AERODYNAMIC MODELING OF

WIND TURBINE BLADES AND

LINEAR APPROXIMATIONS

M. Mirhosseini , A. Sedaghat, and

A.A. Alemrajabi
Speaker: Dr Ahmad Sedaghat
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Isfahan University of Technology (IUT)
Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

Department of Mechanical
Engineering
1) Full time academic staff = 43 members
2) Technical staff = 18 members
3) Undergraduate students = 728 students
4) Postgraduate students = 230 MSc & 96 PhD
students
5) Courses in Renewable Energies: Solar
Energy, Wind Energy, Fuel Cells, Energy
Conversion and Energy Managements, Tidal
and Wave Energy
6) Facilities in wind energy: Wind tunnel 90
cmX90 cm, Water Channel 100 m, and wind
anomometers
Make
the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

Research in Renewable Energy

at IUT
1)Feasibility studies in wind
energy potentials in Iran (The
potential energy of wind is
estimated to be about 6500MW
in Iran)
2)Design and manufacturing
small innovative wind turbines:
a three bladed helical vertical
axis wind and water turbine, a
two bladed horizontal axis
magneous
turbine
Make
the IUT type
facilities
100% carbon free

Orientation
Turbines can be categorized into two overarching classes based
on the orientation of the rotor
Vertical Axis

Horizontal Axis

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

Calculation of Wind Power

Power in the Wind = CpAV3
Power in the wind

Effect of swept area, A

Effect of wind speed, V
Effect of air density,
Power coefficient, Cp

Swept Area: A = R2
Area of the circle swept
by the rotor (m2).
Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

Tip-Speed Ratio
Tip-speed ratio is the ratio of the
speed of the rotating blade tip to
the speed of the free stream wind.
There is an optimum angle of attack
which creates the highest lift to
drag ratio.
Because angle of attack is
dependant on wind speed, there
is an optimum tip-speed ratio

Where,

R
=
V

=rotationalspeedinradians/sec
R=RotorRadius
V=WindFreeStreamVelocity

Performance Over Range

of
Tip
Speed
Ratios
Power Coefficient Varies with Tip Speed Ratio
Characterized by Cp vs Tip Speed Ratio Curve
0.4
Cp
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0

6
8
Tip Speed Ratio

10

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

12

Maximum power coefficient Cp

2

C p ,max

16

[
27

2
20

]1 0.57
Cl
1
B2/3

Cd
2B

1.32

0.7

Power coefcient

0.6

B: Number of blades
Cl: Lift coefficient
Cd: Drag coefficient
: Tip speed ratio

0.5
0.4
0.3

cl/cd=25
cl/cd=50
cl/cd=75

0.2

cl/cd=100
cl/cd=143
cd=0

0.1
0
0

8
10
12
Tip speed ratio

14

16

18

20

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

Airfoil Shape
Just like the wings of an airplane,
wind turbine blades use the airfoil
shape to create lift and maximize
efficiency.

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

Lift & Drag Forces

The Lift Force is
perpendicular to the
direction of motion. We
want to make this force
BIG.

The Drag Force is

parallel to the direction
of motion. We want to
make this force small.

= low

= medium
<10 degrees

= High
Stall!!

Twist & Taper

Speed through the air of a
point on the blade changes
with distance from hub
Therefore, tip speed ratio
varies as well
To optimize angle of attack
all along blade, it must twist
from root to tip

Fastest
Faster
Fast

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

Rotor Design for a

200kW wind turbine
Design is begun with choosing of variety
parameters of rotor and an airfoil.
The primitive blade shape is determined using
an optimum shape blade using Blade Element
Momentum (BEM) theory by considering wake
rotating, drag, tip losses and ease of
manufacturing.
In our design, the RIS type airfoils is used for a
200 kW wind turbine.
Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

Linearized Twist & Taper

ci a1ri b1

Ease of manufacturing
Reduce costs
50

T ,i a2 ( R ri )
2.5

linear curve fit

linear curve fit

without curve fit

without curve fit

30
Chord (m)

Twist angle (degree)

40

20
10

0.5

0
-10

1.5

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4
0.5
0.6
Position (r/R)

0.7

0.8

0.9

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4
0.5
0.6
Position (r/R)

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

0.7

0.8

0.9

Lift & Drag for linearized

blade
Lift & Drag coefficients across
the blade from root to tip of
blade
2

without curve fit

without curve fit

1.5
1

Cd (drag coefcient)

CL(lift coefcient)

-1
-2
-3

0.5
0
-0.5

-4
-5

linear curve fit

linear curve fit

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4
0.5
0.6
Position (r/R)

0.7

0.8

0.9

-1

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4 0.5 0.6

Position (r/R)

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

0.7

0.8

0.9

Power Coefficient v Tip

Speed Ratio
Lower maximum power
coefficient at lower tip speed
ratio for the linearized blade

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

Pitch Control vs.

Variable speed
pitch control (left)
variable speed and constant
rotational speed (right)
max= 32.38 r/min
500

wind speed=5 m/s

450

wind speed=6 m/s

400

wind speed=7 m/s

wind speed=8 m/s

350

wind speed=10 m/s

wind speed=9 m/s

P(KW)

300
250
200
150
100
50
0

10

20

30

40

Rotational speed (RPM)

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

50

60

Conclusions
The linear blade distribution of twist angle and chord maintains
ease of manufacturing and reduce costs.
Wind tip speed ratio, nominal wind speed and diameter of rotor
can be tuned for better performance.
The overall power coefficient CP is reduced to the value of 0.36
for the linear design and is merely recommended for small
applications.
Pitch control system was used to calculate the annual power
generation for the province of Semnan using this simplified
linear rotor.
Works undergo for a general optimization combined with linear
approximation.

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free

THANK YOU ALL!

Make the IUT facilities 100% carbon free