CFD Comparative Study on Bended and 2D Airfoils on HAWT Performance

Abstract

The design of a conventional horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) is based on the aerodynamic characteristics of a two-dimensional (2D) airfoil. The rotational motion and the consequent aerodynamic effects, of HAWT’s rotor, do not guarantee an optimal design point that matches the 2D airfoil characteristics. The present work studies the diversion of the flow due to the spanwise velocity component in a rotating reference frame. It suggests that a slight deviation in the flow away from the chordwise direction could alternate the characteristics of the airfoil profile. A bended profile with a circular arc was extracted from a baseline rotating blade, flattened, and modelled against the 2D S826 airfoil. The results show a substantial discrepancy in the airfoil characteristics which could influence the turbine efficiency. Therefore, it suggests using a pre-bended airfoil (3D) while modeling the blade, so the circular section will match the correct airfoil coordinates. The proposed bended-profile version was modeled against the baseline blade. This novel blade shows an augmentation in the power coefficient up to 5.4% starting from the design point to high tip speed ratios (TSR) and low wind speeds.