Numerical Simulation of Icing Characteristics on a Blade Airfoil for Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine under Various Icing Conditions

Abstract

The phenomenon of icing on wind turbines gives rise to significant liability concerns in regions characterized by cold and humid climates, especially those with extreme climatic conditions. Accordingly, investigating the icing characteristics is essential for the safety operation of wind turbines. In this chapter, an icing model coupling water film flow with water film evaporation considering airfoil surface roughness is developed to investigate the effect of icing conditions on the icing characteristics of a blade airfoil for vertical-axis wind turbines by numerical simulation. The mechanism of heat and mass transfer under various icing conditions is explored. The results show that the simulated and experimental ice shapes on the airfoil agree well. The ice shape contour fluctuates along the airfoil surface at higher ambient temperature due to water film flow and heat flux variation. A large area of airfoil surface is covered by ice accretion at high wind speed due to an increase in driving force acting on water film and convective cooling between water film and air. The maximum ice thickness changes more significantly at wind speeds of 2–7 m/s than that at wind speeds of 7–12 m/s. This contributes to theoretical basis for exploring anti/de-icing method in wind turbines.