Blockage effect correction for a scaled wind turbine rotor by using wind tunnel test data

Abstract

This paper discusses the procedure of a blockage effect correction method involving small-scale wind turbine rotor experimental data. To simulate the aerodynamic performance of full-scale rotors in the field, however, measured data from scaled model experiments need to be analyzed appropriately. One of the most important elements of such an analysis is a procedure to remove the blockage effect of the wind tunnel wall from the measured power data. In this paper, a correction algorithm proposed as part of Glauert's blockage effect correction method is used to process the data from a wind turbine rotor tested with three different wind tunnel sizes. Also, this study considered the modified blockage effect correction method, which has been used to process the rotor thrust data in closed-circuit wind tunnels and open-circuit wind tunnels. A small-scale rotor was tested under the same operating conditions, i.e., the same advance ratio, rotating speed, rotor torque and speed of the wind tunnel. The small-scale wind turbine rotor has a diameter of 1.408 m and a rotating speed according to the tip speed ratio. In each case, the effect of the blockage ratio and aerodynamic characteristics are determined using wind tunnel test results and with a simple analytical correction method. The results of the modified correction method show that the aerodynamic performance levels during a wind tunnel test are cleared by the blockage effect.