Numerical Studies on a NACA0018 Airfoil Blade HAWT with Trailing Edge Jet Flow

Abstract

This study analyzed an airfoil blade for a horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) with a trailing-edge jet flow design. This design was realized by drilling a hole in the trailing edge of an NACA0018 blade of a conventional HAWT to serve as a pressure injection nozzle. Five inflow wind speeds and three trailing-edge jet flow conditions were examined in the test. The results revealed the efficiency differences between a HAWT with the new jet flow design and conventional HAWTs. The experimental methods employed involved a wind tunnel experiment and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The results revealed that when the inflow wind speed was low, the trailing-edge jet flow accelerated the initiation phase and increased the rotating speed of the HAWT; however, when the inflow wind speed was high, damping occurred and the rotating speed of the turbine blades decreased.