Blade Forces Research Articles

Modeling, Simulation, Hardware Implementation of a Novel Variable Pitch Control for H-Type Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Abstract It is well known that the fixed pitch vertical axis wind turbine (FP-VAWT) has some disadvantages such as the low start-up torque and inefficient output efficiency. In this paper, the variable pitch vertical axis wind turbine (VP-VAWT) is analyzed to improve the output characteristics of FP-VAWT by discussing the force of the six blade H type vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) under the stationary and rotating conditions using built the H-type VAWT model. First, the force of single blade at variable pitch and fixed pitch is analyzed, respectively. Then, the resultant force of six blades at different pitch is gained. Finally, a variable pitch control method based on a six blade H type VP-VAWT is proposed, moreover, the technical analysis and simulation results validate that the variable pitch method can improve the start-up torque of VAWT, and increase the utilization efficiency of wind energy, and reduce the blade oscillation, as comparable with that of FP-VAWT.

Methods for Improving Lift Force of Wind Turbine Aerofoil Blades during Low Wind Speed Conditions – A Review

Wind energy is one of the promising renewable energy resources. The challenges in utilizing the renewable energy sources are making them reliable with good efficiency. Wind turbine plays a major role in industrial power supply during heavy wind conditions. However, in domestic applications, the small scale wind turbine has major issue of low starting torque due to low wind speed near the ground surface. These conditions make the air motion as laminar flow with the Reynolds number less than 5x105. Hence, in some adverse condition there is a laminar flow separation which increases the drag and consequently reduces the lift force. This paper gives a comprehensive review on the investigations that are being carried out on low Reynolds number regime aerofoil and laminar separation bubble to enhance the lift force especially at low wind speed conditions.

Evaluation of a Blade Force Measurement System for a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Using Load Cells

Unique blade force measurements on an open site straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine have been performed. This paper presents a method for measuring the tangential and normal forces on a 12-kW vertical axis wind turbine prototype with a three-bladed H-rotor. Four single-axis load cells were installed in-between the hub and the support arms on one of the blades. The experimental setup, the measurement principle, together with the necessary control and measurement system are described. The maximum errors of the forces and accompanying weather data that can be obtained with the system are carefully estimated. Measured forces from the four load cells are presented, as well as the normal and tangential forces derived from them and a comparison with theoretical data. The measured torque and bending moment are also provided. The influence of the load cells on the turbine dynamics has also been evaluated. For the aerodynamic normal force, the system provides periodic data in agreement with simulations. Unexpected mechanical oscillations are present in the tangential force, introduced by the turbine dynamics. The measurement errors are of an acceptable size and often depend on the measured variable. Equations are presented for the calculation of measurement errors.

A comparison of nonlinear actuator disk methods for the performance analysis of ducted marine propellers

This paper presents the validation of a generalised semi-analytical actuator disk model as applied to the study of the flow around ducted propellers. The method, which returns the exact solution as a superposition of ring vortex, duly accounts for the rotation of the wake, the convergence of the slipstream, and the nonlinear mutual interaction between the duct and the propeller. Furthermore, it can deal with an arbitrary radial distribution of the load and ducts of general shape. In order to validate the previously mentioned actuator disk model, results obtained through it are compared with those provided by the so-called “CFD actuator disk method”. The latter is a widely diffused tool for the analysis of the flow around open and ducted propellers which models the rotor by means of radial profiles of blade forces distributed over a disk surface. In this paper, evidence has been given of the excellent agreement between the results of the two methods. Thanks to its extremely reduced computational cost the semi-analytical method is well suited to be integrated into design systems based on the repeated analysis scheme of hierarchical type.

Design and optimization of turbine blade preform forging using RSM and NSGA II

Forging is one of the production methods of turbine blades. But, because of the complexities of the blades, they cannot be produced in one stage and using preforms is necessary. In this paper, an extruded elliptical cross section was considered as blade preform, then response surface method and multi-objective genetic algorithm was used to optimize this preform. Maximum filling ratio of the final die and minimum flash volume, forging force and strain variance of final blade were considered as objectives of optimization. Design Expert software was used for design of experiment and optimization. Also Deform-3D software was applied to simulate the forging process. The optimized preform was compared with the preform resulted from conventional preform designing method. Results show that optimization method gives better results than conventional method. Also physical modeling was used for verification of simulation results. Results show simulation results have a good corresponding with experimental results.

ON THE PERFORMANCE OF VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINES IN STEADY WIND UNDER VARIOUS BLADE CAMBER LEVELS

Vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) has been shown to be more suited to small scale power production in the urban environment due to distinct advantages over its horizontal counterpart. Over the last few years, continuous improvement on its aerodynamic performance, either through experimental or numerical analysis, have been carried out by numerous researchers. VAWT performance was investigated using Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling. The influence of camber on steady wind performance was analyzed and the most efficient of all levels of blade camber studied for VAWT application was determined. Various levels of camber were imposed on to a NACA XX25 blade profile, namely: 0.5%; 1.5% (cambered close to the path of rotation); and 2%. Results revealed positive effect of incorporating a positive level of blade camber to VAWT design. The most favorable configuration for the VAWT under study was determined to be the camber level that causes the camber line to coincide with the path of the rotor rotation. The paper presents an in-depth discussion of the flow physics and wake dynamics, for the two wind cases of VAWTs, through flow visualizations and blade force analysis.

Analysis of the sweeped actuator line method

The actuator line method made it possible to describe the near wake of a wind turbine more accurately than with the actuator disk method. Whereas the actuator line generates the helicoidal vortex system shed from the tip blades, the actuator disk method sheds a vortex sheet from the edge of the rotor plane. But with the actuator line come also temporal and spatial constraints, such as the need for a much smaller time step than with actuator disk. While the latter one only has to obey the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy condition, the former one is also restricted by the grid resolution and the rotor tip-speed. Additionally the spatial resolution has to be finer for the actuator line than with the actuator disk, for well resolving the tip vortices. Therefore this work is dedicated to examining a method in between of actuator line and actuator disk, which is able to model the transient behaviour, such as the rotating blades, but which also relaxes the temporal constraint. Therefore a larger time-step is used and the blade forces are swept over a certain area. The main focus of this article is on the aspect of the blade tip vortex generation in comparison with the standard actuator line and actuator disk.

LDV measurement of boundary layer on rotating blade surface in wind tunnel

Wind turbines generate electricity due to extracting energy from the wind. The rotor aerodynamics strongly depends on the flow around blade. The surface flow on the rotating blade affects the sectional performance. The wind turbine surface flow has span-wise component due to span-wise change of airfoil section, chord length, twisted angle of blade and centrifugal force on the flow. These span-wise flow changes the boundary layer on the rotating blade and the sectional performance. Hence, the thorough understanding of blade surface flow is important to improve the rotor performance. For the purpose of clarification of the flow behaviour around the rotor blade, the velocity in the boundary layer on rotating blade surface of an experimental HAWT was measured in a wind tunnel. The velocity measurement on the blade surface was carried out by a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV). As the results of the measurement, characteristics of surface flow are clarified. In optimum tip speed operation, the surface flow on leading edge and r/R=0.3 have large span-wise velocity which reaches 20% of sectional inflow velocity. The surface flow inboard have three dimensional flow patterns. On the other hand, the flow outboard is almost two dimensional in cross sectional plane.

Flow field studies on a micro-air-vehicle-scale cycloidal rotor in forward flight

This paper examines the flow physics and principles of force production on a cycloidal rotor (cyclorotor) in forward flight. The cyclorotor considered here consists of two blades rotating about a horizontal axis, with cyclic pitch angle variation about the blade quarter-chord. The flow field at the rotor mid-span is analyzed using smoke flow visualization and particle image velocimeV are compared with flow fields predicted using 2D CFD and time-averaged force measurements acquired in an open-jet wind tunnel at three advance ratios. It is shown that the experimental flow field is nearly two dimensional at μ = 0.73 allowing for qualitative comparisons to be made with CFD. The incoming flow velocity decreases in magnitude as the flow passes through the retreating (upper) half of the rotor and is attributed to power extraction by the blades. A significant increase in flow velocity is observed across the advancing (lower) half of the rotor. The aerodynamic analysis demonstrates that the blades accelerate the flow through the lower aft region of the rotor, where they operate in a high dynamic pressure environment. This is consistent with CFD-predicted values of instantaneous aerodynamic forces which reveal that the aft section of the rotor is the primary region of force production. Phase-averaged flow field measurements showed two blade wakes in the flow, formed by each of the two blades. Analysis of the blades at several azimuthal positions revealed two significant blade-wake interactions. The locations of these blade-wake interactions are correlated with force peaks in the CFD-predicted instantaneous blade forces and highlight their importance to the generation of lift and propulsive force of the cyclorotor.

Performance analysis of open and ducted wind turbines

In this paper the analysis of the aerodynamic performance of ducted wind turbines is carried out by means of a nonlinear and semi-analytical actuator disk model. It returns the exact solution in an implicit formulation as superposition of ring vortices properly arranged along the duct surface and the wake region. In comparison with similar and previously developed models, the method can deal with ducts of general shape, wake rotation and rotors characterised by radially varying load distributions. Moreover, the nonlinear mutual interaction between the duct and the turbine, and the divergence of the slipstream, which is particularly relevant for heavily loaded rotors, are naturally accounted for. Present results clearly show that a properly ducted wind turbine can swallow a higher mass flow rate than an open turbine with the same rotor load. Consequently, the ducted turbine achieves a higher value of the extracted power. The paper also presents a detailed comparison between the aforementioned nonlinear and semi-analytical actuator disk method and the widely diffused CFD actuator disk method. The latter is based on the introduction of an actuator disk model in a CFD package describing the effects of the rotor through radial profiles of blade forces distributed over a disk surface. A set of reference numerical data, providing the inviscid axisymmetric velocity and pressure field distributions, are generated with controlled accuracy. Owing to an in-depth analysis of the error generated by the semi-analytical method and to the exactness of the solution in its implicit form, the collected data are well-suited for code-to-code validation of existing or newly developed computational methods.

Blade–Row Interactions in a Low Pressure Turbine at Design and Strong Off-Design Operation

In a joint project between the Institute of Aircraft Propulsion Systems (ILA) and MTU Aero Engines, a two-stage low pressure turbine is tested at design and strong off-design conditions. The experimental data taken in the Altitude Test Facility (ATF) aims to study the effect of positive and negative incidence of the second stator vane. A detailed insight and understanding of the blade row interactions at these regimes is sought. Steady and time-resolved pressure measurements on the airfoil as well as inlet and outlet hot-film traverses at identical Reynolds number are performed for the midspan streamline. The results are compared with unsteady multistage computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions. Simulations agree well with the experimental data and allow detailed insights in the time-resolved flow-field. Airfoil pressure field responses are found to increase with positive incidence whereas at negative incidence the magnitude remains unchanged. Different pressure to suction side (SS) phasing is observed for the studied regimes. The assessment of unsteady blade forces reveals that changes in unsteady lift are minor compared to changes in axial force components. These increase with increasing positive incidence. The wake-interactions are predominating the blade responses in all regimes. For the positive incidence conditions, vane 1 passage vortex fluid is involved in the midspan passage interaction, leading to a more distorted three-dimensional (3D) flow field.

Single-blade convective powder mixing: The effect of the blade shape and angle

The objective of this work was to investigate and optimize some of the parameters on which granular flows depend. For this purpose monodisperse particles of two sizes were used: all particles were 10 mm (or 2mm) and half were red and half blue while half of the simulations were performed with 10mm particles and half with 2mm particles. For the first time*, the effects of a blade shape were investigated using the Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations. Three blade shapes were investigated, i.e., concave, convex and straight. Similarly, for the first time the DEM method was used to study the blade force on various sections of the blade (i.e., bottom, middle and top). Mixing performance with respect to the blade shape and blade-rake angle was investigated using Modified Generalized Mean Mixing Index (MGMMI). A wide range of angles, i.e., 40°, 50°, 60°, 70°, 80°, 90°, 100°, 110°, 120°, 130°, 135°, 140° and 150° was used. In addition, velocity profiles for all cases and the effects of blade shape and blade-rake angle on interparticle contact forces were studied as well.

Actuator forces in CFD: RANS and LES modeling in OpenFOAM

Wind turbine wakes are a very challenging topic for scientific computations, but modern CFD frameworks and latest HPC centers allow setting up numerical computations on the wake induced by the wind turbine. The main issues is that the correct modeling of the wake is related to the correct modeling of the interaction between the blade and the incoming flow. The aim of the proposed work is to estimate the aerodynamic forces acting on the blades in order to correctly generate the rotor wake applying equivalent aerodynamic force source on the flow. The definition of a blade forces is done developing a model able to correctly estimate this aerodynamic forces as a function of the local flow seen by the blade during its revolution.

Relevance of aerodynamic modelling for load reduction control strategies of two-bladed wind turbines

A new load reduction concept is being developed for the two-bladed prototype of the Skywind 3.5MW wind turbine. Due to transport and installation advantages both offshore and in complex terrain two-bladed turbine designs are potentially more cost-effective than comparable three-bladed configurations. A disadvantage of two-bladed wind turbines is the increased fatigue loading, which is a result of asymmetrically distributed rotor forces. The innovative load reduction concept of the Skywind prototype consists of a combination of cyclic pitch control and tumbling rotor kinematics to mitigate periodic structural loading. Aerodynamic design tools must be able to model correctly the advanced dynamics of the rotor. In this paper the impact of the aerodynamic modelling approach is investigated for critical operational modes of a two-bladed wind turbine. Using a lifting line free wake vortex code (FVM) the physical limitations of the classical blade element momentum theory (BEM) can be evaluated. During regular operation vertical shear and yawed inflow are the main contributors to periodic blade load asymmetry. It is shown that the near wake interaction of the blades under such conditions is not fully captured by the correction models of BEM approach. The differing prediction of local induction causes a high fatigue load uncertainty especially for two-bladed turbines. The implementation of both cyclic pitch control and a tumbling rotor can mitigate the fatigue loading by increasing the aerodynamic and structural damping. The influence of the time and space variant vorticity distribution in the near wake is evaluated in detail for different cyclic pitch control functions and tumble dynamics respectively. It is demonstrated that dynamic inflow as well as wake blade interaction have a significant impact on the calculated blade forces and need to be accounted for by the aerodynamic modelling approach.Aeroelastic simulations are carried out using the high fidelity multi body simulation software SIMPACK. The aerodynamic loads are calculated using ECN's AeroModule and NREL's BEM code Aerodynl3.

Estimation of exhaust gas aerodynamic force on the variable geometry turbocharger actuator: 1D flow model approach

This paper provides a reliable tool for simulating the effects of exhaust gas flow through the variable turbine geometry section of a variable geometry turbocharger (VGT), on flow control mechanism. The main objective is to estimate the resistive aerodynamic force exerted by the flow upon the variable geometry vanes and the controlling actuator, in order to improve the control of vane angles. To achieve this, a 1D model of the exhaust flow is developed using Navier–Stokes equations. As the flow characteristics depend upon the volute geometry, impeller blade force and the existing viscous friction, the related source terms (losses) are also included in the model. In order to guarantee stability, an implicit numerical solver has been developed for the resolution of the Navier–Stokes problem. The resulting simulation tool has been validated through comparison with experimentally obtained values of turbine inlet pressure and the aerodynamic force as measured at the actuator shaft. The simulator shows good compliance with experimental results.

Discrete and continuum modelling of soil cutting

Both continuum and discrete methods are used to investigate the soil cutting process. The Discrete Element Method (dem) is used for the discrete modelling and the Material-Point Method (mpm) is used for continuum modelling. Mpmis a so-called particle method or meshless finite element method. Standard finite element methods have difficulty in modelling the entire cutting process due to large displacements and deformation of the mesh. The use of meshless methods overcomes this problem. Mpm can model large deformations, frictional contact at the soil-tool interface, and dynamic effects (inertia forces). In granular materials the discreteness of the system is often important and rotational degrees of freedom are active, which might require enhanced theoretical approaches like polar continua. In polar continuum theories, the material points are considered to possess orientations. A material point has three degrees-of-freedom for rigid rotations, in addition to the three classic translational degrees-of-freedom. The Cosserat continuum is the most transparent and straightforward extension of the nonpolar (classic) continuum. Two-dimensional dem and mpm (polar and nonpolar) simulations of the cutting problem are compared to experiments. The drag force and flow patterns are compared using cohesionless corn grains as material. The corn macro (continuum) and micro (dem) properties were obtained from shear and oedometer tests. Results show that the dilatancy angle plays a significant role in the flow of material but has less of an influence on the draft force. Nonpolar mpm is the most accurate in predicting blade forces, blade-soil interface stresses and the position and orientation of shear bands. Polar mpm fails in predicting the orientation of the shear band, but is less sensitive to mesh size and mesh orientation compared to nonpolar mpm. dem simulations show less material dilation than observed during experiments.

Large Eddy Simulation of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Wakes

In this study, large eddy simulation (LES) is combined with a turbine model to investigate the wake behind a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) in a three-dimensional turbulent flow. Two methods are used to model the subgrid-scale (SGS) stresses: (a) the Smagorinsky model; and (b) the modulated gradient model. To parameterize the effects of the VAWT on the flow, two VAWT models are developed: (a) the actuator swept-surface model (ASSM), in which the time-averaged turbine-induced forces are distributed on a surface swept by the turbine blades, i.e., the actuator swept surface; and (b) the actuator line model (ALM), in which the instantaneous blade forces are only spatially distributed on lines representing the blades, i.e., the actuator lines. This is the first time that LES has been applied and validated for the simulation of VAWT wakes by using either the ASSM or the ALM techniques. In both models, blade-element theory is used to calculate the lift and drag forces on the blades. The results are compared with flow measurements in the wake of a model straight-bladed VAWT, carried out in the Institute de Méchanique et Statistique de la Turbulence (IMST) water channel. Different combinations of SGS models with VAWT models are studied, and a fairly good overall agreement between simulation results and measurement data is observed. In general, the ALM is found to better capture the unsteady-periodic nature of the wake and shows a better agreement with the experimental data compared with the ASSM. The modulated gradient model is also found to be a more reliable SGS stress modeling technique, compared with the Smagorinsky model, and it yields reasonable predictions of the mean flow and turbulence characteristics of a VAWT wake using its theoretically-determined model coefficient.

Euler-based throughflow method for inverse design and optimisation of turbomachinery blades

An inviscid model for complete axial flow turbomachinery is adopted, which replaces the blades with throughflow surfaces. The main effects of the real blades on the flow are modelled by blade forces. The inverse method predicts the axisymmetric flow field and throughflow surface geometry for a specified distribution of azimuthal inviscid force. This quantity drives the meridional distribution of rotor shaft power. Euler equations are solved by an implicit upwind finite-volume scheme. The time-marching computation includes an evolutionary equation for each throughflow surface, which is solved by implicit finite differences. Standard optimisation algorithms are used to find distributions of azimuthal force that minimise some sample cost functions. The optimal blade shapes are given by the corresponding geometrical solutions of the inverse problem. Since the cost function evaluation is reduced to an inviscid two-dimensional computation, the entire process is significantly less time-consuming than those based on three-dimensional CFD solvers.

Actuator disc modelling based on aerodynamic data extraction from direct rotor modelling of the NREL Phase VI turbine

Traditional blade element momentum (BEM) methods based on two-dimensional data are unable to accurately predict blade forces and thus are unreliable when used in actuator discs to predict wind turbine wake profiles. This can be circumvented by extracting relevant force and velocity data from direct modelling simulations or experiments, which are almost certainly used in the design process of a wind turbine. Methods developed by Bak et al. in 1999 to extract cross-sectional aerodynamic data from wind turbines included one based on an inverse BEM method, and an actuator disc-based method, which used the exact pressure drop for each specific wind speed to create a model of pressure drop against local velocities. The present work will thus investigate the accuracy of actuator disc models based on direct rotor modelling data, by creating actuator discs through extraction of the induction factors using the methods described earlier, for the NREL Phase VI rotor.

Air-structure coupling features analysis of mining contra-rotating axial flow fan cascade

The interaction between contra-rotating axial flow fan blade and working gas has been studied by means of establishing air-structure coupling control equation and combining Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Computational solid mechanics (CSM). Based on the single flow channel model, the Finite Volume Method was used to make the field discrete. Additionally, the SIMPLE algorithm, the Standard k-ε model and the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian dynamic grids technology were utilized to get the airflow motion by solving the discrete governing equations. At the same time, the Finite Element Method was used to make the field discrete to solve dynamic response characteristics of blade. Based on weak coupling method, data exchange from the fluid solver and the solid solver was processed on the coupling interface. Then interpolation was used to obtain the coupling characteristics. The results showed that the blade's maximum amplitude was on the tip of the last-stage blade and aerodynamic force signal could reflect the blade working conditions to some extent. By analyzing the flow regime in contra-rotating axial flow fan, it could be found that the vortex core region was mainly in the blade surface, the hub and the blade clearance. In those regions, the turbulence intensity was very high. The last-stage blade's operating life is shorter than that of the pre-stage blade due to the fatigue fracture occurs much more easily on the last-stage blade which bears more stress.