Computational Modeling of the Effects of Rain on Wind Turbine Performance

Autor: Aishwerya Gahlot, Lakshmi Sankar, Auraluck Pichitkul
Rok vydání: 2022
Zdroj: Volume 11: Wind Energy.
DOI: 10.1115/gt2022-82500
Popis: Wind turbines often operate under misty or rainy conditions. There is a considerable body of experimental evidence on the adverse effects of rain on wind turbine power production. Physical understanding of these effects, guided by quantitative modeling, is necessary to fully understand the effects of rain power production. This work presents an application of a two-way coupled computational fluid dynamics approach to the modeling of the effects of rain on airfoil and rotor performance. The aerodynamics is modeled by solving the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations with a suitable turbulence model. The droplet transport is modeled using an Eulerian approach that allows droplets of different diameters to be treated as individual/independent species, although all the studies presented here were for specified droplet sizes. The external flow exerts a drag force on the water droplets, and a reaction force is exerted by the droplets on the airflow. 2-D viscous flow simulations are presented for a representative wind turbine airfoil for several angles of attack under wet and dry conditions. Regression fits of these drag polars have been used in a combined blade element-momentum analysis for the NREL Phase VI rotor. The calculations indicate a loss of 30% to 40% in power production, attributable to rain, over a range of wind speeds.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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