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IR thermographic flow visualization for the quantification of boundary layer flow disturbances due to the leading edge condition

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  • Dollinger, Christoph
  • Balaresque, Nicholas
  • Gaudern, Nicholas
  • Gleichauf, Daniel
  • Sorg, Michael
  • Fischer, Andreas

Abstract

The aerodynamic performance of wind turbine rotor blades is influenced by the leading edge condition. Contamination and erosion cause increased surface roughness, unevenness or defects, which affect the boundary layer flow and, thus, reduce lift and increase drag. Current approaches used to determine the disturbed boundary layer flow are based on invasive flow probes with limited spatial resolution; therefore, a non-invasive, camera-based measurement of the boundary layer flow disturbances on wind turbines in operation is proposed using thermographic flow visualization. The actual and the undisturbed laminar-turbulent transition positions are determined in the thermographic images and a subsequent assignment to the rotor blade geometry obtains chord-based information. The normalized difference of both transition positions can be used as a metric to describe the extent of the disturbed boundary layer flow. The approach is demonstrated on a multi-MW horizontal axis wind turbine with a laminar flow reduction of up to 90.4 %. Furthermore, the measurement results allow the estimation of the annual energy production loss due to the leading edge condition, which enhances the industrial standard of simply comparing clean and tripped aerodynamic polars. For the investigated wind turbine, the annual energy production loss amounts to 4.7 % at 6 m/s average wind speed.

Suggested Citation

  • Dollinger, Christoph & Balaresque, Nicholas & Gaudern, Nicholas & Gleichauf, Daniel & Sorg, Michael & Fischer, Andreas, 2019. "IR thermographic flow visualization for the quantification of boundary layer flow disturbances due to the leading edge condition," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 709-721.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:138:y:2019:i:c:p:709-721
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.01.116
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Han, Woobeom & Kim, Jonghwa & Kim, Bumsuk, 2018. "Effects of contamination and erosion at the leading edge of blade tip airfoils on the annual energy production of wind turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 817-823.
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    Cited by:

    1. García Márquez, Fausto Pedro & Peco Chacón, Ana María, 2020. "A review of non-destructive testing on wind turbines blades," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 998-1010.
    2. Wenjie Wang & Yu Xue & Chengkuan He & Yongnian Zhao, 2022. "Review of the Typical Damage and Damage-Detection Methods of Large Wind Turbine Blades," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-31, August.
    3. Torben Reichstein & Alois Peter Schaffarczyk & Christoph Dollinger & Nicolas Balaresque & Erich Schülein & Clemens Jauch & Andreas Fischer, 2019. "Investigation of Laminar–Turbulent Transition on a Rotating Wind-Turbine Blade of Multimegawatt Class with Thermography and Microphone Array," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-21, June.

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