Abstract
Two techniques that improve the aerodynamic performance of wind turbine airfoils are described. The airfoil S809, designed specially for wind turbine blades, and the airfoil FX60-100, having a higher lift-drag ratio, are selected to verify the flow control techniques. The flow deflector, fixed at the leading edge, is employed to control the boundary layer separation on the airfoil at a high angle of attack. The multi-island genetic algorithm is used to optimize the parameters of the flow deflector. The results indicate that the flow deflector can suppress the flow separation, delay the stall, and enhance the lift. The characteristics of the blade tip vortex, the wake vortex, and the surface pressure distributions of the blades are analyzed. The vortex diffuser, set up at the blade tip, is employed to control the blade tip vortex. The results show that the vortex diffuser can increase the total pressure coefficient of the core of the vortex, decrease the strength of the blade tip vortex, lower the noise, and improve the efficiency of the blade.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Grasso, F. Usage of numerical optimization in wind turbine airfoil design. 28th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, Chicago, 2010–4404 (2010)
Chang, T. L., Rachman, A., and Tsai, H. M. Flow control of an airfoil via injection and suction. Journal of Aircraft, 46(1), 291–300 (2009)
Vojin, R. N. Effect of gurney flap relative span on lift, drag, and trailing vortex of a rectangular wing. 25th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, New Orleans, 2007–4177 (2007)
Li, Y. H., Wu, Y., and Zhang, P. Experimental investigation on airfoil stall separation suppression by plasma actuation (in Chinese). Acta Aerodynamica Sinica, 26(3), 372–377 (2008)
Zhou, L. S., Ming, X., and Bai, Y. L. Wing stall control by flow deflector (in Chinese). Acta Aerodynamica Sinica, 29(1), 20–25 (2011)
Hansen, M. O. L. Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines, China Power Press, Beijing (2009)
Johasen, J., Gauna, M., and Sorensen, N. Increased aerodynamic efficiency on wind turbine rotor using winglets. 26th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, Hawaii, 2008–6728 (2008)
Dong, X. Q. Investigation of fluid field in wind turbine with tip vane (in Chinese). Journal of Engineering Thermophysics, 30(10), 1162–1164 (2009)
Yu, Y. S. The structure of wingtip vortex and investigation for the method of wingtip vortex control (in Chinese). Acta Aerodynamica Sinica, 17(4), 405–412 (1999)
Ming, X. Drag reduction of a civil aircraft by wing tip devices. Sixth Asian Conference of Fluid Mechanics, Singapore (1995)
Butterfield, C. P., George, S., and Walt, M. Comparison of wind tunnel airfoil performance data with wind turbine blade data. ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 114, 119–124 (1992)
Huang, L., Huang, G., and Raymond, L. Optimization of airfoil flow control using a genetic algorithm with diversity control. Journal of Aircraft, 44(4), 1337–1349 (2007)
Han, Z. Z. and Wang, J. Fluent Example and Application of Flow Engineering Simulation (in Chinese), Beijing Institute of Technology press, Beijing (2004)
Su, S. Y. Design and Operation of Wind Turbine (in Chinese), China Power Press, Beijing (2003)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2007CB714600)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bai, Yl., Ma, Xy. & Ming, X. Lift enhancement of airfoil and tip flow control for wind turbine. Appl. Math. Mech.-Engl. Ed. 32, 825–836 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10483-011-1462-8
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10483-011-1462-8