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A New Method of Determination of the Angle of Attack on Rotating Wind Turbine Blades

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  • Wei Zhong

    (Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Hi-Tech Research for Wind Turbine Design, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China)

  • Wen Zhong Shen

    (Department of Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark)

  • Tong Guang Wang

    (Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Hi-Tech Research for Wind Turbine Design, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China)

  • Wei Jun Zhu

    (School of Hydraulic Energy and Power Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China)

Abstract

The angle of attack (AoA) is the key parameter when extracting the aerodynamic polar from the rotating blade sections of a wind turbine. However, the determination of AoA is not straightforward using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) or measurement. Since the incoming streamlines are bent because of the complex inductions of the rotor, discrepancies exist between various existing determination methods, especially in the tip region. In the present study, flow characteristics in the region near wind turbine blades are analyzed in detail using CFD results of flows past the NREL UAE Phase VI rotor. It is found that the local flow determining AOA changes rapidly in the vicinity of the blade. Based on this finding, the concepts of effective AoA as well as nominal AoA are introduced, leading to a new method of AOA determination. The new method has 5 steps: (1) Find the distributed vortices on the blade surface; (2) select two monitoring points per cross-section close to the aerodynamic center on both pressure and suction sides with an equal distance from the rotor plane; (3) subtract the blade self-induction from the velocity at each monitoring point; (4) average the velocity of the two monitoring points obtained in Step 3; (5) determine the AoA using the velocity obtained in Step 4. Since the monitoring points for the first time can be set very close to the aerodynamic center, leading to an excellent estimation of AoA. The aerodynamic polar extracted through determination of the effective AoA exhibits a consistent regularity for both the mid-board and tip sections, which has never been obtained by the existing determination methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Zhong & Wen Zhong Shen & Tong Guang Wang & Wei Jun Zhu, 2019. "A New Method of Determination of the Angle of Attack on Rotating Wind Turbine Blades," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-19, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:20:p:4012-:d:279062
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Boatto, Umberto & Bonnet, Paul A. & Avallone, Francesco & Ragni, Daniele, 2023. "Assessment of Blade Element Momentum Theory-based engineering models for wind turbine rotors under uniform steady inflow," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 307-317.
    2. Tahir Muhammad Naqash & Md. Mahbub Alam, 2025. "A State-of-the-Art Review of Wind Turbine Blades: Principles, Flow-Induced Vibrations, Failure, Maintenance, and Vibration Suppression Techniques," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-35, June.
    3. Kiran Siddappaji & Mark Turner, 2022. "Improved Prediction of Aerodynamic Loss Propagation as Entropy Rise in Wind Turbines Using Multifidelity Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-44, May.
    4. Mohammadi, Morteza & Maghrebi, Mohammad Javad, 2021. "Improvement of wind turbine aerodynamic performance by vanquishing stall with active multi air jet blowing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).

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