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Numerical simulation of aerodynamic performance for two dimensional wind

turbine airfoils

Article in Procedia Engineering · December 2012

DOI: 10.1016/j.proeng.2012.01.994

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Procedia
Engineering
ProcediaProcedia
Engineering 00 (2011)
Engineering 31 000–000
(2012) 80 – 86
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

International Conference on Advances in Computational Modeling and Simulation

Numerical simulation of aerodynamic performance for two

dimensional wind turbine airfoils
Ji Yaoa*, Weibin Yuanb, jianliang Wanga, Jianbin Xiec , Haipeng Zhoub , Mingjun
Pengd, Yong Sund
a
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650024;
b
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang Institute of Technology, Hangzhou 310014;
c
Faculty of Urban construction and management, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091;
d
Faculty of Materials Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093)

Abstract

The aerodynamic performance of wind turbine airfoils was an important foundation for the aerodynamic design and
the performance analysis of the wind turbine. The method of numerical simulation was used in this paper, and the
aerodynamic performance of NACA0018 wind turbine airfoil was analyzed, then the lift and drag coefficient of the
airfoil under different turbulence models were discussed and compared with the experimental data. The applicability
of the turbulence models for the different airfoils’ numerical simulation was investigated, and the flow field structure
was analyzed. The calculation results provided a reference for the research and development of wind turbine airfoils.

© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Kunming
University of Science and Technology

Keywords：wind turbine, airfoil, aerodynamic performance, numerical simulation;

1. Preface

As the rapid development of human society and economy, environmental pollution and energy supply
had become more and more prominent, so the development and utilization for the renewable energy,
especially for the wind energy has become the world's important issue. The leaf blade, as one of the core
components of wind turbine, good aerodynamic performance of the airfoil was the key factors which

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-13529102730;

E-mail address: [email protected]

1877-7058 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2012.01.994
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affected the power coefficient of the wind turbine, so an important part of leaf blade’s aerodynamic
design was rational choice for the airfoils. Compared with the developed countries like United States,
Sweden, Denmark in the field of wind energy technology, in China, the geometry and aerodynamic
performance parameters for dedicated wind turbine airfoils lacked currently. The choice of airfoils mainly
included NACA series airfoils, NREL S series airfoils, SERI series airfoils, RISF-A series airfoils, FFA-
W series airfoils [1] and DU series airfoils. At present, the numerical simulation analysis for the
performance of wind turbine airfoils [2] mainly concentrated in the influence of mesh density [3],
turbulence model [4-5], leading edge roughness [5], airfoil camber [6] and Reynolds number [7] for the
aerodynamic performance. Given the reality that the aerodynamic performance analysis of domestic wind
turbine machine mainly based on the numerical simulation, the deep study on the simulation for common
airfoils would provide reliable reference for the aerodynamic design of wind turbine machine.
With the help of the CFD software FLUENT, the method of steady numerical analysis was used in this
paper, NACA0018 airfoil which developed by U.S. National Aviation Advisory Board was analyzed
numerically, and the lift and drag coefficient of the airfoil under different turbulence models were
discussed and compared with the experimental data. The turbulence model suitable for the airfoils’
numerical simulation was investigated, and then the flow field structure was analyzed.

2. Object for study

NACA0018 airfoil which developed by U.S. National Aviation Advisory Board was selected in this
paper as the object for the numerical analysis. The geometry of NACA0018 which chord length of 1m
was shown in Fig1. This airfoil was symmetrical, had maximum thickness of 18%(compared with the
chord length).

Fig1 Geometry of NACA0018 airfoil

Numerical simulation parameters of airfoil determined by the Reynolds number: Re=ρ ul/μ ，where
 was air density,  =1.225kg/m;  was fluid dynamic viscosity coefficient,  =1.7894 × 10-
5
kg/(m·s); l was airfoil’s chord length, and u was the relative speed between airfoil and flow.
In calculation, Reynolds number was taken as 5×105, the relative Mach number was 0.023. The attack
angle of flow was changed by the change of model’s inclination angle. The attack angle in calculation
changed from -8° to 13°, added up to 22 states of attack angle.

3. Method of numerical calculation

3.1. Creation of mesh model

Computational domain was composed of front half of semicircle and the back half of rectangle, which
the radius of semicircle was 16m and the side length of rectangle was 32m and 30m relatively, airfoil was
located near the center of semicircle. Taking into account the boundary layer’s affect on the aerodynamic
performance of airfoils, C-H type structured grid was applied in the airfoil domain. Also considering the
requirements of turbulence model for the grid, the boundary layer mesh was densed, so the results met the
stability requirements. The total number of model grid was 139140, which 400 points distributed on the
airfoils surface totally. Airfoil and nearby wall grid were shown in Fig2. It could be seen from the figure
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that the distribution of the grid was much more dense in airfoil’s front edge, back edge and airfoils
surface. The mesh of the computational domain was shown in Fig3.

Fig2 part grid of NACA0018 airfoil Fig3 mesh of the computational domain

3.2. Boundary conditions

Boundary conditions [8] were set as follows:

1) inlet boundary was set as velocity-inlet, the inlet velocity and flow direction were given;
2) outlet boundary was set as pressure-outlet;
3) airfoil surface was set as adiabatic no-slip wall.

3.3. Turbulence model

With the help with the commercial CFD software Fluent, two dimensional airfoil’s aerodynamic
performance was simulated numerically. The control equations were Navier-Stokes equations, and four
turbulence models were applied: Standard k   model of two equations, RNG k   model, Transition
SST model of four equations and Reynolds stress model of five equations. SIMPLEC algorithm was used
to solve the coupling problem between velocity components and pressure in momentum equations.
Momentum, turbulence kinetic energy and dissipation ratio were taken as second-order upwind scheme in
calculation.

4. Steady calculation

4.1. Aerodynamic performance of airfoil

The airfoils with different shapes and sizes had different lift and drag force, so non-dimensional lift
coefficient and drag coefficient were used usually to explore the pros and cons of airfoils. The calculation
equations of airfoils’ lift and drag coefficient were shown as follows:
L
Cl  (1)
0.5V2l
D
Cd  (2)
0.5V2l

Cl Cd
Where the airfoil’s was lift coefficient, was the airfoil’s drag coefficient,
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1.5 0.2
experimental data experimental data
0.18
k-ε model k-ε model
1 0.16
lift coefficient

drag coefficient
RNG k-ε model RNG k-ε model
0.14
sst4 model sst4 model
0.5 0.12
reynolds model reynolds model
0.1
0 0.08
0.06
-0.5 0.04
0.02
-1 0
-8 -3 2 7 12 -8 -3 2 7 12
attack angle attack angle
(a) Lift coefficient (b) Drag coefficient

Fig 4 variation of the lift coefficient and drag coefficient with the change of the attack angle

L was the lift force suffered by airfoil, D was the drag force suffered by airfoil,  was air density,
Vr was the relative velocity when air flowed through the airfoil and l was the airfoil’s chord length.
The experimental data of NACA0018 airfoil’s lift drag coefficient and calculation results of different
turbulence models were shown in Figure 4. It could be seen from the calculation results and experimental
data comparison figure, the lift and drag coefficient curve of four turbulence models had consistent
movements and shapes with the experimental curve. And for the lift coefficient curve, the calculation
results of five equations Reynolds stress model was closest with the experimental data. While the drag
coefficient curve of four turbulence models varied greatly with the experimental data, especially the two
equations Standard k   model, and five equations Reynolds stress model had smallest difference
between the experimental data. Drag coefficient’s larger deviation may be caused by the drag
coefficient’s sensitivity to the surface roughness and other factors.

4.2. Distribution of pressure coefficient

The distribution of pressure coefficient of NACA0018 airfoil under different attack angle when five
equations Reynolds stress model was applied was shown in Fig5. It could be seen from this figure that the
airfoil leading edge had a larger curvature, the flow on the airfoil surface would have a large acceleration,
then the static pressure would lower on the airfoil’s surface. There was a anti-curvature shrinking section
on the airfoil rear edge pressure side, which could lower the velocity and increase the pressure, so the
pressure coefficient of rear edge pressure side had a obvious inclination. The figure showed that the
distribution of pressure on the airfoil’s surface varied largely under different attack angle. When the
attack angle was less than zero, the pressure coefficient of airfoil’s upper surface was positive and lower
surface was negative, indicated that at this time lift force of airfoil pointed below. When the attack angle
was zero, the pressure coefficient of airfoil’s upper and lower surface was nearly equal, for the symmetry
of NACA0018 airfoil. And when the attack angle was larger than zero, the pressure coefficient of airfoil’s
upper surface was negative and lower surface was positive, indicated that at this time lift force of airfoil
pointed up. It could be seen from Figure 5 that the larger attack angle, the greater difference of pressure
coefficient between upper and lower surface. For NACA0018 airfoil, the difference of pressure
coefficient on the airfoil’s front edge was much larger, while on the rear edge was much lower, indicated
that the lift force of airfoil mainly come from front edge.
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(a) -80 down （b）-40 down

（c）00 （d）60 up

（e）80 up （f）130 up

Fig 5 distribution of pressure coefficient for different attack angle

4.3. Structure of flow field

Fig6 showed the flow line of NACA0018 airfoil under different attack angle calculated by five
equations Reynolds stress model.

（a）-80 down （b）-40 down （c）00

（d）60 up （e）80 up （f）130 up

Fig 6 flow line of NACA0018 airfoil under different attack angle

It could be seen from the figure that the flow separation didn’t occurred around the airfoils of different
attack angle when Reynolds number was taken as 5×105, for at this time Reynolds number was relatively
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small. (a) and (f) of Figure 6 showed that airfoil had a large velocity gradient around the front surface,
indicated that curvature of airfoil’s front edge accelerated the flow. The flow velocity gradient of lower
airfoil was larger than upper when attack angle was down, while the flow velocity gradient of upper
airfoil was larger than lower when attack angle was up. And (e) of Figure 6 showed that when attack
angle was zero, the flow separated in the front edge of airfoil, then upper and lower flow combined
immediately in the rear airfoil. When attack angle was large, the flow separated in the front edge of airfoil,
then combined in a certain distance of the rear airfoil.

5. Conclusion

With the help of CFD software Fluent, the aerodynamic performance of the dedicated wind turbine
airfoils NACA0018 was simulated numerically when Reynolds number was 5×105and the attack angle
in calculation changed from -8° to 13°. The conclusion was shown as follows:
1) When the attack angle changed from -8° to 13°, steady numerical methods could be applied to
predict the aerodynamic performance of airfoil, the lift and drag coefficient curve of four turbulence
models had consistent movements and shapes with the experimental curve. The lift coefficient curves of
four turbulence models were much closer with the experimental data, while drag coefficient curves
differed largely with the experimental data. This may be caused by the roughness of front edge or other
factors. Five equations Reynolds stress model had best result in four turbulence models.
2) The distribution of airfoil’s surface pressure changed largely under different attack angle. In the
conversion process of attack angle changed from less than zero to greater than zero, the pressure
coefficient positive and negative symbols of airfoil’s upper and lower surface would be changed. And
when the attack angle was zero, the pressure coefficients of airfoil’s upper and lower surface were equal.
The larger attack angle, the greater difference of pressure coefficient between upper and lower surface.
The difference of pressure coefficient on the airfoil’s front edge was much larger, while on the rear edge
was much lower, indicated that the lift force of airfoil mainly come from front edge.
3) The flow separation didn’t occurred around the airfoils of different attack angle, at this time
Reynolds number was relatively small. The airfoil had a large velocity gradient around the front surface
when attack angle was relatively large. The upper and lower velocity gradient of airfoil’s front edge
differed with attack angle pointing down or up. When attack angle was zero, the flow separated in the
front edge of airfoil, then upper and lower flow combined immediately in the rear airfoil. When attack
angle was large, the flow separated in the front edge of airfoil, then combined in a certain distance of the
rear airfoil.

Acknowledgement

This work was financially supported by major social development project in science and technology
projects of Science and Technology Department of Zhejiang Province (2009C13012).

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