SCIENCE CHINA

Technological Sciences
• Article • February 2017 Vol.60 No.2: 325–332
doi: 10.1007/s11431-016-0208-4

Noise reduction effect of airfoil and small-scale rotor using serra-

tion trailing edge in a wind tunnel test
RYI Jaeha & CHOI Jong-Soo*
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, Korea

Received May 17, 2016; accepted October 21, 2016; published online January 5, 2017

This paper discussed a noise reduction effect of airfoil and small-scale model rotor by using attached serration trailing edge in
the wind tunnel test condition. In order to analyze the changes in the performance due to the inclusion of a serrated trailing
edge designed to reduce noise, a 10 kW wind turbine rotor was equipped with a thin serrated trailing edge. The restrictive con-
dition for the serrated trailing edge equipped with the using of a 2D airfoil was examined through the using of a wind tunnel
experiment after studying existing restrictive condition and analyzing prior research on serrated trailing edges. The aerody-
namic performance and noise reduction effect of a small-scale model were investigated with the using of a serrated trailing
edge. Moreover, the noise levels from the experiment were considered that the noise prediction method could be used for a
full-scale rotor. It is confirmed that noise reduction effect is compared with wind tunnel test data at the 2D airfoil and model
rotor condition.

wind turbine rotor, wind tunnel experiment, wind energy, trailing edge serration, noise reduction effect

Citation: Ryi J, Choi J S. Noise reduction effect of airfoil and small-scale rotor using serration trailing edge in a wind tunnel test. Sci China Tech Sci, 2017, 60:
325332, doi: 10.1007/s11431-016-0208-4

1 Introduction Luft-und Raumfahrt (DLR) [1] using a 4 m downscaled

Due to a growing interest in renewable energies, many
studies have been conducted on the aerodynamic perfor-
mance and noise reduction of wind turbine rotors. In partic-
ular, various studies on rotating body systems such as wind
turbine rotors have been conducted with the aim of devel-
oping propellers for the aerospace industry and rotor blades
for helicopters, and there have been much advancement in
wind tunnel test technologies and research efforts on 2D
airfoils used in wind turbine rotor blades.
The studies on wind turbine rotors which used wind tun-
nel test technologies included an aerodynamic performance
experiment performed in 1981 by Deutsches Zentrum für
*Corresponding author (email: jchoi@cnu.ac.kr)
model and an experiment conducted in 2001 by Hand et al.
[2] using a 10 m life-sized wind turbine rotor blade for
comparative analysis of numerical simulation techniques.
The studies which measured noise produced by wind tur-
bine rotors included one performed in 2001 by Ger-
man-Dutch Wind Tunnels (DNW) [3] which addressed dif-
ferences in noise generation gave the locations of noise
sources; those authors used the beam-forming method and a
9 m×9 m wind tunnel test condition. That study was con-
ducted as part of a research effort to develop a noise source
measurement technique that would allow investigators to
locate the sources of noise in a rotating rotor system. One of
the most recent wind tunnel tests on wind turbine rotors was
a research case called ‘MEXICO-Project’ which was con-
ducted in 2007 and used a wind turbine rotor with a radius
of 4.5 m to assess the validity of an aero-elastic analysis

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326 Ryi J, et al. Sci China Tech Sci
technique based on the Blade Element Theory, to measure
the surface pressure of blades, and to conduct flow field
measurements by using the PIV technique. Another study
was conducted in 2012 by the Korean Aerospace Research
Institute; those authors carried out a wind tunnel test on
a 2/4 downscaled rotor with the same shape as in the ex-
periment mentioned above. Their results suggested a
numerical simulation technique for calibration of aerody-
namic performance in consideration of the downscaling
rate [4].
Studies in relation to serrated trailing edges have been
conducted to identify solutions to noise problems produced
by wind turbine rotors. For instance, after the noise reduc-
tion prediction theory was first introduced in 1991 by Howe
[5], Moreau et al. [6] conducted an experiment to examine
the noise reduction effect depending on varying aspect
ratios by applying a 2D airfoil with a 0° angle of attack [7].
The current study conducted a wind tunnel test on 2D
airfoils and a small-scale rotor based on a 10 kW-class wind
turbine in actual use and reviewed changes in aerodynamic
performance and noise reduction when a serrated trailing
edge was attached to a 2D airfoil.
2 Theoretical background
2.1 Howe’s trailing edge serration theory
The theory of trailing edge serrations was first introduced
by Howe [5], who conducted an experiment on noise in the
trailing edge of a 2D airfoil. Figure 1 shows the test model
configuration of the 2D airfoils with serrated trailing edges.
The serrated trailing edge consists of the span-wise wave-
length and the amplitude of serrations. The noise reduction
effect was defined based on the following criteria: the in-
clined angle of serrations (θ), the main stream velocity (U),
and the acoustic frequency (ω). This study reviewed the
preconditions of the noise reduction effect induced by
Figure 1 (Color online) Serration trailing edge test model [8].
February (2017) Vol.60 No.2
trailing edge serrations as proposed by Howe and identified
the factors restricting the noise reduction effect analysis.
2.2 Aerodynamic characteristics of wind turbine rotor
The aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine rotor de-
pends on the axial momentum theory, which takes into ac-
count the quantity of air which flows through the rotor plane
or the actuator disk of a wind turbine rotor. The changes in
the velocity of air flow in the front and back sides of the
actuator disk can be calculated by using Bernoulli’s equa-
tion [9].
Usually, non-dimensional coefficients are used to com-
pare the performances of wind turbine rotors by analyzing
differences in aerodynamic performance depending on the
shapes of rotors and different operating conditions. Such
non-dimensional coefficients include “power coefficient
(CT)” and “thrust coefficient (CP)” with “tip speed ratio
(TRS, λ)”. The test results of the aerodynamic performance
of the small-scale experimental model can be evaluated by
using the tip speed ratio, thrust coefficients and power coef-
ficients as calculated by [9]:
v R
    , (1)
 U  max U
T
CT  , (2)
0.5 AU 2
P
CP  , (3)
0.5 AU 2
Power  Torque  . (4)
The power of the small-scale rotor can be defined with
the torque of the rotating axis and velocity. The
non-dimensional results on thrust coefficients and power
coefficients are defined by the area size of the actuator disk
of the small-scale rotor. However, the solidity ratio giving
the size of the serrated trailing edge was not taken into con-
sideration when trailing edge serrations were applied.
3 Test setup and results
3.1 Aerodynamic performance of 2D airfoils
In order to analyze the aerodynamic performance of 2D
airfoils, the study evaluates the aerodynamic performance of
trailing edge serrations by setting up the lift coefficient,
which has the greatest influence on loading noise, as a per-
formance condition.
To measure the aerodynamics of the test 2D airfoil model,
we used to do three-component balances for aerodynamic
performance. Balances consisted of strain-gauge using
full-bridge type, the axial force was adjusted by using a