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Making full use of wind energy can effectively alleviate the global energy shortage and environment contamination problems. Nevertheless, how to significantly improve the performance of the wind turbine airfoil and blade is a crucial issue. As the novel flow control method, the co-flow jet (CFJ) technology is one of the most potential methods to solve this problem. Thus, the effects of the CFJ technology on the performance enhancement of the S809 airfoil and Phase VI wind turbine blade are explored in this study. Furthermore, the effects of the injection location and jet momentum coefficient are studied, and an adaptive jet momentum coefficient strategy of the CFJ technology is proposed. Results demonstrate that the CFJ technology can significantly improve the maximum lift coefficient and maximum corrected lift-to-drag ratio of the S809 airfoil. Moreover, the power coefficient of the Phase VI wind turbine blade at the low tip speed ratio is greatly enhanced as well. In particular, the maximum lift coefficient and maximum corrected lift-to-drag ratio of the typical S809 CFJ airfoil with adaptive Cμ are improved by 119.7% and 36.2%, respectively. The maximum power coefficient of CFJ blade can be increased by 4.5%, and the power coefficient of CFJ blade can be boosted by 226.7% when the tip speed ratio is 1.52.

The development of wind-power engineering in the Arctic has led to increasing wind turbines in cold climatic zones. A problem operating wind turbines in cold conditions is the icing of blades. The icing of the blades leads to a change in rotor aerodynamics, a decrease in energy production, the additional weight of blades, and load on the rotor, which increase wear and reduce the lifetime of the turbines. The growth of icing on the blades threatens the uncontrollable separation of ice pieces from the blade edges, and the operation is unsafe. Non-contact methods for detecting icing on the blades need to prevent critical operating modes with ice formation on the blades. This review analyzes methods for detecting icing. The advantages and disadvantages of various optical methods are presented to give valuable insights on ice prevention for wind turbines operating in cold regions.

The review reflects physical solutions for de-icing, one of the main problems that impedes the efficient use of wind turbines for autonomous energy resources in cold regions. This topic is currently very relevant for ensuring the dynamic development of wind energy in the Arctic. The review discusses an effective anti-icing strategy for wind turbine blades, including various passive and active physical de-icing techniques using superhydrophobic coatings, thermal heaters, ultrasonic and vibration devices, operating control to determine the optimal methods and their combinations. After a brief description of the active methods, the energy consumption required for their realization is estimated. Passive methods do not involve extra costs, so the review focuses on the most promising solutions with superhydrophobic coatings. Among them, special attention is paid to plastic coatings with a lithographic method of applying micro and nanostructures. This review is of interest to researchers who develop new effective solutions for protection against icing, in particular, when choosing systems for protecting wind turbines.

The scope of this article is to review the potential causes that can lead to wind turbine blade failures, assess their significance to a turbine’s performance and secure operation and summarize the techniques proposed to prevent these failures and eliminate their consequences. Damage to wind turbine blades can be induced by lightning, fatigue loads, accumulation of icing on the blade surfaces and the exposure of blades to airborne particulates, causing so-called leading edge erosion. The above effects can lead to damage ranging from minor outer surface erosion to total destruction of the blade. All potential causes of damage to wind turbine blades strongly depend on the surrounding environment and climate conditions. Consequently, the selection of an installation site with favourable conditions is the most effective measure to minimize the possibility of blade damage. Otherwise, several techniques and methods have already been applied or are being developed to prevent blade damage, aiming to reduce damage risk if not able to eliminate it. The combined application of damage prevention strategies with a SCADA system is the optimal approach to adequate treatment.

To meet the increasing energy demand, renewable energy is considered the best option. Its patronage is being encouraged by both the research and industrial community. The main driving force for most renewable systems is solar energy. It is abundant and pollutant free compared to fossil products. Wind energy is also considered an abundant medium of energy generation and often goes hand in hand with solar energy. The last few decades have seen a sudden surge in wind energy compared to solar energy due to most wind energy systems being cost effective compared to solar energy. Wind turbines are often categorised as large or small depending on their application and energy generation output. Sustainable materials for construction of different parts of wind turbines are being encouraged to lower the cost of the system. The turbine blades and generators perform crucial roles in the overall operation of the turbines; hence, their material composition is very critical. Today, most turbine blades are made up of natural fiber-reinforced polymer (NFRP) as well as glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP). Others are also made from wood and some metallic materials. Each of the materials introduced has specific characteristics that affect the system’s efficiency. This investigation explores the influence of these materials on turbine efficiency. Observations have shown that composites reinforced with nanomaterials have excellent mechanical characteristics. Carbon nanotubes have unique characteristics that may make them valuable in wind turbine blades in the future. It is possible to strengthen carbon nanotubes with various kinds of resins to get a variety of different characteristics. Similarly, the end-of-life treatment methods for composite materials is also presented.

Infrasound, i.e., low-frequency noise in the frequency range of 10–200 Hz, produced by rotating wind turbine blades has become a matter of concern because it is harmful to human health. Today, with the rapid increase of wind turbine size, this kind of noise is more worrying than ever. Although much effort has been made to design quiet wind turbine blades, today there is still a lack of effective techniques to reduce infrasound emissions from existing blades. To fill this gap in technology, a biomimetic technique that can be readily applied to reduce infrasound emissions of existing wind turbine blades is studied in this paper using both numerical simulation and experimental testing approaches. The numerical study of the technique is based on the analysis of the sound field distribution near the blade, which is derived by performing both aerodynamic and acoustic simulations of the blade. The experimental study of the technique is based on laboratory tests of two scale models of the blade. Both numerical and experimental studies have shown that the shedding vortices behind the blade can be successfully suppressed by semi-cylindrical rings wrapped on the blade. Consequently, both infrasound and the overall sound pressure level of the noise produced by the blade are significantly reduced. Although the rings fail to show good performance in reducing high-frequency noise, it is not a problem for human health because high-frequency noise is weak and moreover it attenuates rapidly as distance increases. The research also showed that the proposed technique can, not only reduce the infrasound produced by the blade, but can also improve the power coefficient of wind turbines.

Traditional cooling structures in gas turbines greatly improve the high temperature resistance of turbine blades, however, few cooling structures concern both heat transfer and mechanical performances. A lattice structure (LS) can solve this issue because of its advantages of being lightweight and having high porosity and strength. Although the topology of LS is complex, it can be manufactured with metal 3D printing technology in the future. In this study, an integral optimization model concerning both heat transfer and mechanical performances was presented to design the LS cooling channel with a variable aspect ratio in gas turbine blades. Firstly, some internal cooling channels with the thin walls were built up and a simple raw of five LS cores was taken as an insert or a turbulator in these cooling channels. Secondly, relations between geometric variables (height (H), diameter (D) and inclination angle(ω)) and objectives/functions of this research, including the first-order natural frequency (freq1), equivalent elastic modulus (E), relative density (ρ¯) and Nusselt number (Nu), were established for a pyramid-type lattice structure (PLS) and Kagome-type lattice structure (KLS). Finally, the ISIGHT platform was introduced to construct the frame of the integral optimization model. Two selected optimization problems (Op-I and Op-II) were solved based on the third-order response model with an accuracy of more than 0.97, and optimization results were analyzed. The results showed that the change of Nu and freq1 had the highest overall sensitivity Op-I and Op-II, respectively, and the change of D and H had the highest single sensitivity for Nu and freq1, respectively. Compared to the initial LS, the LS of Op-I increased Nu and E by 24.1% and 29.8%, respectively, and decreased ρ¯ by 71%, the LS of Op-II increased Nu and E by 30.8% and 45.2%, respectively, and slightly increased ρ¯, the LS of both Op-I and Op-II decreased freq1 by 27.9% and 19.3%, respectively. These results suggested that the heat transfer, load bearing and lightweight performances of the LS were greatly improved by the optimization model (except for the lightweight performance for the optimal LS of Op-II, which became slightly worse), while it failed to improve vibration performance of the optimal LS.

A new type of stepped seal with a ribbed casing is proposed to efficiently reduce the leakage at the tips of turbine blades. The leakage characteristics of two different types of labyrinth seals (conventional seal vs. ribbed seal) were compared and analyzed through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in a wide operating range of pressure ratios and clearances. The analysis showed that the ribbed seal has superior leakage performance to the conventional seal at all clearance sizes. With the same clearance size (S/H = 1.0), the flow function of the ribbed seal was approximately 21.5–42.6% less than that of the conventional seal. Also, different trends of variation in the flow function according to the increase of the clearance were found between the conventional and ribbed seals. The leakage flow inside the labyrinth seal was analyzed to explain the cause of this difference in tendency, and it was confirmed that the added ribs cause collision between the leakage flow and the tooth wall, even with the increase of the clearance. Also, the ribbed seal enables operation at a larger clearance with the same leakage performance when comparing the absolute leakage flow rate of the two seals. In addition, a parametric study on the influence of the rib height and rib inclination angle revealed that the flow function generally decreases as both parameters increase.

Adaptive and flexible control techniques have recently been examined as methods of controlling flow and reducing the potential noise in vertical axis wind turbines. Two-Dimensional (2D) fluid flow simulation around rod-airfoil is addressed in this study as a simple component of the wind turbine by using Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) equations for prediction of noise using Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings (FW-H) analogy. To control the flow and reduce noise, the active controlling vibration rod method is utilized with a maximum displacement ranging from 0.01 C to 1 C (C: airfoil chord). Acoustic assessment indicates that the leading edge of the blade produces noise, that by applying vibration in cylinder, blade noise in 0.1 C and 1 C decreases by 22 dB and 35 dB, respectively. Applying vibration is aerodynamically helpful since it reduces the fluctuations in the airfoil lift force by approximately 48% and those in the rod by about 46%. Strouhal assessment (frequency) shows that application of control is accompanied by 20% increase. Applying vibration in the rod reduces the flow fluctuations around the blade, thus reduces the wind turbine blade noise. This idea, as a simple example, can be used to study the incoming flow to turbines and their blades that are affected by the upstream flow.

It is projected that, in the following years, the wind-energy industry will maintain its rapid growth over the last few decades. Such growth in the industry has been accompanied by the desirability and demand for larger wind turbines aimed at harnessing more power. However, the fact that massive turbine blades inherently experience increased fatigue and ultimate loads is no secret, which compromise their structural lifecycle. Accordingly, this demands higher overhaul-and-maintenance (O&M) costs, leading to higher cost of energy (COE). Introduction of flow-control devices on the wind turbine is a plausible solution to this issue. Flow-control mechanisms feature the ability to effectively enhance/suppress turbulence, advance/delay flow transition, and prevent/promote separation, leading to enhancement in aerodynamic and aeroacoustics performance, load alleviation and fluctuation suppression, and eventually wind turbine power augmentation. These flow-control devices are operated primarily under two schemes: passive and active control. Development and optimization of flow-control devices present the potential for reduction in the COE, which is a major challenge against traditional power sources. This review performs a comprehensive and up-to-date literature survey of selected flow-control devices, from their time of development up to the present. It contains a discussion on the current prospects and challenges faced by these devices, along with a comparative analysis centered on their aerodynamic controllability. General considerations and conclusive remarks are presented after the discussion.

The appropriate coolant mass flow of turbine blade rim seal has become an important issue as turbine blades are exposed to increasingly higher thermal load owing to increased turbine inlet temperature. If the coolant is deficient, hot gas ingresses to the rim seal, or if sufficient, the efficiency of turbine decreases. Therefore, we analyzed sealing effectiveness of rim seal derive appropriate coolant mass flow rate at various conditions. The experimental facility was modified from one designed for an aero-engine gas turbine. Rotational Reynolds number varied from 3 &times, 105 to 5 &times, 105 based on rotational speed. Pressure was measured at various locations in the shroud, endwall, and rim seal. CO2 concentration was measured at various rim seal locations to analyze sealing effectiveness. Measured results showed that 1.35% coolant mass flow rate of rim seal exhibited a little ingress effect, whereas lower coolant mass flow rates exhibited higher ingress effect. A predicted correlation for sealing effectiveness of rim seal was derived at various rotational Reynolds number and coolant mass flow rate. The correlation will be useful for turbine cooling design, helping to predict sealing effectiveness of rim seals during preliminary design processes for new gas turbines.

In recent years, the H-rotor vertical-axis turbine has attracted considerable attention in the field of wind and tidal power generation. After a series of complex spatiotemporal evolutions, the vortex shed from turbine blades forms a turbulent wake with a multi-scale coherent structure. An analysis of the wake characteristics of twin turbines forms the basis of array optimisation. This study aimed to examine the instability characteristics of a twin-turbine wake with two rotational configurations. The dynamic evolution characteristics of coherent structures with different scales in the wake were analysed via wavelet analysis. The results show that an inverse energy cascade process occurs after the high-frequency small-scale coherent structures induced by rotation lose their coherence. This self-organising characteristic is more apparent in the quasi two-dimensional wake of a forward-moving counter-rotating turbine (Array 1) than in that of a backward-moving counter-rotating turbine (Array 2). With greater organisation and coherence, the wake of Array 1 exhibits low-frequency instability characteristics dominated by a large-scale coherent structure. In addition, the signals reconstructed using wavelet transform show that asymmetric modes exist between low-frequency large-scale coherent structures. The experimental results provide a new perspective on the instability mechanism of twin-turbine wakes, as well as important data for numerical modelling.

This paper presents two electromechanical systems used for the overspeed protection of small wind turbines. The actuators have the purpose of rotating the back rudder (tail vane) of the wind turbine when the blades are overspeeding. The rudder rotation angle is 90 degrees in order to completely turn the wind turbine blades away from the wind flow direction. The first device is a new limited-angle torque electromechanical actuator consisting of a device with a simplified structure composed of four permanent magnets (two on each side) glued on a rotor mounted between two stator poles built from ordinary rectangular construction pipes and an electronic control unit. The second device is based on a regular stepper motor actuator with a reduction gear and an appropriate control scheme to maximize the energy harvested at high, over-nominal wind speeds. A generic comparison is provided for the proposed solutions.

Most electrical machines and drive signals are non-Gaussian and are highly nonlinear in nature. A useful set of techniques to examine such signals relies on higher-order statistics (HOS) spectral representations. They describe statistical dependencies of frequency components that are neglected by traditional spectral measures, namely the power spectrum (PS). One of the most used HOS is the bispectrum where examining higher-order correlations should provide further details and information about the conditions of electric machines and drives. In this context, the stator currents of electric machines are of particular interest because they are periodic, nonlinear, and cyclostationary. This current is, therefore, well adapted for analysis using bispectrum in the designing of an efficient condition monitoring method for electric machines and drives. This paper is, therefore, proposing a bispectrum-based diagnosis method dealing the with tidal stream turbine (TST) rotor blades biofouling issue, which is a marine environment natural process responsible for turbine rotor unbalance. The proposed bispectrum-based diagnosis method is verified using experimental data provided from a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG)-based TST experiencing biofouling emulated by attachment on the turbine blade. Based on the achieved results, it can be concluded that the proposed diagnosis method has been very successful. Indeed, biofouling imbalance-related frequencies are clearly identified despite marine environmental nuisances (turbulences and waves).

Reducing the weight of a wind turbine blade is a major issue. Wind turbines have become larger in size to increase power generating efficiency. The blade has also grown in length to take more wind energy. A fabric-based wind turbine blade, introduced by General Electric Co., reduced the blade weight. In this study, a small fabric-covered blade for a 10 kW wind turbine was developed to verify structural ability. The blade was designed on the cross-section using variational asymptotic beam sectional analysis (VABS), structural analysis was carried out using MSC.Nastran for the design loads. A modal analysis was performed to compare the modal frequency and mode shapes. Static structural testing and modal testing were fulfilled. The analysis results were compared with the testing results. The fabric-covered structure was confirmed to reduce the blade mass with sufficient strength.

For a wind turbine to extract as much energy as possible from the wind, blade geometry optimization to maximize the aerodynamic performance is important. Blade design optimization includes linearizing the blade chord and twist distribution for practical manufacturing. As blade linearization changes the blade geometry, it also affects the aerodynamic performance and load characteristics of the wind turbine rotor. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the effects of the design parameters used in linearization. In this study, the effects of these parameters on the aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine blade were examined. In addition, an optimization algorithm for linearization and an objective function that applies multiple tip speed ratios to optimize the aerodynamic efficiency were developed. The analysis revealed that increasing the chord length and chord profile slope improves the aerodynamic efficiency at low wind speeds but lowers it at high wind speeds, and that the twist profile mainly affects the behaviour at low wind speeds, while its effect on the aerodynamic performance at high wind speeds is not significant. When the blade geometry was optimized by applying the linearization parameter ranges obtained from the analysis, blade geometry with improved aerodynamic efficiency at all wind speeds below the rated wind speed was derived.

The flow control over the blades of a small horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) model using a dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator (DBD-PA) was studied based on large-eddy simulations. The numerical simulations were performed with a high-resolution computational method, and the effects of the DBD-PA on the flow fields around the blades were modeled as a spatial body force distribution. The DBD-PA was installed at the leading edge of the blades, and its impacts on the flow fields and axial torque generation were discussed. The increase in the ratios of the computed, cycle-averaged axial torque reasonably agreed with that of the available experimental data. In addition, the computed results presented a maximum of 19% increase in the cycle-averaged axial torque generation by modulating the operating parameters of the DBD-PA because of the suppression of the leading edge separation when the blade’s effective angles of attack were relatively high. Thus, the suppression of the leading edge separation by flow control can lead to a delay in the breakdown of the tip vortex as a secondary effect.

Wind turbine blades are constantly submitted to different types of particles such as dirt, ice, etc., as well as all the different environmental parameters that affect the behaviour and efficiency of the energy generation system. These parameters can cause faults to the wind turbine blades, modifying their behaviour due, for example, to the turbulence. A new method is presented in this paper based on cross-correlations to determine the presence of delamination in the blades. The experiments were conducted in two real wind turbine blades to analyse the fault and non-fault blades using ultrasonic guided waves. Finally, the energy analysis of the signal based on wavelet transforms allowed to determine energies abrupt changes in the correlation of the signals and to locate the faults. Dirección General de Universidades, Investigación e Innovación of Castilla-La Mancha, under Research Grant ProSeaWind project (Ref.: SBPLY/19/180501/000102). 3.004 JCR (2020) Q3, 70/114 Energy & Fuels 0.598 SJR (2020) Q2, 39/886 Control and Optimization No IDR 2019 UEM

Theoretical modeling and the sliding mode control (SMC) of an active trailing-edge flap of a wind turbine blade based on the adaptive reaching law are investigated. The blade is a single-celled thin-walled composite structure using circumferentially asymmetric stiffness (CAS) design, exhibiting displacements of flap-wise/twist coupling. A reduced structural model originated from the variation method is used to model the structure of the blade, the structural damping of which is computed. The trailing-edge flap is a rigid structure that is embedded in and hinged to the blade host structure, and it is driven by two pairs of pneumatic cylinders moving in reverse. Flutter suppression for the large-amplitude vibration of the blade tip is investigated based on an active trailing-edge flap structure and SMC algorithm using the adaptive reaching law. The controlled responses of flap-wise/twist displacements and control inputs (the angles of the trailing-edge flap) are illustrated, with obvious simulation effects demonstrated. An experimental platform for driving the pneumatic cylinders verifies the effectiveness of the control algorithm using the adaptive reaching law and the effectiveness of the selected pneumatic transmission scheme controlled by another adaptive SMC based on the minimum parameter learning of neural networks.

In order to solve the problem of icing on the surface of wind turbine blade, a heating system that includes a carbon fiber net (CFN) and power cables is proposed recently. When lightning strikes at the blade with a de-icing heating system, the blade and its heating system are more easily damaged due to the overvoltage between the lightning protection system (LPS) of the blade and the heating system. In this paper, the models of a wind turbine blade with the de-icing heating system are established by Alternative Transients Program/Electromagnetic Transients Program (ATP&ndash, EMTP) and the accuracy of models is verified through an experiment. With these models, the influence of lightning current, surge protective devices (SPDs) and earthing resistance of wind turbine are analyzed by calculating the voltage between the down-conductor of the LPS and the heating system. The results show that the voltage is positively correlated with lightning current amplitude and negatively correlated with the front time of lightning current. SPDs are quite useful to reduce the voltage, and an optimal installation scheme of SPDs is obtained by simulation. It is noted that voltage decreases slightly with the increasing earthing resistance with the optimal installation scheme of SPDs.

Particle deposition tests were conducted in a turbine deposition facility with an internally staged single-tube combustor to investigate the individual effect of the gas temperature and angle of attack. Sand particles were seeded to the combustor and deposited on a turbine blade with film-cooling holes at temperatures representative of modern engines. Fuel-air ratios were varied from 0.022 to 0.037 to achieve a gas temperature between 1272 and 1668 K. Results show that capture efficiency increased with increasing gas temperature. A dramatic increase in capture efficiency was noted when gas temperature exceeded the threshold. The deposition formed mostly downstream of the film-cooling holes on the pressure surface, while it concentrated on the suction surface at the trailing edge. Deposition tests at angles of attack between 10° and 40° presented changes in both deposition mass and distribution. The capture efficiency increased with the increase in the angle of attack, and simultaneously the growth rate slowed down. On the blade pressure surface, sand deposition was distributed mainly downstream of the film-cooling holes near the trailing edge in the case of the small angle of attack, while it concentrated on the region around the film-cooling holes near the leading edge, resulting in the partial blockage of holes, in the case of the large angle of attack.

Recent lightning simulation experiments have not simulated the influence of blade rotation in the long term after corona inception. This study uses a finite element method and considers the adhesion and collision processes of positive ions, aerosol ions, and neutral particles to establish a two-dimensional positive corona discharge model based on a multicomponent diffusion transport equation. The microscopic distribution of these three types of particles and the influence mechanism of charged particles’ migration under electric fields and wind were studied. The results show that ion migration is affected by both electric field and wind speed. The higher the wind speed, the larger is the deviation amplitude of charged particles along the direction of wind. With an increase in wind speed, the corona current on the receptor surface gradually increases. When the wind speed is 30 m/s, the corona current peak value increases by almost six times when compared with that when no wind is present. From this, it can be inferred that blade rotation reduces the concentration of positive ion in the receptor area, thereby facilitating electron avalanche and streamer-leader conversion.

Aerodynamic noise from wind turbine blades is one of the major hindrances for the widespread use of large-scale wind turbines generating green energy. In order to more accurately guide wind turbine blade manufacturers to optimize the blade geometry for aerodynamic noise reduction, an acoustic model that not only understands the relation between the behavior of the sound source and the sound generation, but also accounts for the compressibility effect, was derived by rearranging the continuity and Navier&ndash, Stokes equations as a wave equation with a lump of source terms, including the material derivative and square of the velocity divergence. Our acoustic model was applied to low Mach number, weakly compressible turbulent flows around NACA0012 airfoil. For the computation of flow fields, a large-eddy simulation (LES) with the dynamic Smagorinsky subgrid scale (SGS) model and the cubic interpolated pseudo particle (CIP)-combined unified numerical procedure method were conducted. The reproduced turbulent flow around NACA0012 airfoil was in good agreement with the experimental data. For the estimation of acoustic fields, our acoustic model and classical sound source models, such as Lighthill and Powell, were performed using our LES database. The investigation suggested that the derived material derivative of the velocity divergence plays a dominant role as sound source. The distribution of the sources in our acoustic model was consistent with that of the classical sound source models. The sound pressure level (SPL) predicted based on the above-mentioned LES and our newly derived acoustic model was in reasonable agreement with the experimental data. The influence of the increase of Mach number on the acoustic field was investigated. Our acoustic source model was verified to be capable of treating the influence of Mach numbers on the acoustic field.

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.

A new airfoil family, called NPU-MWA (Northwestern Polytechnical University Multi-megawatt Wind-turbine A-series) airfoils, was designed to improve both aerodynamic and structural performance, with the outboard airfoils being designed at high design lift coefficient and high Reynolds number, and the inboard airfoils being designed as flat-back airfoils. This article aims to design a multi-megawatt wind turbine blade in order to demonstrate the advantages of the NPU-MWA airfoils in improving wind energy capturing and structural weight reduction. The distributions of chord length and twist angle for a 5 MW wind turbine blade are optimized by a Kriging surrogate model-based optimizer, with aerodynamic performance being evaluated by blade element-momentum theory. The Reynolds-averaged Navier&ndash, Stokes equations solver was used to validate the improvement in aerodynamic performance. Results show that compared with an existing NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) 5 MW blade, the maximum power coefficient of the optimized NPU 5 MW blade is larger, and the chord lengths at all span-wise sections are dramatically smaller, resulting in a significant structural weight reduction (9%). It is shown that the NPU-MWA airfoils feature excellent aerodynamic and structural performance for the design of multi-megawatt wind turbine blades.

Wind turbines inevitably experience yawed flows, resulting in fluctuations of the angle of attack (AOA) of airfoils, which can considerably impact the aerodynamic characteristics of the turbine blades. In this paper, a horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) was modeled using a structured grid with multiple blocks. Then, the aerodynamic characteristics of the wind turbine were investigated under static and dynamic yawed conditions using the Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) method. In addition, start-stop yawing rotations at two different velocities were studied. The results suggest that AOA fluctuation under yawing conditions is caused by two separate effects: blade advancing & retreating and upwind & downwind yawing. At a positive yaw angle, the blade advancing & retreating effect causes a maximum AOA at an azimuth angle of 0°. Moreover, the effect is more dominant in inboard airfoils compared to outboard airfoils. The upwind & downwind yawing effect occurs when the wind turbine experiences dynamic yawing motion. The effect increases the AOA when the blade is yawing upwind and vice versa. The phenomena become more dominant with the increase of yawing rate. The torque of the blade in the forward yawing condition is much higher than in backward yawing, owing to the reversal of the yaw velocity.

In the present study, a numerical framework for predicting the aerodynamic performance and the aeroelastic behavior of floating offshore wind turbine rotor blades involving platform motion was developed. For this purpose, the aerodynamic and structural analyses were conducted simultaneously in a tightly coupled manner by exchanging the information about the aerodynamic loads and the elastic blade deformations at every time step. The elastic behavior of the turbine rotor blades was described by adopting a structural model based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam. The aerodynamic loads by the rotor blades were evaluated by adopting a blade element momentum theory. The numerical simulations were conducted when the platform of the wind turbine independently moves in each of the six degrees-of-freedom directions consisting of heave, sway, surge, roll, pitch, and yaw. It was observed that flexible blades exhibit complicated vibratory behaviors when they are excited by the aerodynamic, inertia, and gravitational forces simultaneously. It was found that the load variation caused by the platform surge or pitch motion has a significant influence on the flapwise and torsional deformations of the rotor blades. The torsional deformation mainly occurs in the nose-down direction, and results in a reduction of the aerodynamic loads. It was also found that the flapwise root bending moment is mainly influenced by the platform surge and pitch motions. On the other hand, the edgewise bending moment is mostly dictated by the gravitational force, but is not affected much by the platform motion.

Offshore wind power has become an important trend in global renewable energy development. Based on a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and FAST program, a time-domain coupled calculation model for a floating wind turbine is established, and a combined optimization design method for the wind turbine’s blade is developed in this paper. The influence of waves on the power of the floating wind turbine is studied in this paper. The results show that, with the increase of wave height, the power fluctuation of the wind turbine increases and the average power of the wind turbine decreases. With the increase of wave period, the power oscillation amplitude of the wind turbine increases, and the power of the wind turbine at equilibrium position decreases. The optimal design of the offshore floating wind turbine blade under different wind speeds is carried out. The results show that the optimum effect of the blades is more obvious at low and mid-low wind speeds than at rated wind speeds. Considering the actual wind direction distribution in the sea area, the maximum power of the wind turbine can be increased by 3.8% after weighted optimization, and the chord length and the twist angle of the blade are reduced.

This paper proposes a strain prediction method for wind turbine blades using genetic algorithm back propagation neural networks (GA-BPNNs) with applied loads, loading positions, and displacement as inputs, and the study can be used to provide more data for the wind turbine blades’ health assessment and life prediction. Among all parameters to be tested in full-scale static testing of wind turbine blades, strain is very important. The correlation between the blade strain and the applied loads, loading position, displacement, etc., is non-linear, and the number of input variables is too much, thus the calculation and prediction of the blade strain are very complex and difficult. Moreover, the number of measuring points on the blade is limited, so the full-scale blade static test cannot usually provide enough data and information for the improvement of the blade design. As a result of these concerns, this paper studies strain prediction methods for full-scale blade static testing by introducing GA-BPNN. The accuracy and usability of the GA-BPNN prediction model was verified by the comparison with BPNN model and the FEA results. The results show that BPNN can be effectively used to predict the strain of unmeasured points of wind turbine blades.

When operating in cold climates, wind turbines are vulnerable to ice accretion. The main impact of icing on wind turbines is the power losses due to geometric deformation of the iced airfoils of the blades. Significant energy losses during the wind farm lifetime must be estimated and mitigated. Finding solutions for icing calls on several areas of knowledge. Modelling and simulation as an alternative to experimental tests are primary techniques used to account for ice accretion because of their low cost and effectiveness. Several studies have been conducted to replicate ice growth on wind turbine blades using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) during the last decade. While inflight icing research is well developed and well documented, wind turbine icing is still in development and has its peculiarities. This paper surveys and discusses the models, approaches and methods used in ice accretion modelling in view of their application in wind energy while summarizing the recent research findings in Surface Roughness modelling and Droplets Trajectory modelling. An An additional section discusses research on the modelling of electro-thermal icing protection systems. This paper aims to guide researchers in wind engineering to the appropriate approaches, references and tools needed to conduct reliable icing modelling for wind turbines.

This article presents the analysis of the performance of a flexible wind turbine blade. The simulation analysis is based on a 3 m span blade prototype. The blade has a flexible surface and a cam mechanism that modifies the aerodynamic profile and adapts the surface to different configurations. The blade surface was built with a flexible fiberglass composite, and the internal mechanism consists of a flexible structure actuated with an eccentric cam. The cam mechanism deforms five sections of the blade, and the airfoil geometry for each section was measured from zero cam displacement to full cam displacement. The measured data were interpolated to obtain the aerodynamic profiles of the five sections to model the flexible blade in the simulation process. The simulation analysis consisted of determining the different aerodynamic coefficients for different deformed surfaces and a range of wind speeds. The aerodynamic coefficients were calculated with the BEM method (QBlade®); as a result, the data performance of the flexible blade was compared for the different deformation configurations. Finally, a decrease of up to approximately 6% in the mean bending moment suggests that the flexible turbine rotor presented in this article can be used to reduce extreme and fatigue loads on wind turbines.

A supercritical H2O/CO2 turbine is a key piece of equipment for the coal gasification in the supercritical water (CGSW) cycle to achieve conversion of heat into power. Compared with a traditional steam turbine, the working medium of an H2O/CO2 turbine has a relatively high CO2 concentration. In the initial condensation zone (ICZ), steam condenses into droplets on the turbine blades and the droplets combine with CO2 to form carbonic acid, which corrodes the turbine blades. In order to research the characteristics of acid corrosion in the ICZ of a H2O/CO2 turbine, the acid corrosion rate of the blades in the ICZ of the H2O/CO2 turbine was calculated and analyzed based on the three-dimensional CFD (3D CFD) method and a one-dimensional numerical model of CO2 corrosion. The results suggest that acid corrosion rates decrease stage by stage in the ICZ due to the reduction in temperature and pressure. Rotor blades in the first stage in the ICZ suffer the worst and form a corrosion zone at the trailing edge of the blade and on the pressure surface. The decline of efficiency caused by corrosion settles down to a relatively steady value of 0.6% for a 10 year service time. Moreover, the corrosion area for the last two stages shrinks with the service time due to the rearward movement of the ICZ.

Leading edge erosion (LEE) repairs of wind turbine blades (WTBs) involve infield application of leading edge protection (LEP) solutions. The industry is currently aiming to use factory based LEP coatings that can applied to the WTBs before they are shipped out for installation. However, one of the main challenges related to these solutions is the choice of a minimum LEP application length to be applied in the spanwise direction of the WTBs. Generally, coating suppliers apply 10–20 m of LEP onto the blades starting from the tip of the blade using the “rule of thumb”, and no studies in the literature exist that stipulate how these LEP lengths can be calculated. In this study, we extend the scope of a recently developed long-term probabilistic framework to determine the minimum LEP application length required for WTBs to combat rain-induced erosion. A parametric study is performed where different wind turbines with varying power ratings of 2.1 MW to 15 MW at different Dutch sites ranging from inland to coastal are considered. The results of the study show that the LEP application length is sensitive to the choice of the site, as well as the turbine attributes. Further, LEP lengths for WTBs are found to be the highest for turbines installed at coastal sites and turbines with higher power ratings. A detailed investigation is further performed to check the sensitivity of the LEP application length with the wind turbine parameters. The results of the study are expected to provide guidelines to the industry for efficient repair strategies for WTBs.

This paper proposes a multi-fidelity surrogate (MFS) model for predicting the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) on the turbine blades. First, the low-fidelity (LF) and high-fidelity (HF) surrogates were built using LF-data from numerical simulation and HF-data from an experiment. To evaluate the prediction by these two surrogates, the averaged HTC distribution on the endwall of the gas turbine blade predicted by these two surrogates was compared for input variables as Reynolds number (Re) and boundary layer (BL) thickness. This shows that the prediction by LF surrogate is saturated with an increase in Re, while has monotonic behavior with an increase in BL thickness, which is contrary in general. The prediction by HF surrogate is linear with Re and is increased with BL thickness up to 30 mm and then decreased after 30 mm. Following this, a one-dimensional projection of the two-dimensional HTC distribution was presented to show the prediction tendency of the surrogates by varying the Re and fixing the BL thickness, and vice versa. Second, the MFS was built by combining the LF and HF data. The HTC distribution by the MFS model for the same input variables was shown with the HF data points. It is observed that the prediction by MFS is agreed well with the high-fidelity data. The MFS&rsquo, s one-dimensional projection of the two-dimensional HTC distribution was compared with the LF surrogate prediction by varying the Re and fixing the BL thickness, and vice versa. This shows that the MFS model has more variations due to the included LF data. It is worth to mention that the averaged HTC distribution with an increase in boundary layer thickness predicted by the MFS is agreed well with the LF and HF data in the available dataset and has a large confidence interval between 30 and 50 mm due to the unavailable data in the specified range. To check the MFS accuracy, the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and error rate were evaluated to compare with the experimental uncertainty for a wide range of high-fidelity data. The present study shows that MFS would be expected to be an effective model for saving computing time and experimental costs.

The icing problem of wind turbine blades in northern China has a serious impact on the normal and safe operation of the unit. In order to effectively predict the icing conditions of wind turbine blades, a deep fully connected neural network optimized by machine learning (ML) algorithms based on big data from the wind farm is proposed to diagnose the icing conditions of wind turbine blades. This study first uses the random forest model to reduce the features of the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data that affect blade icing, and then uses the K-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm to enhance the active power feature. The features after the random forest reduction and the active power mean square error (MSE) feature enhanced by the KNN algorithm are combined and used as the input of the fully connected neural network (FCNN) to perform and an empirical analysis for the diagnosis of blade icing. The simulation results show that the proposed model has better diagnostic accuracy than the ordinary back propagation (BP) neural network and other methods.

Timely detection of surface damages on wind turbine blades is imperative for minimizing downtime and avoiding possible catastrophic structural failures. With recent advances in drone technology, a large number of high-resolution images of wind turbines are routinely acquired and subsequently analyzed by experts to identify imminent damages. Automated analysis of these inspection images with the help of machine learning algorithms can reduce the inspection cost. In this work, we develop a deep learning-based automated damage suggestion system for subsequent analysis of drone inspection images. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can achieve almost human-level precision in terms of suggested damage location and types on wind turbine blades. We further demonstrate that for relatively small training sets, advanced data augmentation during deep learning training can better generalize the trained model, providing a significant gain in precision.

This paper presents the results of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the airflow for a 300 W horizontal axis wind turbine, using additional structural elements which modify the original shape of the rotor in the form of multi-shaped bowls which change the airflow distribution. A three-dimensional CAD model of the tested wind turbine was presented, with three variants subjected to simulation: a basic wind turbine without the element that modifies the airflow distribution, a turbine with a plano-convex bowl, and a turbine with a centrally convex bowl, with the hyperbolic disappearance of convexity as the radius of the rotor increases. The momentary value of wind speed, recorded at measuring points located in the plane of wind turbine blades, demonstrated an increase when compared to the base model by 35% for the wind turbine with the plano-convex bowl, for the wind speed of 5 m/s, and 31.3% and 49% for the higher approaching wind speed, for the plano-convex bowl and centrally convex bowl, respectively. The centrally convex bowl seems to be more appropriate for higher approaching wind speeds. An increase in wind turbine efficiency, described by the power coefficient, for solutions with aerodynamic bowls was observed.

We experimentally explored the impact of a wind turbine with truncated blades on the power output and wake recovery, and its effects within 2 × 3 arrays of standard units. The blades of the truncated turbine covered a fraction of the outer region of the rotor span and replaced with a zero-lift structure around the hub, where aerodynamic torque is comparatively low. This way, the incoming flow around the hub may be used as a mixing enhancement mechanism and, consequently, to reduce the flow deficit in the wake. Particle image velocimetry was used to characterize the incoming flow and wake of various truncated turbines with a variety of blade length ratios L / R = 0.6 , 0.7, and 1, where L is the length of the working section of the blade of radius R. Power output was obtained at high frequency in each of the truncated turbines, and also at downwind units within 2 × 3 arrays with streamwise spacing of Δ x / d T = 4 , 5, and 6, with d T being the turbine diameter. Results show that the enhanced flow around the axis of the rotor induced large-scale instability and mixing that led to substantial power enhancement of wind turbines placed 4 d T downwind of the L / R = 0.6 truncated units; this additional power is still relevant at 6 d T . Overall, the competing factors defined by the expected power reduction of truncated turbines due to the decrease in the effective blade length, the need for reduced components of the truncated units, and enhanced power output of downwind standard turbines suggest a techno-economic optimization study for potential implementation.

This Special Issue collects innovative contributions in the field of wind turbine optimization technology. The general motivation of the present Special Issue is given by the fact that there has recently been a considerable boost of the quest for wind turbine efficiency optimization in the academia and in the wind energy practitioners communities. The optimization can be focused on technology and operation of single turbine or a group of machines within a wind farm. This perspective is evidently multi-faced and the seven papers composing this Special Issue provide a representative picture of the most ground-breaking state of the art about the subject. Wind turbine power optimization means scientific research about the design of innovative aerodynamic solutions for wind turbine blades and of wind turbine single or collective control, especially for increasing rotor size and exploitation in offshore environment. It should be noticed that some recently developed aerodynamic and control solutions have become available in the industry practice and therefore an interesting line of development is the assessment of the actual impact of optimization technology for wind turbines operating in field: this calls for non-trivial data analysis and statistical methods. The optimization approach must be 360 degrees; for this reason also offshore resource should be addressed with the most up to date technologies such as floating wind turbines, in particular as regards support structures and platforms to be employed in ocean environment. Finally, wind turbine power optimization means as well improving wind farm efficiency through innovative uses of pre-existent control techniques: this is employed, for example, for active control of wake interactions in order to maximize the energy yield and minimize the fatigue loads.

In the present study, field observation wind data from the time of the wind turbine blade damage accident on Shiratakiyama Wind Farm were analyzed in detail. In parallel, high-resolution large-eddy simulation (LES) turbulence simulations were performed in order to examine the model’s ability to numerically reproduce terrain-induced turbulence (turbulence intensity) under strong wind conditions (8.0–9.0 m/s at wind turbine hub height). Since the wind velocity and time acquired from the numerical simulation are dimensionless, they are converted to full scale. As a consequence, both the standard deviation of the horizontal wind speed (m/s) and turbulence intensity evaluated from the field observation and simulated wind data are successfully in close agreement. To investigate the cause of the wind turbine blade damage accident on Shiratakiyama Wind Farm, a power spectral analysis was performed on the fluctuating components of the observed time series data of wind speed (1 s average values) for a 10 min period (total of 600 data) by using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). It was suggested that the terrain-induced turbulence which caused the wind turbine blade damage accident on Shiratakiyama Wind Farm was attributable to rapid wind speed and direction fluctuations which were caused by vortex shedding from Tenjogadake (elevation: 691.1 m) located upstream of the wind farm.

To improve knowledge of the wind loads on photovoltaic structures mounted on flat roofs at the high angles required in high latitudes, and to study starting flow on low aspect ratio wind turbine blades, a series of wind tunnel tests were undertaken. Thin flat plates of aspect ratios between 0.4 and 9.0 were mounted on a sensitive three-component instantaneous force and moment sensor. The Reynolds numbers varied from 6 × 10 4 to 2 × 10 5 . Measurements were made for angles of attack between 0° and 90° both in the free stream and in wall proximity with increased turbulence and mean shear. The ratio of drag to lift closely follows the inverse tangent of the angle of incidence for virtually all measurements. This implies that the forces of interest are due largely to the instantaneous pressure distribution around the plate and are not significantly influenced by shear stresses. The instantaneous forces appear most complex for the smaller aspect ratios but the intensity of the normal force fluctuations is between 10% and 20% in the free-steam but can exceed 30% near the wall. As the wind tunnel floor is approached, the lift and drag reduce with increasing aspect ratio, and there is a reduction in the high frequency components of the forces. It is shown that the centre of pressure is closer to the centre of the plates than the quarter-chord position for nearly all cases.

Among renewable sources of energy, wind is the most widely used resource due to its commercial acceptance, low cost and ease of operation and maintenance, relatively much less time for its realization from concept till operation, creation of new jobs, and least adverse effect on the environment. The fast technological development in the wind industry and availability of multi megawatt sized horizontal axis wind turbines has further led the promotion of wind power utilization globally. It is a well-known fact that the wind speed increases with height and hence the energy output. However, one cannot go above a certain height due to structural and other issues. Hence other attempts need to be made to increase the efficiency of the wind turbines, maintaining the hub heights to acceptable and controllable limits. The efficiency of the wind turbines or the energy output can be increased by reducing the cut-in-speed and/or the rated-speed by modifying and redesigning the blades. The problem is tackled by identifying the optimization parameters such as annual energy yield, power coefficient, energy cost, blade mass, and blade design constraints such as physical, geometric, and aerodynamic. The present paper provides an overview of the commonly used models, techniques, tools and experimental approaches applied to increase the efficiency of the wind turbines. In the present review work, particular emphasis is made on approaches used to design wind turbine blades both experimental and numerical, methodologies used to study the performance of wind turbines both experimentally and analytically, active and passive techniques used to enhance the power output from wind turbines, reduction in cut-in-speed for improved wind turbine performance, and lastly the research and development work related to new and efficient materials for the wind turbines.

A solar chimney power plant consists of four main parts, a solar collector, a chimney, an energy storage layer, and a wind turbine. So far, several investigations on the performance of the solar chimney power plant have been conducted. Among them, different approaches have been applied to model the turbine inside the system. In particular, a real wind turbine coupled to the system was simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in three investigations. Gholamalizadeh et al. simulated a wind turbine with the same blade profile as the Manzanares SCPP’s turbine (FX W-151-A blade profile), while a CLARK Y blade profile was modelled by Guo et al. and Ming et al. In this study, simulations of the Manzanares prototype were carried out using the CFD model developed by Gholamalizadeh et al. Then, results obtained by modelling different turbine blade profiles at different turbine rotational speeds were compared. The results showed that a turbine with the CLARK Y blade profile significantly overestimates the value of the pressure drop across the Manzanares prototype turbine as compared to the FX W-151-A blade profile. In addition, modelling of both blade profiles led to very similar trends in changes in turbine efficiency and power output with respect to rotational speed.

Wind turbine blades are easily struck by lightning, a phenomenon that has attracted more and more attention in recent years. On this subject a large current experiment was conducted on three typical blade sandwich structures to simulate the natural lightning-induced arc effects. The resulting damage to different composite materials has been compared: polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) suffered pyrolysis and cracks inside, while the damage to balsa wood was fibers breaking off and large delamination between it and the resin layer, and only a little chemical pyrolysis. To analyze the damage mechanism on sandwich structures of different materials, a finite element method (FEM) model to calculate the temperature and pressure distribution was built, taking into consideration heat transfer and flow expansion due to impulse currents. According to the simulation results, PVC had the most severe temperature and pressure distribution, while PET and balsa wood were in the better condition after the experiments. The temperature distribution results explained clearly why balsa wood suffered much less chemical pyrolysis than PVC. Since balsa wood had better thermal stability than PET, the pyrolysis area of PET was obviously larger than that of balsa wood too. Increasing the volume fraction of solid components of porous materials can efficiently decrease the heat transfer velocity in porous materials. Permeability didn’t influence that much. The findings provide support for optimum material selection and design in blade manufacturing.

In the present research, considering the importance of desirable steam turbine design, improvement of numerical modeling of steam two-phase flows in convergent and divergent channels and the blades of transonic steam turbines has been targeted. The first novelty of this research is the innovative use of combined Convective Upstream Pressure Splitting (CUSP) and scalar methods to update the flow properties at each calculation point. In other words, each property (density, temperature, pressure and velocity) at each calculation point can be computed from either the CUSP or scalar method, depending on the least deviation criterion. For this reason this innovative method is named “hybrid method”. The next novelty of this research is the use of an inverse method alongside the proposed hybrid method to find the amount of the important parameter z in the CUSP method, which is herein referred to as “CUSP’s convergence parameter”. Using a relatively simple computational grid, firstly, five cases with similar conditions to those of the main cases under study in this research with available experimental data were used to obtain the value of z by the Levenberg-Marquardt inverse method. With this innovation, first, an optimum value of z = 2.667 was obtained using the inverse method and then directly used for the main cases considered in the research. Given that the aim is to investigate the two-dimensional, steady state, inviscid and adiabatic modeling of steam nucleating flows in three different nozzle and turbine blade geometries, flow simulation was performed using a relatively simple mesh and the innovative proposed hybrid method (scalar + CUSP, with the desired value of z = 2.667 ). A comparison between the results of the hybrid modeling of the three main cases with experimental data showed a very good agreement, even within shock zones, including the condensation shock region, revealing the efficiency of this numerical modeling method innovation. The main factor in improving the aforementioned results was found to be a reduction of the numerical errors by up to 70% in comparison to conventional methods (scalar, Jameson original), so that the mass flow rate is well conserved, thereby proving better satisfaction of the conservation laws. It should be noted that by using this innovative hybrid method, one can take advantages of both central difference scheme and upstream scheme (scalar and CUSP, respectively) at the same time in simulating complex flows in any other finite volume scheme.