Efficient contribution of partially tip cascaded horizontal-axis wind turbine

Abstract

This article introduces novel blade tip geometric modification to improve the aerodynamic performance of horizontal-axis wind turbine by adding auxiliary cascading blades toward the tip region. This study focuses on the new turbine shape and how it enhances the turbine performance in comparison with the classical turbine. This study is performed numerically for National Renewable Energy Laboratory Phase II (non-optimized wind turbine) taking into consideration the effect of adding different cascade configurations on the turbine performance using ANSYS FLUENT program. The analysis of single-auxiliary and double-auxiliary cascade blades has shown an impact on increasing the turbine power of 28% and 76%, respectively, at 72 r/min and 12.85 m/s of wind speed. Knowing that the performance of cascaded wind turbine depends on the geometry, solidity and operating conditions of the original blade; therefore, these results are not authorized for other cases.