Small Scale Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Aerodynamic Design and Simulation

Submitted in the requirements of the graduation
project of 2019 bachelor’s degree
Prof. Dr Samir Sobhy Dr. Ibrahim Shahin

Fluid mechanics, Mechanical Power Engineering Department
Shoubra Faculty of Engineering, Benha university, Cairo, Egypt
i
Submitted in the requirements of the graduation
project of 2019 bachelor’s degree
ii
Our Parents
iii
Acknowledgments
iv
The following book discusses the horizontal axis wind turbines in
detail for undergraduate students with applying it practically through
our project. The books include the basic aerodynamics required for
designing and analyzing the wind turbine performance.
The design method used is based on the blade element momentum
theory. The method was used to optimize the chord and the twist
distributions of horizontal axis wind turbines to enhance blade
performance of the wind turbine by adjusting the angle of attack on the
turbine blades to increase the output power.
SD-8000 airfoil was used based on it’s low camber and appropriate cl-
cd ratio.
Also, a computational fluid dynamic study was created in order to set a
model and validate it for future use. The model was created with
ANSYS 19. The results were validated and applied to our design
The manufactured blade was modified, and 3d printed.
performance then was analyzed using CFD and experimental work.
v
1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 ENERGY RESOURCES ............................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 THE PROBLEM: FOSSIL FUEL ................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2.1 The environmental impact of fossil fuels: ................................................................................................ 2
1.2.2 Disastrous accidents: ............................................................................................................................... 2
1.2.3 Price fluctuations: .................................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 ALTERNATIVES FOR FOSSIL FUEL .............................................................................................................................. 3
1.3.1 Nuclear Energy ........................................................................................................................................ 3
1.3.2 Solar energy............................................................................................................................................. 3
1.3.3 Geothermal energy.................................................................................................................................. 3
1.3.4 Wind energy ............................................................................................................................................ 3
1.4 WIND ENERGY: WHAT IS IT? .................................................................................................................................. 4
1.4.1 Why wind energy? ................................................................................................................................... 4
1.5 WIND TURBINES .................................................................................................................................................. 4
1.5.1 Types ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.5.2 Wind turbine components ....................................................................................................................... 6
1.5.3 Small scale wind turbine components ..................................................................................................... 7
1.6 WIND RESOURCE ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................... 8
1.7 WIND RESOURCE ASSESSMENT IN EGYPT ................................................................................................................ 11
1.8 OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK ......................................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
2. FLUID DYNAMICS REVIEW ........................................................................................................................... 13
2.1 CHAPTER OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................... 13
2.1.1 Streamlines ............................................................................................................................................ 13
2.1.2 Streamtubes .......................................................................................................................................... 13
2.1.3 Linear Momentum equation.................................................................................................................. 14
2.2 AERODYNAMICS FORCES ..................................................................................................................................... 15
2.2.1 : Drag and Lift ........................................................................................................................................ 15
2.2.2 Airfoil Lift and Drag Theory ................................................................................................................... 15
2.2.3 Airfoil Nomenclature ............................................................................................................................. 18
2.2.4 Lift, Drag and nondimensional Coefficients........................................................................................... 19
2.2.5 Flow separation and stall on airfoils ..................................................................................................... 21
3. WIND TURBINE AERODYNAMICS ................................................................................................................. 24
3.1 SIMPLEST MODEL: ACTUATOR DISK ........................................................................................................................ 24
3.2 HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINES WITH WAKE ROTATION ........................................................................................ 27
3.2.1 Wake Rotation....................................................................................................................................... 27
3.3 MOMENTUM THEORY AND BLADE ELEMENT THEORY................................................................................................. 30
3.3.1 Momentum theory ................................................................................................................................ 30
3.3.2 Blade Element theory ............................................................................................................................ 31
3.4 BLADE ELEMENT MOMENTUM THEORY .................................................................................................................. 32
3.4.1 Blade Shape for Ideal Rotor without Wake Rotation ............................................................................ 33
3.4.2 Blade element momentum theory......................................................................................................... 35
3.4.3 Power coefficient ................................................................................................................................... 36
3.4.4 Blade Shape for Ideal Rotor with Wake Rotation .................................................................................. 36
vi
3.5 TIP LOSS FACTOR ............................................................................................................................................... 39
3.6 USING BLADE ELEMENT MOMENTUM THEORY TO CALCULATE ROTOR PERFORMANCE ....................................................... 40
3.7 PRESENT PARAMETRIC CASE STUDY ....................................................................................................................... 41
3.7.1 Overview................................................................................................................................................ 41
3.7.2 Airfoil ..................................................................................................................................................... 41
3.7.3 Rotor design .......................................................................................................................................... 43
4. NUMERICAL METHODS ................................................................................................................................ 47
4.1 OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................................................................... 47
4.1.1 Importance of Computational Fluid Dynamics ...................................................................................... 47
4.2 EQUATIONS OF MOTION ...................................................................................................................................... 48
4.2.1 Conservation of mass ............................................................................................................................ 48
4.2.2 Conservation of momentum .................................................................................................................. 48
4.3 – COMPUTATIONAL DOMAIN................................................................................................................................ 49
4.4 MESH .............................................................................................................................................................. 50
4.4.1 Mesh types ............................................................................................................................................ 50
4.4.2 Mesh Properties .................................................................................................................................... 51
4.5 SOLVING .......................................................................................................................................................... 52
4.5.1 Pressure based vs density based ........................................................................................................... 52
4.5.2 Turbulence models ................................................................................................................................ 52
4.5.3 Moving reference frame ........................................................................................................................ 54
4.5.4 Sliding mesh .......................................................................................................................................... 54
5. CFD SETUP ................................................................................................................................................... 56
5.1 THE PROJECT MODEL ......................................................................................................................................... 56
5.1.1 Fluid domain .......................................................................................................................................... 56
5.1.2 Meshing ................................................................................................................................................. 56
5.1.3 Setup ..................................................................................................................................................... 58
6. EXPERIMENTAL TEST RIG ............................................................................................................................. 59
6.1 WIND TUNNEL .................................................................................................................................................. 59
6.1.1 components ........................................................................................................................................... 59
6.2 AIR VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION ................................................................................................................................. 60
6.3 MEASURING DEVICES .......................................................................................................................................... 63
6.3.1 Power output ......................................................................................................................................... 63
6.3.2 Wind speed ............................................................................................................................................ 64
6.3.3 Rotational speed ................................................................................................................................... 64
6.4 MEASURING CIRCUIT .......................................................................................................................................... 65
6.5 TURBINE .......................................................................................................................................................... 66
6.5.1 Rotor ...................................................................................................................................................... 66
6.5.2 Tower..................................................................................................................................................... 68
7. RESULTS ...................................................................................................................................................... 70
7.1 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS...................................................................................................................................... 70
7.2 CFD RESULTS .................................................................................................................................................... 71
7.2.1 Validation .............................................................................................................................................. 71
7.2.2 Results from our blade .......................................................................................................................... 73
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................... 80
vii
Table 1-1: wind energy viability based on mean wind speed ................................................................... 9
Table 3-1: blade specifications for Betz optimization ............................................................................ 34
Table 3-2: blade specifications for Schimtz optimization ...................................................................... 37
Table 3-3: Design parameters ................................................................................................................. 43
Table 3-4:Blade design properties .......................................................................................................... 43
Table 3-5 ................................................................................................................................................. 44
Table 4-1 ................................................................................................................................................. 48
Table 5-1: Mesh settings ......................................................................................................................... 56
Table 5-2: FLUENT settings .................................................................................................................. 58
Table 6-1 ................................................................................................................................................. 63
Table 7-1:Experimental results ............................................................................................................... 70
viii
Figure 1-1: the environmental impact of oil disasters .............................................................................. 2
Figure 1-2: offshore wind farm in Netherland .......................................................................................... 4
Figure 1-3:Types of wind turbines............................................................................................................ 5
Figure 1-4: wind turbine man components ............................................................................................... 7
Figure 1-5: world map for wind energy resources .................................................................................... 8
Figure 1-6................................................................................................................................................ 10
Figure 1-7:Locations valid for wind turbine installations in Egypt ........................................................ 11
Figure 1-8................................................................................................................................................ 12
Figure 2-1:streamtube ............................................................................................................................. 14
Figure 2-2: Symmetrical airfoil .............................................................................................................. 16
Figure 2-3:Coanda effect lift generation theory...................................................................................... 16
Figure 2-4: the formation of the trailing edge vortex ............................................................................. 17
Figure 2-5................................................................................................................................................ 17
Figure 2-6................................................................................................................................................ 18
Figure 2-7:Airfoil nomenclature ............................................................................................................. 18
Figure 2-8: Lift and Drag force............................................................................................................... 19
Figure 2-9: Center pf pressure and aerodynamic center ......................................................................... 20
Figure 2-10:flow separation from a cylinder .......................................................................................... 21
Figure 2-11: Flow separation in airfoils ................................................................................................. 21
Figure 2-12: Flow regimes in airfoil ....................................................................................................... 22
Figure 2-13: adverse pressure gradient ................................................................................................... 23
Figure 3-1: stream tube control volume .................................................................................................. 25
Figure 3-2:wind turbine wake rotation ................................................................................................... 28
Figure 3-3-Annular element analysis ...................................................................................................... 28
Figure 3-4: blade element analyisi .......................................................................................................... 31
Figure 3-5: Betz chord distribution......................................................................................................... 34
Figure 3-6: Betz twist angle distribution ................................................................................................ 35
Figure 3-7:Schimtz Chord distribution ................................................................................................... 38
Figure 3-8:Schmitz vs Betz pitch distribution ........................................................................................ 38
Figure 3-9................................................................................................................................................ 41
Figure 3-10: Cl and Cd data acquired for XFOIL for SD-8000 airfoil ................................................... 42
Figure 3-11: experimental Cl-Cd data for SD-8000 airfoil .................................................................... 42
Figure 3-12: Theortical blade ................................................................................................................. 44
Figure 3-13: Actual Blade ...................................................................................................................... 45
Figure 3-14: Hub design ......................................................................................................................... 45
Figure 3-15: Nose design ........................................................................................................................ 45
Figure 3-16: Rotor assembly dimensions ............................................................................................... 46
Figure 4-1: CFD system.......................................................................................................................... 47
Figure 4-2:CFD basic equation in 3D ..................................................................................................... 49
Figure 4-3:Structured Mesh .................................................................................................................... 50
Figure 4-4:Non-structured mesh ............................................................................................................. 50
Figure 4-5: Proximity effect on mesh ..................................................................................................... 51
Figure 5-1:Model Fluid domain .............................................................................................................. 56
Figure 5-2:Full Mesh .............................................................................................................................. 57
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Figure 5-3:Detailed mesh around blade .................................................................................................. 58
Figure 6-1:Wind tunnel........................................................................................................................... 59
Figure 6-2: Inverter ................................................................................................................................. 60
Figure 6-3: air distribution at 14Hz ........................................................................................................ 60
Figure 6-7:: air distribution at 28Hz ....................................................................................................... 62
Figure 6-8: air distribution at 26Hz, 1 meter from the tunnel ................................................................. 63
Figure 6-9:Motor used to generate electricity......................................................................................... 64
Figure 6-10: Anemometer used to measure air speed ............................................................................. 64
Figure 6-11: Tachometer used ................................................................................................................ 65
Figure 6-12:Circuit used to measure power ............................................................................................ 66
Figure 6-13:Resistor used ....................................................................................................................... 66
Figure 6-14: 3D printed blade................................................................................................................. 67
Figure 6-15: roughness at the tip of the blade ........................................................................................ 67
Figure 6-16: 3D-printed hub ................................................................................................................... 68
Figure 6-17: 3D printed nose .................................................................................................................. 68
Figure 6-18:Turbine assembled .............................................................................................................. 69
Figure 6-19:Rotor Assembled................................................................................................................. 69
Figure 7-1: Expremental Cp-Tsr curve ................................................................................................... 70
Figure 7-2: Residuals for TSR=5 ............................................................................................................ 72
Figure 7-3: moment coefficient across iterations ................................................................................... 72
Figure 7-4: Validation Cp curve ............................................................................................................. 73
Figure 7-5:Cp-TSR curve acquired from cfd .......................................................................................... 73
Figure 7-6: Pressure distribution on pressure side .................................................................................. 74
Figure 7-7: pressure distribution on low pressure side ........................................................................... 74
Figure 7-8: Velocity Contours at the tip and the hub of the blade for TSR=5 ....................................... 75
Figure 7-10: Pressure contours at TSR = 5, from the tip to the hub ....................................................... 76
Figure 7-11:Pressure contours at TSR = 5, from the hub to the tip ........................................................ 77
Figure 7-12:Presuure variation throughout the the blades ...................................................................... 77
Figure 7-13: Air rotation streamlines in the wake of the blade. ............................................................. 78
Figure 7-14.............................................................................................................................................. 78
Figure 7-15.............................................................................................................................................. 79
x
Chapter 1
1.1 Energy Resources
Energy is everything. Its why we’re living and by it we enjoy our lives.
Since the humans from 2 million years discovered fire, they started their journey to prosperity
and used it extensively for their comfort. From using it to heat themselves during cold times
and cooking to using it in the internal combustion engine developed in 18th century.
We All know that energy has a lot of forms but these days, the form that matters to everyone
in the whole world is electrical energy. Our whole world works with electricity. From medical
devices used in hospitals to save lives to your smart phone.
For a century people searched for ways to produce electricity, but things changed when people
found oil, a fluid that’s much better than coal. The amazing industrial revolution is written in
oil. Oil powered the economic explosion of the 20th century. It enabled humans to do things
and go places they could barely imagine before. But there are bad consequences to the
production and the use of oil.
1.2 The problem: Fossil fuel

For the last two centuries, people searched for ways to produce electricity, but things changed
when people found oil, a fluid that’s much better than coal. The history of modern civilization
has been largely written in oil. Oil powered the economic explosion of the 20th century. It
enabled humans to do things and go places they could barely imagine before.
Currently, our needs is being fed mostly by oil. We need to ask how much longer our
needs can rely on this source.
Further, what are the options for the future?
Currently we are consuming oil at a huge rate compared to that of the discovery of new oil and
gas wells. Even in terms of 4,000 years of human history, the oil age will be very short lasting
only 150 to 200 years.
If we wanted to estimate our current resources, we can say: Coal for 300 years, Gas for 200
years
But the lack of oil is no the only bad thing about oil. When oil, gas or coal gets burned, the
pollutants is strong and harmful.
1
1.2.1 The environmental impact of fossil fuels:
When oil, gas or coal gets burned, the pollutants is strong and harmful.
Petroleum products give off the following emissions when they are burned as fuel:
• Carbon dioxide (CO2)

• Carbon monoxide (CO)
• Sulfur dioxide (SO2)
• Nitrogen oxides (NOX) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
• Particulate matter (PM)
• Lead and various air toxics such as benzene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and 1,3-
butadiene may be emitted when some types of petroleum are burned
Nearly all these byproducts have negative impacts on the environment and human health:
• Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and a source of global warming.
• SO2 causes acid rain, which is harmful to plants and to animals that live in water, and
it worsens or causes respiratory illnesses and heart diseases, particularly in children and
the elderly.
• NOX and VOCs contribute to ground-level ozone, which irritates and damages the
lungs.
• PM results in hazy conditions in cities and scenic areas, and, along with ozone,
contributes to asthma and chronic bronchitis, especially in children and the elderly.
Very small, or “fine PM” is also thought to cause emphysema and lung cancer.
• Lead can have severe health impacts, especially for children, and air toxics are known
or probable carcinogens.
1.2.2 Disastrous accidents:

Accidents that is caused by oil is highly dangerous and destructive, to mankind,
animals, and nature. Oil spill alone can be so destructive as it leads to the pollution of seas and
really harm the marine life around.
Figure 1 shows the environment impact for the
Deepwater Horizon disaster
Deep water horizon was one of the darkest
accidents in oil accidents history, it was a
massive explosion followed by a huge spell and
fire. 12 men lost their lives that day and the
environmental impact was huge. The oil spill
Figure 1-1: the environmental impact of oil disasters
2
covered nearly 180000 Km2 of the ocean ith nearly 5000 barrels escapes each day.
1.2.3 Price fluctuations:

Fossil fuel prices is important in for the economy of the world. The fact the oil prices can
fluctuates high is greatly felt by countries that rely on oil exportation, for example Venezuela.
Also, these price fluctuations can push some countries for war and the control on the most
important wells. Renewable energy is limiting such an effect. It prevent market manipulations
and make the market more competitive.
There are a lot of other harmful impacts to fossil fuel, and for that people searched for
alternatives. These alternatives are:
1.3 Alternatives for fossil fuel

1.3.1 Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy has very low emissions, high power output, produces cheap electricity
and has a great economic impact.
but there is two big drawbacks, First, the nuclear waste is extremely radiant and it needs
hundreds of years to decompose before it reaches adequate levels of safety. For this reason
alone, it becomes an issue that other energy sources simply don’t have to deal with.
Secoundly, nuclear disasters are extremely dangerous such as the Chernobyl accident. The
Estimated deaths toll as a result of radiation released vary from 4,000 in a United Nations
study up to 200,000 reported by a Greenpeace study. Total number of casualties remains a
controversial and disputed issue So, it’s clear that despite nuclear energy is tempting, but is
extremely dangerous for people and the environment.
1.3.2 Solar energy

Solar energy the most promising and available resources on earth, especially with on-
going development in the PV technology.
But solar energy has drawbacks also, the best commercial module has about 15% efficiency,
the manufacturing of solar modules produces toxic wastes, unavailable for a number of hours a
day and it has a high cost per kw compared to wind energy.
1.3.3 Geothermal energy

Geothermal energy is limited to areas of known thermal activity (mainly
recently active volcanic areas). It is a great local resource but will never play a major
role as an energy resource.
1.3.4 Wind energy
3
Wind energy is 100% clean and have a little impact on environment. It’s available 24 hours. Its
draw backs are: it is available only in specific areas and sometimes it kills birds.
1.4 Wind Energy: What is it?

We mean by wind energy is
that kinetic energy that moves the
wind around. Since at some places on
earth, wind speed is really high which
means that this energy can be useful
for us. To capture such energy, a
turbine must be developed such that it
extracts this kinetic energy as a
pressure energy on the blades which is
converted to mechanical energy and
fed into a generator.
Figure 1-2: offshore wind farm in Netherland
1.4.1 Why wind energy?

Wind energy has a lot of advantages over other resources, it includes:
1. it’s unlimited
2. has a low operation (Maintenance) cost
3. the manufacturing of turbine parts is not harmful to the environment in any way
4. wind turbines are simple and can be placed wherever necessary
After performing research and finding areas that have adequate wind, experts may place the
turbines in desired areas. These areas are usually unpopulated (offshore wind turbines, for
example). In fact, offshore winds tend to blow harder and more uniformly than on land,
providing the potential for increased electricity generation and smoother, steadier operation
than land-based wind power systems. Fig. 2 shows offshore wind turbines harvesting energy.
1.5 Wind Turbines

Wind turbines are those devices used to harness the kinetic energy in the wind and they are
divided into two main types:
1.5.1 Types
Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT)
4
These are the turbines where the axis of rotation is parallel to the wind velocity.
HAWT are the popular in large and medium scaled turbines. They are used because of their
advantage which are:
1. Highly efficient in terms of energy extraction from the wind
2. Proven reliability as it has been used extensively in the commercial applications
3. Cost effective
Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT)

These are the turbines where the axis of rotation is normal to the wind velocity.
VAWT are popular in small scaled sizes and is used in urban residential areas.
They are characterized by:
1. Simple as it has fewer parts than
HAWT
2. Quitter and more suitable to be
used in urban areas
3. Has a lower efficiency and
Operates at lower tip speed ratios.
Figure 1-3:Types of wind turbines
VAWTs are categorized into two distinct
categories; Savonius and Darrieus according to the principle used to capture energy from the
wind. Savonius type wind turbines operate using the principles of drag whereas Darrieus type
(as well as the H-type) wind turbines operate primarily on the principle of lift.
5
1.5.2 Wind turbine components
1-Rotor
The rotor consists of three main parts: the nose, hub and most importantly the blades.
The blades are the most complex and the most expensive part from the rotor. No most
rotors on big HAWT uses 3 blades for best efficiency and includes in the rotor a pitch control
mechanism. Turbine blades are manufactured from composite materials including fiberglass
reinforced plastic, epoxy and wood lamina.
2- Drive train
The drive train composes of gear trains including low speed and high-speed shafts.
Also includes bearings, couplings and any other mechanical components. The drive train
purpose is to deliver the power to the generator at the rated speed of the generator.
3-Generator
Most generators use induction generators which is a type of generators that operates at
high range of speeds than that in synchronous generator. Induction generator is inexpensive,
and easy to adapt to the electrical grid [Man well wily sons, 2009].
4-Nacelle
The nacelle is the housing of the drive train and any other components, protecting these
components from rain, dust lighting. It also includes the yaw system which is a system to
rotate the rotor to face the direction of the highest wind speed. The wind direction is fed by a
sensor mounted outside.
5-Tower and foundation

Wind turbine tower is the mast that carries the rotor, nacelles and the drive train above
the ground. It’s required from that tower to withstand severe pressure and fatigue loads result
from the fluctuated wind and the rotation of the rotor. Most towers are made from specil tubes
and trusses. tower high is determined by the terrain around the turbine.
6-Control system
This is the system, which control the output power, the pitch of the blades and the yaw of the
rotor.
6
Figure 1-4: wind turbine man components
1.5.3 Small scale wind turbine components

Small scaled wind turbines can be defined as those having an area about 200 m². the evolving
wind turbines technologies and the dropping prices made the small scaled wind turbines
required.
Small-scale wind can be installed on the roofs of buildings and can lower houses electrical
bills. The technological improvements of small wind turbines, although not quite as advanced
as commercial wind turbines, have contributed to the increase in the overall power output.
These components are Components:
1-Rotor
The rotor consists of the nose, hub and the blades. Mots commercial has a shape like
that in fig which differs than large-scaled turbines. The blades mostly made of plastic, can also
made of fibers and more recently, can be 3D printed.
2-Nacelle
The nacelle in small wind turbines carries only the generator with the rotor attached to
the motor directly without gear train. This is recommended since the output power is not that
large to waste it on bearing, gear-trains and other friction-producing parts.
3-Genrator
Since the output power is small, it’s necessary to use a permanent magnet generator in
order not to waste any of output power in producing the required magnetic field feeding the
generator.
7
4-Tower
The small-scale wind turbine tower is simple as it isn’t subjected to the same amount of
stress and fatigue of the large ones. I can be made of steel plastic or even wood altgough steel
is recommended.
1.6 Wind resource assessment

Wind resource assessment is the
process by which wind power developers
estimate the future energy production of a
wind farm. Accurate wind resource
assessments are crucial to the successful
development of wind farms.
The wind is a highly variable resource. In
the time domain, there are gusts acting
over seconds, calm periods lasting for
days, seasonal patterns across the year and
climatic influences leading to interannual Figure 1-5: world map for wind energy resources
variation.
In the spatial domain, trees cause very localized shelter effects, gentle hills can funnel the wind
smoothly around them and continental land masses slow down the winds that whip across the
ocean. Consequently, assessing the wind resource is not easy.
The most important part of wind resource assessment is the fact that the available power is
proportional to the cube of the wind speed:
1
𝑃 = 𝜌𝐴𝑈 3
2
P = power available (W)
ρ = density of air (kg/m3: approx. 1.2kg/m3 at sea level &
15°C)
A = swept area of wind energy conversion device (m2): = πr2 for
conventional horizontal axis rotors)
V = wind velocity (m/s)
This cubic relationship is the single most important point relating to the assessment of the
wind resource, as a doubling of the wind speed yields an eight-fold increase in power! As a
result, an accurate assessment of the wind resource at each proposed site is absolutely vital.
A full resource assessment can cost tens of thousands of dollars and take at least one year
8
The Table below gives an idea of how much wind is needed in order to extract a useful amount
of power.
Table 1-1: wind energy viability based on mean wind speed
Annual mean wind speed Wind energy viability

3 m/sec Not viable (only in special cirumistances)
3-4 m/sec Possibly vialbe for wind pumps
Usually not viable for wind turbines
4-5 m/sec Wind pumps become competitive with diesel
pumps, Wind turbines may be viable
5-6 m/sec Both wind pumps and turbines viable
>6 m/sec Excellecnt conditions for wind pumps and
turbines
The flow chart below shows the key steps in conducting a basic wind resource assessment.
Step 1
Locate your region on global ( or regional if available) Wind map
Step 2
Convert the wind speeds shown on the map to correct hub height
Annual mean speed

above 4 m/sec ?
Yes
Conduct a detailed
No
resource
assessment
Wind is not appropriate resource for
this project
9
Wind speed increases with height above ground and as the wind map above refers to wind speeds at
altitudes of 80 m (much higher than typical hub heights (wind turbine heights are usually specified by
the height of the hub above ground level, i.e. the center of the blades) of a small wind energy
conversion device, which are typically 6–30m), the values shown need to be adjusted using the
following equation :
ℎ 𝛼
𝑉ℎ = 𝑉ℎ ( )
ℎ0
𝑉ℎ = wind speed at hub height, h (m/s)

𝑉ℎ = wind speed at a reference height, ho (m/s)
ℎ = hub height of wind energy conversion device (m)
ℎ0 = reference height (m)
α = friction coefficient
Figure 1-6
10
1.7 Wind resource assessment in Egypt
With a currently installed capacity of about 145 MW – Renwable energy
corresponding to less than 1% of the electricity consumption – Power production in
wind power is still in its infancy in Egypt. But the goals for the egypt -2017(GWh)
future have been set higher: 850 MW in 2010 (3%) and 2750
580
MW in 2020 (6%).
2200
Also current wind farms produce far more power than solar PV
system (connected to the grid)
Wind Solar
The key locations is east of Egypt near the gulf of Suez. Wind speed reaches great speeds
that’s really suitable for wind farms.
Figure 1-7:Locations valid for wind turbine installations in Egypt
11
Figure 1-8
12
Chapter 2
2.1 Chapter overview

Wind turbines are simple in theory, complex in practice. Most HAWT turbines utilize
the lift generated over the blade due to the relative speed between the air and the blade. Since
lift is related to the angle of attach which is related to the relative velocity, so, the most
important question that we need to answer in wind turbine blade design and analyzing is how
does the blade see the wind?
This chapter starts with a quick review on the basics of fluid flow and the theory of lift. Its
Fluid Dynamics Review
2.1.1 Streamlines
A streamline is a line that is tangential to the instantaneous velocity direction (velocity is a
vector, and it has a magnitude and a direction). To visualize this in a flow, we could imagine
the motion of a small marked element of fluid. For example, we could mark a drop of water
with fluorescent dye and illuminate it using a laser so that it fluoresces. If we took a short
exposure photograph as the drop moves according to the local velocity field (where the
exposure needs to be short compared to the time it takes for the velocity to change
appreciably), we would see a short streak, with a length (𝛥𝑉 t), and with a direction tangential
to the instantaneous velocity direction. If we mark many drops of water in this way, the
streamlines in the flow will become visible. Since the velocity at any point in the flow has a
single value (the flow cannot go in more than one direction at the same time), streamlines
cannot cross. except at points where the velocity magnitude is zero, such as at a stagnation
point.
There are other ways to make the flow visible. For example, we can trace out the path
followed by our fluorescent drop using a long-exposure photograph. This line is called a path
line, and it is similar to what you see when you take a long-exposure photograph of car lights
on a freeway at night. It is possible for pathlines to cross, as you can imagine from the freeway
analogy: as a car changes lane, the pathline traced out by its lights might cross another path
line traced out by an adjoining vehicle at a different time.
In unsteady flow, streamlines, pathlines and streaklines are all different, but in steady flow,
streamlines, pathlines and streaklines are identical.
2.1.2 Streamtubes
Imagine a set of streamlines starting at points that form a closed loop (figure).
13
These streamlines form a tube that is impermeable since the walls of the tube are made up of
streamlines, and there can be no flow normal to a streamline (by definition). This tube is called
a streamtube. From mass conservation, we see that for a steady, one-dimensional flow, the
mass-flow rate is constant along a streamtube. In a constant density flow, therefore, the cross-
sectional area of the streamtube gives information on the local velocity.
Figure 2-1:streamtube
As an example, consider steady, constant density flow over a cylinder, where the cylinder axis
is normal to the direction of the incoming flow (figure).
Far upstream of the cylinder, the flow is uniform in all directions (we could call this a zero-
dimensional flow). The flow near the cylinder varies in the streamwise and normal directions
but not in the spanwise direction. So, the flow near the cylinder is two-dimensional. In this
region the streamlines come closer together, and the area between them decreases. Since the
density is constant, the velocity must increase according to the principle of mass conservation.
For constant density flow, wherever the area between streamlines decreases, the velocity
increases. This is exactly similar to what happens with constant-density flow through a duct or
a pipe --- if the area decreases, the velocity increases so that the volume flow rate is
maintained constant (volume flow rate out must equal volume flow rate in by continuity). At a
reasonable speed for a reasonably sized cylinder (more precisely, at Reynolds numbers that are
not too small), the maximum flow velocity in the region where the streamtubes take their
minimum area is about 1.74 times the velocity in the far-field.
2.1.3 Linear Momentum equation

Newton second law is stated as:
⃗⃗
𝑑𝑉 𝑑
∑ 𝐹⃗ = 𝑚𝑎⃗ = 𝑚 × ⃗⃗ )
= (𝑚𝑉 (2.1)
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
⃗⃗ ) is called the linear momentum of the system.

Where (m𝑉
From the Reynolds transport theorem, we can write a more general form of the equation above:
14
𝑑
𝛴𝐹 = ⃗⃗ ⅆ𝜈 + ∫ 𝜌𝑉
∫ 𝜌𝑉 ⃗⃗ (𝑉
⃗⃗𝑟 𝑛⃗⃗) ⅆ𝐴 (2.2)
ⅆ𝑡
𝐶𝑣 𝐶⋅𝑠
For a fixed control volume, steady the above equation can be simplified to:
∑𝐹⃗ = ∑ 𝑚 ⋅ 𝑉
⃗⃗ − ∑ 𝑚̇ ⋅ 𝑉
⃗⃗ (2.3)
𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛
2.2 Aerodynamics Forces

2.2.1 : Drag and Lift
Upon any encounter between a fluid and a solid body, there is a net change in the momentum
which is the force that moves that body and give it an acceleration. We encounter such forces
when we are in a car and we extend our hands out of the window to experience a force that
tries to pull our hands in the opposite direction of our movement (the cars movement in this
case).
This force is called “Drag Force” which is the force in the same direction as the fluid. This
force generally is not desirable in most of the cases in our lives and certainly not desirable in
wind turbines as it contributes to thrust load on the tower of a wind turbine and reduce the
produced torque.
Drag also can be produced by the shear force acting on the body (due to the no slip condition).
When the fluid result in a movement normal to its direction, the force that caused this motion
is called “Lift Force”. It obvious that we don’t see a piece of paper fly is vertically upward
when some air blows, but instead it moves upward with an angle. This comes from the fact
that lift can’t be produced without drag.
A simple demonstration is the kite we used to play with. In order for the kite to fly, it needs to
be pulled away and we balance the resulting forces by the tension of a rope.
2.2.2 Airfoil Lift and Drag Theory

The airfoil shape simply, made us fly. Since drag is encountered nearly in any shape and the
physical intuition in it is easily understood, the only mysterious thing is the lift. The
mechanism by how such a unique shape produces lift is complicated and requires good
understanding of the nature of fluid flow over bodies.
15
The main reason that airfoils produce lift is that the flow velocity is higher at the upper surface
than the lower which according to Bernoulli’s principle, lowers the pressure on the upper side
which creates the pressure difference.
The Transient time theory

The transient time theory which assumes that the flow, for some reason, must meet at the end
of the airfoil and so since the upper surface is longer than the lower surface, the air on the
upper side accelerate and because of Bernoulli’s principle, the pressure drops, creating a
pressure difference which create the lift.
This theory is completely wrong! A simple reason is that the symmetrical airfoil shown in
figure 2-2 produce lift and it’s upper and lower surface is the same length.
Figure 2-2: Symmetrical airfoil
The Coanda effect theory

There is another explanation which is the Coanda effect
explanation, although it’s not completely correct.
This explanation depicts that the flow tends to follow the
upper curved surface due to the Coanda effect and so, it
moves faster than the lower surface creating a pressure
difference.
The Coanda effect is the phenomena in which a jet flow
attaches itself to a nearby surface and remains attached
even when the surface curves away from the initial jet Figure 2-3:Coanda effect lift generation theory
direction. In free surroundings, a jet of fluid entrains and
mixes with its surroundings as it flows away from a nozzle.
When a surface is brought close to the jet, this restricts the entrainment in that region. As flow
accelerates to try balance the momentum transfer, a pressure difference across the jet results
and the jet is deflected closer to the surface - eventually attaching to it.
16
The Kutta-Joukowski theorem
the Kutta-Joukowski theorem is quite complicated, [See Fundamentals of Aerodynamics by
John D. Anderson jr] it explains lift in terms of circulation generated around the airfoil.
A simple explanation of this theory [1-Mealani Nakamura, MIT 1999 best report] is that
the wings provide lift by creating a situation where the pressure above the wing is lower than
the pressure below the wing. Since the pressure below the wing is higher than the pressure
above the wing, there is a net force upwards.
To create this pressure difference, the surface of the wing must satisfy one or both of the
following conditions. The wing surface must be:
1. Cambered (curved); and/or

2. Inclined relative to the airflow direction.
Note that Viscosity is essential in generating lift. The

effects of viscosity lead to the formation of the starting
vortex, which, in turn is responsible for producing the
proper conditions for lift.
The starting vortex rotates in a counter-clockwise
direction, see figure 2-4. To satisfy the conservation of
angular momentum, there must be an equivalent motion to
oppose the vortex movement. This takes the form of
circulation around the wing, as shown in Figure 2-5. The
velocity vectors from this counter circulation add to the
free flow velocity vectors, thus resulting in a higher
velocity above the wing and a lower velocity below the
wing as it is shown in figure 2-6. Figure 2-4: the formation of the trailing edge
vortex
Figure 2-5
17
Figure 2-6
From Bernoulli’s principle, the higher velocity on the upper surface create a lower pressure
than the lower side which produce the net pressure force which is the lift.
2.2.3 Airfoil Nomenclature
Figure 2-7:Airfoil nomenclature
18
A number of terms are used to characterize an airfoil, as shown in Figure 2-7.
The mean camber line is the locus of points halfway between the upper and lower surfaces of
the airfoil.
The most forward and rearward points of the mean camber line are on the leading and trailing
edges, respectively.
The straight line connecting the leading and trailing edges is the chord line of the airfoil, and
the distance from the leading to the trailing edge measured along the chord line is designated
the chord, c, of the airfoil.
The camber is the distance between the mean camber line and the chord line, measured
perpendicular to the chord line.
The thickness is the distance between the upper and lower surfaces, also measured
perpendicular to the chord line.
The angle of attack, a, is defined as the angle between the relative wind (Urel) and the chord
line.
2.2.4 Lift, Drag and nondimensional Coefficients

The analysis in section 2.3.2 is to get a physical intuition about how and why lift is generated.
In practice, to physically estimate the lift and drag forces by calculation is complex and hard,
that’s why engineers started to experimentally test airfoils and in order to limit the
experimental work, they introduced two dimensionless coefficients, the drag coefficient and
the lift coefficient.
These coefficients relate the force to: the density, relative velocity to the airfoil, and the frontal
area (the area projected on a plane normal to the direction of flow). We can represent the lift
and drag forces as:
1
𝐹𝐿 = 𝐶𝐿 𝜌𝑉 2 𝐴 (2.4)
2
1
𝐹𝐷 = 𝐶𝐷 𝜌𝑉 2 𝐴 (2.5)
2
Figure 2-8: Lift and Drag force
19
These coefficients vary with the angle of attack, which is the angle between the chord line and
the air velocity
The Lift and the drag forces acting point is called “center of pressure”. The same way that the
point where gravity act is called “center of gravity”. At this point, there is no pitching moment
(since acting forces passes through it) but the problem is that the location of this point changes
with the angle of attack.
A more convenient point to analyze forces at is a point called “Aerodynamic center” which is
point that has been found both experimentally and theoretically that, if the aerodynamic force
is applied at this point, the magnitude of the aerodynamic moment remains nearly constant
with angle of attack.
The location of this point is fixed for most airfoils at 0.25 of the chord back from the leading
edge on most low speed airfoils
Figure 2-9: Center pf pressure and aerodynamic center
We can then define the pitching moment to be equal to the lift force multiplied by the moment
arm between the quarter chord and the center of pressure is added to achieve static equilibrium
The moment can be represented as:
1
𝑀 = 𝐶𝑀 𝜌𝑉 2 (2.6)
2
Coefficients Variation with Angle of Attack
20
It is intuitive that the lift and drag force produced by the wing will vary with the angle of
attack, as the local pressure and shear distribution around the wing will change as the wing is
rotated in the freestream.
Non-dimensionalizing the lift and drag values and plotting this across a range of angles of
attack means that a number of airfoil profiles or configurations may be compared such that the
most suitable design is selected. Most of the time the most suitable configuration will be the
one that minimizes drag.
The best way to obtain high-quality aerodynamic data on an uncommon body would be to
perform a series of wind tunnel tests in order to generate the required data oneself. The
problem with that it’s time and effort consuming. NACA provided a wide range of airfoil data
experimentally.
A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation can also be run to generate aerodynamic
data but one must be conscious of the limitations of the simulation before using the data
generated. CFD simulations can be very useful and provide a lower cost approach to gathering
aerodynamic data but the solver must be thoroughly validated and bench-marked before being
used.
The easiest way to produce airfoil is by the XFOIL program which was first developed by
Mark Drela at MIT as a design tool for the MIT Daedalus project in the 1980s.
2.2.5 Flow separation and stall on airfoils

Flow separation
We can view this phenomenon as “the separation of cars” from
roads. This phenomenon is also observed when fast vehicles
jump off hills. At low velocities, the wheels of the vehicle always
remain in contact with the road surface. But at high velocities,
the vehicle is too fast to follow the curvature of the road and
takes off at the hill, losing contact with the road. A fluid acts
Figure 2-10:flow separation from a
much the same way when forced to flow over a curved surface at cylinder
high velocities. A fluid follows the front portion of the curved
surface with no problem, but it has difficulty remaining attached to the surface on the
backside. At sufficiently high velocities, the fluid stream detaches itself from the surface of the
body.
Airfoil separation behavior

Separation happens on airfoils when the flow can’t keep attached
to the upper surface and separates this creates a wake of vortices
shown in figure
Figure 2-11: Flow separation in

airfoils
21
Airfoil behavior can be categorized into three flow regimes: the attached flow regime, the high
lift/stall development regime, and the flat plate/fully stalled regime (Spera, 1994). These flow
regimes are described below.
1-Attached Flow Regime
At low angles of attack (up to
about 7 degrees), the flows
attached to the upper surface of
the airfoil. In this attached flow
regime, lift increases with the
angle of attack and drag is
relatively low.
2-High Lift/Stall Development Regime
In the high lift/stall
development regime the lift Figure 2-12: Flow regimes in airfoil
coefficient peaks as the airfoil
becomes increasingly stalled. Stall occurs when the angle of attack exceeds a
certain critical value (say 10 to 16 degrees, depending on the Reynolds number)
and separation of the boundary layer on the upper surface takes place, as shown
in Figure 2-12.
This causes a wake to form above the airfoil, which reduces lift and increases
drag. This condition can occur at certain blade locations or conditions of wind
turbine operation. It is sometimes used to limit wind turbine power in high winds.
For example, many wind turbine designs using fixed pitch blades rely on power
regulation control via aerodynamic stall of the blades.
As wind speed increases, stall progresses outboard along the span of the blade
(toward the tip), causing decreased lift and increased drag.
3-Flat Plate/Fully Stalled Regime
In the flat plate/fully stalled regime, at larger angles of attack up to 90 degrees,
the airfoil acts increasingly like a simple flat plate with approximately equal lift
and drag coefficients at an angle of attack of 45 degrees and zero lift at 90 degrees.
22
Figure 2-13: adverse pressure gradient
The separation can be explained as:

the Fluid particles flowing along the top of the wing surface experience a change in pressure,
moving from the ambient pressure in front of the wing, to a lower pressure over the surface of
the wing, then back up to the ambient pressure behind the wing. The region where fluid must
flow from low to high pressure (adverse pressure gradient) is responsible for flow separation.
If the pressure gradient is too high, the pressure forces overcome the fluid's inertial forces, and
the flow departs from the wing contour. Since the pressure gradient increases with an
increasing angle of attack, the angle of attack should not exceed the maximum value to keep
the flow following the contour. If this angle is exceeded, however, the force keeping the plane
in the air will decrease and may even disappear altogether.
23
Wind turbines are machines that extracts energy form moving air when it interacts with them,
the blades which have a airfoil cross section extract this energy in matter of thrust force, which
is the force normal to the plane of rotation and the torque which is the force tangential to the
plane of rotation. The following section analyze wind turbines in steady state which is the
ideal cases, not taking into account the wind shear orce, off axis winds and fluctuating forces
induced by turbulence and dynamic effects.[see Wind Energy Explained by Sach Tieng]
But in order to dig deep in complex analysis, one must have full understanding of the steady
state case.
we’ll start applying the basic momentum equation or the momentum theory to the famous
actuator disk model which gives us an ideal look over the way wind flows through a wind
turbine.
The next part is to extend the actuator disk model to include wake rotation which is the swirl
of the air as It leaves the blades.
Next, we start to look at the blade closely and analyze the forces using the blade element
theory.
Next part we combine the equations from the momentum theory with those obtained from the
blade element momentum theory to obtain a new theory called the blade element momentum
theory which is then used to analyzing the wind turbine off-design performance.
3.1 Simplest model: Actuator disk

The simple model discussed below generally attributed to Betz who could determine the power
from an ideal turbine rotor. the thrust of the wind on ideal rotor and the effect of the rotor
operation on the local wind field.
Assume a control volume whose walls are stream tubes (therefore mass flow rate is constant)
and inlet and outlet are cross sections of the stream tube. The turbine is assumed to be a disk
(infinite number of blades), which extract energy from the wind through a pressure drop.
Also it’s assumed that there is no rotation in the wake and that the pressures at the inlet and
outlet are atmospheric.
24
Figure 3-1: stream tube control volume
Applying the linear momentum to the whole control volume:
𝑇 = 𝑈1 (𝜌𝐴𝑈)1 − 𝑈4 (𝜌𝐴𝑈)4 (3.1)
The resulting force is called thrust where  is the density,  is the cross-sectional area and 𝑈 is the air
velocity
For steady state flow, where m is the mass flow rate.so we can write the thrust equation above as:
𝑇 = 𝑚̇(𝑈1 − 𝑈4 ) (3.2)
Since the thrust is positive, the wind velocity at 4 is less than that at 1.
And Since no work done on either side of the turbine rotor, we can apply Bernoulli equation between 1
& 2 and 3&4:
𝑈12 𝑈22 (3.3)

𝑝1 + 𝜌 = 𝑝2 + 𝜌
2𝑔 2𝑔
𝑈32 𝑈42 (3.4)

𝑝3 + 𝜌 = 𝑝4 + 𝜌
2𝑔 2𝑔
Now remember our assumption that 𝑝1 is equal to 𝑝4 and that 𝑈2 is equal to𝑈3 .
The thrust simply, results from the pressure difference across the rotor and can be expressed as:
𝑇 = 𝐴2 (𝑝2 − 𝑝3 ) (3.5)
25
If ones solves for (𝑝2 − 𝑝3 ) using equations 3.3 and 3.4 and substitutes that into equation 3.5,
one gets:
1 (3.6)
𝑇 = 𝜌𝐴1 (𝑈12 − 𝑈42 )
2
Equating equation 3.2 and 3.6, one gets:

1 (3.7)
𝑈2 = (𝑈1 + 𝑈4 )
2
Therefore, one deduces that in the simple model, the velocity at the rotor equals the average
upstream and downstream wind speeds.
One can define 𝑎 which is the axial induction factor which represent the fractional decrease in
wind velocity between the free stream and the rotor plane:
𝑈1 − 𝑈2 (3.8)
𝑎=
𝑈1
𝑈2 = 𝑈1 (1 − 𝑎) (3.9)
𝑈4 = 𝑈1 (1 − 2𝑎) (3.10)
As the axial induction factor increases from 0, the wind speed behind the rotor slows more and
more. If 𝑎 = 0.5, the wind has slowed to zero velocity behind the rotor and the simple theory
is no longer applicable.
We can define the power which equals the thrust times the velocity at the disc:
1 1 (3.11)
𝑃 = 𝜌𝐴2 (𝑈12 − 𝑈42 )𝑈2 = 𝜌𝐴2 𝑈2 (𝑈1 + 𝑈4 )(𝑈1 − 𝑈4 )
2 2
Subsutitute 𝑈2 and 𝑈4 from equations 3.9 and 3.10 gives:

1 (3.12)
𝑃 = 𝜌𝐴𝑈 3 4𝑎(1 − 𝑎)2
2
We can define the power coefficient to be

𝑃 (3.13)
𝐶𝑃 =
1 3
2 𝜌𝑈 𝐴
The non-dimensional power coefficient represents the fraction of the power in the wind that is
extracted by the rotor. From equation 3.12 the power coefficient is:
𝐶𝑃 = 4𝑎(1 − 𝑎)2 (3.14)
26
The maximum CP is determined by taking the derivative of the power coefficient (Equation
(3.14)) with respect to 𝑎 and setting it equal to zero, yielding 𝑎 = 1/3 . Thus:
16 (3.15)
𝐶𝑃,𝑀𝑎𝑥 = = 0.59
27
when 𝑎 = 1/3 . For this case, the flow through the disc corresponds to a stream tube with an
upstream cross-sectional area of 2/3 the disc area that expands to twice the disc area
downstream. This result indicates that, if an ideal rotor were designed and operated such that
the wind speed at the rotor were 2/3 of the free stream wind speed, then it would be operating
at the point of maximum power production.
Form equations 3.6, 3.9 and 3.10 the axial thrust on the disc is:
1 (3.16)
𝑇 = 𝜌𝐴𝑈 2 [4𝑎(1 − 𝑎)]
2
The overall turbine efficiency is:

𝑃 (3.17)
𝜂𝑡 =
1
𝜌𝐴𝑈 3
2
Where P is the actual output power.
3.2 Horizontal Axis Wind turbines with wake rotation

In the previous analysis using linear momentum theory, it was assumed that no rotation was
imparted to the flow. The previous analysis is quite useful in setting Betz limit, but we can’t
use it in designing or analyzing performance of wind turbines.
The following analysis takes into account the rotation of the disk and its effect on the flow.
3.2.1 Wake Rotation

Wake rotation is this movement that happens in the downstream of a wind turbine, the flow
exhibits a swirly motion as shown in figure 3-2.
Despite that this wake happens downstream after the rotor, it reduces the performance of the
turbine. The wake can be explained as a result of the conservation of angular momentum.
Since the air applies a torque upon interacting and passing through the blades, then it has to
have an opposite rotation to cancel the momentum of blades.
We can think of it in terms of newton’s third law, that for every action there is an equal and
opposite reaction. So when the reaction from the blades will imply a rotation to the air.
27
Figure 3-2:wind turbine wake rotation
Figure 3-3-Annular element analysis
Momentum Equations
Linear Momentum equation

Applying energy equations before and after the rotor in the stream-tube control volume, one gets:
1 (3.18)
𝑝2 − 𝑝3 = 𝜌 (𝛺 + 𝜔) 𝜔𝑟 2
2
We can define the thrust on the rotor to be:
28
1 (3.19)
𝑑𝑇 = (𝑃2 − 𝑃3 ) 𝑑𝐴 = [𝜌 (𝛺 + 𝜔) 𝜔𝑟 2 ] 2𝜋𝑟 𝑑𝑟
2
Defining a new factor “angular induction factor” 𝑎̅:

𝜔 (3.20)
𝑎̅ =
2𝛺
The thrust equations can be written as:

1 (3.21)
𝑑𝑇 = 4𝑎̅(1 + 𝑎̅) 𝜌𝛺2 𝑟 2 2𝜋𝑟𝑑𝑟
2
From the previous linear momentum analysis, we can define the differential thrust on an
annular area 2𝜋𝑟𝑑𝑟 , so equation 3.16 becomes:
1 (3.22)
𝑑𝑇 = 4𝑎(1 − 𝑎) 𝜌𝑈 2 2𝜋𝑟𝑑𝑟
2
Equating the two expressions for thrust gives:

𝑎(1 − 𝑎) 𝛺2 𝑟 2 (3.23)
= 2 = 𝜆2𝑟
𝑎̅(1 + 𝑎̅) 𝑈
Where 𝜆𝑟 is define as the local speed ratio and is gien by:

𝛺𝑟 𝜆𝑟 (3.24)
𝜆𝑟 = =
𝑈 𝑅
𝜆 is defined as the tip speed ration which is given by:

𝛺𝑅 (3.25)
𝜆=
𝑈
Angular momentum equation

Next we can derive an equation for the torque by applying the conservation of angular
momentum. The Torque exerted on the rotor Q by the fluid, must equal the change in angular
momentum of the fluid in the wake. So, the differential torque on an incremental annular area
is given by:
𝑑𝑄 = 𝑑𝑚̇(𝜔𝑟)(𝑟) = (𝜌𝑈2 2𝜋𝑟 𝑑𝑟)(𝜔𝑟)(𝑟) (3.26)
From equations 3.9 and 3.20, we can write torque as:

1 (3.27)
𝑑𝑄 = 4𝑎̅(1 − 𝑎) 𝜌𝑈𝛺𝑟 2 (2𝜋𝑟 𝑑𝑟)
2
29
And so, the power generated at each element is:
1 8 (3.28)
𝑑𝑃 = 𝛺 𝑑𝑄 = 𝜌𝐴𝑈 3 [ 2 𝑎̅(1 − 𝑎)𝜆3𝑟 𝑑𝜆𝑟 ]
2 𝜆
It can be seen that the power from any annular ring is a function of the axial and angular
induction factors and the tip speed ratio. The axial and angular induction factors determine the
magnitude and direction of the air flow at the rotor plane.
The power coefficient for annular element can be written as:
𝑑𝑝 (3.29)
𝑑𝐶𝑃 =
1 3
2 𝜌𝐴𝑈
Thus
8 𝜆 (3.30)
𝐶𝑃 = ∫ 𝑎̅(1 − 𝑎)𝜆3𝑟 𝑑𝜆𝑟
𝜆2 0
3.3 Momentum theory and Blade element theory

Since the flow around a turbine was disused using momentum equations(linear and angular)
where two parameters were defined 𝑎 & 𝑎̅.
The geometry of the rotor and the lift and drag characteristics of rotor airfoil described in
section 2.2.4 can then be used to determine either rotor shape or the performance based on the
available parameters.
3.3.1 Momentum theory

The result, from Section 3.2.2, of applying the conservation of linear momentum to the control
volume of radius r and thickness.
Recalling equation 3.22:
ⅆ𝑇 = 𝜌𝑈 2 4𝑎(1 − 𝑎)𝜋𝑟 ⅆ𝑟 (3.31)
Similarly, from the conservation of angular momentum equation, Equation (3.27), the
differential torque, Q, imparted to the blades (and equally, but oppositely, to the air) is:
ⅆ𝑄 = 4𝑎̅(1 − 𝑎)𝜌𝑈𝜋𝑟 3 𝛺 ⅆ𝑟 (3.32)
30
3.3.2 Blade Element theory
This theory relates the forces on wind turbine blade to the lift, drag and the angle of attack
characteristics.
Assumptions:
1. No radial flow
2. Only lift and drag defines the shape of the blade
In analyzing the forces on the blade section, it must noted that the lift and drag forces are
perpendicular and parallel, respectively, to an effective, or relative, wind. The relative wind is
the vector sum of the wind velocity at the rotor, 𝑈(1 − 𝑎), and the wind velocity due to
rotation of the blade
This rotational component is the vector sum of the blade section velocity, 𝛺𝑟, and the induced
angular velocity at the blades from conservation of angular momentum, 𝜔𝑟/2.
To visualize this, see figure 3-4
Figure 3-4: blade element analyisi
From figure 3-4, we determine the following relationships:
𝜃𝑇 = 𝜃𝑃 − 𝜃𝑃,𝑡𝑖𝑝
31
𝜑 = 𝜃𝑃 + 𝛼 (3.33)
𝑈(1 − 𝑎) 1−𝑎 (3.34)

𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝜑 = =
𝛺𝑟(1 + 𝑎̅) (1 + 𝑎̅)𝜆𝑟
𝑈(1 − 𝑎) (3.35)
𝑈𝑟𝑒𝑙 =
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
1 2 (3.36)
𝑑𝐹𝐿 = 𝐶𝐿 𝜌𝑈𝑟𝑒 𝑐 ⅆ𝑟
2 𝑙
1 2 (3.37)
ⅆ𝐹𝐷 = 𝐶𝑑 𝜌𝑈𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑑𝑟
2 𝑙
ⅆ𝐹𝑁 = 𝑑𝐹𝐿 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑 + 𝑑𝐹𝐷 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑 (3.38)
ⅆ𝐹𝑇 = 𝑑𝐹𝐿 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜙 − 𝑑𝐹𝐷 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑 (3.39)
If the rotor has B blades, the total normal force on the section at a distance, r, from the center
is:
1 2 (3.40)
𝑑𝐹𝑁 = 𝐵 𝜌𝑈𝑟𝑒 (𝐶𝐿 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑 + 𝐶𝐷 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑)𝑐 𝑑𝑟
2 𝑙
The differential torque due to the tangential force operating at a distance, r, from the center is
given by:
1 2 (3.41)
𝑑𝑄 = 𝐵 𝜌𝑈𝑟𝑒𝑙 (𝐶𝐿 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑 − 𝐶𝐷 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑)𝐶𝑟𝑑𝑟
2
Equation 3.42 and equation 3.43 defines the thrust and the torque respectively, form the blade
element theory These equations will be used below, with additional assumptions or equations,
to determine ideal blade shapes for optimum performance and to determine rotor performance
for any arbitrary blade shape.
3.4 Blade Element Momentum theory

The blade element momentum theory is a theory where wind turbine performance is analyzed
by looking at the turbine form two different views, the momentum view and the blade
ele5ment view.
Combining these two gives us a set of equation that we can use to design and forecast the
performance of the wind turbine.
32
3.4.1 Blade Shape for Ideal Rotor without Wake Rotation
As mentioned above, one can combine the momentum theory relations with those from blade
element theory to relate blade shape to performance. Because the algebra can get complex, a
simple, but useful, example will be presented here to illustrate the method.
Applying these assumptions:
1. There is no wake rotation
2. There is no drag
3. No tip losses
4. Axial induction factor is ideal (=1/3)
Substitute =1/3 in equation 3.33:
𝑑𝑇 = 𝜌𝑈 2 (8⁄9)𝜋𝑟 𝑑𝑟 (3.42)
And from equation 3.42, with Cd = 0:

1 2 (3.43)
𝑑𝐹𝑁 = 𝐵 𝜌𝑈𝑟𝑒 (𝐶𝐿 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑)𝑐 𝑑𝑟
2 𝑙
From equation 3.37 one can get:

2𝑈 (3.44)
𝑈𝑟𝑒𝑙 =
3 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
Using the BEM theory: Combining equations 3.44, 3.45 and 3.46, one can get:
𝐶𝐿 𝐵𝑐 (3.45)
= 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
4𝛱𝑟
From equation 3.36 at a = 1/3:

2 (3.46)
𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝜑 =
3𝜆𝑟
Substituting in equation 3.47, ones get:

𝐶𝐿 𝐵𝑐 2 (3.47)
= 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
4𝛱𝑟 3𝜆𝑟
Rearranging equations 3.48 and 3.49, we get:

2 (3.48)
𝜑 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 ( )
3𝜆𝑟
33
8𝜋𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑 (3.49)
𝑐=
3𝐵𝑐𝐿 𝜆𝑟
These relations can be used to find the chord and twist distribution of the Betz optimum blade.
For example, our blade uses an SD8000 airfoil with an angle of attack of 5 degrees, Cl of
0.735, design tip speed ratio of 5 , radius of 0.5m and hub radius of 0.1m.
The following table shows the chord and the twist distribution using the Betz method.
Table 3-1: blade specifications for Betz optimization

Angle of
r/R c twist relative wind Pitch
0.20 0.21 26.10 33.69 28.69
0.29 0.16 17.18 24.78 19.78
0.38 0.13 11.85 19.44 14.44
0.47 0.10 8.35 15.95 10.95
0.56 0.09 5.90 13.50 8.50
0.64 0.08 4.09 11.69 6.69
0.73 0.07 2.71 10.30 5.30
0.82 0.06 1.62 9.21 4.21
0.91 0.06 0.73 8.33 3.33
1.00 0.05 0.00 7.59 2.59
0.25
0.20
0.15
chord
0.10
0.05
0.00
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00
Non-dimensionalized radius
Figure 3-5: Betz chord distribution
34
30.00
25.00
20.00
Twist angle
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00
Non-dimensionalized radius
Figure 3-6: Betz twist angle distribution
3.4.2 Blade element momentum theory

The previous section used a simplified BEM, next we drive the non-simplified version of the
BEM theory.
Since
𝑈(1 − 𝑎)
𝑈𝑟𝑒𝑙 =
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
Setting cd =0 (see Wilson and Lissaman, 1974). And equating equations 3.34 and 3.43 we get:
𝑎̅ 𝜎 ′ 𝑐𝐿 (3.50)
=
1 − 𝑎 4𝐹𝜆𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
Where 𝜎 ′ is the local solidity and equals:

𝐵𝑐 (3.51)
𝜎′ =
2𝜋𝑟
Also, equating equation 3.33 and 3.42, we get:
𝑎 𝜎 ′ 𝐶𝐿 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑 (3.52)
=
1−𝑎 4𝐹 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜑
Using equation 3.36, 3.53 and 3.54, we get these useful relations:
𝑎 𝜆𝑟 (3.53)
=
𝑎̅ 𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝜑
1 (3.54)
𝑎=
4 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜑
[1 + 𝜎 ′ 𝑐 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑]
𝐿
35
1 (3.55)
𝑎̅ =
4 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑
[( 𝜎 ′ 𝐶 ) − 1]
𝐿
3.4.3 Power coefficient

The power contribution from each annulus is
𝑑𝑃 = 𝛺 𝑑𝑄 (3.56)
The total power is:

𝑅 (3.57)
𝑃 = ∫ 𝛺 ⅆ𝑄
𝑟ℎ
Where 𝑟ℎ is the hub radius, the power coefiicient then can be written as:
𝑅 (3.58)
∫𝑟 𝛺 ⅆ𝑄
ℎ
𝐶𝑃 =
1 2 3
2 𝜌𝜋𝑅 𝑈
Using equation 3.37 and equation 3.43 to substitute in 3.60 :

𝜆 (3.59)
2 1 𝐶𝑑
𝐶𝑃 = 2 ∫ 𝜎 ′ 𝑐𝐿 (1 − 𝑎)2 [1 − ( ) 𝑐𝑜𝑡 𝜑] 𝜆2𝑟 ⅆ𝜆𝑟
𝜆 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑 𝐶𝐿
𝜆𝑛
Using equations 3.54 and 3.55:

𝜆 (3.60)
8 𝐶𝑑
𝐶𝑝 = 2 ∫ 𝜆3𝑟 𝑎̅(1 − 𝑎) [1 − ( ) 𝑐𝑜𝑡 𝜑] ⅆ𝜆𝑟
𝜆 𝐶𝐿
𝜆𝑛
Equivalently (de Vries, 1979):

𝜆 (3.61)
8
𝐶𝑃 = 2 ∫ 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 (𝜑)(𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑 − 𝜆𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑)(𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑 + 𝜆𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑) [1
𝜆
𝜆ℎ
𝐶𝑑
− 𝑐𝑜𝑡 𝜑] 𝜆2𝑟 ⅆ𝜆𝑟
𝐶𝐿
3.4.4 Blade Shape for Ideal Rotor with Wake Rotation

The equations derived in section 3.4.1 doesn’t include the wake rotation, and as we have seen
in section 3.2.1 the wake rotation decrease the resulting torque and hence the resulting power.
36
One can optimize the equation 3.63 by taking the partial derivative of the part inside the
integral and setting it equal zero:
𝜕 𝐶𝑑 (3.62)
[𝑠𝑖𝑛2 (𝜑)(𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑 − 𝜆𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑)(𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑 + 𝜆𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑) [1 − 𝑐𝑜𝑡 𝜑] 𝜆2𝑟 ] = 0
𝜕𝜑 𝐶𝐿
Simplifying, yields:
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑(2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑 − 1) (3.63)
𝜆𝑟 =
[(1 − 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑)(2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑 + 1)]
Some more algebra:

2 1 (3.64)
𝜑 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 ( )
3 𝜆𝑟
8𝜋𝑟 (3.65)
𝑐= (1 − 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑)
𝐵𝐶𝐿
Induction factors can be written as:

1 (3.66)
𝑎=
4 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜑
[1 + 𝜎 ′ 𝑐 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑]
𝐿
1 − 3𝑎 (3.67)
𝑎̅ =
4𝑎 − 1
Setting the same parameters as section 3.4.1. we get the following chord and radius
distribution
Table 3-2: blade specifications for Schimtz optimization
r/R c twist phi pitch
0.20 0.15 22.46 30.00 25.00
0.29 0.13 15.59 23.13 18.13
0.38 0.11 11.06 18.60 13.60
0.47 0.10 7.93 15.47 10.47
0.56 0.08 5.66 13.20 8.20
0.64 0.07 3.95 11.49 6.49
37
0.73 0.07 2.63 10.17 5.17
0.82 0.06 1.57 9.11 4.11
0.91 0.05 0.71 8.25 3.25
1.00 0.05 0.00 7.54 2.54
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.10
Chord
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
Non-dimensionlized radius
Figure 3-7:Schimtz Chord distribution
30.00
Schimtz(with wake rotation)

25.00
Betz(without wake rotation)
20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
Figure 3-8:Schmitz vs Betz pitch distribution
38
You can see that the twist is different near the hub, because as mentioned earlier, the wake
rotation effect decreases with rotation speed, and so at the tip (high speed) there is no
observable difference.
3.5 Tip Loss factor

Because the pressure on the suction side of a blade is lower than that on the pressure side, air
tends to flow around the tip from the lower to upper surface, reducing lift and hence power
A number of methods have been suggested for including the effect of the tip loss. The most
straightforward approach to use is one developed by Prandtl (see de Vries, 1979). According
to this method, a correction factor, F, must be introduced into the previously discussed
equations. This correction factor is a function of the number of blades, the angle of relative
wind, and the position on the blade. Based on Prandtl’s method:
Blade element equations are all based on the definition of the forces used in the blade element
theory and remain unchanged. When the forces from momentum theory and from blade
element theory are set equal, using the methods of strip theory, the derivation of the flow
conditions is changed, however. Carrying the tip loss factor through the calculations, one finds
these changes:
𝐵 𝑟 (3.68)
[1 −
2
𝐹 = 𝑐𝑜𝑠 −1 [𝑒𝑥𝑝 − ( 2𝑟 𝑅 ])]
𝜋 ( ) 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
𝑅
where the angle resulting from the inverse cosine function is assumed to be in radians.
Carrying the tip loss factor through the calculations, one finds these changes:
𝑎̅ 𝜎 ′ 𝑐𝐿 (3.69)
=
1 − 𝑎 4𝐹𝜆𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
𝑎 𝜎 ′ 𝐶𝐿 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑 (3.70)
=
1−𝑎 4𝐹 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜑
1 (3.71)
𝑎=
4 𝐹𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜑
[1 + 𝜎 ′ 𝑐 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑]
𝐿
1 (3.72)
𝑎̅ =
4 𝐹𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑
[( 𝜎 ′ 𝐶 ) − 1]
𝐿
39
𝜆 (3.73)
8 𝐶𝑑
𝐶𝑝 = 2 ∫ 𝐹𝜆3𝑟 𝑎̅(1 − 𝑎) [1 − ( ) 𝑐𝑜𝑡 𝜑] ⅆ𝜆𝑟
𝜆 𝐶𝐿
𝜆𝑛
𝜆 (3.74)
8 𝐶𝑑
𝐶𝑝 = 2 ∫ 𝐹𝜆3𝑟 𝑎̅(1 − 𝑎) [1 − ( ) 𝑐𝑜𝑡 𝜑] ⅆ𝜆𝑟
𝜆 𝐶𝐿
𝜆𝑛
3.6 Using Blade element momentum theory to calculate rotor

performance
The BEM can be used to calculate performance of the rotor at off-design conditions. Using an
iterative method to solve the equation and to get the axial and tangential induction factors.
Calculate the angle

of relative wind
Guess a value for from Eq 3.34
𝑎, 𝑎̅ 1−𝑎
𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝜑 =
(1 + 𝑎̅)𝜆𝑟
Get values of
𝐶𝐿 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑑 , Calculate the angle
calculate the tip of attack from Eq
loss factor F 3.33
𝜑 = 𝜃𝑃 + 𝛼
Set the newest
values as the
starting ones Calculate the new 𝑎, 𝑎̅ from Eqs 3.71 & 3.72
1 1
𝑎= 4 𝐹𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜑
, 𝑎̅ = 4 𝐹𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑
[1+ ′ ] [( )−1]
𝜎 𝑐𝐿 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜑 𝜎′ 𝐶𝐿
Does the new Calculate cp and

values of differs yes initiate the next
No from the last ones? iteration.
40
The above iterations can be executed using MATLAB, Fortran or any other programming tool,
the solution gives you an estimation of the power curve in figure 3-9, that can be validated by
CFD or experimental work.
The problem in the above procedure is the step where it’s required to get the 𝐶𝐿 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑑 as a
function of alpha, which is only found in small-ranged tabulated data. One can go to Xfoil, but
again Xfoil data beyond stall is not to be trusted. []CFD is another way to get a wide range of
data, but it’s time consuming and its accuracy is not guaranteed.
The most appropriate method is to get a small range of trusted data and extrapolate these data
all across 360 degrees.
There are two methods for extrapolation, the Viterna Method and the Montgomerie Method.[]
Figure 3-9
3.7 Present Parametric Case Study

3.7.1 Overview
Our project was to design a small-scale horizontal axis wind turbine where the results is to be
acquired in a wind tunnel and then to validate the CFD model.
The turbine Is to be designed by the Schmitz equation or the optimum rotor with wake rotation
(see section 3.4.4).
The turbine was then to enter a research for winglets.
3.7.2 Airfoil
The airfoil used is the SD8000 air foil, this airfoil cl-cd characteristics is shown in figure 3-10
The air foil was chosen due to its appropriate cl/cd ratio.
41
Figure 3-10: Cl and Cd data acquired for XFOIL for SD-8000 airfoil
Figure 3-11: experimental Cl-Cd data for SD-8000 airfoil
42
Table 3-3: Design parameters
Parameter Design Value

Angle of Attack 5
Lift coefficient 0.753
Drag coefficient 0.0241
Tip Radius 0.5m
Hub radius 0.1m
Design tip speed ratio 5
Design air speed 10m/s
You can see that the Xfoil prediction works well with experimental work done by Selig,
Donovan, and Fraser [].
The design Reynolds number was assumed constant for each element since the variations
would be small:
The air kinematic viscosity is 1.81e-5
The Reynolds number at the tip is 1.4e+5 and at the root is 1.17e+5 which nearly constant
So, the angle of attack that provides the maximum cl/cd ratio from figure 3-10 is 5. Which
gives a 𝐶𝐿 = 0.735
3.7.3 Rotor design

Blade design
Applying the equations from section 3.4.4 for 10 sections and the previous parameters, we get
the twist and chord distribution in table 3-4
Table 3-4:Blade design properties
r/R c twist phi pitch

0.20 0.15 22.46 30.00 25.00
0.29 0.13 15.59 23.13 18.13
0.38 0.11 11.06 18.60 13.60
0.47 0.10 7.93 15.47 10.47
0.56 0.08 5.66 13.20 8.20
0.64 0.07 3.95 11.49 6.49
0.73 0.07 2.63 10.17 5.17
0.82 0.06 1.57 9.11 4.11
43
0.91 0.05 0.71 8.25 3.25
1.00 0.05 0.00 7.54 2.54
The blade then was drawn on a cad software: Solidworks, where the blade is shown in the
following figure:
Figure 3-12: Theortical blade
Blade modifications
The blade had to be modified for the manufacturing method and the wind tunnel. The wind
tunnel outlet radius is 0.5m, the same as the blade, which means that the blade tip will
experience flow within the boundary layer of the tunnel walls.
Table 3-5
Parameter Modified value

Blade Scaled by 0.9
Tip radius 0.42m
Hub radius 0.07m
The blade span was scaled by 0.9 and so the blade length became 0.36m instead of 0.4m.The
hub radius became 0.07m instead of 0.1m.The new blade and the final blade is hown in figure
3-13
44
Figure 3-13: Actual Blade
Hub-Nose design
the rotor hub was actually divided into two parts, the hub and the nose shown in figures 3-14
and 3-15
Figure 3-14: Hub design
Figure 3-15: Nose design
45
Figure 3-16: Rotor assembly dimensions
46
4.1 Overview
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the simulation of fluids engineering systems using
modeling (mathematical physical problem formulation) and numerical methods (discretization
methods, solvers, numerical parameters, and grid generations, etc.).
There are several aspects of CFD grid generation techniques, numerical algorithms, finite
difference and finite volume schemes, stability issues, turbulence modeling, etc. You need to
study these topics in order to fully understand both the capabilities and limitations of
computational fluid dynamics.
Figure 4-1: CFD system
Firstly, we have a fluid problem. To solve this problem, we should know the physical
properties of fluid by using Fluid Mechanics. Then we can use mathematical equations to
describe these physical properties. This is Navier-Stokes Equation and it is the governing
equation of CFD. As the Navier-Stokes Equation is analytical, human can understand it and
solve them on a piece of paper(theoretically).
But if we want to solve this equation by computer, we have to translate it to the discretized
form. The translators are numerical discretization methods, such as Finite Difference, Finite
Element, Finite Volume methods.
We can compare and analyze the simulation results with experiments and the real problem. If
the results are not sufficient to solve the problem, we have to repeat the process until find
satisfied solution. This is the process of CFD.
4.1.1 Importance of Computational Fluid Dynamics
47
There are three methods in study of Fluid: theory analysis, experiment and simulation (CFD).
As a new method, CFD has many advantages compared to experiments.
Table 4-1
4.2 Equations of motion

4.2.1 Conservation of mass
This is one of the most fundamental laws in physics, which can be represented mathematically
as:
𝜕𝜌 (4.1)
⃗⃗⃗⃗𝑟 = 0
+ 𝛻𝜌𝑉
𝜕𝑡
Or
𝐷𝜌 𝜕𝑈𝑖 (4.2)
+𝜌 =0
𝐷𝑡 𝜕𝑥
For only one input and one output, we can write a simple form:
𝑑𝑀 (4.3)
= 𝑚̇𝑖 − 𝑚̇0
𝑑𝑡
ⅆ𝑀
For a steady flow, =0
ⅆ𝑡
4.2.2 Conservation of momentum

This is one of the most popular and important equation in fluid dynamics. It so complicated
that it can’t be solved without assumptions
1 (4.4)
⃗⃗⃗⃗ 𝛻⃗⃗)𝑉
(𝑉. ⃗⃗ = − 𝛻⃗⃗𝜌′ + 𝜈𝛻 2 𝑉
⃗⃗
𝜌
These equations are shown in detail in figure
48
Figure 4-2:CFD basic equation in 3D
The above equations as mentioned before, can’t be solved analytically and so it requires a
numerical solution, which is called computational fluid dynamics.
The following are the steps required to solve a problem using a ANSYS Fluent or any other
CFD program
4.3 – Computational domain

A computational domain is chosen which is the region where we’ll solve the equations at.
49
The computational domain refers to a simplified form of the physical domain both in terms of
geometrical representation and boundary condition imposition. This simplified form should
retain all physically important features of the problem but can ignore minor details. For
example, when simulating fluid flow about a car, one can ignore gaps between doors while the
actual boundary of the fluid flow domain may be replaced by a simple box-like boundary.
Also, the domain for a wind turbine includes only the blade, for simplicity, it ignores the hub,
the rotor and the tower.
4.4 Mesh
The mesh step is one o the most important steps in solving a CFD problem, it affects the time
and the accuracy of the solution
4.4.1 Mesh types

The mesh can be structured (figure 4-3), which means it consists of planar cells with four
edges (2-D) or volumetric cells with six faces (3-D). Although the cells may be distorted from
rectangular.
An unstructured mesh (figure 4-4) consists of cells of various shapes, but typically triangles
or quadrilaterals (2-D) and tetrahedrons or hexahedrons (3-D) are used.
For complex geometries, an unstructured grid is usually much easier for the user of the grid
generation code to create. However, there are some advantages to structured grids. For
example, some (usually older) CFD codes are written specifically for structured grids; these
codes converge more rapidly, and often more accurately, by utilizing the index feature of
structured grids. For modern general-purpose CFD codes that can handle both structured and
unstructured grids, however, this is no longer an issue. More importantly, fewer cells are
usually generated with a structured grid than with an unstructured grid.
Figure 4-3:Structured Mesh Figure 4-4:Non-structured mesh
50
4.4.2 Mesh Properties
Proximity-based mesh sizing
Proximity-based mesh sizing is used to automatically refine the mesh in areas determined to be
thin through the volume (where the surface is in close proximity to another surface).
The level of refinement is specified by a parameter n. The mesh is refined such that the local
mesh size in thin areas is approximately n times smaller than the local gap distance.
The simple example below in figure 4-5 shows how proximity-based mesh sizing provides
more refinement of the mesh where the holes are closer to the boundary. The image on the left
is a coarse mesh without using proximity-based sizing, the center and right images are with
increasing levels of proximity-based sizing applied
Figure 4-5: Proximity effect on mesh
Examples of where this functionality is useful include:
• flow problems where it is necessary to ensure that there are a sufficient number of
elements across a gap to ensure that the flow is properly resolved through the gap.
• any problem where thin geometry sections will cause elements with poor quality due to
the restrictions imposed by the geometry.
Match control
The Match Control matches the mesh on two or more faces or edges in a model. The Meshing
application provides two types of match controls—cyclic and arbitrary.
51
The Match Control is supported for the following mesh methods:
Volume Meshing:
• Sweep
• Patch Conforming
• Multizone
Surface Meshing;
• Quad Dominant
• All Triangles
Cyclic Match Control
The cyclic matching process involves copying the mesh of the first selected faces or edges in
the Match Control (the High Geometry Selection scoped in the Details View of the Match
Control) to the second selected faces or edges in the control (the scoped Low Geometry
Selection).
4.5 Solving
There are two programs in ANSYS used to solve the domain, CFX and Fluent. in the
following simulation, fluent is used.
In fluent, there are certain parameters that must be set in order to start the simulation.
4.5.1 Pressure based vs density based

The density-based solver solves the governing equations of continuity, momentum, and (where
appropriate) energy and species transport simultaneously (i.e., coupled together). Governing
equations for additional scalars will be solved afterward and sequentially
The pressure-based solver employs an algorithm which belongs to a general class of methods
called the projection method. In the projection method, the constraint of mass conservation
(continuity) of the velocity field is achieved by solving a pressure (or pressure correction)
equation. The pressure equation is derived from the continuity and the momentum equations in
such a way that the velocity field, corrected by the pressure, satisfies the continuity.
4.5.2 Turbulence models

52
Turbulent flow is characterized by fluctuating velocity field. The fluctuation mixes transported
quantities such as momentum and energy, and causes the independent parameters fluctuate as
well.
ANSYS FLUENT provides more than a choice of turbulence models, among them are:
• Spalart-Allmaras model
• 𝑘 − 𝜀 models
• 𝑘 − 𝜔 models:
o Standard model
o Shear-stress model (SST)
• Model
• Transition SST model
• Reynolds stress models (RSM)
It is an unfortunate fact that no single turbulence model is universally accepted as being

superior for all classes of problems. The choice of turbulence model will depend on
considerations such as:
• the physics encompassed in the flow,
• the established practice for a specific class of problem,
• the level of accuracy required,
• the available computational resources,
• and the amount of time available for the simulation.
To make the most appropriate choice of model for your application, you need to understand
the capabilities and limitations of the various options.
For example, In terms of computation, the Spalart-Allmaras model is the least expensive
turbulence model of the options provided in ANSYS FLUENT, since only one turbulence
transport equation is solved.
The standard - model clearly requires more computational effort than the Spalart-Allmaras
model since an additional transport equation is solved. [ANSYS user Guide].
Successful computations of turbulent flows require some consideration during the mesh
generation. Since turbulence (through the spatially-varying effective viscosity) plays a
dominant role in the transport of mean momentum and other parameters, you must ascertain
that the turbulence quantities in complex turbulent flows are properly resolved if high accuracy
is required. Due to the strong interaction of the mean flow and turbulence, the numerical
results for the turbulent flows tend to be more susceptible to mesh dependency than those for
laminar flows.
53
It is therefore recommended that you resolve, with sufficiently fine meshes, the regions where
the mean flow undergoes rapid changes and the shear layers with large strain rates.
4.5.3 Moving reference frame

ANSYS FLUENT solves the equations of fluid flow and heat transfer, by default, in a
stationary (or inertial) reference frame. However, there are many problems where it is
advantageous to solve the equations in a moving (or non-inertial) reference frame. Such
problems typically involve moving parts (such as rotating blades, impellers, and similar types
of moving surfaces), and it is the flow around these moving parts that is of interest. In most
cases, the moving parts render the problem unsteady when viewed from the stationary frame.
With a moving reference frame, however, the flow around the moving part can (with certain
restrictions) be modeled as a steady-state problem with respect to the moving frame.
ANSYS FLUENT's moving reference frame modeling capability allows you to model
problems involving moving parts by allowing you to activate moving reference frames in
selected cell zones. When a moving reference frame is activated, the equations of motion are
modified to incorporate the additional acceleration terms which occur due to the
transformation from the stationary to the moving reference frame. By solving these equations
in a steady-state manner, the flow around the moving parts can be modeled.
For many problems, it may be possible to refer the entire computational domain to a single
moving reference frame. This is known as the single reference frame (or SRF) approach. The
use of the SRF approach is possible; provided the geometry meets certain requirements. For
more complex geometries, it may not be possible to use a single reference frame. In such
cases, you must break up the problem into multiple cell zones, with well-defined interfaces
between the zones.
4.5.4 Sliding mesh

In sliding meshes, the relative motion of stationary and rotating components in a rotating
machine will give rise to unsteady interactions. These interactions are generally classified as
follows:
Potential interactions: flow unsteadiness due to pressure waves which propagate both upstream
and downstream.
Wake interactions: flow unsteadiness due to wakes from upstream blade rows, convecting
downstream.
Shock interactions: for transonic/supersonic flow unsteadiness due to shock waves striking the
downstream blade row.
Where the multiple reference frame (MRF) and mixing plane (MP) models, are models that are
applied to steady-state cases, thus neglecting unsteady interactions, the sliding mesh model
54
cannot neglect unsteady interactions. The sliding mesh model accounts for the relative
motion of stationary and rotating components.
The dynamic mesh model uses the ANSYS FLUENT solver to move boundaries and/or
objects, and to adjust the mesh accordingly. The dynamic mesh model is used when
boundaries move rigidly (linear or rotating) with respect to each other. For example
• A piston moving with respect to an engine cylinder.

• A flap moving with respect to an airplane wing.
55
5.1 The Project Model
Our model used a single reference of frame approach, which is more suitable than sliding mesh
for wind turbines.
We used a single fluid domain and the model was validated withlee . the following section
describe the model in detail:
5.1.1 Fluid domain

The fluid domain used is a one third of a cylinder where match control is applied. The model is
shown in figure 5-1, where the inlet is 1.5m away from the blade, the outlet is 5 m away and
the radius is 3.5m
Another model with 2 fluid domains in figure was used, but the available computational
couldn’t handle to solve this model.
Figure 5-1:Model Fluid domain
5.1.2 Meshing
The meshing settings is shown in table 5-1
Table 5-1: Mesh settings
Global mesh Size Function Proximity and

settings curvature
Max face size 0.25m
Face sizing Scope Blade
Element size 1.6e-3
56
Behavior Hard
Inflation Scope Fluid
Boundary Blade
Maximum layers 10
A surface sizing was added to fine the mesh as much as possible in order to capture the flow
interaction with the blade.
Also, an inflation layer was added to the blade in order to capture the boundary layer effect.
The mesh quality is shown in figure 5-3 and for our computational power, it was accepted.
Figure 5-2:Full Mesh
57
Figure 5-3:Detailed mesh around blade
5.1.3 Setup
The domain was solved by ANSYS fluent. The settings are shown in table
Table 5-2: FLUENT settings
Models Viscous SST k-omega

Cell Zone condition Fluid Frame Motion-Rotational
speed: -100 rad/s
Boundary conditions Blade Wall
Inlet Velocity: -10 m/s
Inlet2 Velocity: -10 m/s
Outlet Pressure outlet
Period 1 Interface
Period 2 Interface
Solution Method Coupled: Pseudo transient,
high order term relaxation
Initialization Standard – compute from
inlet
58
6.1 Wind tunnel
6.1.1 components
A local made wind tunnel was assembled in order to test the turbine at known wind speed and
to get valid results.
The tunnel available is 2m long, which is very short. The speed around the edge of the tunnel
is much higher than near the center.
A straightener was installed in the middle of the tunnel to eliminate any rotational motion in
the tunnel. The straightener was built from UPVC tubes/32 mm glued together.
The motor specification is in table. The motor is to be controlled by a 3-phase inverter shown
in figure
Power 5.5 KW
Rated current 11 A
Connection type delta
Frequency 50 Hz
Cos phi 0.84
Figure 6-1:Wind tunnel
59
Figure 6-2: Inverter
6.2 Air velocity distribution

The air velocity is not uniform at the tunnel outlet. The air speed near the tip of the fan blades
is much higher than that at the middle. A nozzle-diffuser are needed to produce a uniform air
speed. The velocity distribution is shown in the next figures.
Figure 6-3: air distribution at 14Hz
60
61
Figure 6-7:: air distribution at 28Hz
62
Figure 6-8: air distribution at 26Hz, 1 meter from the tunnel
6.3 Measuring devices
6.3.1 Power output

A dc permanent magnet motor is to be used as a generator, the motor specifications is listed in
table. A rheostat is to be used in order to change the load and hence change the rpm.
Table 6-1
Name Amatek 07980

Rated Power 400 W
Rated Volt 40 V
Rpm 1100
63
Figure 6-9:Motor used to generate electricity
6.3.2 Wind speed

Anemometer is to be used to measure air velocity and help adjusting required air velocity.
Figure 6-10: Anemometer used to measure air speed
6.3.3 Rotational speed

The rotational speed was measured by a tachometer shown below
64
Figure 6-11: Tachometer used
6.4 Measuring circuit

The circuit used to measure the power output used a number of fixed ohms connected in series
and on decreasing the ohms, the rpm increased. A voltammeter and ammeter was used to
measure the voltage and the ampere respectively. The circuit is shown below.
Figure 6-12: Schematic diagram for the Measuring circuit
65
Figure 6-13:Circuit used to measure power
Figure 6-14:Resistor used
6.5 Turbine
6.5.1 Rotor
All the components of the rotor were 3D printed in order to get the twist distribution correct as
possible.
Most commercial blades are manufactured from fiber glass as it’s rigidity and resistance to
failure is very good. But in small scale, it’s required to make a special model which will be
expensive, and it’s not guaranteed that the twist will be accurate.
A printed blade is shown in figure 5-1. The surface finish of the 3d printed machine is quite
acceptable, though at the tip, high roughness was found, see figure 5-2, and therefore there was
a need for sanding.
66
Figure 6-15: 3D printed blade
Figure 6-16: roughness at the tip of the blade
The hub and the nose is shown in figures 7-3 and 7-4 respectivley.
67
Figure 6-17: 3D-printed hub
Figure 6-18: 3D printed nose
6.5.2 Tower
tower was welded altogether and will be Fixed to the ground. The turbine is shown in the figure below
68
Figure 6-19:Turbine assembled
Figure 6-20:Rotor Assembled
69
7.1 Experimental Results
The results obtained at average wind speed 7m/s, are listed in table and the cp curve in figure
Table 7-1:Experimental results
Voltage(V) Current(A) rpm omega(rad/s) P(W) Cp Tsr

0.08 0.25 46 4.817108736 0.023529 0.000208 0.289027
1.1 0.28 50 5.235987756 0.362353 0.003201 0.314159
2.56 0.3 98 10.262536 0.903529 0.007982 0.615752
9.6 0.78 350 36.65191429 8.809412 0.077829 2.199115
32 0.81 550 57.59586532 30.49412 0.269406 3.455752
24 1.38 760 79.58701389 38.96471 0.344242 4.775221
25.1 1.29 850 89.01179185 38.09294 0.33654 5.340708
30 1 940 98.43656981 37.5 0.331301 5.906194
Expermintal results
Cp
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
Cp
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
TSR
Figure 7-1: Expremental Cp-Tsr curve
70
The results obtained at average wind speed 6m/s, are listed in table and the cp curve in figure
V A rpm omega P Cp Tsr
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1.8 0.13 50 5.235988 0.234 0.005673 0.439823
2.3 0.15 67 7.016224 0.345 0.008364 0.589363
8.2 0.55 390 40.8407 4.51 0.109333 3.430619
18.2 0.83 540 56.54867 15.106 0.366206 4.750088
21 0.75 630 65.97345 15.75 0.381818 5.541769
23.5 0.63 720 75.39822 14.805 0.358909 6.333451
25.5 0.54 760 79.58701 13.77 0.333818 6.685309
24.9 0.45 790 82.72861 11.205 0.271636 6.949203
27.5 0.31 820 85.8702 8.525 0.206667 7.213097
U=6m/s
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
Cp
0.2
Cp
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Cp
7.2 CFD results

7.2.1 Validation
The residuals
A convergence for the residuals of the power of -6 was set to be good, although all simulations
was going to converge(because of the simple mesh used), some of them was halted due to the
non-changing moment coefficient through out the simulation as shown in figure
71
Figure 7-2: Residuals for TSR=5
Figure 7-3: moment coefficient across iterations
The continuity
The continuity validation is a simple method that checks how the conservation of mass applies
to the domain.
The net mass flow is -5.38e-05, Which is ok for our mesh.
Power coefficients
The validation used is to compare the CP − λ curve to the computed curve from Lee2016
72
0.6
Lee
0.5 Our model
0.4
Cp
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
TSR
Figure 7-4: Validation Cp curve
The results vary only on a hundredth scale, which is accepted.

It is noted that this slight shift in Cp is a result of our simple mesh, but also from the
turbulence model.
7.2.2 Results from our blade

The previous model was applied to our blade, only adjusting the hub radius.
The following curve was acquired at U=10 m/s
0.5
U=10m/s
0.4
0.3
Cp
0.2
0.1
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
TSR
Figure 7-5:Cp-TSR curve acquired from cfd
73
Figure 7-6: Pressure distribution on pressure side
Figure 7-7: pressure distribution on low pressure side
74
Figure 7-8: Velocity Contours at the tip and the hub of the blade for TSR=5
75
Figure 7-9: Pressure contours at TSR = 5, from the tip to the hub
76
Figure 7-10:Pressure contours at TSR = 5, from the hub to the tip
Figure 7-11:Presuure variation throughout the the blades
77
Figure 7-12: Air rotation streamlines in the wake of the blade.
The following curve was acquired at U=7 m/s
7m/s
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
Cp
0.25
0.2 Cp
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
TSR
Figure 7-13
the results obtained from the CFD analysis shows that a more detailed model can capture the
power and model the wake of the turbine. The results agree to a limit with the experimental
78
data, given the non-uniform air speed, the accuracy of the devices used and the fact that the
blades have a non-smooth surface that could had an effect on the results.
The power coefficient is shown below and at high speeds, the power is obviously less on the
experimental side. This can be explained by the generator bearing as it experience great
vibration at high speeds.
0.5
0.45 U=7m/s
0.4
0.35
0.3
Cp
0.25
Expermintal
0.2
0.15 CFD
0.1
0.05
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
TSR
Figure 7-14
79
[1] The Effect of Blade Geometry and Configuration on Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Performance
Master Thesis- Mohamed Khaled
[2] Design of an optimal rotor i.e. pitch angle and chord length of the blades and how to
calculate the power production - Søren Gundtof
[3] Aerodynamics of wind turbines- Martin O. L. Hansen
[4] Experiments and numerical simulations of the rotor-blade performance for a

small-scale horizontal axis wind turbine – Meng-Hsein Lee
[5] Small wind turbines- David wood
[6] Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines- Emrah Kulunk
[7] Wind energy explained- J. F. Manwell
[8] Airfoil Lift and Drag Extrapolation with Viterna and Montgomerie Methods - Faisal
Mahmuddin
80

Small Scale Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Aerodynamic Design and Simulation

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Small Scale Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Aerodynamic Design and Simulation

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Submitted in the requirements of the graduation

project of 2019 bachelor’s degree

Prof. Dr Samir Sobhy Dr. Ibrahim Shahin

1.1 Energy Resources

1.2 The problem: Fossil fuel

Further, what are the options for the future?

• Carbon dioxide (CO2)

1.2.2 Disastrous accidents:

1.2.3 Price fluctuations:

1.3 Alternatives for fossil fuel

1.3.2 Solar energy

1.3.3 Geothermal energy

1.3.4 Wind energy

1.4 Wind Energy: What is it?

1.4.1 Why wind energy?

1.5 Wind Turbines

Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT)

5-Tower and foundation

1.5.3 Small scale wind turbine components

1.6 Wind resource assessment

Table 1-1: wind energy viability based on mean wind speed

Annual mean wind speed Wind energy viability

Annual mean speed

𝑉ℎ = wind speed at hub height, h (m/s)

Figure 1-7:Locations valid for wind turbine installations in Egypt

2.1 Chapter overview

2.1.3 Linear Momentum equation

⃗⃗ ) is called the linear momentum of the system.

2.2 Aerodynamics Forces

2.2.2 Airfoil Lift and Drag Theory

The Transient time theory

Figure 2-2: Symmetrical airfoil

The Coanda effect theory

1. Cambered (curved); and/or

Note that Viscosity is essential in generating lift. The

2.2.3 Airfoil Nomenclature

Figure 2-7:Airfoil nomenclature

2.2.4 Lift, Drag and nondimensional Coefficients

Figure 2-8: Lift and Drag force

Figure 2-9: Center pf pressure and aerodynamic center

Coefficients Variation with Angle of Attack

2.2.5 Flow separation and stall on airfoils

Airfoil separation behavior

Figure 2-11: Flow separation in

The separation can be explained as:

3.1 Simplest model: Actuator disk

Applying the linear momentum to the whole control volume:

𝑇 = 𝑈1 (𝜌𝐴𝑈)1 − 𝑈4 (𝜌𝐴𝑈)4 (3.1)

𝑈12 𝑈22 (3.3)

𝑈32 𝑈42 (3.4)

Equating equation 3.2 and 3.6, one gets:

Subsutitute 𝑈2 and 𝑈4 from equations 3.9 and 3.10 gives:

We can define the power coefficient to be

The overall turbine efficiency is:

Where P is the actual output power.

3.2 Horizontal Axis Wind turbines with wake rotation

3.2.1 Wake Rotation

Figure 3-3-Annular element analysis

Linear Momentum equation

We can define the thrust on the rotor to be:

Defining a new factor “angular induction factor” 𝑎̅:

The thrust equations can be written as:

Equating the two expressions for thrust gives: