Flow Curvature Effects on Darrieus Turbine Blade Aerodynamics

1980 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Migliore ◽  
W. P. Wolfe ◽  
J. B. Fanucci
Author(s):  
Alessandro Bianchini ◽  
Francesco Balduzzi ◽  
Giovanni Ferrara ◽  
Lorenzo Ferrari

The assessment of robust CFD techniques is casting new light on the aerodynamics of airfoils rotating around an axis orthogonal to flow direction, with particular reference to flow curvature effects and stall mechanisms. In particular, Darrieus wind turbines’ designers are taking profit from these new discovers to improve the aerodynamic design of the rotors, in view of an increase of the overall efficiency and a reduction of the structural stresses on the blades. A controversial design parameter for Darrieus turbines, especially in case of small-size rotors, is represented by the location of the blade-spoke connection along the chord. The most common solution is indeed to place the connection at approximately airfoil’s quarter chord, i.e. where the pressure center is commonly located for low incidence angles. In some cases, however, the blade is connected at middle chord due to symmetry or aesthetic reasons. In some small turbines, innovative designs have even disregarded this parameter. Even if one can argue that the blade connection point is about to have some aerodynamic effects on the turbine’s performance, the real impact of this important design parameter is often not fully understood. The present study makes use of extensive CFD simulations on a literature case study, using a NACA 0021 airfoil, to assess the influence of the blade-spoke connection point. In particular, the differences in terms of power coefficient curve of the turbine, optimal tip-speed ratio, torque profiles and stresses on the connection are analyzed and discussed. Detailed flow analyses are also shown for azimuthal positions of particular interest. Results on the selected case study showed that the middle-chord blade-spoke connection point seems to guarantee a higher performance of the rotor, even if additional solicitation is applied to the connection itself. It is further shown that the same performance can indeed be obtained with the airfoil attached at quarter chord and properly pitched. By doing so, the stresses are contained and the performance is maximized.


Author(s):  
Francesco Balduzzi ◽  
Alessandro Bianchini ◽  
Riccardo Maleci ◽  
Giovanni Ferrara ◽  
Lorenzo Ferrari

Darrieus wind turbines are experiencing a renewed interest in the wind energy scenario, in particular whenever small and medium-size installations are considered. In these contexts, the average wind speeds are generally quite low due to scale effects and therefore the most exploited design choices for the turbines are the H-shape configuration, as the entire blade can take advantage of the maximum rotational radius, and high chord to radius ratios, in order to ensure suitable Reynolds numbers on the airfoils. By doing so, the aerodynamic effects induced by the motion of the airfoils in a curved flowpath become more evident and the airfoils themselves have to be designed to compensate these phenomena if conventional design tools based on the BEM theory are used. In this study, fully unsteady 2D simulations were exploited to analyze a three-bladed H-Darrieus wind turbine in order to define the real flow structure and its effects on the turbine performance; in detail, the influence of both the virtual camber and the virtual incidence were investigated. CFD results were supported by experimental data collected on full-scale models reproducing two different airfoil mountings. Finally, the proper design criteria to compensate these phenomena are proposed and their benefits on a conventional simulation with a BEM approach are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob D. Moore ◽  
Christopher Yoon ◽  
David G. Bogard

Abstract Surface curvature has been shown to have significant effects on the film cooling performance of round holes, but the literature include few studies of its effects on shaped holes despite their prevalence in gas turbines. Experiments were performed using two rows of holes placed on the suction side of a scaled-up turbine blade in a low Mach number linear cascade wind tunnel with low freestream turbulence. The rows were placed in regions of high and low convex surface curvature. Geometries and flow conditions for the rows were matched to those from previous flat plate studies. Comparison of the adiabatic effectiveness results from the high curvature and flat plate rows revealed the same trends as those in the literature using round holes, with increased performance for the high curvature row at lower blowing ratios and the opposite at higher ones. The low curvature row had similar performance to the flat plate row at lower blowing ratios, suggesting the mild convex curvature had little beneficial effect. At higher blowing ratios, the low curvature row had inferior performance, which was attributed to the local freestream adverse pressure gradient that generated additional turbulence, promoting jet-to-mainstream mixing and decreasing performance.


1985 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 991-997 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Camci ◽  
T. Arts

This paper deals with an experimental investigation of heat transfer across the suction side of a high-pressure, film-cooled gas turbine blade and with an attempt to numerically predict this quantity both with and without film cooling. The measurements were performed in the VKI isentropic compression tube facility under well-simulated gas turbine conditions. Data measured in a stationary frame, with and without film cooling, are presented. The predictions of convective heat transfer, including streamwise curvature effects, are compared with the measurements. A new approach to determine the augmented mixing lengths near the ejection holes on a highly convex wall is discussed and numerical results agree well with experimentally determined heat transfer coefficients in the presence of film cooling.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. L. Holloway ◽  
S. A. Ebrahimi-Sabet

Turbulent heat fluxes were measured far downstream of a fine heating wire stretched spanwise across a curved, uniform shear flow. The turbulence was approximately homogeneous and the overheat small enough to be passive. Strong destabilizing and stabilizing curvature effects were produced by directing the shear toward the center of curvature and away from the center of curvature, respectively. The dimensionless turbulent shear stress was strongly affected by the flow curvature, but the dimensionless components of the turbulent heat flux were found to be relatively insensitive.


Author(s):  
Sander van der Horst ◽  
Jelmer E. van de Wiel ◽  
Carlos Simao Ferreira ◽  
Nestór Ramos García

2014 ◽  
Vol 137 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Balduzzi ◽  
Alessandro Bianchini ◽  
Riccardo Maleci ◽  
Giovanni Ferrara ◽  
Lorenzo Ferrari

Darrieus wind turbines are experiencing a renewed interest in the wind energy scenario, in particular, whenever small and medium-size installations are considered. In these contexts, the average wind speeds are generally quite low due to scale effects and therefore the most exploited design choices for the turbines are the H-shape configuration, as the entire blade can take advantage of the maximum rotational radius, and high chord to radius ratios, in order to ensure suitable Reynolds numbers on the airfoils. By doing so, the aerodynamic effects induced by the motion of the airfoils in a curved flowpath become more evident and the airfoils themselves have to be designed to compensate these phenomena if conventional design tools based on the blade element momentum (BEM) theory are used. In this study, fully unsteady 2D simulations were exploited to analyze a three-bladed H-Darrieus wind turbine in order to define the real flow structure and its effects on the turbine performance; in detail, the influence of both the virtual camber and the virtual incidence were investigated. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results were supported by experimental data collected on full-scale models reproducing two different airfoil mountings. Finally, the proper design criteria to compensate these phenomena are proposed and their benefits on a conventional simulation with a BEM approach are discussed.


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