A design analysis for small horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) 3-bladed rotor

• Main Author: Omboy, Byron Michael Codilla
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2007
• Subjects: Horizontal axis wind turbines; HAWT (Horizontal axis wind turbines); Computational fluid dynamics; CAD (Computer-aided design); Mechanical Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/3509; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/10347/viewcontent/CDTG004292_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

The use of modular small-scale wind energy systems is an effective solution to remote off grid areas in the Philippines as well as grid connected systems due to abundant wind energy potential. This paper presents the design and analysis process in the performance prediction of a modern horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) rotor blade. The design uses the blade element momentum theory (BEMT) for the spanwise blade profile. The airfoil selected is NREL S822 tip airfoil specifically designed for small scale HAWT aero-generators. The computer-aided design (CAD) uses the SolidWorks 3-D Mechanical Design software. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling was used for performance prediction of the designed 3-bladed rotor in steady, incompressible flows. The computational mesh is generated using CosmosFloWorks mesh generator that utilizes default rectangular prisms with a total of about 500,000 cells. The 3m rotor blade is expected to produce a rated power of 3kW at an ambient wind speed of 12m/s. However, the power generated by the CFD solver is 2979.64W at a simulated wind speed of 16m/s. Maximum power coefficient of 0.43 is achieved at the tip-speed ratio of 8 showing similar result to design power coefficient of 0.45 at the design tip-speed ratio of 6. Moreover, the lowest vorticity has been achieved also at the design tip-speed ratio. Furthermore, the design analysis is conducted in parametric environment wherein CAD blade design and CFD modeling are undertaken in the same topology.