DESIGN OPTIMIZATION

OF WIND TURBINE
BLADE
Presented By - Pawan Rama Mali
BASP-002
 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objective of this project is to design a wind turbine
that is optimized for the constraints that come with
residential use. The main tasks of this project are:
• To study the design process and methodology of wind
turbine
• Derive the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory
then use it to conduct a parametric study that will
determine if the optimized values of blade pitch and
chord length create the most efficient blade geometry
• Analyze different airfoils to determine which one
creates the most efficient wind turbine blade.
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
• Wind turbines are machines that remove energy from
the wind by leveraging the aerodynamic principals of
lift and drag. Lift and drag forces move the turbine
blades which convert kinetic wind energy to rotational
energy.
• The objective of turbine blade design is also to
maximize the lift force on the blade and reduce drag
so that the force on the blade that acts in the
tangential direction is maximized.
• In air turbine design, it is crucial to reduce the thrust on
the turbine blades because it wastes energy and it
requires a stronger blade to withstand its loading.
 INTRODUCTION
• “Rotary engine in which the kinetic energy of a
moving fluid is converted into mechanical
energy by causing a bladed rotor to rotate”
• Turbine blades spin from the wind and
make energy, instead of using energy to
make wind
• Wind rotates the turbine blades
• spins a shaft connected to a generator
• The spinning of the shaft in the generator
makes electricity
 WHY ?
o Clean, zero emissions
- NOx, SO2, CO, CO2
- Air quality, water quality
- Climate change
o Reduce fossil fuel dependence
- Energy independence
- Domestic energy—national security
o Renewable
- No fuel-price volatility
GLOBAL WIND PATTERNS
 ORIENTATION
Turbines can be categorized into two overarching
classes based on the orientation of the rotor
Vertical Axis Horizontal Axis
 VERTICAL AXIS
TURBINES

Disadvantages
Advantages • Rotors generally near
• Omnidirectional ground where wind poorer
– Accepts wind from any • Centrifugal force stresses
angle blades
• Components can be • Poor self-starting capabilities
mounted at ground level • Requires support at top of
turbine rotor
– Ease of service
• Requires entire rotor to be
– Lighter weight towers removed to replace bearings
• Can theoretically use • Overall poor performance
less materials to and reliability
capture the same • Have never been
amount of wind commercially successful
HORIZONTAL AXIS
WIND TURBINES
• Rotors are
usually Up-wind
of tower
• Some machines
have down-
wind rotors, but
only
commercially
available ones
are small
turbines
 COEFFICIENT OF POWER FOR
LIFT AND DRAG TYPE TURBINES
 ACTIVE VS. PASSIVE YAW
• Active Yaw (all medium &
large turbines produced
today, & some small
turbines from Europe)
• Anemometer on nacelle
tells controller which way
to point rotor into the wind
• Yaw drive turns gears to
point rotor into wind
• Passive Yaw (Most small
turbines)
• Wind forces alone direct
rotor
• Tail vanes
• Downwind turbines
WIND TURBINES USE THE SAME AERODYNAMIC
PRINCIPALS AS AIRCRAFT
EFFICIENCY OF WIND TURBINE
BETZ LIMIT
Capacity Factor

Tip Speed Ratio

 TIP-SPEED RATIO
ΩR
ΩR
Tip-speed ratio is the ratio of the
speed of the rotating blade tip
to the speed of the free stream RR
wind.
There is an optimum angle of
attack which creates the
highest lift to drag ratio.
Because angle of attack is
dependant on wind speed,
there is an optimum tip-speed
ratio
ΩR
TSR =
Where,
V
Ω = rotational speed in radians /sec
R = Rotor Radius
V = Wind “Free Stream” Velocity
 Performance Over Range of Tip
Speed Ratios
• Power Coefficient Varies with Tip Speed Ratio
• Characterized by Cp vs Tip Speed Ratio Curve

0.4
Cp
0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Tip Speed Ratio
 TWIST & TAPER
• Speed through the air
of a point on the
blade changes with
distance from hub
• Therefore, tip speed
ratio varies as well
• To optimize angle of
attack all along blade,
it must twist from root
to tip
 ROTOR SOLIDITY
Solidity is the ratio of total rotor
planform area to total swept area
R
Low solidity (0.10) = high speed, low torque
a

High solidity (>0.80) = low speed, high

torque Solidity = 3a/A
 NUMBER OF BLADES – ONE
• Rotor must move more
rapidly to capture same
amount of wind
– Gearbox ratio reduced
– Added weight of
counterbalance negates
some benefits of lighter
design
– Higher speed means more
noise, visual, and wildlife
impacts
• Blades easier to install
because entire rotor can be
assembled on ground
• Captures 10% less energy
than two blade design
• Ultimately provide no cost
savings
 NUMBER OF BLADES - TWO
• Advantages &
disadvantages similar
to one blade
• Need teetering hub
and or shock
absorbers because of
gyroscopic
imbalances
• Capture 5% less
energy than three
blade designs
 NUMBER OF BLADES - THREE
• Balance of gyroscopic
forces
• Slower rotation
– increases gearbox &
transmission costs
– More aesthetic, less
noise, fewer bird strikes
AIRFOIL SELECTION
 BLADE ELEMENT
MOMENTUM (BEM) THEORY
• BEM theory is a compilation of both momentum
theory and blade element theory.
• Momentum theory, which is useful in predicted
ideal efficiency and flow velocity, is the
determination of forces acting on the rotor to
produce the motion of the fluid.
• Blade element theory determines the forces on
the blade as a result of the motion of the fluid in
terms of the blade geometry.
 ASSUMPTIONS FOR
MOMENTUM THEORY
• Blades operate without frictional drag.
• A slipstream that is well defined separates the flow
passing through the rotor disc from that outside
disc.
• The static pressure in and out of the slipstream far
ahead of and behind the rotor are equal to the
undisturbed free-stream static pressure (p1=p3).
• Thrust loading is uniform over the rotor disc.
• No rotation is imparted to the flow by the disc.
 ASSUMPTIONS FOR
BLADE ELEMENT THEORY
• There is no interference between successive blade
elements along the blade.

• Forces acting on the blade element are solely due

to the lift and drag characteristics of the sectional
profile of a blade element.
TIP LOSS FLOW
 DESIGN CONSTRAINTS

• SIZE OF THE WIND TURBINE

• HEIGHT OF THE STRUCTURE

• BLADE LENGTH

• NOISE EMISSIONS
 BEM RESULTS
• The average wind speed at the maximum allowable height
of 11.5 meters is about 5 m/s with a corresponding blade
radius of 2.5 meters.

• The tip speed ratio is initially defined as 7 to get a baseline

value of performance and will be varied in the parametric
study to determine the ideal ratio.

• The coefficient of lift CL is initially defined as 0.88 based on

the value of the coefficient of lift at the maximum glide ratio
(CL/CD).
 OPTIMIZED DIMENSIONLESS
WIND TURBINE BLADE
GEOMETRY

Blade Segment - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Relative radius r/R 0.150 0.250 0.350 0.450 0.550 0.650 0.750 0.850 0.950
Speed ratio X 1.050 1.750 2.450 3.150 3.850 4.550 5.250 5.950 6.650
Angle, optimal phi 29.069 19.830 14.802 11.742 9.707 8.264 7.190 6.360 5.701
Pitch bet 22.069 12.830 7.802 4.742 2.707 1.264 0.190 -0.640 -
a 1.299
Rel. chord c/R 0.180 0.141 0.111 0.090 0.0750.0640.056 0.050 0.045
length
 PERFORMANCE OF THE
INITIALLY OPTIMIZED WIND
TURBINE
VARYING TIP SPEED RATIOS
VARYING THE AIRFOIL
 CONCLUSION
• The tip speed ratio of the turbine should be
designed for a tip speed ratio less than what it will
be experiencing.
• Blades designed for larger tip speed ratios have a
larger range of efficient speed ratios.
• Based on a tip speed ratio of 10 and the
conclusions mentioned above, designing the
blade for a tip speed ratio of 8 would create the
optimal blade.
 CONCLUSION

• The allowable size of the turbine creates constraints that

reduce the number of parameters required to maximize the
efficiency of the turbine.
• For a small wind turbine, the allowable size of the turbine
creates constraints that reduce the number of parameters
required to maximize the efficiency of the turbine.
• The main parameters constrained due to the size
requirement are the length of the blade and the height of
the center of the hub. While it was shown that the coefficient
of power is not affected by either wind velocity or blade
length alone, power output will increase with an increase in
both parameters.
 FUTURE SCOPE
• The structural modelling can be improved by using
realistic models of composite blades where material
properties and topology will be considered with greater
importance.
• The structural optimization method can be modified
using more structural theory models like classical
lamination theory, linear (eigenvalue) buckling theory
and also some in depth finite- element model analysis.
• Composite layup analysis can be extended for
optimization for minimizing blade mass subjected to
constraints like maximum allowable laminae stresses,
blade tip deflection, panel buckling stresses and
separation of blade natural frequencies.
THANK YOU