The Adaptive Camber Concept—A passive approach for gust load alleviation on wind turbines

A new passive sectional approach to alleviate gust loads on wind turbines—the Adaptive Camber Concept— is introduced. The concept entails fluid‐structure interaction, where flow conditions at the leading edge affect the airfoil shape and vice versa. A two‐dimensional airfoil equipped with the Adaptive Camber Concept is experimentally investigated under steady and unsteady conditions in a wind tunnel. Under steady conditions, the adaptive camber airfoil de‐cambers gradually with increasing angle of attack, yielding a lift curve with declined slope. Unsteady angle of attack fluctuations of various reduced frequencies are generated by means of an active grid. Under unsteady conditions, the adaptive camber airfoil is found to alleviate up to 60% of the fluctuating loads, while generating higher mean lift compared to a rigid reference airfoil.