A numerical study was conducted to examine the impact of rotor solidity and blade number on the aerodynamic performance of small wind turbines. Blade element momentum theory and lifting line based wake theory were utilized to parametrically assess the effects of blade number and solidity on rotor performance. Increasing the solidity beyond what is traditionally used for electric generating wind turbines led to increased power coefficients at lower tip speed ratios, with an optimum between 3 and 4. An increase in the blade number at a given solidity also increased the maximum C p for all cases examined. The possibility of a higher aerodynamic power extraction from solidity or blade number increases could lead to a higher overall system power production. Additional advantages over current 5% to 7% solidity, high speed designs would include lower noise, lower cut-in wind speed, and less blade erosion.
Experimental studies were conducted on a modified Rutland 500 horizontal axis wind turbine to evaluate numerical implications of solidity and blade number on the aerodynamic performance. Wind tunnel data were acquired on the turbine with flat-plate, constant-chord blade sets and optimum-designed blade sets to compare with theoretical trends, which had indicated that increased solidity and blade number more than conventional 3-bladed designs, would yield larger power coefficients, CP. The data for the flat plate blades demonstrated power coefficient improvements as the range of solidities was increased from 7% to 27%, but did not indicate performance gains for increased blade numbers. It was also observed that larger pitch angles decreased the optimum tip speed ratio range significantly with a small (5% or less) change in maximum CP. The optimum-design 3-bladed rotors produced an increased experimental CP as solidity increased, with reduced tip speed ratio, at the optimum operating point. As blade number was increased at a constant solidity of 10% from 3 to 12 blades, aerodynamic efficiency and power sharply decreased, contrary to the numerical predictions and the flat plate experimental results. Low Reynolds numbers and wind tunnel blockage effects limit these conclusions and a full scale prototype rotor is being constructed to examine the results of the numerical and experimental studies using a side-by-side comparison with a commercially available wind turbine at the Clarkson University wind-turbine test site.
The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, Including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, searching existing data sources, gatliering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and revievflng the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a cun-ently valid 0MB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YY) July 2003 REPORT TYPE Conference Paper Preprint DATES COVERED (From -To) TITLE AND SUBTITLE DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW-COST SIMULATOR FOR DEMONSTRATION AND ENGINEER TRAINING AUTHOR(S)R. Scott Bums Matthew M. Duquette Joseph B. Howerton Richard J. Simko PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)Control Simulation DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENTApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTESTo be presented at the AIAA Modeling & Simulation Technologies Conference, Austin, TX, August 13, 2003. This material is declared a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. ABSTRACTThe modification of an existing open-soiirce flight simulator can be a useful training tool for new simulation engineers. New engineers can use this software as a starting point in the development of a full-scale flight simulator. The Modeling and Simulation Familiarization Tool (MSFT) is an ongoing project that utilizes open-source software in such a manner. The project requires engineers to design the simulator, modify the source code, and build the physical cockpit. The end products of the MSFT effort are a fully functional flight simulator with a realistic cockpit configuration and engineering training in the areas of simulation structure, computer coding/modification, simulation configuration, and cockpit design.
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