Low- and High-Fidelity Aerodynamic Simulations of Box Wing Kites for Airborne Wind Energy Applications

High aerodynamic efficiency is a key design driver for airborne wind energy systems as it strongly affects the achievable energy output. Conventional fixed-wing systems generally use aerofoils with a high thickness-to-chord ratio to achieve high efficiency and wing loading. The box wing concept suits thinner aerofoils as the load distribution...

Six-degrees-of-freedom simulation model for future multi-megawatt airborne wind energy systems

Currently developed airborne wind energy systems have reached sizes of up to several hundred kilowatts. This paper presents the high-level design and a six-degrees-of-freedom model of a future fixed-wing airborne wind energy system operated in pumping cycles. This framework is intended to be used as an open-source reference system. The fixed...

Open-Source Parametric Finite-Element Meshing Tool for Fixed-Wing AWE Kites

Low and High Fidelity Aerodynamic Simulations for Airborne Wind Energy Box-Wings

Reference Design and Simulation Framework of a Multi-Megawatt Airborne Wind Energy System

In this paper, we present the design and computational model of a representative multi-megawatt airborne wind energy (AWE) system, together with a simulation framework that accounts for the flight dynamics of the fixed-wing aircraft and the sagging of the tether, combining this with flight control and optimisation strategies to derive the...