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

*Esmail Mahmoodi  -  Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, University of Shahrood, Shahrood, Iran, Islamic Republic of
Ali Jafari  -  Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, University of Tehran, Alborz, Iran, Islamic Republic of
Alireza Keyhani  -  Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, University of Tehran, Alborz, Iran, Islamic Republic of
Published: 15 Oct 2015.
Open Access

Citation Format:
Abstract

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

Article Metrics:

Article Info
Section: Original Research Article
Language: EN
In Vol 4, No 3 (2015): October 2015
Statistics: 1030 2096
Others articles
Study of Gasohol as Alternative Fuel for Gasoline Substitution: Characteristics and Performances Characteristics of Waste Plastics Pyrolytic Oil and Its Applications as Alternative Fuel on Four Cylinder Diesel Engines Design and Economic Analysis of a Photovoltaic System: A Case Study Biodiesel Production from Kapok (Ceiba pentandra) Seed Oil using Naturally Alkaline Catalyst as an Effort of Green Energy and Technology Modeling and Analysis of Solar Photovoltaic Assisted Electrolyzer-Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell For Running a Hospital in Remote Area in Kolkata, India Performance of Loaded Thermal Storage Unit with a Commercial Phase Change Materials based on Energy and Exergy Analysis
  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

Last update: 2021-02-25 20:52:09

  1. Wake modelling via actuator-line method for exergy analysis in openFOAM

    Mohsen Boojari, Esmail Mahmoodi, Ali Khanjari. International Journal of Green Energy, 16 (11), 2019. doi: 10.1080/15435075.2019.1641101

Last update: 2021-02-25 20:52:11

  1. CFD and Experimental Studies on Wind Turbines in Complex Terrain by Improved Actuator Disk Method

    Liu X.. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 127 (1), 2017. doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/854/1/012028

  2. A new method for horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) blade optimization

    Mohammadi M.. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 5 (1), 2016. doi: 10.14710/ijred.5.1.1-8

  3. Wake modelling via actuator-line method for exergy analysis in openFOAM

    Mohsen Boojari, Esmail Mahmoodi, Ali Khanjari. International Journal of Green Energy, 16 (11), 2019. doi: 10.1080/15435075.2019.1641101

  4. Energy and exergy analyzing of a wind turbine in free stream and wind tunnel in CFD domain based on actuator disc technique

    Khanjari A.. Renewable Energy, 127 , 2020. doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.05.183

  5. CFD simulation and lidar experimental study on wind turbines in complex terrain

    Liu X.. Taiyangneng Xuebao/Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica, 41 (3), 2020.

  6. Numerical simulation of the Mexico wind turbine using the actuator disk model along with the 3D correction of aerodynamic coefficients in OpenFOAM

    Amini S.. Renewable Energy, 127 , 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.10.120

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Articles are freely available to both subscribers and the wider public with permitted reuse.

All articles published Open Access will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download. We are continuously working with our author communities to select the best choice of license options: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). Authors and readers can copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, but they must give appropriate credit (cite to the article or content), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.