Insight into the effects of leading edge delamination on the aerodynamic performance of an airfoil and wind turbine

Abstract

Severe erosion or delamination at the leading edge of blades has an adverse influence on the power loss of wind turbines. Obtaining relevant quantitative data and its mechanisms would help in the efficient management and maintenance of these turbines. In the present work, detailed analysis on the effects of various levels of leading edge delamination on the aerodynamics and flow characteristics of an S809 airfoil and, in turn, on the performance of the NREL phase VI rotor is conducted. The results indicated that an elongated leading edge separation bubble and two enclosed vortex systems appeared in the delaminated region of the airfoil when the delamination levels aggravate to a certain degree, while the trailing edge separation vortex can be observed for all delaminated airfoils. The aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine decreases with increasing delamination depth and increases with growing delamination depth. The most influential delamination length is 1% c, and the maximum power loss is 23.09% for the blade with the severe delamination case. A small area of deep leading edge delamination or defects may cause great power loss, which should not be ignored in practice engineering.

Sand-Laden Wind Erosion Pair Experimental Analysis of Aerodynamic Performance of the Wind Turbine Blades

“…(1) The overall power of the wind turbine decreases with the increase in installation angle, which indicates that the change in installation angle will reduce the aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine. (2) No matter what installation angle, the power increase in the semi-eroded group and the full-eroded group is not big, and the power decreases obviously with the increase in wind speed, which is less than 100 W rated power, but the power of the semieroded group is slightly greater than that of the full-eroded group in the same wind speed range. (3) The leading edge eroded group has the same effect on the output power of wind turbines.…”

“…The serious erosion or stratification of the leading edge of the blade has an adverse impact on the power generation of the wind turbine. Wang et al [2] analyzed the influence of different levels of leading edge stratification on the flow characteristics of the S809 airfoil. Through data and mechanism analysis, it is concluded that the aerodynamic performance of wind turbines decreases with an increase in stratification depth.…”

Quantification of wind turbine energy loss due to leading‐edge erosion through infrared‐camera imaging, numerical simulations, and assessment against SCADA and meteorological data

“…It is noteworthy that power loss evaluated from BEM simulations only entails effects due to the shift in the LTT position, which has been captured by the IR imaging. However, power loss quantified through the SCADA data encompasses phenomena other than LTT, such as increased turbulent boundary layer thickness and reduced stall margin, 17,57,58 which can justify the slight under-predictions obtained with the BEM simulations.…”