IMPACT ON WIND TURBINE BLADE DESIGN AND AERODYNAMIC PERFORMANCE USING INTEGRAL VORTEX GENERATORS

Abstract

This dissertation is aimed at understanding the impact on performance, loads and cost using integral vortex generators on wind turbine blade designs. In order to investigate the possibility of this new design space, an optimization analysis is carried out. Three configurations are designed as a part of this dissertation. The current phase of work consists of creating a baseline blade that spans 56m in length. In order to determine the effectiveness of vortex generators on airfoils used on the 56m blade design, a verification and validation study of CFD tools is carried out. For this exercise, the LS(1)-0417MOD airfoil is used. STAR CCM+ software is used for performing the CFD analysis on the clean and vortex generator configurations of the LS(1)-0417MOD airfoil. Satisfactory results are obtained from the CFD analysis. A CFD analysis of a 47% thick airfoil is performed as well. This data has been used in the design of the 56m blade. Further, finite span airfoils incorporating vortex generators for the FB47 and NACA63621 airfoils are analyzed. This data is then used to evaluate the improvement of aerodynamic performance of the add-on 56m blade configuration. Vortex generators are incorporated in the post design phase of the clean 56m blade design and the improvement in performance in recorded. It is observed that a 0.4% improvement in AEP along with a 1.2% increase in loads and 2.13% increase in cost of energy is seen. Thereafter, the optimization and design of the 56m blade with integral vortex generators is carried out. Finally a full blade design of the 56m blade with integral vortex generators is carried out and the key performance metrics are recorded. A 1.7% increase in aerodynamic performance is recorded for the integral vortex generator case. This increase in performance also results in a 15.3% increase in blade root bending moment. However, a reduction in the total cost of energy is obtained as compared to the baseline blade design.