A Novel Low Reynolds Number Airfoil Design for Small Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haseeb Shah ◽  
Sathyajith Mathew ◽  
Chee Ming Lim
2012 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 66-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronit K. Singh ◽  
M. Rafiuddin Ahmed ◽  
Mohammad Asid Zullah ◽  
Young-Ho Lee

Author(s):  
Manoj Kumar Chaudhary ◽  
◽  
S. Prakash ◽  

In this study, small horizontal-axis wind turbine blades operating at low wind speeds were optimized. An optimized blade design method based on blade element momentum (BEM) theory was used. The rotor radius of 0.2 m, 0.4 m and 0.6 m and blade geometry with single (W1 & W2) and multistage rotor (W3) was examined. MATLAB and XFoil programs were used to implement to BEM theory and devise a six novel airfoil (NAF-Series) suitable for application of small horizontal axis wind turbines at low Reynolds number. The experimental blades were developed using the 3D printing additive manufacturing technique. The new airfoils such as NAF3929, NAF4420, NAF4423, NAF4923, NAF4924, and NAF5024 were investigated using XFoil software at Reynolds numbers of 100,000. The investigation range included tip speed ratios from 3 to 10 and angle of attacks from 2° to 20°. These parameters were varied in MATLAB and XFoil software for optimization and investigation of the power coefficient, lift coefficient, drag coefficient and lift-to-drag ratio. The cut-in wind velocity of the single and multistage rotors was approximately 2.5 & 3 m/s respectively. The optimized tip speed ratio, axial displacement and angle of attack were 5.5, 0.08m & 6° respectively. The proposed NAF-Series airfoil blades exhibited higher aerodynamic performances and maximum output power than those with the base SG6043 and NACA4415 airfoil at low Reynolds number.


Author(s):  
Mazharul Islam ◽  
M. Ruhul Amin ◽  
Yasir M. Shariff

Selection of airfoil is crucial for better aerodynamic performance and design of aerodynamic applications such as wind turbine and aircrafts. In this paper, a high-lift and low-Reynolds number airfoil has been selected and investigated through computational analysis for applying it for small-sized wind turbines as blades. The S1223 airfoil, designed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was chosen for its high-lift characteristics at low Reynolds number typically encountered by the small wind turbines. CFD work is performed with S1223 airfoil profile over a wide range of conditions of interest to analyze the performance of the airfoil using the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. The results obtained from the simulation works have been compared with experimental data for validation purpose. It has been found that the Spalart-Allmaras model conforms well with the experimental results, though the values of lift coefficients (Cl) are slightly less than the experimental results. In the present analysis, velocity distributions are analyzed at different angle of attacks for different turbulence intensities. It has been observed that there is vortex shedding around the trailing edge of the airfoil for both turbulence levels. It has been observed in the present study that due to increase in turbulence intensity, both the maximum lift coefficient and the stall angle increases significantly. It has been found after investigating the effect of turbulence intensity over lift-to-drag coefficient ratio that it drastically decreases due to increase in turbulence intensity up to certain value (about 3.5%), then it starts decreasing in gradual manner.


2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Marks ◽  
Rolf Sondergaard ◽  
Mitch Wolff ◽  
Rich Anthony

This paper presents experimental work comparing several Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma actuator configurations for low Reynolds number separation control. Actuators studied here are being investigated for use in a closed loop separation control system. The plasma actuators were fabricated in the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate’s thin film laboratory and applied to a low Reynolds number airfoil that exhibits similar suction surface behavior to those observed on Low Pressure (LP) Turbine blades. In addition to typical asymmetric arrangements producing downstream jets, one electrode configurations was designed to produce an array of off axis jets, and one produced a spanwise array of linear vertical jets in order to generate vorticity and improved boundary layer to freestream mixing. The actuators were installed on an airfoil and their performance compared by flow visualization, surface stress sensitive film (S3F), and drag measurements. The experimental data provides a clear picture of the potential utility of each design. Experiments were carried out at four Reynolds numbers, 1.4 × 105, 1.0 × 105, 6.0 × 104, and 5.0 × 104 at a-1.5 deg angle of attack. Data was taken at the AFRL Propulsion Directorate’s Low Speed Wind Tunnel (LSWT) facility.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document