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Experimentally validated three-dimensional computational aerodynamics of wind turbine blade sections featuring leading edge erosion cavities

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Experimentally validated three-dimensional computational aerodynamics of wind turbine blade sections featuring leading edge erosion cavities. / Campobasso, Sergio; Castorrini, Alessio; Cappugi, Lorenzo et al.
In: Wind Energy, Vol. 25, No. 1, 31.01.2022, p. 168-189.

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@article{fe437faad61d4dd3b14b80604e0f137c,
title = "Experimentally validated three-dimensional computational aerodynamics of wind turbine blade sections featuring leading edge erosion cavities",
abstract = "Wind turbine blade leading edge erosion reduces the lift and increases the drag of the blade airfoils. This occurrence, in turn, reduces turbine power and energy yield. This study focuses on the aerodynamic analysis of large and sparse erosion cavities, observed in intermediate to advanced erosion stages, whose size and surface pattern do not lend themselves to experimental and numerical analysis by means of distributed roughness models alone. Making use of three-dimensional Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics enhanced by laminar-to-turbulent transition modeling, and geometrically resolving individual erosion cavities, the study validates this simulation-based approach for predicting the aerodynamics and performance loss of blade sections featuring the aforementioned erosion cavities against available experimental data. It is found that the considered cavities can trigger transition, indicating the necessity of both resolving their geometry in the simulations and also modeling distributed surface roughness, of typically lower level, as this latter affects the properties of boundary layers and, if sufficiently high, may trigger transition over the entire spanwise length affected. The energy yield loss of a utility-scale turbine due to the considered erosion pattern is found to be between 2.1% and 2.6% using measured and computed force data of the nominal and eroded outboard blade airfoil. A parametric analysis of the cavity geometry suggests that the geometry of the cavity edge has a much larger impact on aerodynamic performance than the cavity depth.",
keywords = "blade leading edge erosion, erosion cavities, wind turbine blade performance, experimental validation, wind turbine energy losses, Mavier-Stokes CFD, parametric geometry generation, high-performance computing",
author = "Sergio Campobasso and Alessio Castorrini and Lorenzo Cappugi and Aldo Bonfiglioli",
year = "2022",
month = jan,
day = "31",
doi = "10.1002/we.2666",
language = "English",
volume = "25",
pages = "168--189",
journal = "Wind Energy",
issn = "1095-4244",
publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Ltd",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Experimentally validated three-dimensional computational aerodynamics of wind turbine blade sections featuring leading edge erosion cavities

AU - Campobasso, Sergio

AU - Castorrini, Alessio

AU - Cappugi, Lorenzo

AU - Bonfiglioli, Aldo

PY - 2022/1/31

Y1 - 2022/1/31

N2 - Wind turbine blade leading edge erosion reduces the lift and increases the drag of the blade airfoils. This occurrence, in turn, reduces turbine power and energy yield. This study focuses on the aerodynamic analysis of large and sparse erosion cavities, observed in intermediate to advanced erosion stages, whose size and surface pattern do not lend themselves to experimental and numerical analysis by means of distributed roughness models alone. Making use of three-dimensional Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics enhanced by laminar-to-turbulent transition modeling, and geometrically resolving individual erosion cavities, the study validates this simulation-based approach for predicting the aerodynamics and performance loss of blade sections featuring the aforementioned erosion cavities against available experimental data. It is found that the considered cavities can trigger transition, indicating the necessity of both resolving their geometry in the simulations and also modeling distributed surface roughness, of typically lower level, as this latter affects the properties of boundary layers and, if sufficiently high, may trigger transition over the entire spanwise length affected. The energy yield loss of a utility-scale turbine due to the considered erosion pattern is found to be between 2.1% and 2.6% using measured and computed force data of the nominal and eroded outboard blade airfoil. A parametric analysis of the cavity geometry suggests that the geometry of the cavity edge has a much larger impact on aerodynamic performance than the cavity depth.

AB - Wind turbine blade leading edge erosion reduces the lift and increases the drag of the blade airfoils. This occurrence, in turn, reduces turbine power and energy yield. This study focuses on the aerodynamic analysis of large and sparse erosion cavities, observed in intermediate to advanced erosion stages, whose size and surface pattern do not lend themselves to experimental and numerical analysis by means of distributed roughness models alone. Making use of three-dimensional Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics enhanced by laminar-to-turbulent transition modeling, and geometrically resolving individual erosion cavities, the study validates this simulation-based approach for predicting the aerodynamics and performance loss of blade sections featuring the aforementioned erosion cavities against available experimental data. It is found that the considered cavities can trigger transition, indicating the necessity of both resolving their geometry in the simulations and also modeling distributed surface roughness, of typically lower level, as this latter affects the properties of boundary layers and, if sufficiently high, may trigger transition over the entire spanwise length affected. The energy yield loss of a utility-scale turbine due to the considered erosion pattern is found to be between 2.1% and 2.6% using measured and computed force data of the nominal and eroded outboard blade airfoil. A parametric analysis of the cavity geometry suggests that the geometry of the cavity edge has a much larger impact on aerodynamic performance than the cavity depth.

KW - blade leading edge erosion

KW - erosion cavities

KW - wind turbine blade performance

KW - experimental validation

KW - wind turbine energy losses

KW - Mavier-Stokes CFD

KW - parametric geometry generation

KW - high-performance computing

U2 - 10.1002/we.2666

DO - 10.1002/we.2666

M3 - Journal article

VL - 25

SP - 168

EP - 189

JO - Wind Energy

JF - Wind Energy

SN - 1095-4244

IS - 1

ER -