Numerical Simulation of the Aerodynamics of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines under Yawed Flow Conditions

Abstract

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 (∼7m∕s) 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 20m∕s 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 15m∕s, encouraging results were obtained with a combination of the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model and Eppler’s transition model only at high enough wind speeds.