Numerical investigation on the exergetic performance of NREL airfoil families for wind turbine application Online publication date: Sat, 07-Nov-2015
by Seyed Mehdi Mortazavi; Siavash Sobhgahi
International Journal of Exergy (IJEX), Vol. 18, No. 4, 2015
Abstract: Increment of extracting wind energy efficiency via wind turbines substantially depends on a consummate understanding of the process of conversion of wind energy to useful work. In this study, the performances of three different National Renewable Energy Laboratory airfoil families are numerically investigated using a 2D incompressible unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver and exergy analysis. The results indicate that the flow conditions possessing highest magnitudes of lift force do not obligatory represent the topmost exergetic efficiency; furthermore, it is concluded that the most exergetic effective flow condition can represent lowest drag to lift ratio. Dissipated exergy evaluation is demonstrated to assists defining how much of the inlet exergy would remain available in downstream. The results of an exergy analysis provide influential insights over different aspects of flow over airfoils and can be useful in wind engineering.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Exergy (IJEX):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook