The Effect of Gurney Flap and Trailing-edge Wedge on the Aerodynamic Behavior of an Axial Turbine Blade

Mohammad Mahdi Mahzoon,Masoud Kharati-Koopaee

doi:10.28991/hij-2021-02-04-03

Mohammad Mahdi Mahzoon, Masoud Kharati-Koopaee

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.28991/hij-2021-02-04-03

Copy DOI

Abstract

In this research, the effect of Gurney flap and trailing-edge wedge on the aerodynamic behavior of blunt trailing-edge airfoil Du97-W-300 which is equipped with vortex generator is studied. To do this, the role of Gurney flap and trailing-edge wedge on the lift and drag coefficient and also aerodynamic performance of the airfoil is studied. Validation of the numerical model is performed by comparison of the obtained results with those of experiment. Results show that before stall, Gurney flap leads to the increase in the aerodynamic performance in a wider range of angle of attack. Numerical findings reveal that the maximum increment for the aerodynamic performance is obtained at low angle of attack when trailing-edge wedge is employed. It is found that for the highest considered value of Gurney flap and trailing-edge wedge heights, where the highest values for the lift occur, the higher aerodynamic performance at low angle of attack is obtained when trailing-edge wedge is used and at high angle of attack, the Gurney flap results in a higher aerodynamic performance. It is also shown that when high aerodynamic performance is concerned, addition of Gurney flap to the airfoil leads to the higher value for the lift. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2021-02-04-03 Full Text: PDF

Highlights

Thick airfoils are common in wind turbines as they are subjected to relatively high load in operation
The objective of the current work is to illustrate the change in the lift coefficient, drag coefficient and aerodynamic performance of an airfoil equipped with Vortex Generators (VGs) in the presence of Gurney flap and trailing-edge wedge
The abbreviations V.G and V.G+G.F stand for the equipped airfoil and the equipped airfoil in the presence of Gurney flap, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Thick airfoils are common in wind turbines as they are subjected to relatively high load in operation. The most significant issue associated to the thick airfoils is the drag penalty due to flow separation especially at high angles of attack To overcome this difficulty, Vortex Generators (VGs), which was first introduced by Taylor [1], could be used to mitigate the separation region on the airfoil surface and so increase the airfoils aerodynamic behavior [2,3,4]. Mueller-Vahl et al [6] investigated the effect of VGs size, spanwise spacing and chordwise position of VGs on the aerodynamic behavior They found that a decrease in the adjacent VGs led to an increase in the static stall angle and the maximum obtained lift. Prince et al [9] performed a research to examine the

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion