Aerodynamic Sensitivity Analysis for a Wind Turbine Airfoil in an Air-Particle Two-Phase Flow

In this paper, the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with a Lagrangian discrete phase model are described to simulate the air-particle flows over the S809 airfoil of the Phase VI blade, the NH6MW25 airfoil of a 6 MW wind turbine blade and the NACA0012 airfoil. The simulation results demonstrate that, in an attached flow, the slight performance degradation is caused by the boundary layer momentum loss. After flow separation, the performance degradation becomes significant and is dominated by a more extensive separation due to particles, since the aerodynamic coefficient increments and the moving distance of separation point present similar variation trends with increasing angle of attack. Unlike the NACA0012 airfoil, a most particle-sensitive angle of attack is found in the light stall region for a wind turbine airfoil, at which the lift decrement and the drag increment reach their peak values. For the S809 airfoil, the most sensitive angle of attack is about 3° higher than that for the maximum lift-to-drag ratio. Hence, the aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine is very susceptible to particles. Based on the most sensitive angles of attack, the more sensitive scope of angles of attack of a blade airfoil and the more sensitive range of rotor tip speed ratios are predicted sequentially. The present study clarifies the principles for the performance degradation of a wind turbine airfoil due to particles and the conclusions are useful for the wind turbine design reducing the particle influences.