Abstract
In this paper we compared computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations with the blade element momentum (BEM) model for two wind turbines. In the first turbine the blade t/c=15% is constant and in the second turbine t/c varies from 30% to 21% at the tip section. The CFD simulations were computed using an open source code (OpenFoam) and the BEM results were obtained from the NREL code HAWT_OPT. Results suggest that CFD and BEM compare well for the thicker turbine blades. The results compare well because both the lift and drag forces (mostly pressure drag in case of thick blades) is comparable to the experimental data used in the BEM model. The difference in the results between the CFD and BEM for the thin blades can be attributed to the errors in computing the aerodynamic drag, which is mostly skin friction drag.
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