energy Science!
Translational dynamics of bridled kites: a reduced-order model in the course reference frame — with Vince van Deursen and Roland Schmehl.
A stable kite, like an airplane, is always looking for equilibrium — a moment of balance that the kite is attracted to but never really reaches. This equilibrium corresponds to the state in which the moments about the ground anchor are zero. For soft, lightweight kites, this equilibrium is found almost instantaneously. This “quasi-steady” behaviour means the dynamic state is always being pulled towards a moving attractor. Exploit it, and you can dramatically reduce the model, dropping rotational dynamics entirely.
The result is a fast, validated model well-suited to trajectory optimisation, parametric design studies, and linear control. For soft kites, it reproduces dynamic power output with less than 1% error.
We put it to work in a reel-out trajectory optimisation presented at Torque 2026, comparing figure-of-eight and helical flight patterns across a range of wind speeds and shear conditions. The three trajectory classes yield similar mean power, but differ meaningfully in power fluctuations and ground area — trade-offs that matter for real system design.
A big thank you to Vince van Deursen, who laid the first theoretical foundation for the translational kinematics and trajectory parametrisation on which this work builds, and to Roland Schmehl for his guidance throughout.
A special thank you to Kitepower for providing validation data and for the collaboration throughout this work. Having access to real flight data was essential for grounding the model and building confidence in the results. Grateful to work alongside people building this technology for real.
Happy to share this work and always glad to hear thoughts from anyone working in the field!
Wind Energy Science paper: LinkedIn
Torque 2026 paper: LinkedIn
TU Delft | Aerospace Engineering
TU Delft Wind Energy Institute
Meridional EU
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