An aerodynamic performance analysis of a perforated wind turbine blade

Abstract

Wind power is one of the important renewable energy sources. Currently, many researches are focusing on improving the aerodynamic performance of wind turbine blades through simulations and wind tunnel testing. In the present study, the aerodynamic performance of the perforated Eqwin blade (shell type blade) is investigated by using numerical simulation. Three types of slots namely circular, horizontal rectangular and vertical rectangular were evaluated. It was found that the optimum angle of attack for a perforated shell type blade was 12° with maximum Cl/Cd value of 6.420. In general, for all the perforated blade cases, Cl/Cd tended to decrease as the slot size increased except for the circular slot with 5 mm diameter. This was due to the disturbance of the airflow in lower side region which passed through the bigger slot size. Among the modified slots; the circular slot with diameter of 5 mm would be the best slot configuration that can be considered for blade fabrication. The Cl/Cd obtained was 6.46 which is about 5% more than the value of the reference blade. Moreover, the introduced slot would also reduce the overall weight of the blade by 1.3%.