Modification of Horizontal Wind Turbine Blade: A Finite Element Analysis

Abstract

Turbines are efficient power generators. Because wind energy is a clean fuel source, it is widely utilized in some regions. One of the major factors affecting wind turbine performance is the angle of attack of the blade. The aerodynamics and efficiency can be improved by improvising the lift-to-drag ratio CL/CD to get the best design for wind turbine blades. There are many factors affecting the efficiency of horizontal wind turbine blades such as the angle of attack of the blade. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of the angle of attack on coefficients and forces, particularly on a blade with NACA 4412 airfoil in a horizontal axis wind turbine. The length, thickness, and chord length of the blade were 3m, 0.36m, and 0.12 m respectively. Computational Fluid Dynamics was used to develop to obtain lift and drag coefficients in a horizontal wind turbine blade.  In addition, the correlation between different angles of attack, lift, and drag forces were studied and validated. The results demonstrated that the lift and drag coefficients increase as the angle of attack increases. Furthermore, the optimal angle of attack for this study was 0° because it has the highest lift-to-drag ratio, resulting in the greatest efficiency. The results demonstrated that it is possible to have a different lift and drag coefficient for the same angles of attack at a similar airfoil.

Keywords

• angle of attack
• energy
• horizontal wind turbine
• lift-to-drag ratio