New airfoils for micro horizontal-axis wind turbines

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.

Programa de Cómputo para Estimar el Rendimiento de una Hélice Empleando una Corrección por Número de Mach a la Teoría Combinada

En este trabajo se propone una corrección empírica por número de Mach a la teoría combinada para hélices y se describe el programa de cómputo desarrollado para determinar el comportamiento de la misma. El programa requiere como datos de entrada la geometría de la hélice y los coeficientes aerodinámicos en función del número de Mach de los perfiles de la pala de la hélice. Éste calcula los coeficientes aerodinámicos y las velocidades inducidas de cada elemento de pala empleando la teoría combinada, corrige los coeficientes aerodinámicos por efecto de compresibilidad y calcula la eficiencia, así como los coeficientes de tracción y de potencia de la hélice para diferentes velocidades de avance y, finalmente, los presenta en forma gráfica. Se observa que los resultados obtenidos con la teoría combinada corregida por número de Mach fueron satisfactorios ya que se aproximan más a los resultados experimentales que la teoría combinada simple. This work proposes an empirical correction by Mach number to the BEM (Blade-Element Momentum) Theory for propellers and describes the software developed to determine the behavior of it. The input for the software is the geometry of the propeller and the aerodynamic coefficient in function of the Mach number for the airfoils used for the propeller chosen. The software calculates the aerodynamic coefficients and the induced velocities at each station of the blade of the propeller using the BEM theory, then corrects these coefficients by the effect of compressibility and calculates the efficiency, the traction and power coefficients for a range of forward velocities, and finally presents a graph with the results obtained. We can observe that the results obtain are satisfactory comparing with the experimental results and obtaining lower difference error by this method than with the simple BEM theory.

Design and optimization of a small horizontal axis wind turbine using BEM theory and tip loss corrections

In this paper, an optimization approach of a small horizontal axis wind turbine based on BEM theory including De Vries and Shen et al. tip loss corrections is proposed. The optimal blade geometry was obtained by maximizing the power coefficient along the blade using the optimal angle of attack and the optimal tip speed ratio. The Newton’s iterative method applied to axial induction factor was used to solve the problem. This study was conducted for a NACA4418 small wind turbine, at low wind velocity. Among the two used tip loss corrections, the De Vries correction was found to be the most suitable for this blade optimization method. The optimal design was obtained for a tip speed ratio of 5 and has recorded a power coefficient equal to 0.463.

An Actuator Allocation Method for a Variable-Pitch Propeller System of Quadrotor-Based UAVs

This paper presents a control allocation method for enhancing the attitude following performance and the energy efficiency of a variable-pitch propeller (VPP) system on quadrotor-based unmanned aerial vehicles. The VPP system was modeled according to the blade element momentum (BEM) theory, and an actuator allocation method was developed with the aim of enhancing the attitude control and energy performance. A simulation environment was built to validate the VPP system by creating a thrust and moment database from the experiments. A four-motor variable-pitch quadrotor was built for verifying the proposed method. The control allocation method was firstly verified in a simulation environment, and was then implemented in a flight controller for indoor flight experiments. The simulation results show the proposed control allocation method greatly improves the yaw following performance. The experimental results demonstrate a difference in the energy consumption through various pitch angles, as well as a reduction in energy consumption, by applying this VPP system.

A numerical study about the flight of the dragonfly: 2D gliding and 3D hovering regimes

The dragonfly’s ability of gliding and performing dexterous maneuvers during flight attracts the interest of scientists and engineers who aim at replicating its performances in micro air vehicles. The great efficiency of its flight is achieved thanks to the vortices generated by wing movements and thanks to the corrugations on their surfaces. The high freedom of control of each wing has been proved to be the secret behind the dragonfly capability to carry out incredible flight manoeuvers. The study presented in this paper analyzes two of the most common flight regimes of the dragonfly. Firstly, some CFD simulations of gliding are performed and drag and lift coefficients have been calculated, showing a good match with experimental data found in literature. Then, hovering has been studied using a methodology inspired to the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory, which is usually applied in the context of wind turbines design. The lift force calculated with this simulation corresponds to the weight of dragonfly, suggesting the correctness of this analysis.

Geometrical Design of a Rotor Blade for a Small Scale Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

In the present study, Blade Element Momentum theory (BEMT) has been implemented to heuristically design a rotor blade for a 2kW Fixed Pitch Fixed Speed (FPFS) Small Scale Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (SSHAWT). Critical geometrical properties viz. Sectional Chord ci and Twist distribution θTi for the idealized, optimized and linearized blades are analytically determined for various operating conditions. Results obtained from BEM theory demonstrate that the average sectional chord ci and twist distribution θTi of the idealized blade are 20.42% and 14.08% more in comparison with optimized blade. Additionally, the employment of linearization technique further reduced the sectional chord ci and twist distribution θTi of the idealized blade by 17.9% and 14% respectively, thus achieving a viable blade bounded by the limits of economic and manufacturing constraints. Finally, the study also reveals that the iteratively reducing blade geometry has an influential effect on the solidity of the blade that in turn affects the performance of the wind turbine.

Tuning turbine rotor design for very large wind farms

A new theoretical method is presented for future multi-scale aerodynamic optimization of very large wind farms. The new method combines a recent two-scale coupled momentum analysis of ideal wind turbine arrays with the classical blade-element-momentum (BEM) theory for turbine rotor design, making it possible to explore some potentially important relationships between the design of rotors and their performance in a very large wind farm. The details of the original two-scale momentum model are described first, followed by the new coupling procedure with the classical BEM theory and some example solutions. The example solutions, obtained using a simplified but still realistic NREL S809 aerofoil performance curve, illustrate how the aerodynamically optimal rotor design may change depending on the farm density. It is also shown that the peak power of the rotors designed optimally for a given farm (i.e. ‘tuned' rotors) could be noticeably higher than that of the rotors designed for a different farm (i.e. ‘untuned' rotors) even if the blade pitch angle is allowed to be adjusted optimally during the operation. The results presented are for ideal very large wind farms and a possible future extension of the present work for real large wind farms is also discussed briefly.

Methodology for Calculating Floating Offshore Wind Foundation Internal Loads Using Bladed and a Finite Element Analysis Software

In the recent years, the floating offshore wind industry has developed quickly and most authors are now converging towards the need of a coupled loads analysis using aero-hydro-servo-elastic software on time domain simulations for floating foundations design. Different hydrodynamic theories still exist and their application depends on the floating platform characteristics. The Morison equation and the boundary element method (BEM, not to be confused with the Blade Element Momentum theory) theory approaches are often used in combination on the same platform model, sometimes applied to different elements of the same structure depending on their shape. When using the potential flow theory approach calculating internal distributed loads and later on transferring them to stress for hull design purposes is still a challenge due to the large ammount of load cases needed and the complexity of the structure. Furthermore, accounting for platform flexibility is also difficult in most codes using BEM theory due to the same reasons. Different approaches have been proposed by different authors, and currently there is not a single best industry practice for this. This paper presents a method for accounting for platform flexibility when using BEM theory. A range of methods for the load to stress transfer are also presented and the advantages and disadvantages between them are discussed. The choice of one or another method will depend heavily on the platform structure, and different methods might be used and combined for the same platform depending on the shape of the different elements within it. The different methods presented here involve performing coupled loads analysis using the aero-elastic software Bladed and multiple bodies to represent the floating platform in order to obtain internal loads at different points in the structure, as well as allowing for platform flexiblity modelling. Bladed can model multiple hydrodynamic bodies including the hydrodynamic effects between (e.g. coupled terms in the radiation force). The approach used in the current study is based on a platform modelled with the hydrodynamic loading distributed over independent sections, but originally computed from a single body BEM calculation. This simplification offers significant gains in computational efficiency and is expected to be valid for many types of floating structure, whist still allowing for some platform flexiblity to be modelled. The simulation resultant time series can later on be postprocessed to obtain distributed pressure forces on the platform wetted surface and transfer those onto a Finite Element code. Different options are presented here on how to perform this last step for both extreme and fatigue analysis of the hull structure. A couple of examples are shown using the OC3 spar and OC4 semisubmersible, focusing on a subsection of the structures to demonstrate the methodology.