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Effect of winglet geometry on horizontal axis wind turbine performance

Engineering Reports • 2020
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Publication Information
Authors Mina G. Mourad; Ibrahim Shahin; Samir S. Ayad; Osama E. Abdellatif; Tarek A. Mekhail
Keywords CFD, toe angle, wind turbine, winglet, winglet height
Journal Engineering Reports
Publisher Wiley Online Liberary
Volume 2
Issue 1
Pages 19
publication.type International
Paper Link Open Link
Supplementary Materials Not Available
Abstract
Winglets (WLs) have recently been used to improve the performance of horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT). The WL geometry is a key parameter for diverging blade tip vortices away from turbine blades and reducing induced drag. The present study focuses on the effect of winglet height (H ) and toe angle (α w) on the turbine performance. The performance of a three‐bladed rotor of 1 m diameter with SD8000 aerofoil is numerically investigated using ANSYS 17.2 CFD on a polyhedral mesh. The model is hence validated by comparing results for power coefficient (C pw) with experimental values available in the literature. Four different values of H are considered while keeping αw constant at 0°. H of 0.8%R is proved to be the best height for performance enhancement. It increases C pw by 2.4% at tip speed ratio λ = 7. The toe angle effect is studied for upwind and downwind WLs. The results show that C pw increases as α w increases up to α w = +20° at all values of λ . C pw increases by 6% at λ = 7. Downwind WL always reduces C pw. The present results are well explained by the resulting vectors map near the blade tip. Using WL with the optimum H and α w, causes 6% increase in C pw as compared to rotor without WL.