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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering
Comparison Of Airfoil Precomputational Analysis Methods For Optimization Of Wind Turbine Blades, Ryan Barrett, Andrew Ning
Comparison Of Airfoil Precomputational Analysis Methods For Optimization Of Wind Turbine Blades, Ryan Barrett, Andrew Ning
Faculty Publications
The objective of this research was to develop and compare various airfoil precomputational parameterization and analysis techniques for aerostructural optimization of wind turbine blades. The airfoils along the blade were added as optimization design variables through pre-computational parameterization methods using thickness-to-chord ratios and blended airfoil family factors. The airfoils' aerodynamic performance was analyzed with three methods of increasing fidelity: a panel method (XFOIL), Navier-Stokes based computational fluid dynamics (RANS CFD), and wind tunnel data. The optimizations minimized mass over annual energy production (m/AEP) and thereby approximated the minimization of cost of energy. The results were compared to the NREL 5-MW …