The Performance Test of Three Different Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) Blade Shapes Using Experimental and Numerical Methods

Three different horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) blade geometries with the same diameter of 0.72 m using the same NACA4418 airfoil profile have been investigated both experimentally and numerically. The first is an optimum (OPT) blade shape, obtained using improved blade element momentum (BEM) theory. A detailed description of the blade geometry is also given. The second is an untapered and optimum twist (UOT) blade with the same twist distributions as the OPT blade. The third blade is untapered and untwisted (UUT). Wind tunnel experiments were used to measure the power coefficients of these blades, and the results indicate that both the OPT and UOT blades perform with the same maximum power coefficient, Cp = 0.428, but it is located at different tip speed ratio, λ = 4.92 for the OPT blade and λ = 4.32 for the UOT blade. The UUT blade has a maximum power coefficient of Cp = 0.210 at λ = 3.86. After the tests, numerical simulations were performed using a full three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method using the k-ω SST turbulence model. It has been found that CFD predictions reproduce the most accurate model power coefficients. The good agreement between the measured and computed power coefficients of the three models strongly OPEN ACCESS Energies 2013, 6 2785 suggest that accurate predictions of HAWT blade performance at full-scale conditions are also possible using the CFD method.