Lift and drag curves for an airfoil

The ratio CL/CD is called the glide ratio

76
 2D wind tunnel measurements are generally used to obtain the
coefficients, CL and CD, in the pre- and post-stall regions,
A method developed by Viterna and al. (1981) can also be used for their
prediction
The maximum drag coefficient at inflow angle a = 90 is

CD,max 1.11 0.018. AR

Where, AR is the ratio blade length (L) to chord length (c)

The drag coefficient post-stall region ( 15 a 90 ) is given by:

C D B1 sin 2 a B2 cos a 15 a 90

B1 C D ,max
1
B2
C Ds C D ,max sin 2 a s
cos a s
77
 The lift coefficient is given by

C L A1 sin a A2
2 cos 2
a
15 a 90
sin a

B1 C D ,max
A1
2 2
sin a s
A2 C Ls C D ,max sin a s cos a s
cos a s
2

as inflow angle at stall onset (usually 15)

CDs drag coefficient at stall onset
CLs lift coefficient at stall onset Stall onset on airfoil

78
Example Airfoil - NACA 0012
4-digit series of airfoils
The NACA 0012 airfoil is symmetrical, the 00
indicating that it has no camber
The 12 indicates that the airfoil has a 12%
thickness to chord length ratio
This series uses the following equation to
specify the shape:

Lift and Drag Coefficients for a NACA 0012 Aerofoil

y t x x x
2
x
3
x
4

0.2969 0.1260 0.3537 0.2843 0.1015

c 0.2 c c c c c
x is the position along the chord from 0 to c,
t 0.12 y is the half thickness at a given value of x (centreline to surface)
t is the maximum thickness
* NACA airfoils are airfoil shapes for aircraft wings developed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)
79
Aerodynamics of a wind turbine blade (~18% thick NACA)

A wind turbine
blade operates in
this region of
angle of attack
under normal
operating
conditions,

Lowering the
angle of attack
lowers the lift and
blade loading.
Typical aero-properties for a wind turbine blade (~18% thick NACA)

80
Blade Element Momentum Balance - Assumptions
The flow area swept by the
rotor is divided into a number
of concentric ring elements,

There is no radial
dependency between the
rings,

The wind speed is uniformly

distributed over each ring
element,

The forces from the blades Annular plane used

on the flow through each ring in BEM theory

element are assumed

constant.
81
consider now the ring element of radius r and
thickness dr

82
The thrust on this element from the disc defined by the
rotor is:
dT dm V1 V4
The mass flow rate on this element is also given by
Vb dA Vb 2rdr
dm
Thus,
dT 2rVb V1 V4 dr
Where,
V1 wind speed before the rotor,
Blade section

V4 wind speed in the wake behind the rotor,

V1 V4
Vb is the wind speed through the rotor plane
2 83
By introducing the axial induction factor
Vb
a 1
V1
And the tangential induction factor
1 Vt W
a
2 wr 2w Helical wake pattern of single tip vortex

Where, w w2n denote the angular velocity of the rotor, n

number of rotations per minute, Vt is the tangential velocity of
the flow and W is the local angular velocity of the flow,
The thrust can be rewritten as:

dT 4rV1 a 1 a dr
2

84
and the torque on the ring element is given by:

dQ dm Vt r 2rdrVb 2wr a 2

dQ 4r V1w 1 a adr
3

And then the power produced

dP wdQ 4r V1w 1 a adr

3 2

85
According to Betz, the blade element would
also give

V1 2rdr
16 1
dP 3

27 2
Which gives

1 a 3

16
0.593
a 27

86
Example 4.4
A horizontal-axis wind turbine with
rotor 30 m in diameter is 32%
efficient in 12 m/s average winds.
Assuming standard air density of
1.23 kg/m3, estimate the power in the
wind (kW) and the annual energy
(kWh/yr) produced by the turbine in
those winds.

87
Solution
The power in the wind is given by:

1 1
P a AV x1.23x x302 x123 751.2 kW
3

2 2 4

Since this machine collects 32% of that, then

in a year with 8760 hours the energy delivered
would be

Energy 0.32x751.2x8760 h / yr 21.05x105 kWh / yr

88
Outline
Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines
Blade Element Momentum Theory (BMT)
Bernoullis equation applied to the wind
stream tube
Power coefficient of the rotor - Betz limit
Axial induction factor - the tip-speed ratio
The power law - Friction coefficient of various
terrain
89
Wind turbine blade performance Analysis using BMT method

To determine the power coefficient Cp an iterative

solution is required,
The algorithm for an iterative solution is as
follows:
1. Guess a and a
2. Calculate lr and b or f
3. Look up CL and CD for the appropriate
incidence angle a
4. Calculate a and a again.
90
The local pitch angle of the blade
b is calculated from
lr 1 a
b tan
1

1 a

And the local inflow angle (angle

of attack) is

a f b
wr
Where, lr V is the local tip speed ratio, and f is the
flow angle,
1

91
The normal and tangential coefficients CN and CT are given by
C N CL cos f CD sin f
CT CL sin f CD cos f
CL and CD coefficient of the blade are determined from adequate tables.
* Betz does not include rotation of the wind, a 0

92
 The influence factors a and a are then calculated by :

1
a and
4 F cos 2 b
1 sCL
sCL sin b a 1 a
4 Flr cos b

The solidity s is defined as the fraction of the cross-sectional area of the

annular element which is covered by the blade materials.
The solidity depends on the radius r of the annular element of the blade
and is defined as
cr B
s r
2r
Where, B is the number of the blades,
Blade cross-section
93
 Solidity s is usually defined as the % of the circumference of the rotor which contains material
rather than air,
High-solidity machines carry a lot of material and have coarse blade angles, and
generate much higher starting torque than low-solidity machines but are inherently less
efficient than low-solidity machines

Where N is the number of turbine blades, c is the

blade chord length and R the turbine radius

Blade cross-section

94
Where, F is the Prandtl tip loss factor (introduced to
account for the decreasing forces on the blade towards
the tip), defined as

2 B R r
F arccos exp
2 r sin f

and, R is the rotor radius. F is a correction factor for the

reduction in forces along the blade.
95
 1
Momentum theory breaks down when a
3
Glauerts correction can be applied whenever

a ac where ac 0.2
a is replaced by:
1
a 2 K 1 2ac
2
K 1 2ac 2
2

4 Kac2 1

4 F sin 2 f
Where, K
sC N
96
Once a convergent set of a and a has been determined,
the local normal and tangential forces per length unit of
the blade are calculated

1 V 1 a 2 2
FN r 1
c r C and
sin f
2 N
2

1 V1 1 a wr 1 a
FT r cr CT
2 sin f cos f
97
 The distribution of these forces along the rotor blade
form
the basis for calculating the total shaft torque and
the mechanical power captured by the rotor,
thus, the total axial force and power are given by:

R
T B FN r dr
0
R
P wB rFT r dr
0

98
The mechanical power captured by the rotor is also given by

P AV C p a, a, b , TSR
1 3

2
In which Cp, the power coefficient is a function of the pitch angle
b and the tip speed ratio (TSR), l:
wR R
TSR l
V1
wR is the angular speed of the rotor and R is the rotor radius,
the pitch angle b and the rotor speed wR are the parameters
used for the turbine control.

99
The power coefficient is given by
l
8 CD
C p 2 Flr a 1 a 1
3
tan b dlr
l lh CL
The chord length as a function of radius according to Betz is
given by
16R
cr Betz
1

9 BC L r 4
2

TSR TSR
2

R 9

where CL is the coefficient of lift at the chosen design angle of

attack, a .
100
Example 4.5 Calculate the power output from the turbine
described in Table below. The turbine has a tip radius of 5 m,
and will operate in a wind speed of 7 m/s, a tip speed ratio of 8
and three blades. Assume that the tip loss and the drag
coefficient are zero. The turbine uses a NACA 0012 aerofoil.
Assume that the drag CD = 0 and the tip loss correction F = 1

101
The mechanical power output of one ring element of the rotor is
calculated by making the following iteration:
1 a and a are set at some guessed values
a = a = 0 is a good first time guess
2- The incidence angle a is calculated
3- From the blade profile data sheet we find CL and CD
4 - CN and CT are calculated
5 - a and a are calculated. if a > 0.2 then a is calculated from the
Glauerts correlation
6 - If a and a as found under step-5 differ more than 1% from the
last/initial guess, continue at step-2, using the new a and a
102