Abstract An aerodynamic model for the simulation of unsteady flow past rotors of wind turbines is presented. The model consists of solving the unsteady, axisymmetric Euler or Navier-Stokes equations by a finite-difference method subject to volume forces determined from tabulated airfoil data. Results are compared to the blade-element momentum theory and experiments for the cases of a rotor with a prescribed constant normal load and steady as well as unsteady flows past the 2 MW Tjaereborg wind turbine. The model is found to be in better agreement with measurements than the momentum theory and in particular excellent agreement is obtained with dynamic in-flow phenomena from measured pitching transients.
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