29-09-2014, 03:34 PM
Abstracts: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software was used to compare the performance of a wind turbine blade. The geometry was simplified to 2D airfoils and the surrounding flow field. It was found that the lift/drag characteristics of the two airfoils across a range of angles of attack were virtually identical, meaning that the torque force exerted on the wind turbine blades would also be identical and therefore as would the power outputs of the two turbines. However, the simple model ignored a number of important issues, such as 3D effects on the idealized blade geometry. Further modelling and/or experimental validation work is needed to increase confidence in the quality of the results.