Numerical Study on the Impact Pressure of Droplets on Wind Turbine Blades Using a Whirling Arm Rain Erosion Tester

Abstract

The leading-edge erosion of a wind turbine blade was tested using a whirling arm rain erosion tester, whose rotation rate is considerably higher than that of a full-scale wind turbine owing to the scale effect. In this study, we assessed the impact pressure of droplets on a wet surface of wind turbine blades using numerical simulation of liquid droplet impact by solving the Navier–Stokes equations combined with the volume-of-fluid method. This was conducted in combination with an estimation of liquid film thickness on the rotating blade using an approximate solution of Navier–Stokes equations considering the centrifugal and Coriolis forces. Our study revealed that the impact pressure on the rain erosion tester exceeded that on the wind turbine blade, attributed to the thinner liquid film on the rain erosion tester than on the wind turbine blade caused by the influence of centrifugal and Coriolis forces. This indicates the importance of correcting the influence of liquid-film thickness in estimating the impact velocity of droplets on the wind turbine blade. Furthermore, we demonstrated the correction procedure when estimating the impact velocity of droplets on the wind turbine blade.