Experimental investigation of Mini Gurney Flaps in combination with vortex generators for improved wind turbine blade performance

This wind tunnel study investigates the aerodynamic effects of Mini Gurney flaps (MGFs) and their combination with vortex generators (VGs) on the performance of airfoils and wind turbine rotor blades. VGs are installed on the suction side aiming at stall delay and increased maximum lift. MGFs are thin angle profiles that are attached at the trailing edge in order to increase lift at pre-stall operation. The implementation of both these passive flow control devices is accompanied by a certain drag penalty. The wind tunnel tests are conducted at the Hermann- Föttinger Institut of the Technische Universität Berlin. Lift is determined with a force balance and drag with a wake rake for static angles of attack from −5° to 17° at a constant Reynolds number of 1.5 million. The impact of different MGF heights including 0.25 %, 0.5 % and 1.0 % and an uniform VG height of 1.1 % of the chord length are tested on three airfoils that are characteristic for different sections of large rotor blades. Furthermore, the clean and the tripped baseline cases are considered. In the latter, leading edge transition is forced by means of Zig Zag (ZZ) turbulator tape. The preferred configurations are the smallest MGF on the NACA63(3)618 and the AH93W174 (mid to tip blade region) and the medium sized MGF combined with VGs on the DU97W300 (root to mid region). Next, the experimental lift and drag polar data is imported into the software QBlade in order to design a generic rotor blade. The blade performance is simulated with and without the add-ons based on two case studies. In the first case, the retrofit application on an existing blade mitigates the adverse effects of the ZZ tape. Stall is delayed and the aerodynamic efficiency is partly recovered leading to an improvement of the power curve. In the second case, the new design application allows for the design of a more slender blade while maintaining the power output. Moreover, the alternative blade appears to be more resistant against forced leading edge transition.

Aerodynamic Characteristics of Airfoil and Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Employed with Gurney Flaps

In the present studies, the effects of Gurney flaps on aerodynamic characteristics of a static airfoil and a rotating vertical axis wind turbine are investigated by means of numerical approaches. First, mesh and time step studies are conducted and the results are validated with experimental data in good agreement. The numerical solutions demonstrate that the usage of Gurney flap increases the airfoil lift coefficient CL with a slight increase in drag coefficient CD. Furthermore, mounting a Gurney flap at the trailing edge of the blade increases the power production of the turbine considerably. Increasing the Gurney flap height further increases the power production. The best performance found is obtained for the maximum height used in this study at 6% relative to the chord. This is in contrast to the static airfoil case, which shows no further improvement for a flap height greater than 0.5%c. Increasing the angle of the flap decreases the power production of the turbine slightly but the load fluctuations could be reduced for the small value of the flap height. The present paper demonstrates that the Gurney flap height for high solidity turbines is allowed to be larger than the classical limit of around 2% for lower solidity turbines.

Aerodynamic effects of Gurney flaps on the rotor blades of a research wind turbine

This paper investigates the aerodynamic impact of Gurney flaps on a research wind turbine of the Hermann-Föttinger Institute at the Technische Universität Berlin. The rotor radius is 1.5 m, and the blade configurations consist of the clean and the tripped baseline cases, emulating the effects of forced leading-edge transition. The wind tunnel experiments include three operation points based on tip speed ratios of 3.0, 4.3, and 5.6, reaching Reynolds numbers of approximately 2.5×105. The measurements are taken by means of three different methods: ultrasonic anemometry in the wake, surface pressure taps in the midspan blade region, and strain gauges at the blade root. The retrofit applications consist of two Gurney flap heights of 0.5 % and 1.0 % in relation to the chord length, which are implemented perpendicular to the pressure side at the trailing edge. As a result, the Gurney flap configurations lead to performance improvements in terms of the axial wake velocities, the angles of attack and the lift coefficients. The enhancement of the root bending moments implies an increase in both the rotor torque and the thrust. Furthermore, the aerodynamic impact appears to be more pronounced in the tripped case compared to the clean case. Gurney flaps are considered a passive flow-control device worth investigating for the use on horizontal-axis wind turbines.

Combined Numerical and Experimental Study on the Use of Gurney Flaps for the Performance Enhancement of NACA0021 Airfoil in Static and Dynamic Conditions

Power augmentation devices in wind energy applications have been receiving increasing interest from both the scientific and the industrial community. In particular, Gurney Flaps (GFs) showed a great potential thanks to the passive functioning, the simple construction and the possibility to add them as a retrofit to existing rotors. Within this context, the authors have performed an extended investigation on the lift increase capabilities of GFs for the well-known NACA 0021 airfoil, which has been used in several wind energy applications up to now. The present paper shows the results of a combined experimental and numerical analysis considering different geometrical configurations of the flaps under both static and dynamic conditions. Experimental data were first obtained for the AoA range of 180 degrees at a Reynolds number of 180 k to analyze the impact of three different geometrical configurations of the GF on the aerodynamic behavior. The geometrical configurations were defined by varying the length of the flap (1.4% and 2.5% of the chord) and its inclination angle with respect to the blade chord (90 degrees and 45 degrees). The experimental investigation involved also dynamic sinusoidal pitching movements at multiple reduced frequencies to evaluate the stall hysteresis cycle. An unsteady CFD numerical model was calibrated against wind tunnel data and then exploited to extend the investigation to a wider range of Reynolds numbers for dynamic AoA rates of change typical of vertical-axis wind turbines, i.e. characterized by higher reduced frequencies with a non-sinusoidal motion law.

Experimental Study on Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Gurney Flap on a Wind Turbine Airfoil under High Turbulent Flow Condition

The objective of the current work is to experimentally investigate the effect of turbulent flow on an airfoil with a Gurney flap. The wind tunnel experiments were performed for the DTU-LN221 airfoil under different turbulence level (T.I. of 0.2%, 10.5% and 19.0%) and various flap configurations. The height of the Gurney flaps varies from 1% to 2% of the chord length; the thickness of the Gurney flaps varies from 0.25% to 0.75% of the chord length. The Gurney flap was vertical fixed on the pressure side of the airfoil at nearly 100% measured from the leading edge. By replacing the turbulence grille in the wind tunnel, measured data indicated a stall delay phenomenon while increasing the inflow turbulence level. By further changing the height and the thickness of the Gurney flap, it was found that the height of the Gurney flap is a very important parameter whereas the thickness parameter has little influence. Besides, velocity in the near wake zone was measured by hot-wire anemometry, showing the mechanisms of lift enhancement. The results demonstrate that under low turbulent inflow condition, the maximum lift coefficient of the airfoil with flaps increased by 8.47% to 13.50% (i.e., thickness of 0.75%), and the Gurney flap became less effective after stall angle. The Gurney flap with different heights increased the lift-to-drag ratio from 2.74% to 14.35% under 10.5% of turbulence intensity (i.e., thickness of 0.75%). However, under much a larger turbulence environment (19.0%), the benefit to the aerodynamic performance was negligible.

Combined Numerical and Experimental Study on the Use of Gurney Flaps for the Performance Enhancement of NACA0021 Airfoil in Static and Dynamic Conditions

The use of power augmentation devices in wind energy applications has been receiving increasing interest from both the scientific and the industrial community. In particular, Gurney Flaps (GFs) showed a great potential thanks to the passive functioning, the simple construction and the possibility to add them as a retrofit to existing rotors. The possibility of having a high quality set of airfoil data for a wide range of both angle of attack (AoA) and Reynolds number is pivotal in the design phase of newly developed machines. Such data are usually available in the technical literature for smooth airfoils, while there is a lack of generalized results in case of airfoils with GFs. Within this context, the authors have performed an extended investigation on the lift increase capabilities of GFs for the well-known NACA 0021 airfoil, which has been used in several wind energy applications up to now. The present paper shows the results of a combined experimental and numerical analysis considering different geometrical configurations of the flaps under both static and dynamic conditions. Experimental data were first obtained for the AoA range of 180 degrees at a low value of Reynolds number (i.e. Re = 180 k) to analyze the impact of three different geometrical configurations of the GF on the aerodynamic behavior for the full range of incidence angles. The geometrical configurations were defined by varying the length of the flap (i.e. 1.4% and 2.5% of the chord length) and its inclination angle with respect to the blade chord (i.e. 90 degrees and 45 degrees). The experimental investigation involved also dynamic sinusoidal pitching movements at multiple reduced frequencies to evaluate the stall hysteresis cycle. Subsequently, an unsteady CFD numerical model was first calibrated against wind tunnel data at low values of the Reynolds number. Then, the virtual model was exploited to extend the investigation to a wider range of Reynolds number for dynamic AoA rates of change typical for example of vertical-axis wind turbines, i.e. characterized by higher reduced frequencies with a non-sinusoidal motion law.