CFD investigation of flatback airfoils and swallow tail for wind turbine blades
conference paper
Modern wind turbines use longer blades to improve annual energy production.
Longer blades require thicker airfoils for structural integrity. Thicker airfoils are susceptible
to issues like erosion, abrupt stalls, and early boundary layer transition, leading to increased
drag and decreased lift, affecting overall performance. Flatback airfoils offer structural and
aerodynamic advantages, being stiffer, less sensitive to surface roughness. However, this comes
with a drag penalty, mainly due to the increase in base drag. Swallow tail add-on has been
proposed to overcome these challenges. URANS simulations are used to analyze the aerodynamic
performance of the different airfoils and hybrid RANS/LES simulations are used to study the
flow features in more detail. The swallow tail airfoil was found to maintain many of the
advantages of the flatback airfoils while reducing the drag penalty
Longer blades require thicker airfoils for structural integrity. Thicker airfoils are susceptible
to issues like erosion, abrupt stalls, and early boundary layer transition, leading to increased
drag and decreased lift, affecting overall performance. Flatback airfoils offer structural and
aerodynamic advantages, being stiffer, less sensitive to surface roughness. However, this comes
with a drag penalty, mainly due to the increase in base drag. Swallow tail add-on has been
proposed to overcome these challenges. URANS simulations are used to analyze the aerodynamic
performance of the different airfoils and hybrid RANS/LES simulations are used to study the
flow features in more detail. The swallow tail airfoil was found to maintain many of the
advantages of the flatback airfoils while reducing the drag penalty
Topics
TNO Identifier
992969
Source
Journal of Physics: Conference Series(2767), pp. 1-11.
Publisher
TNO
Pages
1-11