Enhancing CFD-based design of wind turbine blades

Abstract

CFD-based shape design is a state-of-the-art approach in wind energy that can lead to novel shape features. High computation costs have, however, until now hindered a widespread use of the approach. To address this issue, this work investigates two ways to enhance a CFD-based design framework, using a shape study of wind turbine blade tips as a test case. First, a quantification of the speed-up factor (× 3.6) achieved through so-called tailored meshes is presented. Then, a comparison of mesh adaptation strategies is given, further speeding up the procedure (× 2.3). The combined speed-up factor reaches above 8, showing that CFD-based shape design procedures may indeed be accelerated using tailored meshes and a correct mesh adaptation strategy.