The aerodynamic performance of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Phase VI horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) under yawed flow conditions is studied using a three-dimensional unsteady viscous flow analysis. Simulations have been performed for upwind cases at several wind speeds and yaw angles. Results presented include radial distribution of the normal and tangential forces, shaft torque, root flap moment, and surface pressure distributions at selected radial locations. The results are compared with the experimental data for the NREL Phase VI rotor. At low wind speeds where the flow is fully attached, even an algebraic turbulence model based simulation gives good agreement with measurements. When the flow is massively separated (wind speed of or above), many of the computed quantities become insensitive to turbulence and transition model effects, and the calculations show overall agreement with experiments. When the flow is partially separated at wind speed above , encouraging results were obtained with a combination of the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model and Eppler’s transition model only at high enough wind speeds.
Skip Nav Destination
e-mail: chanin_tongchitpakdee@ae.gatech.edu
e-mail: sarun_benjanirat@ae.gatech.edu
e-mail: lsankar@ae.gatech.edu
Article navigation
November 2005
Research Papers
Numerical Simulation of the Aerodynamics of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines under Yawed Flow Conditions
Chanin Tongchitpakdee,
Chanin Tongchitpakdee
School of Aerospace Engineering,
e-mail: chanin_tongchitpakdee@ae.gatech.edu
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0150
Search for other works by this author on:
Sarun Benjanirat,
Sarun Benjanirat
School of Aerospace Engineering,
e-mail: sarun_benjanirat@ae.gatech.edu
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0150
Search for other works by this author on:
Lakshmi N. Sankar
Lakshmi N. Sankar
School of Aerospace Engineering,
e-mail: lsankar@ae.gatech.edu
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0150
Search for other works by this author on:
Chanin Tongchitpakdee
School of Aerospace Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0150e-mail: chanin_tongchitpakdee@ae.gatech.edu
Sarun Benjanirat
School of Aerospace Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0150e-mail: sarun_benjanirat@ae.gatech.edu
Lakshmi N. Sankar
School of Aerospace Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0150e-mail: lsankar@ae.gatech.edu
J. Sol. Energy Eng. Nov 2005, 127(4): 464-474 (11 pages)
Published Online: June 23, 2005
Article history
Received:
January 30, 2005
Revised:
June 21, 2005
Accepted:
June 23, 2005
Citation
Tongchitpakdee, C., Benjanirat, S., and Sankar, L. N. (June 23, 2005). "Numerical Simulation of the Aerodynamics of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines under Yawed Flow Conditions." ASME. J. Sol. Energy Eng. November 2005; 127(4): 464–474. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2035705
Download citation file:
Get Email Alerts
Analysis of Erosion of Surfaces in Falling Particle Concentrating Solar Power
J. Sol. Energy Eng (April 2025)
Related Articles
Numerical Studies of the Effects of Active and Passive Circulation Enhancement Concepts on Wind Turbine Performance
J. Sol. Energy Eng (November,2006)
Navier-Stokes and Comprehensive Analysis Performance Predictions of the NREL Phase VI Experiment
J. Sol. Energy Eng (November,2003)
Peak and Post-Peak Power Aerodynamics from Phase VI NASA Ames Wind Turbine Data
J. Sol. Energy Eng (May,2005)
Comparison of Wind Tunnel Airfoil Performance Data With Wind Turbine Blade Data
J. Sol. Energy Eng (May,1992)
Related Proceedings Papers
Related Chapters
Numerical Simulations of the Aerodynamics of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines
Inaugural US-EU-China Thermophysics Conference-Renewable Energy 2009 (UECTC 2009 Proceedings)
Wind Turbine Aerodynamics Part B: Turbine Blade Flow Fields
Wind Turbine Technology: Fundamental Concepts in Wind Turbine Engineering, Second Edition
Wind Turbine Aerodynamics Part A: Basic Principles
Wind Turbine Technology: Fundamental Concepts in Wind Turbine Engineering, Second Edition