Assessment of the performance of various airfoil sections on power generation from a wind turbine using the blade element momentum theory

Xiaomin Chen, Ramesh Agarwal

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

It is well established that the power generated by a Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) is a function of the number of blades B, the tip speed ratio λ (blade tip speed/wind free stream velocity) and the lift to drag ratio (CL /CD) of the airfoil sections of the blade. The airfoil sections used in HAWT are generally thick airfoils such as the S, DU, FX, Flat-back and NACA 6-series of airfoils. These airfoils vary in (CL /CD) for a given B and λ, and therefore the power generated by HAWT for different blade airfoil sections will vary. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the effect of different airfoil sections on HAWT performance using the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory. In this study, we employ DU 91-W2-250, FX 66-S196-V1, NACA 64421, and Flat-back series of airfoils (FB-3500-0050, FB-3500-0875, and FB-3500-1750) and compare their performance with S809 airfoil used in NREL Phase II and III wind turbines; the lift and drag coefficient data for these airfoils sections are available. The output power of the turbine is calculated using these airfoil section blades for a given B and λ and is compared with the original NREL Phase II and Phase III turbines using S809 airfoil section. It is shown that by a suitable choice of airfoil section of HAWT blade, the power generated by the turbine can be significantly increased. Parametric studies are also conducted by varying the turbine rotor diameter.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationASME 2013 7th Int. Conf. on Energy Sustainability Collocated with the ASME 2013 Heat Transfer Summer Conf. and the ASME 2013 11th Int. Conf. on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology, ES 2013
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013
EventASME 2013 7th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, ES 2013 Collocated with the ASME 2013 Heat Transfer Summer Conference and the ASME 2013 11th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology - Minneapolis, MN, United States
Duration: Jul 14 2013Jul 19 2013

Publication series

NameASME 2013 7th Int. Conf. on Energy Sustainability Collocated with the ASME 2013 Heat Transfer Summer Conf. and the ASME 2013 11th Int. Conf. on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology, ES 2013

Conference

ConferenceASME 2013 7th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, ES 2013 Collocated with the ASME 2013 Heat Transfer Summer Conference and the ASME 2013 11th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityMinneapolis, MN
Period07/14/1307/19/13

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