Windmill Analysis and Design

AA200B Lecture 16 December 11, 2007

AA200B - Applied Aerodynamics II

AA200B - Applied Aerodynamics II

Lecture 16

Introduction
The same approach to rotor analysis that we used for propellers may be applied to conventional windmills. Usually, we are less interested in the thrust or drag of the rotor, but just as in the propeller case, we can write the drag per unit radius, D , and torque per unit radius, Q , as follows: D = 4ru|U u| D = Br Q = B(U u)r Solving for gamma from (1) and (2): 4u|U u| B (1) (2) (3)

(4)
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AA200B - Applied Aerodynamics II

Lecture 16

So the Torque is: 4ru(U u)2 Q = And the power is: P = Q = 4ru(U u)2 If u were constant, the total power would be: P = 2Au(U u)2 The power in the freestream in a streamtube with the same area as the
3

(5)

(6)

AA200B - Applied Aerodynamics II

Lecture 16

rotor disk area is:

1 3 P = AU 2

So a typical windmill eciency is dened as the power available from the rotor dived by the power in the freestream: = 4 u(1 u )2 One can choose the value of u by the loading of the blades. If u is small, very little power is produced and the eciency is small. But if u is too large, not enough ow passes through the rotor disk, and the power also is low. The power (and eciency dened in this way) is maximized for an intermediate value of u: u = 1 3 . This corresponds to the situation in which 2/3 of the freestream streamtube mass passes through the disk and = 0.5926.
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AA200B - Applied Aerodynamics II

Lecture 16

Windmill Drag
The condition for maximum power corresponds to a drag coecient of: CD = 4 u(1 u ) = 8 9

If the goal is to maximumize the drag coecient, then u = 0.5 and CD = 1.0. For auto-rotation, the constraint is that P = 0. In the inviscid case, this would mean u = 0, but in the viscous case, the rotation rate can be increased until the viscous power matches the induced power and if done correctly we could maximize the drag, which would occur at CD = 1.0. If the windmill is located on a vehicle and we wish to maximize the power per unit of drag, the result is the same as for conventional propeller
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AA200B - Applied Aerodynamics II

Lecture 16

theory: =1u UD which suggests that the most lightly loaded turbines are best when one ignores viscous drag. D = Conventional propeller theory also shows that to maximize eciency one should maintain constant u and linear T . With no constraints, but just the need for maximum power, we see from equation (6) that the best approach is for each annular segment to produce maximum power this also leads to constant inow and a linear distribution of drag. However, if the goal is to maximize drag at a xed torque (for autorotation), then one possibility might be to make u > U in one region and u < U in other, with the latter supplying the power needed for the former.
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AA200B - Applied Aerodynamics II

Lecture 16

If the induced velocity is u1 inboard and u2 outboard, and A1 is the ratio of inner area to total area, then: CD = 4A1u 1|1 u 1| + 4(1 A1) u2|1 u 2 | = 4A1u 1(1 u 1)|1 u 1) + 4(1 A1) u2(1 u 2)2 In the 0 power case: A1u 1(1 u1)2 = (1 A1) u2(1 u 2)2 So: (1 u1)2 CD = 4A1u 1|1 u 1| + 4A1u 1|1 u 2 | (1 u 2)2 (1 u1)2 CD =u 1|1 u 1 | + u 1 4A1 (1 u 2 )
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AA200B - Applied Aerodynamics II

Lecture 16

Optimizing u1 and u2 for each value of A1 shows that the maximum CD does exceed 1 and is greatest for about 20% of the area in reversed ow.
Maximum Drag with Reversed Flow
2 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 CD 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 A1 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

In this case a maximum drag coecient of about 1.55 is indicated.

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