Wake Analysis of a Finite Width Gurney Flap

2015 ◽  
Vol 138 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Holst ◽  
A. B. Bach ◽  
C. N. Nayeri ◽  
C. O. Paschereit ◽  
G. Pechlivanoglou
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Tip Vortex ◽  
Finite Width ◽  
Piv Measurements ◽  
Gurney Flaps ◽  
Gurney Flap ◽  
Pitch System

The results of stereo particle-image-velocimetry (PIV) measurements are presented in this paper to gain further insight into the wake of a finite width Gurney flap. It is attached to an FX 63-137 airfoil which is known for a very good performance at low Reynolds numbers and is therefore used for small wind turbines and is most appropriate for tests in the low speed wind tunnel presented in this study. The Gurney flaps are a promising concept for load control on wind turbines but can have adverse side effects, e.g., shedding of additional vortices. The investigation focuses on frequencies and velocity distributions in the wake as well as on the structure of the induced tip vortices. Phase-averaged velocity fields are derived of a proper-orthogonal-decomposition (POD) based on the stereo PIV measurements. Additional hot-wire measurements were conducted to analyze the fluctuations downstream of the finite width Gurney flaps. Experiments indicate a general tip vortex structure that is independent from flap length but altered by the periodic shedding downstream of the flap. The influence of Gurney flaps on a small wind turbine is investigated by simulating a small 40 kW turbine in QBlade. They can serve as power control without the need of an active pitch system and the starting performance is additionally improved. The application of Gurney flaps implies tonal frequencies in the wake of the blade. Simulation results are used to estimate the resulting frequencies. However, the solution of Gurney flaps is a good candidate for large-scale wind turbine implementation as well. A FAST simulation of the NREL 5 MW turbine is used to generate realistic time series of the lift. The estimations of control capabilities predict a reduction in the standard deviation of the lift of up to 65%. Therefore, finite width Gurney flaps are promising to extend the lifetime of future wind turbines.

Wake Analysis of a Finite Width Gurney Flap

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Holst ◽  
A. B. Bach ◽  
C. N. Nayeri ◽  
C. O. Paschereit ◽  
G. Pechlivanoglou
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Tip Vortex ◽  
Finite Width ◽  
Low Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Gurney Flaps ◽  
Gurney Flap ◽  
Pitch System

The results of stereo Particle-Image-Velocimetry measurements are presented in this paper to gain further insight into the wake of a finite width Gurney flap. It is attached to an FX 63-137 airfoil which is known for a very good performance at low Reynolds numbers and is therefore used for small wind turbines and is most appropriate for tests in the low speed wind tunnel presented in this study. The Gurney flaps are a promising concept for load control on wind turbines but can have adverse side effects, e.g. shedding of additional vortices. The investigation focuses on frequencies and velocity distributions in the wake as well as on the structure of the induced tip vortices. Phase averaged velocity fields are derived of a Proper-Orthogonal-Decomposition based on the stereo PIV measurements. Additional hot-wire measurements were conducted to analyze the fluctuations downstream of the finite width Gurney flaps. Experiments indicate a general tip vortex structure that is independent from flap length but altered by the periodic shedding downstream of the flap. The influence of Gurney flaps on a small wind turbine is investigated by simulating a small 40 kW turbine in Q-Blade. They can serve as power control without the need of an active pitch system and the starting performance is additionally improved. The application of Gurney flaps imply tonal frequencies in the wake of the blade. Simulation results are used to estimate the resulting frequencies. However, the solution of Gurney flaps is a good candidate for large scale wind turbine implementation as well. A FAST simulation of the NREL 5MW turbine is used to generate realistic time series of the lift. The estimations of control capabilities predict a reduction in the standard deviation of the lift of up to 65%. Therefore finite width Gurney flaps are promising to extend the lifetime of future wind turbines.

Numerical Simulation on the Flow Control by Mounting Indented Gurney Flaps for a Wind Turbine

2012 ◽  
Vol 512-515 ◽  
pp. 623-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Li Zhao ◽  
Xiao Lei Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Numerical Investigation ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Optimal Position ◽  
Gurney Flaps ◽  
Turbine Performance ◽  
Gurney Flap ◽  
Practical Engineering

Numerical investigation of large thick and low Reynolds airfoil of wind turbines by mounting indented Gurney flaps was carried out. The influenced rules of the position of Gurney flaps on the aerodynamic performance of airfoil under same height of flaps were achieved, and the optimal position of Gurney flap was presented. At last, the mechanism of wind turbine performance controlled by Gurney flap was discussed. The results can provide the theoretical guidance and technical support to wind turbines control in practical engineering.

scholarly journals Coherent dynamics in the rotor tip shear layer of utility-scale wind turbines

2016 ◽  
Vol 804 ◽  
pp. 90-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolei Yang ◽  
Jiarong Hong ◽  
Matthew Barone ◽  
Fotis Sotiropoulos
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Shear Layer ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Tip Vortex ◽  
Near Wake ◽  
Tip Vortices ◽  
Coherent Dynamics

Recent field experiments conducted in the near wake (up to 0.5 rotor diameters downwind of the rotor) of a Clipper Liberty C96 2.5 MW wind turbine using snow-based super-large-scale particle image velocimetry (SLPIV) (Hong et al., Nat. Commun., vol. 5, 2014, 4216) were successful in visualizing tip vortex cores as areas devoid of snowflakes. The so-visualized snow voids, however, suggested tip vortex cores of complex shape consisting of circular cores with distinct elongated comet-like tails. We employ large-eddy simulation (LES) to elucidate the structure and dynamics of the complex tip vortices identified experimentally. We show that the LES, with inflow conditions representing as closely as possible the state of the flow approaching the turbine when the SLPIV experiments were carried out, reproduce vortex cores in good qualitative agreement with the SLPIV results, essentially capturing all vortex core patterns observed in the field in the tip shear layer. The computed results show that the visualized vortex patterns are formed by the tip vortices and a second set of counter-rotating spiral vortices intertwined with the tip vortices. To probe the dependence of these newly uncovered coherent flow structures on turbine design, size and approach flow conditions, we carry out LES for three additional turbines: (i) the Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) turbine developed by Sandia National Laboratories in Lubbock, TX, USA; (ii) the wind turbine developed for the European collaborative MEXICO (Model Experiments in Controlled Conditions) project; and (iii) the model turbine presented in the paper by Lignarolo et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 781, 2015, pp. 467–493), and the Clipper turbine under varying inflow turbulence conditions. We show that similar counter-rotating vortex structures as those observed for the Clipper turbine are also observed for the SWiFT, MEXICO and model wind turbines. However, the strength of the counter-rotating vortices relative to that of the tip vortices from the model turbine is significantly weaker. We also show that incoming flows with low level turbulence attenuate the elongation of the tip and counter-rotating vortices. Sufficiently high turbulence levels in the incoming flow, on the other hand, tend to break up the coherence of spiral vortices in the near wake. To elucidate the physical mechanism that gives rise to such rich coherent dynamics we examine the stability of the turbine tip shear layer using the theory proposed by Leibovich & Stewartson (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 126, 1983, pp. 335–356). We show that for all simulated cases the theory consistently indicates the flow to be unstable exactly in the region where counter-rotating spirals emerge. We thus postulate that centrifugal instability of the rotating turbine tip shear layer is a possible mechanism for explaining the phenomena we have uncovered herein.

Comparison of Experimental and Numerically Predicted Three-Dimensional Wake Behavior of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Saverin ◽  
Giacomo Persico ◽  
David Marten ◽  
David Holst ◽  
George Pechlivanoglou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Tip Vortex ◽  
Design And Optimization ◽  
Aerodynamic Model ◽  
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

The evolution of the wake of a wind turbine contributes significantly to its operation and performance, as well as to those of machines installed in the vicinity. The inherent unsteady and three-dimensional (3D) aerodynamics of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) have hitherto limited the research on wake evolution. In this paper, the wakes of both a troposkien and a H-type VAWT rotor are investigated by comparing experiments and calculations. Experiments were carried out in the large-scale wind tunnel of the Politecnico di Milano, where unsteady velocity measurements in the wake were performed by means of hot wire anemometry. The geometry of the rotors was reconstructed in the open-source wind-turbine software QBlade, developed at the TU Berlin. The aerodynamic model makes use of a lifting line free-vortex wake (LLFVW) formulation, including an adapted Beddoes-Leishman unsteady aerodynamic model; airfoil polars are introduced to assign sectional lift and drag coefficients. A wake sensitivity analysis was carried out to maximize the reliability of wake predictions. The calculations are shown to reproduce several wake features observed in the experiments, including blade-tip vortex, dominant and minor vortical structures, and periodic unsteadiness caused by sectional dynamic stall. The experimental assessment of the simulations illustrates that the LLFVW model is capable of predicting the unsteady wake development with very limited computational cost, thus making the model ideal for the design and optimization of VAWTs.

Simulation of Flow Field on a Large Scale Wind Turbine

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Janajreh ◽  
C. Ghenai
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Operating Characteristics ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Capital Costs

Large scale wind turbines and wind farms continue to evolve mounting 94.1GW of the electrical grid capacity in 2007 and expected to reach 160.0GW in 2010 according to World Wind Energy Association. They commence to play a vital role in the quest for renewable and sustainable energy. They are impressive structures of human responsiveness to, and awareness of, the depleting fossil fuel resources. Early generation wind turbines (windmills) were used as kinetic energy transformers and today generate 1/5 of the Denmark’s electricity and planned to double the current German grid capacity by reaching 12.5% by year 2010. Wind energy is plentiful (72 TW is estimated to be commercially viable) and clean while their intensive capital costs and maintenance fees still bar their widespread deployment in the developing world. Additionally, there are technological challenges in the rotor operating characteristics, fatigue load, and noise in meeting reliability and safety standards. Newer inventions, e.g., downstream wind turbines and flapping rotor blades, are sought to absorb a larger portion of the cost attributable to unrestrained lower cost yaw mechanisms, reduction in the moving parts, and noise reduction thereby reducing maintenance. In this work, numerical analysis of the downstream wind turbine blade is conducted. In particular, the interaction between the tower and the rotor passage is investigated. Circular cross sectional tower and aerofoil shapes are considered in a staggered configuration and under cross-stream motion. The resulting blade static pressure and aerodynamic forces are investigated at different incident wind angles and wind speeds. Comparison of the flow field results against the conventional upstream wind turbine is also conducted. The wind flow is considered to be transient, incompressible, viscous Navier-Stokes and turbulent. The k-ε model is utilized as the turbulence closure. The passage of the rotor blade is governed by ALE and is represented numerically as a sliding mesh against the upstream fixed tower domain. Both the blade and tower cross sections are padded with a boundary layer mesh to accurately capture the viscous forces while several levels of refinement were implemented throughout the domain to assess and avoid the mesh dependence.

scholarly journals LOADS ON WIND TURBINES ACCESS PLATFORMS WITH GRATINGS

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (32) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Thomas Lykke Andersen ◽  
Peter Frigaard ◽  
Michael R Rasmussen ◽  
Luca Martinelli
Keyword(s):  
Drag Coefficient ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Peak Load ◽  
Multiplication Factor ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Many ◽  
Large Scale Tests

The present paper deals with loads on wind turbine access platforms. The many planned new wind turbine parks together with the observed damages on platforms in several existing parks make the topic very important. The paper gives an overview of recently developed design formulae for different types of entrance platforms. Moreover, the paper present new results on loads on grates based on both drag coefficient measurements and preliminary results on slamming from large scale tests. As expected both investigations show that platforms with grates give a significant reduction in the loads compared to closed plate platforms. The grate multiplication factor, defined as the peak load on the grate platform relative to the peak load on a closed plate platform was found approximately equal to the solidity of the grate.

scholarly journals Development of an SVR Model for the Fault Diagnosis of Large-Scale Doubly-Fed Wind Turbines Using SCADA Data

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 3396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingzhu Tang ◽  
Wei Chen ◽  
Qi Zhao ◽  
Huawei Wu ◽  
Wen Long ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fault Diagnosis ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Support Vector Regression ◽  
Confidence Intervals ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Support Vector Regression Model ◽  
Doubly Fed

Fault diagnosis and forecasting contribute significantly to the reduction of operating and maintenance associated costs, as well as to improve the resilience of wind turbine systems. Different from the existing fault diagnosis approaches using monitored vibration and acoustic data from the auxiliary equipment, this research presents a novel fault diagnosis and forecasting approach underpinned by a support vector regression model using data obtained by the supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA) of wind turbines (WT). To operate, the extraction of fault diagnosis features is conducted by measuring SCADA parameters. After that, confidence intervals are set up to guide the fault diagnosis implemented by the support vector regression (SVR) model. With the employment of confidence intervals as the performance indicators, an SVR-based fault detecting approach is then developed. Based on the WT SCADA data and the SVR model, a fault diagnosis strategy for large-scale doubly-fed wind turbine systems is investigated. A case study including a one-year monitoring SCADA data collected from a wind farm in Southern China is employed to validate the proposed methodology and demonstrate how it works. Results indicate that the proposed strategy can support the troubleshooting of wind turbine systems with high precision and effective response.

scholarly journals Impact of Economic Indicators on the Integrated Design of Wind Turbine Systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianghai Wu ◽  
Tongguang Wang ◽  
Long Wang ◽  
Ning Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
System Level ◽  
Blade Length

This article presents a framework to integrate and optimize the design of large-scale wind turbines. Annual energy production, load analysis, the structural design of components and the wind farm operation model are coupled to perform a system-level nonlinear optimization. As well as the commonly used design objective levelized cost of energy (LCoE), key metrics of engineering economics such as net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and the discounted payback time (DPT) are calculated and used as design objectives, respectively. The results show that IRR and DPT have the same effect as LCoE since they all lead to minimization of the ratio of the capital expenditure to the energy production. Meanwhile, the optimization for NPV tends to maximize the margin between incomes and costs. These two types of economic metrics provide the minimal blade length and maximal blade length of an optimal blade for a target wind turbine at a given wind farm. The turbine properties with respect to the blade length and tower height are also examined. The blade obtained with economic optimization objectives has a much larger relative thickness and smaller chord distributions than that obtained for high aerodynamic performance design. Furthermore, the use of cost control objectives in optimization is crucial in improving the economic efficiency of wind turbines and sacrificing some aerodynamic performance can bring significant reductions in design loads and turbine costs.

Drag Reduction Using Riblet Film Applied to Airfoils for Wind Turbines

2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agrim Sareen ◽  
Robert W. Deters ◽  
Steven P. Henry ◽  
Michael S. Selig
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Drag Reduction ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Angle Of Attack ◽  
Reynolds Numbers

This paper presents results of a study that was commissioned by the 3M Renewable Energy Division to measure the drag reduction by using riblet film on airfoils specifically designed for wind turbine applications. The DU 96-W-180 airfoil was tested with four different symmetrical V-shaped riblet sizes (44, 62, 100, and 150-μm) at three Reynolds numbers (1 × 106, 1.5 × 106, and 1.85 × 106) and at angles of attack spanning the low drag range of the airfoil. Tests were run with riblet film covering different sections of the airfoil in order to determine the optimal riblet location in terms of drag reduction. Results showed that the magnitude of drag reduction depended on the angle of attack, Reynolds number, riblet size, and riblet location. For some configurations, riblets produced significant drag reduction of up to 5%, while for others riblets were detrimental. Trends in the results indicated an optimum riblet size of 62-μm for the range of Reynolds numbers at which tests were conducted. The airfoil chord was 18 in (0.457 m). Results also showed that each riblet size performed best at a given Reynolds number with the optimal Reynolds number decreasing with an increase in riblet size.

scholarly journals Effect of Ambient Reynolds Number on Small Wind Turbine Subjected to Low Wind Speed Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-231
Author(s):  
Joel Mbwiga ◽  
Cuthbert Z Kimambo ◽  
Joseph Kihedu
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Power Performance ◽  
Airfoil Surface ◽  
Small Wind Turbine ◽  
Low Wind Speed ◽  
The Difference

Wind flow over the airfoil surface is adversely affected by the differences between the design and ambient values of a dimensionless quantity called Reynolds number. Wind turbine designed for high Reynolds Number shows lower maximum power performance when installed in low-speed wind regime. Tanzanian experience shows that some imported modern wind turbines depict lower power performance compared to the drag-type locally manufactured wind turbines. The most probable reason is the difference between design and local ambient Reynolds numbers. The turbine design parameters have their properties restricted to the range of Reynolds numbers for which the turbine was designed for. When a wind turbine designed for a certain range of Reynolds numbers is made to operate in the Reynolds number out of that range, it behaves differently from the embodied design specifications. The small wind turbine of higher Reynolds number will suffer low lift forces with probably occasional stalls.  

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