Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Aerodynamics Research Articles

Some effects of flow expansion on the aerodynamics of horizontal-axis wind turbines

Abstract. The flow upwind of an energy-extracting horizontal-axis wind turbine expands as it approaches the rotor, and the expansion continues in the vorticity-bearing wake behind the rotor. The upwind expansion has long been known to influence the axial momentum equation through the axial component of the pressure, although the extent of the influence has not been quantified. Starting with the impulse analysis of Limacher and Wood (2020), but making no further use of impulse techniques, we derive its exact expression when the rotor is a circumferentially uniform disc. This expression, which depends on the radial velocity and the axial induction factor, is added to the thrust equation containing the pressure on the back of the disc. Removing the pressure to obtain a practically useful equation shows the axial induction in the far wake is twice the value at the rotor only at high tip speed ratio and only if the relationship between vortex pitch and axial induction in non-expanding flow carries over to the expanding case. At high tip speed ratio, we assume that the expanding wake approaches the Joukowsky model of a hub vortex on the axis of rotation and tip vortices originating from each blade. The additional assumption that the helical tip vortices have constant pitch allows a semi-analytic treatment of their effect on the rotor flow. Expansion modifies the relation between the pitch and induced axial velocity so that the far-wake area and induction are significantly less than twice the values at the rotor. There is a moderate decrease – about 6 % – in the power production, and a similar size error occurs in the familiar axial momentum equation involving the axial velocity.

Unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of a horizontal wind turbine under yaw and dynamic yawing

Horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) often works under yaw due to the stochastic variation of wind direction. Yaw also can be used as one of control methods for load reduction and wake redirection of HAWT. Thus, the aerodynamic performance under yaw is very important to the design of HAWT. For further insight into the highly unsteady characteristics aerodynamics of HAWT under yaw, this paper investigates the unsteady variations of the aerodynamic performance of a small wind turbine under static yawed and yawing process with sliding grid method, as well as the there-dimensional effect on the unsteady characteristics, using unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) simulations. The simulation results are validated with experimental data and blade element momentum (BEM) results. The comparisons show that the CFD results have better agreement with the experimental data than both BEM results. The wind turbine power decreases according to a cosine law with the increase of yaw angle. The torque under yaw shows lower frequency fluctuations than the non-yawed condition due to velocity component of rotation and the influence of spinner. Dynamic yawing causes larger fluctuate than static yaw, and the reason is analyzed. The aerodynamic fluctuation becomes more prominent in the retreating side than that in the advancing side for dynamic yawing case. Variations of effective angle of attack and aerodynamic forces along the blade span are analyzed. The biggest loading position moves from middle span to outer span with the increase of yaw angle. Three-dimensional stall effect presents load fluctuations at the inner board of blade, and becomes stronger with the increase of yaw angle.

Prediction of optimum section pitch angle distribution along wind turbine blades

In this paper, the boost in electrical energy production of horizontal-axis wind turbines with fixed rotor speed is studied. To achieve this, a new innovative algorithm is proposed and justified to predict a distribution of section pitch angle along wind turbine blades that corresponds to the maximum power extraction in the installation site. A code is developed based on the blade element momentum theory which incorporates different corrections such as the tip loss correction. This aerodynamic code is capable of accurately predicting the aerodynamics of horizontal-axis wind turbines.

Experimental study of the effect of turbulence on horizontal axis wind turbine aerodynamics

AbstractIncident flows on wind turbines are often highly turbulent, because these devices operate in the atmospheric boundary layer and often in the wake of other wind turbines. This article presents experimental investigations of the effects of a high turbulence level on wind turbine aerodynamics. Power and thrust are measured on a horizontal axis wind turbine model in the ‘Lucien Malavard’ wind tunnel. A grid is used to generate three turbulence levels (4·4%, 9% and 12%) with integral length scale of the order of magnitude of the chord length. Experiments show little effect of turbulence on the wind turbine model power and thrust. This can be justified by analysis of the aerodynamic loads along the blade. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Comparison of Wind Tunnel Airfoil Performance Data With Wind Turbine Blade Data

Horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) performance is usually predicted by using wind tunnel airfoil performance data in a blade element momentum theory analysis. This analysis assumes that the rotating blade airfoils will perform as they do in the wind tunnel. However, when stall-regulated HAWT performance is measured in full-scale operation, it is common to find that peak power levels are significantly greater than those predicted. Pitch-controlled rotors experience predictable peak power levels because they do not rely on stall to regulate peak power. This has led to empirical corrections to the stall predictions. Viterna and Corrigan (1981) proposed the most popular version of this correction. But very little insight has been gained into the basic cause of this discrepancy. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), funded by the DOE, has conducted the first phase of an experiment which is focused on understanding the basic fluid mechanics of HAWT aerodynamics. Results to date have shown that unsteady aerodynamics exist during all operating conditions and dynamic stall can exist for high yaw angle operation. Stall hysteresis occurs for even small yaw angles and delayed stall is a very persistent reality in all operating conditions. Delayed stall is indicated by a leading edge suction peak which remains attached through angles of attack (AOA) up to 30 degrees. Wind tunnel results show this peak separating from the leading edge at 18 deg AOA. The effect of this anomaly is to raise normal force coefficients and tangent force coefficients for high AOA. Increased tangent forces will directly affect HAWT performance in high wind speed operation. This report describes pressure distribution data resulting from both wind tunnel and HAWT tests. A method of bins is used to average the HAWT data which is compared to the wind tunnel data. The analysis technique and the test set-up for each test are described.

Some effects of finite solidity on the aerodynamics of horizontal-axis wind turbines

This paper describes an exploratory, computational study of the effects of local solidity on the aerodynamics of a horizontal-axis wind turbine. The parameters governing the path of the trailing vorticity in the crude model employed were chosen to match the circulation measured behind a two-bladed model turbine by previous workers. Traditional blade element theory, which assumes two-dimensional aerofoil characteristics, significantly underestimated the measured circulation at high angles of incidence. The calculations suggest that the major departure from two-dimensional behaviour is a reduction in the surface vorticity near the leading edge due to the trailing vorticity of a blade. This reduction, which is a consequence of finite local solidity, appears sufficient to prevent boundary layer separation at angles at which this would occur for two-dimensional flow. The magnitude of the reduction decreases as the angle of incidence is reduced. The results suggest that the optimization of wind turbine design will require fully three-dimensional modelling.