Abstract
This work focuses on the design of wind turbine rotors of wind tunnel size that match the aerodynamic (for both rotor and wake) and aeroelastic behavior of multi-MW machines, including gravitational effects. The approach follows the classical definition of length, time and mass scaling ratios to respect nondimensional scaling parameters. The sub-scale model is obtained by a complete aero-structural re-design procedure, considering airfoils with similar polars at sub-scale Reynolds and the use of adequate materials. The approach is applied to the design of a sub-scale wind tunnel rotor that mimics the behavior of a 10 MW wind turbine. Results illustrate the main characteristics of the proposed method as well as its limitations, highlighting the challenges posed by representing a gravo-aeroelastic system at a much reduced scale.
Highlights
IntroductionSignificant research efforts are currently being devoted to the development of very large wind turbines
This work focuses on the design of wind turbine rotors of wind tunnel size that match the aerodynamic and aeroelastic behavior of multi-MW machines, including gravitational effects
Significant research efforts are currently being devoted to the development of very large wind turbines
Summary
Significant research efforts are currently being devoted to the development of very large wind turbines. Complementary to full-scale experiments, tests performed on scaled models can provide relevant experimental data, obtained in the controlled environment of a lab, capturing selected aspects of the behavior of the full-scale system. This can be achieved at costs that are orders of magnitude lower than the ones associated with full-scale field testing. Some measurements are possible in a wind tunnel that are not achievable at full-scale with the same level of accuracy or in the same conditions These advantages come at a price, as it is typically impossible to match exactly all physical processes that take place at full-scale using a scaled model. Scaled models have to be designed with specific goals in mind, and they will inevitably suffer from limitations
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