Development of a Wind Turbine Rotor Flow Panel Method

The ongoing trend towards larger wind turbines intensifies the demand for more physically realistic wind turbine rotor aerodynamics models that can predict the detailed transient pressure loadings on the rotor blades better than current engineering models. In this report the mathematical, numerical, and practical aspects of a new wind turbine rotor flow simulation code is described. This wind turbine simulation code is designated ROTORFLOW. In this method the fluid dynamics problem is solved through a boundary integral equation which reduces the problem to the surface of the configuration. The derivation of the integral equations is described as well as the assumptions made to arrive at them starting with the full Navier-Stokes equations. The basic numerical aspects in the solution method are described and a verification study is performed to confirm the validity of the implementation. Example simulations with the code show the flow solutions for a stationary wing and for a rotating wing in yawed conditions. With the ROTORFLOW code developed in this project it is possible to simulate the unsteady flow around wind turbine rotors in yawed conditions and obtain detailed pressure distributions, and thus blade loadings, at the surface of the blades. General rotor blade geometries can be handled, opening the way to the detailed flow analysis of winglets, partial span flaps, swept blade tips, etc. The ROTORFLOW solver only requires a description of the rotor surface which keeps simulation preparation time short, and makes it feasible to use the solver in the design iteration process.