Aerodynamic Investigation of a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine with Split Winglet Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Miguel Sumait Sy, Binoe Eugenio Abuan and Louis Angelo Macapili Danao
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Miguel Sumait Sy: Energy Engineering Graduate Program, University of the Philippines, Diliman 1101, Philippines
Binoe Eugenio Abuan: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman 1101, Philippines
Louis Angelo Macapili Danao: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman 1101, Philippines

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-12

Abstract: Wind energy is one of the fastest growing renewable energy sources, and the most developed energy extraction device that harnesses this energy is the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT). Increasing the efficiency of HAWTs is one important topic in current research with multiple aspects to look at such as blade design and rotor array optimization. This study looked at the effect of wingtip devices, a split winglet, in particular, to reduce the drag induced by the wind vortices at the blade tip, hence increasing performance. Split winglet implementation was done using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) on the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) Phase VI sequence H. In total, there are four (4) blade configurations that are simulated, the base NREL Phase VI sequence H blade, an extended version of the previous blade to equalize length of the blades, the base blade with a winglet and the base blade with split winglet. Results at wind speeds of 7 m/s to 15 m/s show that adding a winglet increased the power generation, on an average, by 1.23%, whereas adding a split winglet increased it by 2.53% in comparison to the extended blade. The study also shows that the increase is achieved by reducing the drag at the blade tip and because of the fact that the winglet and split winglet generating lift themselves. This, however, comes at a cost, i.e., an increase in thrust of 0.83% and 2.05% for the blades with winglet and split winglet, respectively, in comparison to the extended blade.

Keywords: winglet; computational fluid dynamics (CFD), wind energy; renewable energy; rotor blade; tip vortices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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