Effects of the Design Parameters on the Multidisciplinary Optimization of Flatback Airfoils for Large Wind Turbine Blades

Doosttalab, Mehdi; Frommann, Olaf

doi:10.2514/6.2010-9096

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…x 12 x 13 Figure 3.7: Bézier control points used to control the shape of the airfoil variables (the control points and their respective directions of movement) which is in accordance with other studies [31,80]. The bounds of the control points were initially set such that the majority of the design space was covered, however were reduced in size based on several optimization runs.…”

Section: Airfoil Shape Generatormentioning

confidence: 77%

“…16 illustrates several examples of flatback airfoil designs available in the literature[31,46,59,[79][80][81]. Depending on the thickness, operating conditions, and desired airfoil characteristics, it can be seen that a variety of shapes will be realized.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…A Bézier curve provides sufficient freedom for the airfoil shape, while ensuring that the curve is smooth in shape such that sharp variations in the airfoil contour are avoided. For these reasons, Bézier curves are commonly used to generate airfoil shapes in optimization routines[78][79][80][81]95].…”

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confidence: 99%

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The Multi-Objective Design of Flatback Wind Turbine Airfoils

Miller¹

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With the ever increasing lengths of today's wind turbine rotor blades, there is a need for airfoils which are both aerodynamically, and structurally efficient. In this work, a multi-objective genetic algorithm coupled with XFOIL was developed to design flatback wind turbine airfoils. The effect of the aerodynamic evaluator, specifically lift-to-drag ratio, torque, and torque-to-thrust ratio, on the airfoil shape and performance was examined. Under the specified set of constraints and objectives, notable differences, particularly in the levels of lift and roughness insensitivity, were observed.Further analysis, employing the Taguchi method, was performed to determine how various parameters impact the design outcome. The obtained knowledge was used to design a wind turbine specific airfoil family which has comparable, or superior structural and aerodynamic performance as compared to airfoils found in the literature. A wind tunnel experimental set-up was developed at the Carleton University LowSpeed Wind Tunnel for the 2D testing of airfoils. Good agreement between the results obtained at Carleton University and other publicly available data indicates that the set-up is capable of producing meaningful data. A select airfoil, designed by the current author, was tested at Carleton University and its performance is compared to the numerical predictions of XFOIL. Differences in the stall and post-stall regions of the XFOIL predictions are highlighted, and emphasize the importance of wind tunnel testing in the airfoil design process.iii

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Section: Airfoil Shape Generatormentioning

confidence: 77%