GENERIC MODEL OF WIND TURBINE BLADES

Abstract

A wind turbine is a device that extracts energy from the wind, which has been shown to be one of the most viable sources of renewable energy. Current manufacturing technology enables the low-cost production of wind energy turbines, which is competitive with conventional sources of energy, especially in steady wind areas. The rotor blade is a key element in a wind turbine system. Most commercially available blades incorporate airfoil-shaped cross sections, which have been found to be very efficient at lower wind speeds. Computational fluid dynamics solve and analyse problems involving fluid flows. Many airfoil shapes are combined and analysed in order to achieve efficient blade design. In order to prepare various geometrical solutions for computational fluid dynamics analysis, time-consuming and error-prone work has to be done. In this paper, the automation of the process of preparing the various geometrical models for computational fluid dynamics analysis of wind turbine blade is described.