This paper presents the most recent results from the EU project AVATAR in which aerodynamic models are improved and validated for wind turbines on a scale of 10 MW and more. Measurements on a DU 00-W-212 airfoil are presented which have been taken in the pressurized DNW-HDG wind tunnel up to a Reynolds number of 15 Million. These measurements are compared with measurements in the LM wind tunnel for Reynolds numbers of 3 and 6 Million and with calculational results. In the analysis of results special attention is paid to high Reynolds numbers effects. CFD calculations on airfoil performance showed an unexpected large scatter which eventually was reduced by paying even more attention to grid independency and domain size in relation to grid topology. Moreover calculations are presented on flow devices (leading and trailing edge flaps and vortex generators). Finally results are shown between results from 3D rotor models where a comparison is made between results from vortex wake methods and BEM methods at yawed conditions.

The FP7 AdVanced Aerodynamic Tools for lArge Rotors - Avatar project aims to develop and validate advanced aerodynamic models, to be used in integral design codes for the next generation of large scale wind turbines (10-20MW). One of the approaches towards reaching rotors for 10-20MW size is the application of flow control devices, such as flaps. In Task 3.2: Development of aerodynamic codes for modelling of flow devices on aerofoils and, rotors of the Avatar project, aerodynamic codes are benchmarked and validated against the experimental data of a DU95W180 airfoil in steady and unsteady flow, for different angle of attack and flap settings, including unsteady oscillatory trailing-edge-flap motion, carried out within the framework of WP3: Models for Flow Devices and Flow Control, Task 3.1: CFD and Experimental Database. The aerodynamics codes are: AdaptFoil2D, Foil2W, FLOWer, MaPFlow, OpenFOAM, Q³UIC, ATEFlap. The codes include unsteady Eulerian CFD simulations with grid deformation, panel models and indicial engineering models. The validation cases correspond to 18 steady flow cases, and 42 unsteady flow cases, for varying angle of attack, flap deflection and reduced frequency, with free and forced transition. The validation of the models show varying degrees of agreement, varying between models and flow cases.

The current paper presents the effort, in the EU AVATAR project, to establish the necessary requirements to obtain consistent lift over drag ratios among seven CFD codes. The flow around a 2D airfoil case is studied, for both transitional and fully turbulent conditions at Reynolds numbers of 3 × 10⁶ and 15 × 10⁶. The necessary grid resolution, domain size, and iterative convergence criteria to have consistent results are discussed, and suggestions are given for best practice. For the fully turbulent results four out of seven codes provide consistent results. For the laminar-turbulent transitional results only three out of seven provided results, and the agreement is generally lower than for the fully turbulent case.