Table of contents

The aerodynamic performance of Vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) is not as simple as its structure because of the large changing range of angle of attack. We have designed a new kind of two-element airfoil for VAWT on the basis of NACA0012. CFD calculation has been confirmed to have high accuracy by comparison with the experiment data and Xfoil result. The aerodynamic parameter of two-element airfoil has been acquired by CFD calculation in using the Spalart-Allmaras (S-A) turbulence model and the Simple scheme. The relationship between changings of angle of attack and flap's tilt angle has been found and quantified. The analysis will lay the foundation for further research on the control method for VAWT.

The present wind turbine is a small one which can be used on roofs or in gardens. This turbine has a vertical axis. Each turbine blade combines a rotating movement around its own axis and around the main rotor axis. Due to this combination of movements, flow around this turbine is highly unsteady and needs to be modelled by unsteady calculation. The present work is an extended study starting in 2009. The benefits of combined rotating blades have been shown. The performance coefficient of this kind of turbine is very good for some blade stagger angles. Spectral analysis of unsteady results on specific points in the domain and temporal forces on blades was already presented for elliptic blades. The main aim here is to compare two kinds of blades in case of the best performances.

The work focus on the linear buckling analysis of wind turbine blade with different trailing bonding models. Based on finite element model, it has been demonstrated that there are some differences for buckling load factor between different models. Several different models are valid for buckling analysis.

Field experiment and numerical simulation are performed on a 33 kW horizontal axis wind turbine. The distribution of pressure is gathered by disposed 191 taped pressure sensors span-ward on seven particular sections of a blade. And the parameters of experimental condition of inflow and operation condition of the wind turbine are obtained at the same time. And then, the three-dimensional Reynolds averaged incompressible Navier-Stokes equations and the RNG κ-ε turbulence model are used to study the aerodynamic characteristics of the wind turbine. The numerical method is proved to be more effective by contrasting the numerical results to the field experimental data. For the calculation results of the blade pressure, the closer to the root of the blade the more consistent to the values of the experiment. A greater differential is shown at the leading edge than the trailing edge. The pressure distribution contours of the blade surface are obtained too.

This paper investigates the influence of the trailing edge flap on integrated loads and the flow field structure of wind turbine blades. The dynamic trailing edge flap under sinusoidal wind velocity is simulated using three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics method, and SST k-ω turbulence model coupled with γ-Re_θ transition model is adopted to model the turbulence. The results show that the variation of root flap bending moments can be reduced by up to 38%. A proper phase difference added to the flap deflection could improve the ability of loads reduction for some cases. The flap deflection impacts almost all sections of the blade, and the blade elements momentum method should be modified to obtain better results.

Wavy leading edge modifications of airfoils through imitating humpback whale flippers has been considered as a viable passive way to control flow separation. In this paper, flows around a baseline 63₄-021 airfoil and one with leading-edge sinusoidal protuberances were simulated using S-A turbulence model. When studying the static stall characteristics, it is found that the modified airfoil does not stall in the traditional manner, with increasing poststall lift coefficients. At high angles of attack, the flows past the wavy leading edge stayed attached for a distance, while the baseline foil is in a totally separated flow condition. On this basis, the simulations of pitch characteristic were carried out for both foils. At high angles of attack mild variations in lift and drag coefficients of the modified foil can be found, leading to a smaller area of hysteresis loop. The special structure of wavy leading edge can help maintain high consistency of the flow field in dynamic pitching station within a particular range of angles of attack.

Large scale wind turbines have larger blade lengths and weights, which creates new challenges for blade design. This paper selects NREL S809 airfoil, and uses the parameterized technology to realize the flexible trailing edge deformation, researches the dynamic aerodynamic characteristics in the process of continuous flexible deformation, analyses the influence of inflow angle on flexible flap aerodynamic performance, in order to further realize the flexible wind turbine blade design and provides some references for the active control scheme. The results show that compared with the original airfoil, proper trailing edge deformation can improve the lift coefficient, reduce the drag coefficient, and thereby more efficiently realize flow field active control. With inflow angle increases, dynamic lift-drag coefficient hysteresis loop shape deviation occurs, even turns into different shapes. Appropriate swing angle can improve the flap lift coefficient, but may cause early separation of flow. To improve the overall performance of wind turbine blades, different angular control should be used at different cross sections, in order to achieve the best performance.

Wind power has developed rapidly in recently years, the wind turbine's blades determine the performance of the device and the power. In this paper, we used integrated tailoring aimed at institutional characteristics of horizontal axis wind turbine with the composite laminated plate theory, then analyzed the composite blades of wind turbine by combining experimental analysis and finite elements method, and finally studied the influences that composite material properties on stiffness tailoring with changes in the number of different layers.

Platform structure is the basic guarantee for safety operation of offshore wind turbines. Based on the boundary element method and combined with multi-body dynamics, we analyzed motion response and wave force mechanism to the platform structure, and obtained the dynamic response and the wave force change of the platform structures in time domain. We also analyzed the motion response and wave force change of semi-submerged platform in surge, sway and heave also roll, pitch and yaw direction. The results show that in translational direction, the motion response is periodic variation under three different incident direction; in the translational direction response appear a periodic attenuation change, and in the direction of rotation, motion response mainly concentrated in the 0s to 50s; in time domain, 90° of incidence, platform force is largest, wave force are mainly concentrated in the 0s to 50s. The result is high reference value on offshore tension leg platform structural design and optimization.

Parametric modeling of NREL 5MW wind turbine was set up for multi-body dynamics simulation by the TurbSim, AeroDyn, FAST (fatigue, aerodynamics, structures, and turbulence) software respectively. According to the analysis of the characteristics of wind in the space discrete point, using TurbSim to establish the steady-state wind and random changes with time and space wind. Based on the AeroDyn software, which can coupled to FAST, we calculated the aerodynamic load. Loading the aerodynamic data which has been calculated, FAST can establish a fully parameterized simulation model. Making a comparison of the results obtained by FAST in 3 different wind conditions, the different of dynamic responses of the structure were obtained. The results obtained by FAST have some meaning in the study of wind turbine under extreme turbulence wind conditions.

The spectral content of the low frequency vibrations in the band from 0 to 10 Hz measured in full scale wind turbines has been statistically analyzed as a function of the whole range of steady operating conditions. Attention has been given to the amplitudes of the vibration peaks and their dependency on rotating speed and power output. Two different wind turbine models of 800 and 2000 kW have been compared. For each model, a sample of units located in the same wind farm and operating during a representative period of time have been considered. A condition monitoring system installed in each wind turbine has been used to register the axial acceleration on the gearbox casing between the intermediate and the high speed shafts. The average frequency spectrum has permitted to identify the vibration signature and the position of the first tower natural frequency in both models. The evolution of the vibration amplitudes at the rotor rotating frequency and its multiples has shown that the tower response is amplified by resonance conditions in one of the models. So, it is concluded that a continuous measurement and control of low frequency vibrations is required to protect the turbines against harmful vibrations of this nature.

At the same oscillation amplitude, Reynolds Number, mean angle of attack, the dynamic stall characteristics of the NREL S809 airfoil undergoing sinusoidal pitch oscillations of different oscillation frequencies were investigated with modified k-ω SST turbulence model of CFD solution for two-dimensional numerical simulation. The predicted lift, drag coefficients and moment coefficients were compared with the Ohio State University wind tunnel test results, which showed a good agreement. The birth, development and breaking off of eddies were analyzed through streamline distribution around airfoil and the influence of oscillation frequencies on dynamic stall characteristics was also described and analyzed in detail, which enrich the database of dynamic stall characteristics needed by the quantization of oscillation frequencies on dynamic characteristics and prove that sliding mesh method is reliable when dealing with dynamic stall problems.

In order to ensure the high efficiency of the whole flexible drive train of the front-end speed adjusting wind turbine, the working principle of the main part of the drive train is analyzed. As critical parameters, rotating speed ratios of three planetary gear trains are selected as the research subject. The mathematical model of the torque converter speed ratio is established based on these three critical variable quantity, and the effect of key parameters on the efficiency of hydraulic mechanical transmission is analyzed. Based on the torque balance and the energy balance, refer to hydraulic mechanical transmission characteristics, the transmission efficiency expression of the whole drive train is established. The fitness function and constraint functions are established respectively based on the drive train transmission efficiency and the torque converter rotating speed ratio range. And the optimization calculation is carried out by using MATLAB genetic algorithm toolbox. The optimization method and results provide an optimization program for exact match of wind turbine rotor, gearbox, hydraulic mechanical transmission, hydraulic torque converter and synchronous generator, ensure that the drive train work with a high efficiency, and give a reference for the selection of the torque converter and hydraulic mechanical transmission.

The main aerodynamic performances (out power out power coefficient torque torque coefficient and so on) of H type Vertical Axis wind Turbine (H-VAWT) which is rotating machinery will be impacted by moment of inertia. This article will use NACA0018 airfoil profile to analyze that moment of inertia through impact performance of H type VAWT by utilizing program of Matlab and theory of Double-Multiple Streamtube. The results showed that the max out power coefficient was barely impacted when moment of inertia is changed in a small area,but the lesser moment of inertia's VAWT needs a stronger wind velocity to obtain the max out power. The lesser moment of inertia's VAWT has a big out power coefficient, torque coefficient and out power before it gets to the point of max out power coefficient. Out power coefficient, torque and torque coefficient will obviously change with wind velocity increased for VAWT of the lesser moment of inertia.

In view of the asynchrony issue between excitation and response in the transmission system, a study on the system dynamic error caused by sun axis which suspended in the gear box of a 1.5MW wind turbine was carried out considering flexibility of components. Firstly, the numerical recursive model was established by using D'Alembert's principle, then an application of MATLAB was used to simulate and analyze the model which was verified by the equivalent system. The results show that the dynamic error is not only related to the inherent parameter of system but also the external load imposed on the system; the module value of dynamic error are represented as a linear superposition of synchronization error component and harmonic vibration component and the latter can cause a random fluctuations of the gears, However, the dynamic error could be compensated partly if the stiffness coefficient of the sun axis is increased, thereby it is beneficial to improve the stability and accuracy of transmission system.

Movement and deformation of flexible wind wheel has a profound effect on dynamics of the low-speed shafting in Megawatt wind turbine. The paper is based on the power production1.2 MW wind turbine, vibration characteristics of elastic wind wheel with the low-speed shafting were studied. In order to obtain the finite element model, the author created a physical model of this coupled system and used the minimum energy principle to simplify the model. While its single blade simplified as cantilever. Using modal superposition method for solving the coupled system model. Structural mechanics equations were used to solve the simple blade finite element model. Analyzing the natural frequency of the coupled system and the stress diagram, the results indicate that in the coupling system, low frequency vibration occurs in the low-speed shaft bearing, while the high-frequency vibration happens on wind turbine blades. In the low-frequency vibration process, blades vibration and low-speed shaft vibration there is a strong correlation. Contrast inherent frequency of the wind wheel with natural frequency of a single blade, the results show that the frequency of the wind wheel slightly less than it in the single blade.

As a renewable energy, marine currents get more and more attention. Thus the development of marine current turbines is critical to the use of this energy. We use large-eddy simulation to analyse the flow field characteristics by full geometry of a horizontal axis marine current turbine. Under the effect of a discrete number of blades, blade tip vortices develop and produce velocity variation near rotor. Referring to the flow induction factors in BEM theory, this paper focuses on the study of axial and tangential velocity and it is found that the main induced velocity component by the vortices is axial velocity. According to the distribution of the two velocity components along circumferential orientation, three peak-valley values corresponding to the number of blades reflect the flow non-uniformity due to the effect of a discrete number of blades even for the upstream of rotor. Meanwhile, this effect will continue developing due to the analysis of flow characteristics in the downstream field.

This study aims to develop a 1MW-class horizontal axis tidal current turbine rotor blade which can be applied near the southwest island regions of South Korea. On the basis of actual tidal current conditions of southern region of Korea, configuration design of 1MW class turbine rotor blade is carried out by BEMT (Blade element momentum theory). The hydrodynamic performance including the lift and drag forces, is conducted with the variation of the angle of attack using an open source code of X-Foil. The purpose of the study is to study the shape of the hydrofoil used and how it affects the performance of the turbine. After a thorough study of many airfoils, a new hydrofoil is developed using the S814 and DU-91-W2- 250 airfoils, which show good performance for rough conditions. A combination of the upper and lower surface of the two hydrofoils is tested. Three dimensional models were developed and the optimized blade geometry is used for CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis with hexahedral numerical grids. Power coefficient, pressure coefficient and velocity distributions are investigated according to Tip Speed Ratio by CFD analysis.

Motivated by global warming due to CO₂-emission various technologies for harvesting of energy from renewable sources are developed. Hydrokinetic turbines get applied to surface watercourse or tidal flow to gain electrical energy. Since the available power for hydrokinetic turbines is proportional to the projected cross section area, fields of turbines are installed to scale shaft power. Each hydrokinetic turbine of a field can be considered as a disk actuator. In [1], the first author derives the optimal operation point for hydropower in an open-channel. The present paper concerns about a 0-dimensional model of a disk-actuator in an open-channel flow with bypass, as a special case of [1]. Based on the energy equation, the continuity equation and the momentum balance an analytical approach is made to calculate the coefficient of performance for hydrokinetic turbines with bypass flow as function of the turbine head and the ratio of turbine width to channel width.

Most tidal current turbine design are focused on middle and large scale for deep sea, less attention was paid in low water level channel, such as the region around the islands, coastal seas and rivers. This study aims to develop a horizontal axis tidal current turbine rotor blade which is applicable to low water level island region in southwest of Korea. The blade design is made by using BEMT(blade element momentum theory). The section airfoil profile of NACA63-415 is used, which shows good performance of lift coefficient and drag coefficient. Power coefficient, pressure and velocity distributions are investigated according to TSR by CFD analysis.

Nowadays tidal current energy is considered to be one of the most promising alternative green energy resources and tidal current turbines are used for power generation. Prediction of the open water performance around tidal turbines is important for the reason that it can give some advice on installation and array of tidal current turbines. This paper presents numerical computations of tidal current turbines by using a numerical model which is constructed to simulate an isolated turbine. This paper aims at studying the installation of marine current turbine of which the hydro-environmental impacts influence by means of numerical simulation. Such impacts include free-stream velocity magnitude, seabed and inflow direction of velocity. The results of the open water performance prediction show that the power output and efficiency of marine current turbine varies from different marine environments. The velocity distribution should be clearly and the suitable unit installation depth and direction be clearly chosen, which can ensure the most effective strategy for energy capture before installing the marine current turbine. The findings of this paper are expected to be beneficial in developing tidal current turbines and array in the future.

Using tidal energy can reduce environment pollution, save conventional energy and improve energy structure, hence it presents great advantage and is developing potential. Influenced by flood tide and low tide, a fully functional tidal power station needs to experience six operating modes, including bidirectional generation, pumping and sluice; the internal unsteady flow pattern and dynamic characters are very complicated. Based on a bidirectional tidal generator unit, three-dimensional unsteady flows in the flow path were calculated for four typical operating conditions with the pressure pulsation characteristics analyzed. According to the numerical results, the internal flow characteristics in the flow path were discussed. The influence of gravity to the hydraulic performance and flow characteristics were analysed. The results provide a theoretical analysis method of the hydraulic optimization design of the same type unit as well as a direction for stable operation and optimal scheduling of existing tidal power unit.

The pump turbine is key component of Pump Storage Power Plants. Moreover, the model testing proves significant guidance on design of pump turbine. Since pump turbine model testing is different from turbine model resulting from four quadrant experiment, point acquisition for transient operation conditions and special data processing, the optimization is made for these technological difficulties. In order to obtain a higher efficiency, a higher precision and a high degree of automation, the system of data acquisition is designed, in which the PXI platform was adopted, and the virtual instrument software LabVIEW was employed. And this system was successfully applied for the testing platform of Harbin Institute of Large Electric Machinery which achieves functions of transient conditions acquisition, measurement for positive and negative flow and speed, data processing, generating report, analysis for pressure fluctuation and so on. Finally four quadrant experiment was carried out in this test platform, results show that steady for the experiment operation conditions and repeatability for data which can better reflect the characteristic for "S-shaped" and reverse pump conditions. The system of pump turbine model test is significant for the research of pump turbine and has some guiding significance for the application of engineering.

Numerical simulation using SST k-w turbulence model was carried out, to predict pressure fluctuation transfer law in turbine mode. Three operating points with different mass flow rates are simulated. The results of numerical simulation show that, the amplitude and frequency of pressure fluctuations in different positions are very different. The transfer law of amplitude and frequency of pressure fluctuations change with different position and different mass flow rate. Blade passing frequency (BPF) is the first dominant frequency in vaneless space, while component in this frequency got smaller in the upstream and downstream of vaneless space when the mass flow is set. Furthermore triple blade passing frequency (3BPF) component obtained a different transfer law through the whole flow passage. The amplitude and frequency of pressure fluctuations is also different in different circumference position of vaneless space. When the mass flow is different, the distribution of pressure fluctuations in circumference is different. The frequency component of pressure fluctuations in all the positions is different too.

For a pump-turbine, unstable discharge-energy characteristic is an important factor for operating stability. In this study, the rotor-stator interaction effects on the pump-turbine which has the unstable discharge-energy characteristic has been studied. A series of transient CFD simulations under different discharge conditions have been conducted. Through the contrast between the simulations and experiments, it is found out that the energy decline is strongly affected by the flow loss in the adjustable vane. More importantly, the magnitude and direction of fluid flowing into the adjustable vane are varying with the impeller rotating. Disordered flow structure occurs in the adjustable vane and causes the energy losses due to the interaction effects. Based on this study, improvements on the flow uniformity at impeller outlet will help us to solve the unstable discharge-energy problem.

The unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the k-ω based SST turbulence model were solved to model the unsteady flow within the entire flow passage of a large Francis Pump turbine with misaligned guide vanes (MGV) device under the rotated speed. Four MGV with three different MGV openings are chosen to analyse the influence of pressure pulse in turbine modes. This study investigates the characteristics of the dominant unsteady flow frequencies in different parts of the pump turbine for various MGV openings. The hydraulic performance and pressure fluctuations were predicted numerically. The computed result shows that the MGV can decrease the relative amplitude in the state part of flow passage, but not for the rotator runner blades.

To study runaway transient of pumped storage power station caused by pumping power failure, three dimensional unsteady numerical simulations were executed on geometrical model of the whole flow system. Through numerical calculation, the changeable flow configuration and variation law of some parameters such as unit rotate speed,flow rate and static pressure of measurement points were obtained and compared with experimental data. Numerical results show that runaway speed agrees well with experimental date and its error was 3.7%. The unit undergoes pump condition, brake condition, turbine condition and runaway condition with flow characteristic changing violently. In runaway condition, static pressure in passage pulses very strongly which frequency is related to runaway speed.

Three dimensional (3-D), unsteady flows in a prototype pump-turbine during a transient process of start-up at no load condition were studied using the computational fluid dynamics method. The fluid coupling and DM method were used to calculate the rotational speed for each time step. The dynamic mesh (DM) method and remeshing method were applied to simulate the rotation of guide vanes. Calculations were performed based on the ²−f turbulence model, and the calculation results were compared and verified by experimental data. Transient explicit characteristics such as the flow-rate, head, torque of the runner etc., as well as the internal flow during the start-up were analyzed. The amplitude of pressure fluctuation was larger as the rotational speed of runner increased. The pump-turbine was more unstable with the decrease of the moment of inertia. The impact jet flow in the runner has a direct relationship with the increase of the torque of runner. No stall phenomenon in the runner when the pump-turbine runs close to no load opening condition. This calculation was based on a prototype of a pumped storage power station and the computational method could be used in the fault diagnosis of transient operation.

Using unstructured hybrid grid technique and SIMPLEC algorithm,a general three-dimensional simulation based on Reynolds Navier- stocks in multiple reference frames and the RNG k-ε turbulence model, is presented for the reversal centrifugal pump (PAT) with a guide vane. Four different schemes are designed by a change of the number of guide vane blade of PAT. The inner flow field in every scheme is simulated, accordingly, the external characteristic and static pressure distribution in flow field in PAT is obtained. The results obtained show that the efficiency can be improved by adding a guide vane for the PAT, besides, the high efficiency area is wider than before. Guide blade numbers changed, external characteristics of turbine changed, and the external characteristic changed. The optimal value is existent for the guide vane blade number, which has a great impact on the distribution of pressure in runner inlet.

Suppression of draft surge caused by vortex and cavitation surge in the draft tube is very important to improve the turbine performance when the turbine is operated in the range of partial load condition. In present work, a series of CFD analysis have been conducted in the range of partial load, design condition and over load of a Francis turbine model with a kind of J-Grooves. The pressure contours, circumferential velocity vectors and vortex core regions in the draft tube are compared by the conditions with or without J-Grooves. Study results show that the J-Grooves can suppress the abnormal phenomena to some extents on the condition of maintaining the efficiency. In the second stage, the shape of J-Groove is optimized step by step considering the groove length, depth and width normalized by the diameter of outlet of turbine runner.

This study attempts to investigate the performance and internal flow characteristics of a cross-flow turbine by guide vane angle. In order to improve the performance of a cross flow turbine, the paper presents a numerical investigation of the turbine with air supply and discusses the influence of variable guide vane angle on the internal flow. A newly developed air supply from air suction Hole is adopted. To investigate the performance and internal flow of the cross-flow turbine, the CFD software based on the two-phase flow model is utilized. The numerical grids are made in two-dimensional geometry in order to shorten the time of two-phase calculations. Then a series of CFD analysis has been conducted in the range of different guide vane angle. Moreover, local output power is divided at different stages and the effect of air layer in each stage is examined.

The internal flow of a Pelton turbine is quite complex. It is difficult to analyse the unsteady free water sheet flow in the rotating bucket owing to the lack of a sound theory. Affected by manufacturing technique and silt abrasion during the operation, the bucket surface roughness of Pelton turbine may be too great, and thereby influence unit performance. To investigate the effect of bucket roughness on Pelton turbine performance, this paper presents the numerical simulation of the interaction between the jet and the bucket in a Pelton turbine. The unsteady three-dimensional numerical simulations were performed with CFX code by using the SST turbulence model coupling the two-phase flow volume of fluid method. Different magnitude orders of bucket surface roughness were analysed and compared. Unsteady numerical results of the free water sheet flow patterns on bucket surface, torque and unit performance for each bucket surface roughness were generated. The total pressure distribution on bucket surface is used to show the free water sheet flow pattern on bucket surface. By comparing the variation of water sheet flow patterns on bucket surface with different roughness, this paper qualitatively analyses how the bucket surface roughness magnitude influences the impeding effect on free water sheet flow. Comparison of the torque variation of different bucket surface roughness highlighted the effect of the bucket surface roughness on the Pelton turbine output capacity. To further investigate the effect of bucket surface roughness on Pelton turbine performance, the relation between the relative efficiency loss rate and bucket surface roughness magnitude is quantitatively analysed. The result can be used to predict and evaluate the Pelton turbine performance.

Performance prediction about the forward generation condition based on a bidirectional through-flow turbine runner was conducted. The model characteristic curves and efficiency curve under reverse generation condition were plotted. In order to improve the reverse performance, exit guide vanes were lied behind the runner, the forward and reverse operating performance about a runner lied post-guide vane were numerically simulated. The results shows that the flow field distribution on forward generation condition did not significantly change after exit guide vanes were lied, and the energy conversion efficiency decreased. After exit guide vanes were lied, flow pattern of runner intake on under reverse generation condition were bettered, and the energy conversion efficiency increased. This study confirms that the exit guide vanes can improve the hydraulic performance of the turbine on reverse generation condition in view of numerical simulation.

The draft tube is an important component of a Francis turbine which influences the hydraulic performance. It is located just under the runner and allowed to decelerate the flow velocity exiting the runner, thereby converting the excess of kinetic energy into static pressure. In this study, we have numerically investigated the hydraulic performance of a Francis turbine on the 15MW hydropower generation with various design parameters (three types of draft tube, thickness of guide vane) through a three-dimensional numerical method with the SST turbulent model. The vortex rope characteristics of the draft tube were confirmed. The results of the vortex flow fields and flow characteristics were graphically depicted with different design parameters and operating conditions.