Probabilistic Design of Airfoils for Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines
Ricardo Balbino Dos Santos Pereira (TU Delft - Wind Energy)
G. De Oliveira Andrade (TU Delft - Wind Energy)
W.A. Timmer (TU Delft - Wind Energy)
E. Quaeghebeur (TU Delft - Wind Energy)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
We describe a probabilistic approach to design airfoils for wind energy applications. An analytical expression is derived for the probability of perturbations to the operational blade-section angle of attack. It includes the combined influence of wind shear, yaw-misalignment, and turbulence intensity. The theoretical fluctuations in angle of attack are validated against an aero-structural simulation of a 10 MW horizontal axis wind turbine, operating under different inflow conditions. Finally we incorporate the probabilistic approach into a multi-objective airfoil optimization problem, which is solved with a genetic algorithm. The results illustrate the compromise between airfoil performance for a specific angle of attack and robustness of airfoil performance over a large range of angle of attack fluctuations
help_outline