Effects of contamination and erosion at the leading edge of blade tip airfoils on the annual energy production of wind turbines

Contamination and erosion at the leading edge of blade tips adversely affect the annual energy production (AEP) of wind turbines. Obtaining pertinent quantitative data would help in the efficient planning of operations and maintenance of these turbines. In this study, to quantitatively analyze the effects of contamination and erosion on the aerodynamic performance of a blade tip airfoil (NACA 64-618) and in turn on the AEP loss of wind turbines, transient computational fluid dynamics simulations and AEP calculations were performed for a 5-MW National Renewable Energy Laboratory wind turbine. The simulations indicated that depending on the severity of the conditions, contamination and erosion conditions reduced and increased the lift and drag coefficients, respectively, of the blade by up to 53% and 314%. Contamination and erosion conditions reduced AEP by 2%–3.7%.

[1]  Brian Ray Resor,et al.  Definition of a 5MW/61.5m wind turbine blade reference model. , 2013 .

[2]  S. Salim,et al.  Wall y+ approach for dealing with turbulent flows over a surface mounted cube: part 2 - high Reynolds number , 2009 .

[3]  Jin-Han Kim,et al.  Variation of Capacity Factors by Weibull Shape Parameters , 2013 .

[4]  Analysis of Turbulent Boundary-Layer over Rough Surfaces with Application to Projectile Aerodynamics , 1988 .

[5]  Paritosh Bhattacharya,et al.  A Study on Weibull Distribution for Estimating the Parameters , 2009 .

[6]  Michael B. Bragg,et al.  Airfoil boundary-layer development and transition with large leading-edge roughness , 1997 .

[7]  R. Carriveau,et al.  A review of surface engineering issues critical to wind turbine performance , 2009 .

[8]  Mohammed G. Khalfallah,et al.  Effect of dust on the performance of wind turbines , 2007 .

[9]  Michael S. Selig,et al.  Effects of leading edge erosion on wind turbine blade performance , 2014 .

[10]  Ira H. Abbott,et al.  Summary of Airfoil Data , 1945 .

[11]  Ren-nian Li,et al.  Effects of Surface Roughness on Aerodynamic Performance of a Wind Turbine Airfoil , 2010, 2010 Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference.

[12]  J. Ou,et al.  Dust Effect on the Performance of Wind Turbine Airfoils , 2009 .

[13]  Sang Woo Lee,et al.  Effects of Surface Roughness and Turbulence Intensity on the Aerodynamic Losses Produced by the Suction Surface of a Simulated Turbine Airfoil , 2004 .

[14]  G. Corten,et al.  Aerodynamics: Insects can halve wind-turbine power , 2001, Nature.