Trade Study: The Eect of Cord Length and Taper on Wind Turbine Blade Design

John Larson Group C4: Turbinator Technologies AME 40463 Senior Design February 28, 2008
Abstract The goal of this study was to analyze the eects of varying the cord length and amount of taper of a turbine blade on the overall wind turbine performance. A blade prole to use for this study and for our wind turbine design was selected, and then the eects of varying cord length were calculated. The calculations were based on experiments performed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory [2] and performed using MATLAB. The cord length and taper of the blades were found to have a signicant impact on performance, but other factors such as the design wind speed were shown to have an important role as well.

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to determine the eect of variations in turbine blade size on the overall performance of our wind turbine. One turbine blade prole was selected from a set of six recommended for small wind turbines by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory [2]. This prole was then analyzed based on experimental data over a range of possible cord lengths and taper angles. The design variables for this study was the blade size (determined by the cord length) and the amount of variation of this blade size along the length of the blade (taper). The state variables determined from this analysis are the power extracted from the wind, the amount of torque generated, and the resulting thrust force. Design parameters include the shape, number, length, twist, and Tip-Speed-Ratio of the blades, the air viscosity, and the wind speed. The cord size will be constrained to 6 inches, which is larger than my group plans to make our turbine blades. This is based on our experimental ndings with a prototype with a cord length of about 4 inches at the base of the blade. The taper will be constrained to be linear. This is for simplicity in manufacturing as we plan of to cut the shape of the airfoil from foam with a hot wire. Performance values will be calculated for this range of input variables; however, possible designs will be limited by the amount of force acting on each blade and the resulting forces on the rotor and rest of the system. Determining what designs are feasible based on these calculated values and the base design is the subject of other studies and beyond the scope of this report. This report will be used to help the group determine what is the best design for the wind turbine blades. The report will investigate the trends in performance as the cord length and amount of taper are varied; however, the model that is developed can be reused to evaluate the blade design as it is modied to incorporate results from other studies and analysis.

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2.1
2.1.1

Methods
Dening Parameters
Blade Length

As a group, it was decided to design our turbine blades to have a length of approximately two feet (.61 meters). This decision was based on the available power in the wind as given by 1 P = AV03 Cp Cg , (1) 2 where P is the available power, is the density of air, A is the swept area, and V0 is the wind speed. The constant Cp represents the power coecient of the blades, which has a maximum value of approximately 59% according to aerodynamic theory [1]. The other constant Cg accounts for ineciencies in the generator that reduce the amount of electrical power extracted from the wind. Using a wind speed of 15 m.p.h. and values for Cp and Cg of 30% and 50%, respectively, the resulting power was calculated to be 32 watts. The group determined that this was 1

a reasonable size because it met our basic performance requirement of producing 20 W of power at a nominal 15 m.p.h. wind. The size also ts our packaging plans and gave us some margin for decreased real-world performance. A rst-generation prototype featuring a very simple blade geometry (cut 4 PVC pipe) demonstrated similar power output when charging a battery. However, we could not obtain an accurate measure of wind speed due to our lack of an anemometer. 2.1.2 Blade Prole

The calculations performed later in this study were based on experimental data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Their report cited six airfoil proles recommended or in use on small scale wind turbines [2]. Based on their comparisons of the dierent shapes, two airfoils were considered for use in our wind turbine: E387 and S822. The other airfoil shapes were either designed for much larger wind turbines or had very thin trailing edges, which could easily break when our turbine is disassembled and reassembled as it is moved around. Of the two airfoils considered, the E387 had better performance characteristics over a wide range of angles of attack. Figure 4 shows the lift to drag ratio at low Reynolds number (Re = 100,000), which is a signicant indicator of performance, since this lift is the driving force on our turbine. Because of its superior performance, the E387 blade was chosen for analysis and planned use in our nal design. 2.1.3 Other Parameters

The density of the air, , and the kinematic viscosity, , were taken as standard values at 15 C of 1.23 kg/m2 and 1.79 105 m2 /s. A three bladed system was chosen. This conguration is more balanced in uneven loading, such as when aligning to the wind, than a one or two blade design. It also is somewhat more aerodynamically ecient, which contributes to the fact that three bladed systems are dominate in wind power generation. All xed pitch wind-turbine rotors exhibit a preferred ratio of tip speed to wind speed, which varies from 4-7 (according to Dr. Nelson). A value of 5 was chosen for design, which is on the lower end in terms of eciency. Airfoil proles have a preferred angle of attack at which they are most ecient, which is at about 8 degrees for the E387 blade, see gure 4. As the wind turbine rotates, the outer sections of the blades move at a higher speed than the part of the blade near the rotor, resulting in a airow direction that varies down the length of the blade. To keep the airfoil seeing an optimum angle of attack, wind turbine blades are generally twisted. For the analysis on varying the cord length, an ideal twist for the blades was utilizing with a design wind speed of 15 m.p.h. (Figure 5). Determining the ideal amount of twist to use in designing our blades is an important task which is the subject of another trade study. Blades were evaluated over a wind speed range of 0-30 mph, which is the design wind speed interval given at the start of this project. This range was found to be reasonable for

the model based on the choices for the other design parameters (higher wind speeds would not have produced useful results because the experimental data used was being exceeded).

2.2

Equations

To analyze the performance of the wind turbine, each blade will be divided into equal sections, and the aerodynamic performance will be evaluated at each section and the results will be summed to give the performance characteristics of the whole airfoil. Figure 1 shows a velocity diagram, including the incoming wind u velocity and the velocity resulting from the rotation of the rotor, w. These velocities are combined into a resultant velocity vector W , whose angle with the plane of rotation can be calculated. The angle of attack can then be calculated because the angle is known based on the blade geometry (amount of twist). The Reynolds number of the ow acting on the blade can also

Figure 1: Velocity and Force Diagram [1] be calculated based on the resultant speed and the blade geometry, Re = W c , (2)

where W is the magnitude of the resultant air velocity, c is the cord length, is the density of the air, and is its kinematic viscosity. With the angle of attack () and the Reynolds number known, the lift and drag coecients (cl & cd ) can be found from tables of experimental results [2]. A MATLAB code for this lookup, that does a linear interpolation between columns is included in the appendix. 3

With those coecients, the performance of the airfoil can be calculated. The torque (Q) at each section is given by 1 Q = W 2 r [cl sin cd cos ] Bcr, 2 (3)

where r is the radius at that section and c is the local cord length. The thrust that acts pushing on the rotor at each section is given by 1 T = W 2 [cl cos + cd sin ] Bcr. 2 (4)

Note that these equations are essentially taking the components of the lift and drag shown in gure 1 and projecting them with and normal to the plane of rotation using the angle . Also, the incremental power is simply the torque multiplied by the rotation speed, which was calculated earlier using the tip-speed-ratio. These values can be calculated for each section of the airfoil and then the results can be summed to give the overall performance of the wind turbine. A MATLAB code was developed for this analysis which is included in the appendix. The cord length and amount of taper were then varied over a range of wind speeds.

Results

Figures 2 and 3, show the eect of varying the cord length on the power captured from the wind and resulting thrust force. Each line represents a dierent cord length with 6 in producing the highest power and 1 inch producing the least. Note that power and thrust peak near the design wind speed of 15 mph. The performance decreases past this wind speed. The graphs show increasing values past this peak, but that is due to the Reynolds number going beyond what was measured experimentally. These results were calculated using a 50 % taper (the tip of the blade having 50% as much cord length as the base). Figures 6 and 7 in the appendices show a similar eect for variations in taper. The highest curve is for no taper, and the performance drops down to 100% taper (a pointed tip).

600

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Power, watts

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Wind Speed, mph Figure 2: Power vs. Wind Speed for Various Cord Lengths (1 in to 6 in)

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Thrust Force, N

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Wind Speed, mph Figure 3: Thrust Force vs. Wind Speed for Various Cord Lengths (1 in to 6 in)

Conclusions

The results of this study show that the cord length and the amount of taper for the blades on the wind turbine can have a signicant eect on its performance. Increasing the cord length or decreasing the amount of taper can increase the power captured from the wind but at the cost of an increased thrust force. The amount of power generated proportional to the resulting torque does not vary (8). This means that to maximize the performance of our nal design, one critical feature of the blades is their strength. Stronger blades will be able to support more of a thrust load which is necessary for harnessing more power. The other signicant result of this study was demonstrating the eect of choosing a design speed. The main design choice shaping the power curves shown (Figures 2 & 6) seem to be the choice of design speed. Modifying the cord length or amount of taper shifts these curves up and down, while their overall form stays the same. The accuracy of this model can be evaluated by comparing the results with equation 1. Since all of the curves at 15 miles per hour are showing more power being generated, there is a discrepancy. The airfoil model appears to be overstating the actual amount of power that can be harnessed from the wind. Part of this is due to the fact that the airfoil model does not take into account generator eciency as equation 1 does. Another source of error is that interference eects (blades acting in the wake of each other as they spin) are not taken into account. Equations for modeling these eects can be found in literature [1], but they do not generally converge to a solution. The results presented do however, provide a useful tool for comparing dierent wind turbine blade designs, even if real-world performance can be expected to be less than predicted. Also, the study has highlighted the eects of choosing the proper wind speed to optimize the blade twist to and the importance of strong materials to bear the thrust loads placed on the blades and rotor.

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5.1

Appendices
Appendix A-Supplementary Figures
60 50 40 30 20

L/D

10 0

10 20 30 15 10 5 0 5 10 E387 S822 15

Angle of Attack (), deg. Figure 4: Lift to Drag Ratio for Two Airfoil Proles [2]

70 60 50
, deg

40 30 20 10 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Distance from Center, m Figure 5: Twist (angle from plane of rotation) of Blade Designed for 15 mph

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Power, watts

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Wind Speed, mph Figure 6: Power vs. Wind Speed, Varying % Taper

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Thrust Force, N

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Wind Speed, mph Figure 7: Thrust Force vs. Wind Speed, Varying % Taper

12 10 8

P/T, (m/s)

6 4 2 0 0

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Wind Speed, mph Figure 8: Power/Thrust Force vs. Wind Speed, Varying % Taper

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Appendix B-MATLAB Code

function [CL, CD] = coeff_lookup(alpha, Re) %[CL, CD] = coeff_lookup(alpha, Re) % %This function takes a lift angle in radians and returns the lift and drag %coefficients based on the angle of attack and Reynolds number. % %Data is taken from Wind Tunnel Aerodynamic Tests of Six Airfoils for Use on Small Wind Turbines %NREL/SR-500-34515, Revised October 2004 % %Data is interpolated between Reynolds numbers. Information below or above the range returns the nearest value. alpha = alpha/pi*180; % Convert alpha to degrees A = [-6.24 -5.25 -4.24 -3.12 -2.13 -1.11 -0.08 0.95 1.96 3.00 4.00 5.04 6.04 7.07 8.11 9.17 10.11 11.14 12.20]; %Experiemental values for alpha in degrees (note: some data runs had slightly different, but only about .01 deg. CLdata = [0.000 -0.292 -0.138 -0.156 -0.015 -0.001 0.081 0.139 0.178 0.238 0.271 0.339 0.381 0.435 0.483 -0.332 -0.139 -0.028 0.064 0.184 0.288 0.393 0.502 -0.304

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0.530 0.623 0.715 0.825 0.928 1.032 1.130 1.176 1.185 1.188 0.000 ];

0.593 0.698 0.806 0.902 1.017 1.119 1.191 1.226 1.234 1.227 1.218

0.610 0.714 0.817 0.935 1.041 1.135 1.201 1.241 1.250 1.245 1.236

CDdata =[0.0000 0.0705 0.0669 0.0472 0.0352 0.0341 0.0293 0.0192 0.0169 0.0220 0.0150 0.0131 0.0187 0.0125 0.0110 0.0174 0.0102 0.0092 0.0202 0.0104 0.0083 0.0229 0.0110 0.0088 0.0266 0.0118 0.0092 0.0290 0.0126 0.0098 0.0317 0.0134 0.0105 0.0278 0.0138 0.0112 0.0239 0.0140 0.0115 0.0218 0.0149 0.0131 0.0215 0.0181 0.0176 0.0269 0.0265 0.0246 0.0363 0.0358 0.0343 0.0526 0.0550 0.0537 0.0000 0.0774 0.0774]; if((alpha > -6.5) || (alpha < 12.5)) [X row] = min(abs(A - alpha)); else CD = 0; CL = 0; return; end if (Re <= 100000) CD = CDdata(row,1); CL = CLdata(row,1); else if(Re >= 300000) 11

CD = CDdata(row,3); CL = CLdata(row,3); else if ((Re > 100000) && (Re < 200000)) CD = CDdata(row,1) + (Re - 100000)*(CDdata(row,2) CDdata(row,1))/(100000); CL = CLdata(row,1) + (Re - 100000)*(CLdata(row,2) CLdata(row,1))/(100000); else if ((Re >= 200000) && (Re < 300000)) CD = CDdata(row,2) + (Re - 200000)*(CDdata(row,3) CDdata(row,2))/(100000); CL = CLdata(row,2) + (Re - 200000)*(CLdata(row,3) CLdata(row,2))/(100000); end end end end return %John Larson %2/27/08 %Trade Study, Cord Length of Wind Turbine Blades % clear all; %---------------------------Input Data----------------------------B = 3; %Number of Blades R = 24; %Blade Radius, inches C = 4; %Cord at base, inches taper = 0.5; %Taper, percent cord at tip over cord at base. X = 5; %Tip Speed Ratio (R*omega/V_0) V_0 = 15; %Free Stream Velocity, mph N = 30; %number of sections rho = 1.23; %Air Density, kg/m^3 mu = .0000179; %Kinematic Viscosity %-------------Unit Conversions to SI ---------------------------R = R*0.0254; %Blade Radius, meters C = C*0.0254; %Cord at base, meters V_0 = V_0*0.44704; %Free Streem Velocity, m/s %---------------Calculations for whole blade-------------------Omega = X*V_0/R; %Rotational speed, s^-1. del_r = R/N; r = (del_r:del_r:R); 12

Alpha = 7/180*pi; %------------Variable initializations--------------------phi = zeros(1,N); theta = zeros(1,N); q = zeros(1,N); p = zeros(1,N); t = zeros(1,N); w = zeros(1,N); W = zeros(1,N); c = zeros(1,N); solidity = zeros(1,N);

%Loop to design theta at V_0 = 15 mph. for(i = 1:N) %--------------Determine Factors at Section----------------------c(i) = C*(1 - r(i)/R*taper);%Local cord length alpha(i) = Alpha; u = V_0; w(i) = r(i)*Omega; W(i) = sqrt(u^2 + w(i).^2); phi(i) = atan(u/w(i)); Re(i) = W(i)*c(i)*rho/mu; %Calculate Reynolds number alpha(i) = Alpha; [c_l, c_d] = coeff_lookup(alpha(i), Re(i)); %Look up Drag and Lift coefficients q(i) = .5*rho*W(i)^2*r(i)*(c_l*sin(phi(i)) - c_d*cos(phi(i)))*B*c(i)*del_r; p(i) = .5*rho*W(i)^2*Omega*r(i)*(c_l*sin(phi(i)) c_d*cos(phi(i)))*B*c(i)*del_r; t(i) = .5*rho*W(i)^2*(c_l*cos(phi(i)) + c_d*sin(phi(i)))*B*c(i)*del_r; theta(i) = phi(i) - alpha(i); CL(i) = c_l; CD(i) = c_d; end V_max = 30*0.44704; %Maximum Wind Speed M = 40; dV = V_max/M

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C_max = 6*0.0254; N_C = 6; dC = C_max/N_C; for(k = 1:N_C) C = dC*k; for(j=1:M) V_0 = j*dV; for(i=1:N) c(i) = C*(1 - r(i)/R*taper);%Local cord length u = V_0; w(i) = r(i)*Omega; W(i) = sqrt(u^2 + w(i).^2); phi(i) = atan(u/w(i)); Re(i) = W(i)*c(i)*rho/mu; %Calculate Reynolds number alpha(i) = phi(i) - theta(i); [c_l, c_d] = coeff_lookup(alpha(i), Re(i)); %Look up Drag and Lift coefficients q(i) = .5*rho*W(i)^2*r(i)*(c_l*sin(phi(i)) c_d*cos(phi(i)))*B*c(i)*del_r; p(i) = .5*rho*W(i)^2*Omega*r(i)*(c_l*sin(phi(i)) c_d*cos(phi(i)))*B*c(i)*del_r; t(i) = .5*rho*W(i)^2*(c_l*cos(phi(i)) + c_d*sin(phi(i)))*B*c(i)*del_r; CL(i) = c_l; CD(i) = c_d; end P(k,j) = sum(p); Q(k,j) = sum(q); T(k,j) = sum(t); V(k,j) = V_0/0.44704; C_vary(k) = C if(P(k,j) <= 0) P(k,j) = 0; Q(k,j) = 0; T(k,j) = 0; end end end hold on 14

for (k = 1:N_C) plot(V,P(k,:)./T(k,:)) %title(Power Extracted from the Wind at 15 mph, X = 5) end C_vary/0.0254 xlabel(X) ylabel(Y) %legend(E387, Thrust,4)

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Nelson for his assistance in helping us locate the necessary support materials for this study and providing guidance on how to preform our analysis.

References
[1] Eggleston, David M. and Forrest S. Stoddard. Wind Turbine Engineering Design. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1987. [2] Selig, Michael S. and Bryan D. McGranahan Wind Tunnel Aerodynamic Test of Six Airfoils for Use on Small Wind Turbines. National Renewable Energy Laboratory Subcontractor Report, October 2004. http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy05osti/34515.pdf (accessed 2/26/08).

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