风力机叶片制造误差对功率和推力影响的量化研究

为量化叶片制造误差对风力机功率和推力的影响,以NREL Phase VI S809风力机叶轮为研究对象,基于区间分析法和修正叶素动量理论,建立风力机不确定气动响应模型,量化弦长扭角制造误差对功率和推力影响的相对波动幅度,采用极差分析法进行敏感性分析,获得不确定影响敏感位置。结果表明,叶片扭角误差对性能影响更为显著;当弦长误差和扭角误差为±0.02c和±0.6°时,功率和推力最大相对波动达到3.26%和8.09%;弦长误差影响敏感位置为叶根,而扭角误差敏感位置为叶尖,可在此部位施加质量参数要求以控制性能偏差。     

不同小翼对风力机气动性能影响的数值分析

对安装平板小翼和融合小翼后的风力机气动特性和流场分布进行了研究,探究不同小翼对额定工况下风力机总功率、叶片表面压力和叶尖流场分布的影响。结果表明:在叶尖增加小翼可提高风力机总功率,融合小翼具有较好的气动特性,其总功率比无小翼时提高了10.61%;小翼的存在使叶尖吸力面压力降低,叶片表面压差增大,与平板小翼相比,融合小翼叶片表面压差更大;小翼削弱了叶尖绕流强度,使局部诱导速度减小,气动攻角增大,并使叶尖涡的涡核位置远离叶片主体,有效减小了叶尖涡产生的不利影响。     

不同小翼对H型垂直轴风力机叶片压力分布的影响

以翼型为NACA0012的单叶片H型垂直轴风力机为研究对象,采用数值模拟的研究方法,分析叶片两端未安装小翼和安装3种不同叶尖小翼对H型垂直轴风力机叶片表面压力分布和叶尖涡的影响。结果表明:安装小翼均可提高H型垂直轴风力机的最大转矩系数,其中安装Winglet可提高H型垂直轴风力机起动力矩;增加叶尖小翼均对消除叶尖涡有利;H型垂直轴风力机叶片两端安装Winglet小翼较其他两种小翼效果好。     

水平轴风力机叶片优化设计方法

为避免风力机叶片设计陷入局部最优解,通过Bezier参数化曲线定义叶片弦长及扭角分布规律,采用遗传算法优化曲线控制点位置,以年发电量最大为优化目标,全局寻优叶片外形参数,并与Wilson设计叶片比较。分别计算两种设计叶片在额定风况及变风况下的气动性能,结果表明:通过遗传算法设计的叶片弦长、扭角更小;额定风况下,遗传算法设计叶片推力系数更小,最大功率系数更大;变风况下,两种设计叶片输出功率相差不大,但Wilson设计叶片的叶根弯矩和风轮推力更大,整个工作风速区平均为4.7%和7.3%。     

L型叶尖小翼对风力机性能影响的研究

采用标准的k-ε湍流模型对添加L型叶尖小翼叶片与原叶片在不同风速条件下进行三维流场的数值研究。通过分析叶尖区域流场和压力分布得到:对比原叶片,L型小翼对通过叶尖的气流具有导流作用,使通过叶尖的气流变得平缓流畅,同时小翼能有效改善叶尖吸力面的气流分离,使得气流分离位置远离叶片前缘,减小压差阻力。L型叶尖小翼加大叶尖部位吸力面与压力面的压差,增大风轮转矩,使风力机出力增加。添加L型小翼后,风力机推力系数最大增幅为0.81%,风力机功率最大增幅为4.2%。     

融合小翼对风力机气动性能的影响

文章利用CFD方法对不同参数叶尖融合小翼风力机额定工况下的气动性能进行了数值模拟。研究结果表明,风力机叶尖融合小翼能够使叶片输出功率和风力机总功率得到提升,但同时使叶片轴向推力、挥舞力矩增大。吸力面小翼比压力面小翼风力机功率高1.26%～1.37%,体现在叶片相对高度0.88以上区域叶片输出功率不同。小翼高度和等效长度的增加使叶尖损失减小,叶片输出功率增大。不同倾斜角度的小翼会改变叶尖流场分布,从而改变叶尖部分和小翼的功率输出。在风轮扫风面积相同的情况下,小翼倾斜角度为55°左右时风力机气动性能最优。     

前曲扭角增加式叶尖气动特性研究

以某150 kW水平轴的风电机组叶片为研究对象,提出一种朝来流风方向圆弧式前曲、扭角增加的降载叶尖外形;建立以扭角增量A、弯曲角度B为变量的16组叶尖几何模型,为探究该降载设计叶片最佳适用风况,建立考虑扭角增量、弯曲角度及风速的三因素四水平正交试验表,借助ICEM完成多组仿真模型的网格划分,利用Fluent单一旋转坐标...     

遗传算法在水平轴洋流机叶片优化设计中的应用

水平轴洋流机是捕获洋流能的主要设备,其叶片外形直接影响捕能效率。通过Bezier参数化曲线描述定速定桨距洋流机的叶片弦长和扭角分布规律,采用叶素-动量理论计算其水动特性。以额定流速下能量利用系数系数最大为目标,基于遗传算法建立了叶片外形优化模型。同时,为了避免因汽蚀导致功率输出不稳定的现象,在优化过程中以汽蚀作为约束条件,与经典设计方法Wilson理论设计叶片进行了比较。结果表明:优化叶片在叶根处的扭角更小,具有更佳的抗扭性能;叶根和叶尖处弦长均更小,节省了材料;在设计流速范围内,优化叶片在低流速下效率更高,平均提高了4.6%,具有更好的启动性能。     

基于遗传算法的定速定桨距HATT叶片优化设计

叶片外形是定桨距水平轴洋流机能量利用率的主要影响因素。为优化其叶片外形,基于叶素动量理论计算叶片功率特性,同时考虑叶片抗汽蚀水平,通过Bezier曲线表示叶片各径向位置截面的弦长和扭角,以低流速下利用率最高为设计目标,通过遗传算法进行优化,并与Wilson设计方法比较,结果表明:优化设计叶片在叶根部分扭角更小,整体弦长平均减小了27%;低流速区域的能量利用率平均提高6.8%,全工况最大能量利用率提高3.36%,达到了优化设计目的。     

叶尖小翼安装位置对轴流风机性能的影响

采用数值模拟方法建立了在压力面和吸力面分别安装宽度为2倍叶片厚度叶尖小翼的轴流风机模型,分析了叶尖小翼安装位置对轴流风机性能的影响.结果表明:压力面和吸力面安装叶尖小翼均能减小叶顶泄漏流;压力面安装叶尖小翼使叶顶泄漏涡增大,造成的气动损失增加,导致轴流风机全压和效率下降;吸力面安装叶尖小翼能有效减小叶顶泄漏涡,同时延缓其脱落,使其向远离吸力面偏移,减少造成的气动损失,使得轴流风机全压和效率提高,该轴流风机设计体积流量点全压效率提高了0.6%.     

NREL VI rotor blade: numerical investigation and winglet design and optimization using CFD

The main objectives of this study were to aerodynamically design and optimize a winglet for a wind turbine blade by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and to investigate its effect on the power production. For validation and as a baseline rotor, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Phase VI wind turbine rotor blade is used. The Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations are solved, and k–ε Launder–Sharma turbulence model was used. The numerical results have shown a considerable agreement with the experimental data. The genetic algorithm was used as the optimization technique with the help of artificial neural network to reduce the computational cost. In the winglet design, the variable parameters are the cant and twist angles of the winglet and the objective function the torque. Multipoint optimization is carried out for three different operating wind speeds, and a total of 24 CFD cases are run in the design. The final optimized winglet showed around 9% increase in the power production. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Combined analytical/FEA-based coupled aero structure simulation of a wind turbine with bend–twist adaptive blades

The simulation of wind turbines with bend–twist adaptive blades is a coupled aero-structure (CAS) procedure. The blade twist due to elastic coupling is a required parameter for wind turbine performance evaluation and can be predicted through a finite element (FE) structural analyser. FEA-based codes are far too slow to be useful in the aerodynamic design/optimisation of a blade. This paper presents a combined analytical/FEA-based method for CAS simulation of wind turbines utilising bend–twist adaptive blades. This method of simulation employs the induced twist distribution and the flap bending at the hub of the blade predicted through a FEA-based CAS simulation at a reference wind turbine run condition to determine the wind turbine performance at other wind turbine run conditions. This reduces the computational time significantly and makes the aerodynamic design/optimisation of bend–twist adaptive blades practical. Comparison of the results of a case study which applies both combined analytical/FEA-based and FEA-based CAS simulation shows that when using the combined method the required computational time for generating a power curve reduces to less than 5%, while the relative difference between the predicted powers by two methods is only about 1%.     

CFD study of some factors affecting performance of HAWT with swept blades

Most modern high-power wind turbines are horizontal axis type with straight twisted blades. Upgrading power and performance of these turbines is considered a challenge. A recent trend towards improving the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) performance is to use swept blades or sweep twist adaptive blades. In the present work, the effect of blade curvature, sweep starting point and sweep direction on the wind turbine performance was investigated. The CFD simulation method was validated against available experimental data of a 0.9?m diameter HAWT. The wind turbine power and thrust coefficients at different tip speed ratios were calculated. Flow field, pressure distribution and local tangential and streamwise forces were also analysed. The results show that the downstream swept blade has the highest C_p value at design point as compared with the straight blade profile. However, the improvement in power coefficient is accompanied by a thrust increase. Results also show that the best performance is obtained when the starting blade sweeps at 25% of blade radius for different directions of sweep.     

Optimized linearization of chord and twist angle profiles for fixed-pitch fixed-speed wind turbine blades

The chord and twist angle radial profiles of a fixed-pitch fixed-speed (FPFS) horizontal-axis wind turbine blade are based on a particular design wind speed and design tip speed ratio. Because the tip speed ratio varies with wind speed, the originally optimized chord and twist angle radial profiles for a preliminary blade design through optimum rotor theory do not necessarily provide the highest annual energy production (AEP) for the wind turbine on a specific site with known wind resources. This paper aims to demonstrate a novel optimal blade design method for an FPFS wind turbine through adopting linear radial profiles of the blade chord and twist angle and optimizing the slope of these two lines. The radial profiles of the blade chord and twist angle are linearized on a heuristic basis with fixed values at the blade tip and floating values at the blade root based on the preliminary blade design, and the best solution is determined using the highest AEP for a particular wind speed Weibull distribution as the optimization criteria with constraints of the top limit power output of the wind turbine. The outcomes demonstrate clearly that the proposed blade design optimization method offers a good opportunity for FPFS wind turbine blade design to achieve a better power performance and low manufacturing cost. This approach can be used for any practice of FPFS wind turbine blade design and refurbishment.     

A practical approach for selecting optimum wind rotors

The main objective of this paper is to categorize practical families of horizontal-axis wind turbine rotors, which are optimized to produce the largest possible power output. Refined blade geometry is obtained from the best approximation of the calculated theoretical optimum chord and twist distributions of the rotating blade. The mathematical formulation is based on dimensionless quantities so as to make the aerodynamic analysis valid for any arbitrary turbine models having different rotor sizes and operating at different wind regimes. The selected design parameters include the number of blades, type of airfoil section and the blade root offset from hub center. The effects of wind shear as well as tower shadow are also examined. A computer program has been developed to automate the overall analysis procedures, and several numerical examples are given showing the variation of the power and thrust coefficients with the design tip speed ratio for various rotor configurations.     

Winglet optimization for a model‐scale wind turbine

A winglet optimization method is developed and tested for a model‐scale wind turbine. The best‐performing winglet shape is obtained by constructing a Kriging surrogate model, which is refined using an infill criterion based on expected improvement. The turbine performance is simulated by solving the incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations, and the turbulent flow is predicted using the Spalart‐Allmaras turbulence model. To validate the simulated performance, experiments are performed in the Norwegian University of Science and Technology wind tunnel. According to the simulations, the optimized winglet increases the turbine power and thrust by 7.8% and 6.3%, respectively. The wind tunnel experiments show that the turbine power increases by 8.9%, while the thrust increases by 7.4%. When introducing more turbulence in the wind tunnel to reduce laminar separation, the turbine power and thrust due to the winglet increases by 10.3% and 14.9%, respectively.     

Design and performance of a double-pitch wind turbine with non-twisted blades

A new design has been proposed for inexpensive wind turbine blades with high power coefficients.The new wind turbine blade has been subdivided into two, each with a different pitch angle, to optimise aerodynamic flow, absence of twist, and carries a variable chord along the blade itself.The new blade reveals some energy loss due to the tip vortices of each blade part (which can be minimised by winglets), yet proves that it is possible to create a wind turbine with high power coefficients.To design and evaluate the performance of the new wind turbine a numerical code, developed by the authors and based on blade element momentum theory, was implemented after validation by experimental measurement found in scientific literature. The code led to better choices of layout to maximise turbine performance.     

Performances of ideal wind turbine

If there is an ideal wind turbine, its performances will be the pursuit goals for designing the actual wind turbine. In this paper, the wind turbine that has the maximum efficiency is defined as ideal wind turbine, which has three main features: lift-drag ratio is infinite, it has enough number blades so that the blade tip and root losses can be ignored, and its blades are limited in width. Using blade element theory, the differential equations of power, torque, lift and thrust of blade element were derived, and the expressions of power, torque, lift and thrust coefficients of the ideal wind turbine were gained by integrating along the blade span. Research shows that the power, torque and lift coefficients of the ideal wind turbine are functions of tip-speed ratio. When the lift-drag ratio and the tip-speed ratio is approaching infinity, power coefficient of the ideal wind turbine is close to the Betz limit; The torque limit is 0.401 when the tip-speed ratio equals about 0.635; The Lift limit is 0.578 when the tip-speed ratio equals about 0.714; The thrust coefficient is 8/9, which is unrelated with tip-speed ratio. For any wind turbine which tip-speed ratio is less than 10, the power coefficient is unlikely to exceed 0.585, for any high-speed wind turbine which tip-speed ratio is greater than 6, the torque coefficient in steady state is unlikely to exceed 0.1, and the lift coefficient is unlikely to exceed 0.2.