Conformally Decambered Natural Laminar Flow Blades for Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines

Abstract

A two-element natural laminar flow airfoil—commonly used on medium-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned air vehicles—was conformally decambered for application on a two-bladed, H-rotor, vertical-axis wind turbine. Blade kinematics were used to determine the virtual camber line, which was then used to conformally map the original profile onto the chord line. Both decambered and original blade profiles were evaluated experimentally using large chord-radius ratios (0.6 and 0.75) that exploited dynamic stall to produce the driving torque. Decambered blades showed substantially greater power and torque coefficients than the original blades, up to 60 and 27%, respectively, which represents the first experimental validation of conformal decambering. Relatively large peak power coefficients of 0.28 were attained, despite maximum chord-based Reynolds numbers being less than 2×105. Depending upon the chord-radius ratio, either light or deep dynamic stall occurred in the second upstream quadrant, and the flap flow remained attached virtually throughout. In contrast, on the original profiles, massive separation was observed on the blades, and the flap flow remained separated due to assumed outer surface flow separation. Future research should consider surface pressure and flowfield measurements, significantly higher Reynolds numbers, and variable intracycle flap deflection mechanisms to optimize performance and minimize unsteady loads.