Presence Of Leading Edge Vortex Research Articles

The wind tunnel test research on the aerodynamic stability of wind turbine airfoils

The issue of nonlinear aerodynamic stability of blades is a significant technological bottleneck in the development of large-scale wind turbines. In order to explore the influencing parameters and mechanisms of the nonlinear aerodynamic stability of large-scale wind turbine blades, the flexible blade was simplified into a two-dimensional rigid blade segment with elastic supports, which formed the pitch single-degree-of-freedom aeroelastic wind tunnel test system. Through wind tunnel vibration and pressure measurement synchronization tests, the torsional vibration characteristics and the flow field development mechanism of the airfoil under different wind speeds and attack angles were studied in detail. The wind tunnel tests revealed two distinct torsional aeroelastic behaviors: the static equilibrium state with negligible amplitude and high vibrational randomness, and the stall flutter state with larger amplitude, which was changed according to sinusoidal law substantially. The stall flutter state was confined within a specific wind speed range, and its stability boundary, which included the critical initiation wind speed and the critical cessation wind speed, all varied linearly with the installation attack angle. The growth rate of the critical cessation wind speed with the installation attack angle was significantly higher than that of the critical initiation wind speed, making the wind speed range for the occurrence of stall flutter also linearly larger. Additionally, the frequency of the stall flutter was significantly higher than the natural frequency of the model, and it exhibited a positive correlation with the critical initiation wind speed. The flow state around the airfoil during stall flutter was primarily distinguished from its static counterpart by the presence of leading-edge vortices. The formation and shedding of these leading-edge vortices would significantly influence the characteristics of stall flutter.

Unsteady thrust, lift and moment of a two-dimensional flapping thin airfoil in the presence of leading-edge vortices: a first approximation from linear potential theory

The effect of a leading-edge vortex (LEV) on the lift, thrust and moment of a two-dimensional heaving and pitching thin airfoil is analysed within the unsteady linear potential theory. First, general expressions that take into account the effect of any set of unsteady point vortices interacting with the oscillating foil and unsteady wake are derived. Then, a simplified analysis, based on the Brown–Michael model, of the initial stages of the growing LEV from the sharp leading edge during each half-stroke is used to obtain simple expressions for its main contribution to the unsteady lift, thrust and moment. It is found that the LEV contributes to the aerodynamic forces and moment provided that a pitching motion exists, while its effect is negligible, in the present approximation, for a pure heaving motion, and for some combined pitching and heaving motions with large phase shifts which are also characterized in the present work. In particular, the effect of the LEV is found to decrease with the distance of the pivot point from the trailing edge. Further, the time-averaged lift and moment are not modified by the growing LEVs in the present approximation, and only the time-averaged thrust force is corrected, decreasing slightly in most cases in relation to the linear potential results by an amount proportional to$a_{0}^{2}k^{3}$for large$k$, where$k$is the reduced frequency and$a_{0}$is the pitching amplitude. The time-averaged input power is also modified by the LEV in the present approximation, so that the propulsion efficiency changes by both the thrust and the power, these corrections being relevant only for pivot locations behind the midchord point. Finally, the potential results modified by the LEV are compared with available experimental data.