scholarly journals Shape Optimization of NREL S809 Airfoil for Wind Turbine Blades Using a Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yilei He ◽  
Ramesh K. Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Lift Coefficient ◽  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Lift And Drag ◽  
Drag Ratio ◽  
Lift To Drag Ratio

The goal of this paper is to employ a multiobjective genetic algorithm (MOGA) to optimize the shape of a well-known wind turbine airfoil S809 to improve its lift and drag characteristics, in particular to achieve two objectives, that is, to increase its lift and its lift to drag ratio. The commercially available software FLUENT is employed to calculate the flow field on an adaptive structured mesh using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in conjunction with a two-equationk-ωSST turbulence model. The results show significant improvement in both lift coefficient and lift to drag ratio of the optimized airfoil compared to the original S809 airfoil. In addition, MOGA results are in close agreement with those obtained by the adjoint-based optimization technique.

Optimization of Flatback Airfoils for Wind Turbine Blades Using a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Chen ◽  
Ramesh Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Multi Objective ◽  
Artificial Neural Network Ann ◽  
Drag Ratio ◽  
Lift To Drag Ratio ◽  
Single Objective

In recent years, the airfoil sections with blunt trailing edge (called flatback airfoils) have been proposed for the inboard regions of large wind-turbine blades because they provide several structural and aerodynamic performance advantages. In a previous paper, ASME ES2010-90373, we employed a single objective genetic algorithm (GA) for shape optimization of flatback airfoils for generating maximum lift to drag ratio. The computational efficiency of GA was significantly enhanced with an artificial neural network (ANN). The commercially available software FLUENT was employed for calculation of the flow field using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in conjunction with a turbulence model. In this paper, we employ a multi-objective GA to optimize the flatback airfoils to achieve two objectives, namely the generation of maximum lift as well as the maximum lift to drag ratio. It is shown that the multi-objective GA optimization can generate superior flatback airfoils compared to those obtained by using single objective GA algorithm.

scholarly journals Shape Optimization of an Airfoil in Ground Effect for Application to WIG Craft

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yilei He ◽  
Qiulin Qu ◽  
Ramesh K. Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Lift Coefficient ◽  
Ground Effect ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Ansys Fluent ◽  
Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Lift And Drag ◽  
Drag Ratio ◽  
Lift To Drag Ratio

This paper employs a multiobjective genetic algorithm (MOGA) to optimize the shape of a widely used wing in ground (WIG) aircraft airfoil NACA 4412 to improve its lift and drag characteristics, in particular to achieve two objectives, that is, to increase its lift and its lift to drag ratio. The commercial software ANSYS FLUENT is employed to calculate the flow field on an adaptive structured mesh generated by ANSYS ICEM software using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in conjunction with a one equation Spalart-Allmaras (SA) turbulence model. The results show significant improvement in both the lift coefficient and lift to drag ratio of the optimized airfoil compared to the original NACA 4412 airfoil. It is demonstrated that the performance of a wing in ground (WIG) aircraft can be improved by using the optimized airfoil.

Optimization of Flatback Airfoils for Wind Turbine Blades

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Chen ◽  
Ramesh Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Blunt Trailing Edge ◽  
Artificial Neural Network Ann ◽  
Drag Ratio ◽  
Large Wind ◽  
Lift To Drag Ratio

In recent years, the airfoil sections with blunt trailing edge (called flatback airfoils) have been proposed for the inboard regions of large wind-turbine blades because they provide several structural and aerodynamic performance advantages. In this paper, we employ a genetic algorithm (GA) for shape optimization of flatback airfoils for generating maximum lift to drag ratio. The computational efficiency of GA is significantly enhanced with an artificial neural network (ANN). The commercially available software FLUENT is used for calculation of the flow field using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in conjunction with a turbulence model. It is shown that the combined GA/ANN optimization technique is capable of accurately and efficiently finding globally optimal flatback airfoils.

scholarly journals Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of NREL S809 Airfoil for Wind Turbine Blades Using Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes Model—Part II

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2211
Author(s):  
Md Tausif Akram ◽  
Man-Hoe Kim
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Lift Coefficient ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Shape Transformation ◽  
Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes ◽  
Drag Ratio ◽  
Lift To Drag Ratio

Sustainability has become one of the most significant considerations in everyday work, including energy production. The fast-growing trend of wind energy around the world has increased the demand for efficient and optimized airfoils, which has paved the way for energy harvesting systems. The present manuscript proposes an aerodynamically optimized design of the well-known existing NREL S809 airfoil for performance enhancement of the blade design for wind turbines. An integrated code, based on a genetic algorithm, is developed to optimize the asymmetric NREL S809 airfoil by class shape transformation (CST) and the parametric section (PARSEC) parameterization method, analyzing its aerodynamic properties and maximizing the lift of the airfoil. The in-house MATLAB code is further incorporated with XFOIL to calculate the coefficient of lift, coefficient of drag and lift-to-drag ratio at angles of attack of 0° and 6.2° by the panel technique and validated with National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) experimental results provided by The Ohio State University (OSU). On the other hand, steady-state CFD analysis is performed on an optimized S809 airfoil using the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equation with the K–ω shear stress transport (SST) turbulent model and compared with the experimental data. The present method shows that the optimized airfoil by CST is predicted, with an increment of 11.8% and 9.6% for the lift coefficient and lift-to-drag ratio, respectively, and desirable stability parameters obtained for the design of the wind turbine blades. These characteristics significantly improve the overall aerodynamic performance of new optimized airfoils. Finally, the aerodynamically improved results are reported for the design of the NREL Phase II, Phase III and Phase VI HAWT blades.

scholarly journals Experimental study of the effect of a slat on the aerodynamic performance of a thick base airfoil

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Axelle Viré ◽  
Bruce LeBlanc ◽  
Julia Steiner ◽  
Nando Timmer
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Vortex Generators ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Thick Airfoil ◽  
Drag Ratio ◽  
Lift To Drag Ratio

Abstract. There is continuous effort to try and improve the aerodynamic performance of wind turbine blades. This experimental study focusses on the addition of a passive slat on a thick airfoil typically used in the inboard part of commercial wind turbine blades. Nine different slat configurations are considered, with both a clean and tripped main airfoil. The results are compared with the performances of the airfoil without slat, as well as the airfoil equipped with vortex generators. It is found that, when the airfoil is clean, the increase in lift-to-drag ratio due to the presence of a slat is larger than when vortex generators are used. This is also true for the tripped airfoil, but only at small angles of attack. As expected, in all configurations, the presence of the slat delays flow separation and stall. Finally, for a clean airfoil and small angles of attack, the slat decreases the lift-to-drag ratio of the main airfoil only. By contrast, as the angle of attack increases, it seems that the slat changes the flow field around the main airfoil in such a way that its lift-to-drag ratio becomes larger than for the airfoil without slat. These effects are less pronounced when the airfoil is tripped. This work helps to better understand the role of slat in improving the aerodynamics of blade sections. It can also be used to validate simulation tools in the field.

Experimental investigations of flow over NACA airfoils 0021 and 4412 of wind turbine blades with and without Tubercles

2021 ◽  
pp. 0309524X2110071
Author(s):  
Usman Butt ◽  
Shafqat Hussain ◽  
Stephan Schacht ◽  
Uwe Ritschel
Keyword(s):  
Wind Tunnel ◽  
Drag Coefficient ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Critical Region ◽  
Lift Coefficient ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Experimental Investigations ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades

Experimental investigations of wind turbine blades having NACA airfoils 0021 and 4412 with and without tubercles on the leading edge have been performed in a wind tunnel. It was found that the lift coefficient of the airfoil 0021 with tubercles was higher at Re = 1.2×105 and 1.69×105 in post critical region (at higher angle of attach) than airfoils without tubercles but this difference relatively diminished at higher Reynolds numbers and beyond indicating that there is no effect on the lift coefficients of airfoils with tubercles at higher Reynolds numbers whereas drag coefficient remains unchanged. It is noted that at Re = 1.69×105, the lift coefficient of airfoil without tubercles drops from 0.96 to 0.42 as the angle of attack increases from 15° to 20° which is about 56% and the corresponding values of lift coefficient for airfoil with tubercles are 0.86 and 0.7 at respective angles with18% drop.

scholarly journals Design and Analysis of a Wind Turbine Blade with Dimples to Enhance the Efficiency through CFD with ANSYS R16.0

2018 ◽  
Vol 207 ◽  
pp. 02004
Author(s):  
M. Rajaram Narayanan ◽  
S. Nallusamy ◽  
M. Ragesh Sathiyan
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Optimum Combination ◽  
Surface Topology ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Lift And Drag

In the global scenario, wind turbines and their aerodynamics are always subjected to constant research for increasing their efficiency which converts the abundant wind energy into usable electrical energy. In this research, an attempt is made to increase the efficiency through the changes in surface topology of wind turbines through computational fluid dynamics. Dimples on the other hand are very efficient in reducing air drag as is it evident from the reduction of drag and increase in lift in golf balls. The predominant factors influencing the efficiency of the wind turbines are lift and drag which are to be maximized and minimized respectively. In this research, surface of turbine blades are integrated with dimples of various sizes and arrangements and are analyzed using computational fluid dynamics to obtain an optimum combination. The analysis result shows that there is an increase in power with about 15% increase in efficiency. Hence, integration of dimples on the surface of wind turbine blades has helped in increasing the overall efficiency of the wind turbine.

Roughness Sensitivity Considerations for Thick Rotor Blade Airfoils

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 468-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. P. J. O. M. van Rooij ◽  
W. A. Timmer
Keyword(s):  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Lower Surface ◽  
Vortex Generators ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
High Lift ◽  
Edge Roughness ◽  
Proper Design ◽  
Drag Ratio ◽  
Lift To Drag Ratio

In modern wind turbine blades, airfoils of more than 25% thickness can be found at mid-span and inboard locations. At mid-span, aerodynamic requirements dominate, demanding a high lift-to-drag ratio, moderate to high lift and low roughness sensitivity. Towards the root, structural requirements become more important. In this paper, the performance for the airfoil series DU FFA, S8xx, AH, Risø and NACA are reviewed. For the 25% and 30% thick airfoils, the best performing airfoils can be recognized by a restricted upper-surface thickness and an S-shaped lower surface for aft-loading. Differences in performance of the DU 91-W2-250 (25%), S814 (24%) and Risø-A1-24 (24%) airfoils are small. For a 30% thickness, the DU 97-W-300 meets the requirements best. Reduction of roughness sensitivity can be achieved both by proper design and by application of vortex generators on the upper surface of the airfoil. Maximum lift and lift-to-drag ratio are, in general, enhanced for the rough configuration when vortex generators are used. At inboard locations, 2-D wind tunnel tests do not represent the performance characteristics well because the influence of rotation is not included. The RFOIL code is believed to be capable of approximating the rotational effect. Results from this code indicate that rotational effects dramatically reduce roughness sensitivity effects at inboard locations. In particular, the change in lift characteristics in the case of leading edge roughness for the 35% and 40% thick DU airfoils, DU 00-W-350 and DU 00-W-401, respectively, is remarkable. As a result of the strong reduction of roughness sensitivity, the design for inboard airfoils can primarily focus on high lift and structural demands.

A Review of Wind Turbine Polar Data and its Effect on Fatigue Loads Simulation Accuracy

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Lennie ◽  
Georgios Pechlivanoglou ◽  
David Marten ◽  
Christian Navid Nayeri ◽  
Oliver Paschereit
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Turbulence Models ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Sensitivity Study ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Simulation Code ◽  
Simulation Accuracy ◽  
Inflow Turbulence ◽  
Lift And Drag

To certify a Wind Turbine the standard processes set out by the GL guidelines and the IEC61400 demand a large number of simulations in order to justify the safe operation of the machine in all reasonably probable scenarios. The result of this rather demanding process is that the simulations rely on lower fidelity methods such as the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) method. The BEM method relies on a number of simplified inputs including the coefficient of lift and drag polar data (usually referred to as polars). These polars are usually either measured experimentally, generated using tools such as XFoil or, in some cases obtained using 2D CFD. It is typical to then modify these polars in order to make them suitable for aeroelastic simulations. Some of these modifications include 360° angle of attack extrapolation methods and polar modifications to account for 3D effects. Many of these modifications can be perceived to be a black art due to the manual selection of coefficients. The polars can misrepresent reality for many reasons, for example, inflow turbulence can affect measurements obtained in wind tunnels. Furthermore, on real wind turbine blades leading edge erosion can reduce performance. Simulated polars can even vary significantly due to the choice of turbulence models. Stack these effects on top of the uncertainties caused by yaw error, pitch error and dynamic stall and one can clearly see an operating environment hostile to accurate simulations. Colloquial evidence suggests that experienced designers would account for all of these sources of errors methodically, however, this is not reflected by the certification process. A review of experimental data and literature was performed to identify some of the inaccuracies in wind turbine polars. Significant variations were found between a range of 2D polar techniques and wind tunnel measurements. A sensitivity study was conducted using the aeroelastic simulation code FAST (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) with lift and drag polars sourced using different methods. The results were post-processed to give comparisons the rotor blade fatigue damage; variations in accumulated damages reached levels of 164%. This variation is not disastrous but is certainly enough to motivate a new approach for certifying the aerodynamic performance of wind turbines. Such an approach would simply see the source of polar data and all post-processing steps documented and included in the checks performed by certification bodies.

scholarly journals Bionic Design of Wind Turbine Blade Based on Long-Eared Owl’s Airfoil

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weijun Tian ◽  
Zhen Yang ◽  
Qi Zhang ◽  
Jiyue Wang ◽  
Ming Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Lift Coefficient ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Lower Surface ◽  
Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽  
Wind Turbine Blade ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Bionic Design ◽  
Bionic Blade

The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a bionic design for the airfoil of wind turbines inspired by the morphology of Long-eared Owl’s wings. Glauert Model was adopted to design the standard blade and the bionic blade, respectively. Numerical analysis method was utilized to study the aerodynamic characteristics of the airfoils as well as the blades. Results show that the bionic airfoil inspired by the airfoil at the 50% aspect ratio of the Long-eared Owl’s wing gives rise to a superior lift coefficient and stalling performance and thus can be beneficial to improving the performance of the wind turbine blade. Also, the efficiency of the bionic blade in wind turbine blades tests increases by 12% or above (up to 44%) compared to that of the standard blade. The reason lies in the bigger pressure difference between the upper and lower surface which can provide stronger lift.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document