Open Access

ARTICLE

Study of the Flow Mechanism of Wind Turbine Blades in the Yawed Condition

Shuang Zhao^1,2,3, Xijun Li⁴, Jianwen Wang^1,2,3,*

1 College of Energy and Power Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot, 010051, China
2 Key Laboratory of Wind Energy and Solar Energy Technology, Ministry of Education, Hohhot, 010051, China
3 Key Laboratory of Wind and Solar Energy Utilization and Optimization in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hohhot, 010051, China
4 Beijing Jingneng International Integrated Smart Energy Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100073, China

* Corresponding Author: Jianwen Wang. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Wind Energy Development and Utilization)

Energy Engineering 2022, 119(4), 1379-1392. https://doi.org/10.32604/ee.2022.019776

Received 15 October 2021; Accepted 07 January 2022; Issue published 23 May 2022

Abstract

The computational fluid dynamics method was used to simulate the flow field around a wind turbine at the yaw angles of 0°, 15°, 30°, and 45°. The angle of attack and the relative velocity of the spanwise sections of the blade were extracted with the reference points method. By analyzing the pressure distribution and the flow characteristics of the blade surface, the flow mechanism of the blade surface in the yawed condition was discussed. The results showed that the variations of the angle of attack and the relative velocity were related to the azimuth angle and the radius in the yawed condition. The larger the yaw angle was, the larger the variation was. The pressure distribution in the spanwise sections was affected by both the angle of attack and the relative velocity. The angle of attack was more influential than the relative velocity. At the same yaw angle, when the angle of attack decreased, the c_p∼x/c curve shrunk inward and the lift force decreased. The larger the yaw angle was, the more obvious the shrink was. The effect of the yaw on the blade root region was higher than its effect on the blade tip region.

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Keywords

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