Session: 41-01 Small-scale Wind Turbines

Paper Number: 151213

Investigation of the Synergetic Effect of Using J-Shaped Profile and Winglets in Single and Multiple Profile Blades of Small-Scale Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines 

Enhancing the aerodynamic performance of airfoils is crucial for improving the output power of wind turbines. Wind turbine performance can be investigated through wind tunnel testing and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis. This work uses experimental laboratory wind speeds and Tips Speed Ratios (TSRs) to run CFD simulations. Furthermore, experimentally generated wind power is used for the CFD validation on the lab scale. 

This work presents a study of the effect of different blade design modifications for small-scale horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs). The aim is to study the synergetic effect of combining two blade design modifications (winglet and pressure-side j-shaped truncation). One-third of the j-shaped truncation of the pressure side is combined with ±30^o and ±90^o cant angle winglets to study their effect on the average power coefficient enhancement for different wind speeds. Based on the literature, the j-shaped truncations and winglets enhanced the HAWT's power coefficient. The present work aims to expand efforts found in the literature and investigate if there is a synergetic effect of merging more than one design modification in HAWTs. Furthermore, the effect of using the same design modifications is studied for multiple-profile HAWT blades using profiles with high thickness-to-chord ratios near the hub.

Presenting Author: Saif Al Hamad University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Presenting Author Biography: Research Associate

Authors:

Saif Al Hamad University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Mohamed Abousabae University of WisconsinMilwaukee
Omar Shaker University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Ryoichi S. Amano University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee