Aerodynamic performance improvement using a micro-cylinder as a passive flow control around the S809 airfoil

Abstract

Aerodynamic performance improvement of airfoilsis the first step towards enhancement ofthe wind turbine performance in electricity generation and energy conversion inrenewable energy applications. The flow behavioraround wind turbine blades profilecan be improved by introducing active and/or passive flow controls. This work numerically describes the impact of adding micro-cylinder, as a passive flow control around S809 airfoil, on aerodynamic performance under various operating conditions. A suitable combination of flow analysis and optimization technique has been used in the current work.The numerical simulation has been performed using ANSYSFluent 18.2 software. The airfoil was numerically analysed in flow atReynolds number of 106; aerodynamic coefficients (lift and drag coefficients) at different angle of attacks were validated with the experimental data reported by Somers in NREL. The Response Surface Method (RSM) is applied to obtain the optimum position of micro-cylinder to achieve maximum lift to drag ratio. It has been found that the total aerodynamic forces are sensitive to the location of the micro-cylinder. A significant enhancement of lift to drag ratio can be achieved by adding micro-cylinder in front of S809 airfoil especially at high Reynolds number.