Wind Turbine Rotor Simulation via CFD Based Actuator Disc Technique Compared to Detailed Measurement

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.4.3.205-210

Article Metrics: (Click on the Metric tab below to see the detail)

Article Info
Published: 15-10-2015
Section: Original Research Article
In Vol 4, No 3 (2015): October 2015
Fulltext PDF Tell your colleagues Email the author

In this paper, a generalized Actuator Disc (AD) is used to model the wind turbine rotor of the MEXICO experiment, a collaborative European wind turbine project. The AD model as a combination of CFD technique and User Defined Functions codes (UDF), so-called UDF/AD model is used to simulate loads and performance of the rotor in three different wind speed tests. Distributed force on the blade, thrust and power production of the rotor as important designing parameters of wind turbine rotors are focused to model. A developed Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory as a code based numerical technique as well as a full rotor simulation both from the literature are included into the results to compare and discuss. The output of all techniques is compared to detailed measurements for validation, which led us to final conclusions.

Keywords

Wind Turbine, Rotor Performance, Actuator Disc Theory, BEM Theory, Full Rotor Simulation

  1. Esmail Mahmoodi 
    Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, University of Shahrood, Shahrood, Iran, Islamic Republic of
  2. Ali Jafari 
    Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, University of Tehran, Alborz, Iran, Islamic Republic of
  3. Alireza Keyhani 
    Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, University of Tehran, Alborz, Iran, Islamic Republic of
  1. Conway, J.T. (1995) Analytical solutions for the actuator disc with variable radial distribution of load. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 297: 327-355
  2. Conway, J.T. (1998) Prediction of the performance of heavily loaded propellers with slipstream contraction. CASI J., 44: 169–174.
  3. Fluent (2006) Theory guide: Pressure-velocity coupling. ANSYS Documentations, ANSYS.
  4. Froude, R.E. (1889) On the part played in propulsion by differences of fluid pressure. Trans. Inst. Naval Architects, 30: 390.
  5. Hough, G. & Ordway, D. (1965) The generalized actuator disk. Developments in theoretical and applied mechanics, 2: 317-336.
  6. Madsen, H.A. (1996) CFD analysis of the actuator disc flow compared with momentum results. 10th IEA Meeting on Aerodynamics. University of Edinburgh.
  7. Mahmoodi, E., Jafari, A. & Keyhani, A. (2015) Near wake modeling of a wind turbine particle image velocimetry experiment Iranica Journal of Energy and Environment, 6(3), 195-206.
  8. Mikkelsen, R. (2003) Actuator disc methods applied to wind turbines. PhD Thesis, Technical University of Denmark.
  9. Rankine, W.J.M. (1865) On the mechanical principles of the action of propellers. Trans. Inst. Naval Architects, 6: 13-39.
  10. Rethore, P.E., Sørensen, N.N. & Madsen, H.A. (2010) Modelling the mexico wind tunnel with cfd. IEA wind, MexNext meeting. Forth, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
  11. Sanderse, B., Van Der Pijl, S.P.V. & Koren, B. (2011) Review of CFD for wind-turbine wake aerodynamics. Wind Energy, 14 (7), 799–819.
  12. Schepers, J.G. & Snel, H. (2008) Model experiments in controlled conditions.
  13. Shen, W.Z., Zhu, W.J. & Sørensen, J.N. (2011) Actuator line/navier–stokes computations for the mexico rotor: Comparison with detailed measurements. Wind Energy, 15(5), 811-825.
  14. Snel, H., Schepers, J.G. & Montgomerie, B. (2007) The mexico (model experiments in controlled conditions): The database and first results of data process and interpretation. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 75, 012014.
  15. Sørensen, J.N. & Kock, C.W. (1995) A model for unsteady rotor aerodynamics. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 58: 259-275.
  16. Sørensen, J.N. & Myken, A. (1992) Unsteady actuator disc model for horizontal axis wind turbines. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 39: 139-149.
  17. Sørensen, J.N., Shen, W.Z. & Munduate, X. (1998) Analysis of wake states by a full-field actuator disc model. Wind Energy, 1 (2), 73-88.
  18. Wu, T. (1962) Flow through a heavily loaded actuator disc. Schiffstechnik, 9 (47), 134-138.