Title: Aerodynamics of airfoil sections and their influence on wind turbine design and performance

Authors: Mohammad Abdelrahman; Atef Hassanein

Addresses: Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), 50728, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ' Aerospace Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

Abstract: The primary goal of this work is to reflect the effectiveness of the aerodynamic characteristics of blade airfoil-sections on the design and overall performance predictions of the horizontal-axis wind turbines. A post-stall model has been introduced and used throughout the work to secure reliable data in a wide range of angles of attack. It has been found that the general performance requirement of such airfoils is to exhibit a maximum lift-coefficient which is relatively insensitive to roughness effects and to have a low minimum drag coefficient and/or a high lift/drag ratio. The contribution of these parameters at the blade-tip region is very high and almost equal to the contributions of the mid and root regions together. Consequently, the airfoil section should be designed/selected according to its location along the blade to ensure its highest contribution to the overall performance of the rotor.

Keywords: low speed airfoils; horizontal-axis wind turbines; wind energy; wind power; wind turbine performance; wind turbine design; aerodynamics; turbine blades; rotor performance; post-stall modelling; angles of attack; lift coefficient; drag coefficient; lift-drag ratio; airfoil sections.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESMS.2012.048661

International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation, 2012 Vol.4 No.3, pp.113 - 119

Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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