Innovations in Blade Design for Enhancing Wind Turbine Efficiency: A Review of Aerodynamic, Structural, and Material Advancements

Wind is a one of the clean resources of energy and has the ability to contribute a considerable share in growing world energy consumption. The small wind turbine plays a vital role in fulfillment of energy needs preferably for household purpose. In order to unleash the budding of applicability of small wind turbine, it is necessary to improve its performance. The performance of a small wind turbine can be distinguished by the manners in which power, thrust and torque vary with the wind speed. The wind power indicates the amount of energy captured by the wind turbine rotor. It is convenient to express the performance of small wind turbine by means of non-dimensional performance curves, therefore in this paper the most graphs are drawn to power, thrust and torque coefficients as a function of the tip speed ratio. This paper presents the effect of design parameters such as the tip speed ratio, angle of attack, wind speed, solidity, number of blades, etc. on the aerodynamic performance of small wind turbine and proposes the optimum values of these parameters for the newly designed blade. The new designed blade consists of two new airfoils and named as IND 15045 and IND 09848. This new profile blade is designed for a wind turbine of 1 kW rated power. The blade is divided into ten sections. The designed length of blade is 1.5 m and it is made using IND 15045 airfoils at three root sections and IND 09848 airfoils for remaining seven sections. Q-Blade is used for the numerical simulation of wind turbine airfoils and blade. It is integrated tool of XFOIL and blade element momentum theory of wind turbine blade design. Also the effect of constant rotational speed operation, effect of stall regulation effect of rotational speed change and the effect of solidity on the performance of wind turbine is discussed. This paper delivers a broad view of perception for design of small wind turbine and parameter selection for the new wind turbine blade. Also in this paper the effect of different losses viz. tip losses, drag losses, stall losses and hub losses on the small wind turbine are discussed. The efficiency of the small wind turbine varies significantly with wind speed, but it would be designed such a way that maximized efficiencies are achieved at the wind speed where the maximum energy is available.

A comprehensive review of innovative wind turbine airfoil and blade designs: Toward enhanced efficiency and sustainability

Wind turbine performance and efficiency used to face big challenges due to the highly random nature of the wind and its own small size. Wind turbine blade geometry has direct implications on the load bearing response and performance of the blade. New Wind Turbine Blade was modelled and detailed analysis was done using Ansys and Matlab. Static, Fatigue, Vibration, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Simulink Analysis was done to compare the performance of both wind turbine blades. Velocity of 83.33 m/sec have been incorporated for analysis. Various different Mathematical Equations and proper methodology was carried out to enhance the performance of Wind Turbine. Simulink Model was designed to optimize the performance of Wind Turbine. High Lift to Drag Parameter is optimized for proper Efficiency of Wind Turbine. Turbine blades are twisted so they can always present an angle that take advantages of the ideal lift-to-drag ratio. Optimization of Tower Design was carried out to enhance the performance of wind turbine. Better energy Production parameter is solved by the analysis and Simulation. Simulink Model was designed to optimize the performance of Wind Turbine. Simulink Output results shows the output of Electromagnetic Torque, Stator Current and Rotor Speed. Stress vs Strain Graph was plotted for both designed wind Turbine blades. Coefficient of drag graph was plotted to conclude the performance of Wind Turbine Blades. Turbulence behaviour is observed for both the wind turbine blades to validate the performance of Wind Turbine blades. Epoxy Material is considered for Wind Turbine blades.

The coastline of Pakistan extends 1,050 km (650 miles), with an high wind energy potential in areas of Jiwani and Pasni. This high potential wind energy may be efficiently utilized if it is properly assessed and optimization techniques are applied. The present work is related to the assessment of wind potential for the coastal area of Jiwani Balochistan and consequently steps are suggested to optimize the wind turbine blade for effective utilization of the available wind energy through numerical modeling and simulation.. The aim of the research work is to focus on the wind conditions in Jiwani coastal site and to assess the requirement for a small scale wind turbine and perform the design optimization of the turbine blades to produce power at even low wind speeds. Four years wind data (i.e. 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009) of the Jiwani was collected and based upon the available data wind turbine blade was designed and optimized for maximum power output for that area. This study addresses the method of wind turbine blade optimization through Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory and results were confirmed through CFD software COSMOS flow works 2009. The work was carried out on a three blade horizontal axis wind turbine by considering the performance of its blades and effect of changing the airfoil sections of the blade along its length. The best blade shape was obtained from BEM theory calculations with maximum coefficient of performance (CP). The design parametric studies were conducted for six sections of blade including angle of twist, length of blade, chord and found the significant effect over the coefficient of performance (CP). It was shown that the efficiency of wind turbine may be improved and power output can be enhanced through the change in design of blade as well as by the angle of twist.

Owing to the fast development in the energy field, the demands are increasing to improve energy efficiency and lifetime of wind turbine. The wind blades are considered as the most important and expensive part in the wind system. Therefore, it’s important to understand deeply the behaviour of turbine blades. In this research paper, full details were presented to analyze and optimize the behaviour and performance of the blade of the small horizontal axis wind turbine (less than 1 KW). QBlade software was used to simulate the wind turbine blade during the working conditions. The mathematical formulations which used in QBlade software were based on the Blade Element Momentum method (BEM). It was studied deeply the effect of design parameters (Twist Angle and Chord length) on the behaviour and performance of the wind turbine. It was used SG6043 airfoil for 10 different sections of 1.17 m blade length. The obtained results were of high accuracy, and it was proved that the QBlade software is reliable to analyze the blades of wind turbine. The paper exhibits the necessary steps to build and optimize the blade of wind turbine, in addition to the features and advantages of the software.

With the continuous development of wind energy resources, wind turbines have become a crucial element in the field of green energy. However, various malfunctions may occur during their operation, affecting performance and lifespan. To ensure the safety and efficiency of wind turbines, regular inspections and maintenance are essential. In recent years, rapid advancements in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology have opened new possibilities for the inspection and maintenance of wind turbines. The blades of wind turbines are the most critical components, and this review paper provides a comprehensive analysis of UAV applications in the detection, inspection, and diagnosis of wind turbine blades. It focuses on key UAV inspection technologies, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages in both static and rotating wind turbine blades. Additionally, the paper analyses control algorithms used by UAVs for blade inspection, verifying their accuracy and practicality in this field. Based on these findings, future technological trends are proposed, including UAV autonomous navigation, edge computing-based online monitoring, and intelligent fault diagnosis. It is anticipated that UAV inspection technology will increasingly play a significant role in the inspection and maintenance of wind turbine blades in the future.

It is proved that a tip vane can improve the wind turbine's efficiency by the test and CFD. In this paper, the performance of horizontal axis wind turbine and horizontal axis wind turbine with a tip vane by CFD were simulated. After comparing the velocity distribution around wind turbine blade with the tip vane-V(8.8×8) and without the tip vane and combining the velocity vectors figure of the certain location, the change of the velocity distribution around wind turbine blade and the weakening of the vortex around blade tip with the tip vane can be seen. These can further display the power augmentation theory of the wind turbine by the tip vane.

In urban areas, it is preferable to use small wind turbines which may be integrated to a building in order to supply the local grid with green energy. The main drawback of using wind turbines in urban areas is that the air flow is affected by the existence of nearby buildings, which in conjunction with the variation of wind speed, wind direction and turbulence may adversely affect wind energy extraction. Moreover, the efficiency of a wind turbine is limited by the Betz limit. One of the methods developed to increase the efficiency of small wind turbines and to overcome the Betz limit is the introduction of a converging – diverging shroud around the turbine. Several researchers have studied the effect of shrouds on Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines, but relatively little research has been carried out on shroud augmented Vertical Axis Wind Turbines. This paper presents the numerical study of a shrouded Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. A wide range of test cases, were examined in order to predict the flow characteristics around the rotor, through the shroud and through the rotor – shroud arrangement using 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. The power output of the shrouded rotor has been improved by a factor greater than 2.0. The detailed flow analysis results showed that there is a significant improvement in the performance of the wind turbine.

Reducing the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs of Wind Farms can substantially contribute towards adopting environmentally sustainable and cost effective energy sources. O&M costs in Wind Turbines can account up to 50% of the Turbine’s whole life cycle, with the majority of it being the frequent manual inspection needed for Wind Turbine Blades (WTB). Vibration-based structural health monitoring (SHM) approaches can be used for detecting WTB damages in an early state, before they lead to catastrophic failure, while they can be used to perform inspection on an informed basis, reducing O&M costs. In the present study, a data-driven damage detection framework is developed for WTBs. A Finite Element Model (FEM) of a full-scale WTB (the Aventa AV-7 “Light Wind Turbine”, sold under the Leichtwindanlagen© name) is developed in ABAQUS FEA using sparce material properties and dimensions and subsequently modified to match a physical WTB. Damage is modelled in the form of a Trailing Edge (TE) longitudinal crack propagated in a stepwise manner. The FE model is updated based on the geometry altering and material property degrading effects of the TE crack. Numerical simulations are performed to obtain the dynamic responses of the blade, under white noise and chirp excitation. A damage detection framework is then developed using Auto-Regressive, with exogenous excitation (ARX) or without (AR), models and its Nonlinear counterparts NARX and NAR models. In addition, model dimensionality reduction is performed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Deep-Autoencoders (D-AE). The results are presented in terms of Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves.

This study presents to investigate the mechanical properties and thermal properties of horizontal and vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) blade using finite element analysis (FEA) Ansys software. The efficiency of the wind turbine is based on the design of wind turbine blade (WTB) and material used. The fiber-reinforced plastics (composite materials) such as glass fiber, carbon fiber and epoxy are used for model of wind turbine blade. After modeling of wind turbine blade using standard software CATIA, imported into software ANSYS for determining the structural and thermal strength of the wind turbine blades. The stress distributions observed on the horizontal axis wind turbine blade due to the applied structural load and thermal load. The maximum stress occurs on the surfaces (near the fixed end of hub) of the horizontal axis wind turbine blade (HAWT), and the minimum stress occurs near the tip end of the blade. Due to the applied thermal condition (temperature) on the blades, the heat flux generated almost equal to both the HAWT blade and VAWT blade. Based on the FEA Ansys results, horizontal wind turbine blade produces better structural strength and thermal strength than vertical wind turbine blade.KeywordsWind turbine bladeFinite element analysis (ANSYS)Composite materialsStrength propertiesThermal properties

The wind turbine is a mechanism which converts the mechanical energy to an electrical energy. The aerodynamic efficiency of the wind turbine is defined by the kinetic energy captured from the wind. A higher aerodynamic efficiency depends only on the design of the rotor blades. Theoretically, this efficiency (which is known by the power coefficient) is restricted by the Betz-Joukowski limit. Generally, to evaluate the power coefficient of a wind turbine, the Blade Element Momentum theory (BEM) have been used because it is fast and gives accurate results. In this work, a design of a small wind turbine is presented. The evaluation of the power coefficient of this wind turbine is estimated using the BEM theory. In order to minimize time and cost generated by the experimental tests, a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) approach is adopted to estimate the efficiency of the wind turbine. This method simulates the flow around the rotor blades to estimate the pressure and velocity distributions of the airflow, and then the aerodynamic performance. This CFD method can be conducted using many models (inviscid, laminar, k-w model, and Spalart Allmaras). In order to find the best model that should be used, a 2D simulation of the airflow around an airfoil validated experimentally was performed using Fluent. Then, the established methodology would be adopted for a 3D simulation of the airflow around the rotor. The results obtained were satisfactory and accurate compared to the results given by the BEM theory.

The interaction between fluids and structures play an important role in number of fields. Important applications can be found in wind turbine blades, airplane wings, tall buildings, suspension bridges and biomechanics. The flow induced vibration (FIV) may affect negatively the operation and the response of the system. Flow induced vibrations in wind turbine blades is one of main considerations for the design of wind turbine, because aerodynamic loading causes blade to bend mostly in flap wise direction, and causes blade section to twist to create new fluid fields surrounding the blade. This interaction between aerodynamics and deformation of wind turbine blade may lead to flow induced vibrations. The aim of this research is to analyze the problem of FIV in wind turbine blade, due to the pressure field caused by a fluid flow. For this purpose, vertical axis wind turbine is analyzed using computational fluid dynamics and finite element analysis for the computation of vibratory stresses. Three dimensional flow analysis of vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) blade is performed at different TSR ranges from 2.5 to 4.5. The aerodynamics results of CFD analysis shows that the maximum torque of 75 Nm is obtained at TSR 3.5. Finite element analysis (FEA) is then used for the computation of vibratory stresses. Carbon epoxy composite material with orthotropic properties is used as the blade material for FEA analysis. First one-way Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) is conducted to determine stress field due to the torque on wind turbine blade. Next Modal analysis is performed to obtain the natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes. Finally, the force response analysis of the structure is performed using ANSYS transient structural module under maximum unsteady wind torques which were computed using ANSYS Fluent. The outcome of the analysis showed that the three bending modes are the most critical modes for blade failure.

Wind energy can be considered to be one of the most reliable and sustainable energy sources of world. In India, more than 2,300 MW capacity of wind turbine power has been installed in 2014. This can be further increased by improving overall efficiency of wind turbines. The efficiency of wind turbine is governed by various geometric characteristics, and the airfoil of a blade is considered to be one of most influencing parameters. In the present work, HAWT is designed to provide electric power of about 10 KW that is to be used at authors' hometown (Rajkot). Different five airfoils with varying angle of attack of blades are modelled, and analysed to identify the most suitable airfoil for the optimum lift, and stall angle. The NACA 4412 was found to be the most suitable for providing optimum lift as well as stall angle. The prototype of all airfoils were also tested, and simulated for flow separation.

The aerofoils of wind turbine blades have crucial influence on aerodynamic efficiency of wind turbine. There are numerous amounts of research being performed on aerofoils of wind turbines. Initially, I have done a brief literature survey on wind turbine aerofoil. This project involves the selection of a suitable aerofoil section for the proposed wind turbine blade. A comprehensive study of the aerofoil behaviour is implemented using 2D modelling. NACA 4412 aerofoil profile is considered for analysis of wind turbine blade. Geometry of this aerofoil is created using GAMBIT and CFD analysis is carried out using ANSYS FLUENT. Lift and Drag forces along with the angle of attack are the important parameters in a wind turbine system. These parameters decide the efficiency of the wind turbine. The lift force and drag force acting on aerofoil were determined with various angles of attacks ranging from 0° to 12° and wind speeds. The coefficient of lift and drag values are calculated for 1×105 Reynolds number. The pressure distributions as well as coefficient of lift to coefficient of drag ratio of this aerofoil were visualized. The CFD simulation results show close agreement with those of the experiments, thus suggesting a reliable alternative to experimental method in determining drag and lift.

Curved bladelets on wind turbine blades play an important role in improving the performance and efficiency of wind turbines. Implementing such features on the tip of wind turbine blades can improve their overall aerodynamic characteristics by reducing turbulence and loading without hindering lift generation and overall efficiency, thus leading to increased energy capture and reduced costs over the life of the turbine. Subjecting the integrated blade tip to optimization procedures can maximize its beneficial contribution to the assembly in general. Within this context, a systemic workflow is proposed for the optimization of a curved bladelet implemented on a wind turbine blade. The approach receives input in the form of an initial tip geometry and performs improvements in two distinct stages. Firstly, shape optimization is performed directly on the outer shape to enhance its aerodynamic properties. Subsequently, the topology of its interior structure is refined to decrease its mass while retaining its improved airflow characteristics. The proposed workflow aims to approach blade tip optimization holistically, both in terms of aerodynamic performance and structural capabilities; is computationally validated via fluid dynamics studies and finite element analysis to evaluate the performance augmentation achieved through it; and is further coupled with additive manufacturing for the production of prototype parts, benefiting from the manufacturing flexibility offered by digital fabrication technologies. The optimized bladelet model presented an approximate 30% improvement in the torque generated on it, while maintaining only 70% of its original mass, effectively contributing to a 0.81% increase to the total torque generated by the blade, consequently confirming the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.