Renewable Energy QBlade: OpenSource Horizontal and Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
2030
- Experts’ Visions - Design and Simulation
D. Marten
H.F.I / ISTA TU Berlin - Chair of Fluid Dynamics - Mueller Breslau str. 8, D-10623, Berlin
QBlade
- Open source wind turbine calculation software,
distributed under the GPL. The software is seamlessly
integrated with the XFOIL airfoil design and analysis
- The integration of a sophisticated user interface makes
this software accessible to many more interested
people than the usual command line interface software
tools.
- The software is especially adequate for teaching HAWT
and VAWT rotor design and aerodynamics.
- QBlade includes user friendly post processing
capabilities as well as advanced import & export
functionality.
- The resulting software is a very flexible and user-
friendly platform for wind turbine blade design. It also
acts as a modular system for future implementations
that can exploit the possibilities that a combination
of manual and parametric airfoil design and analysis
coupled with a blade design and simulation tool offers.
airfoil analysis
HAWT analysis - Theoretical background
The HAWT analysis is based on
the standard Blade Element
Momentum Method (BEM) [1 ] .
The BEM equates blade forces
with thrust force obtained from
the momentum balance over an
ideal rotor disc. The generated
set of equations can then be solved iteratively.
Numerous empirical correction algorithms, that
account for losses, three dimensional and
Reynolds number effects can be applied to a
simulation by means of user-defined options.
Distribution
QBlade is distributed freely under the GPL
software license and is compiled for Windows,
Linux and MacOS. The software can either be
obtained from sourceforge.net/projects/qblade
or qblade.de.to
List of contributors to the QBlade project:
Juliane Wendler, TU Berlin
Guido Weinzierl, TEMBRA
George Pechlivanoglou, TU Berlin / SMART BLADE
David Marten, TU BERLIN
J. Wendler G.Pechlivanoglou C.N. Nayeri C.O. Paschereit
Airfoil Design
- Design of custom airfoils using splines or airfoil mixing .
- Airfoil import, NACA 4- and 5-digit airfoil generator .
- Inverse design from a specified velocity distributions .
Airfoil Analysis
- Computation of airfoil coefficients employing the
viscous-inviscid XFOIL panel method for angles of
attack up to stall (or slightly beyond) .
- Visualization of pressure distribution and boundary
layer
.
Polar Extrapolation
- Extrapolation of XFOIL generated or imported polars
over a range of 360° angle of attack using
Montgomerie or Viterna algorithms .
Blade Design
- Advanced design of vertical and horizontal axis wind
turbine blades
.
- Blade geometry export functionality
.
Wind Turbine Simulation
- Selection of turbine type, transmission and control .
- User defined correction-algorithms and simulation
parameters .
- Detailed presentation of simulation results in more
than 30 variables, computation of annual yield for
various windspeed distributions
- Export functionality of all simulation results
360° Polar extrapolation wind turbine blade and rotor design
VAWT analysis - Theoretical background
The VAWT analysis is based on
the double-multiple-streamtube
algorithm after Paraschivoiu
(DMST) [2] . Because the airflow
passes the rotor two times per
rotation, a VAWT can be idealized
as two HAWT's in a row. The blade forces have
to be equated with the thrust force from the
momentum balance over two ideal rotordiscs.
One balancing is performed for the upwind half
and the other for the downwind half of one
rotation of the blade.
wind turbine definition and simulation
Validation Downloads
Being applied for wind turbine designs and simulations by Since the software distribution started in June
universities and research institutes around the world 201 0, QBlade has been downloaded more than
QBlade has been validated against numerous commercial 20.000 times by researchers, students and
and established wind turbine simulation codes [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] . people interested in wind turbine design from all
over the world.
References:
[1 ] HANSEN, M.O.L.: Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines, Earthscan, London, 2008
[2] PARASCHIVOIU, I.: Wind Turbine Design – With Emphasis on Darrieus Concept, Presses Internationales Polytechnique, Canada, 2002
[3] SOLAND, T.: Investigation of Different Airfoils on Outer Sections of Large Rotor Blades, Bachelor sign Validation To
[4] MARTEN, D.: Integration of a WT Blade Design Tool in XFOIL/XFLR5, Proceedings of the DEWEK 201 0, Bremen, Germany, 201
[5] WIDJANARKO, S.: Steady Blade Element Momentum Code for Wind Turbine Design Validation Tool, Internship Vestas, 201 0
[6] MARTEN, D.: Extension of an Aerodynamic Simulator for Wind Turbine Blade Design and Performance Analysis, Diploma Thesis, TU Berlin, 201 0
[7] WENDLER, J.: Erweiterung einerSimulationssoftware um Module zuraerodynamischen Auslegung und Leistungsberechnung vertikalachsiger
Windenergieanlagen, Bachelor Thesis, TU Berlin, 201 2