Computer-Aided Aerodynamic and Structural Design of Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine Blades
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Date
2009-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Designing horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) blades to achieve satisfactory levels of
performance starts with knowledge of the aerodynamic forces acting on the blades. In this
thesis, HAWT blade design is studied first from the aspect of aerodynamic view and the
basic principles of the aerodynamic behaviors of HAWTs are investigated. Second the
structural design which consists of the blade material selection and the determination of
structural cross section, FEM analysis is done using CATIA V5 R16 and ANSYS 10. The
displacement, Von Mises and Principal stress results are determined, these results shows that
ANSYS is more conservative than CATIA in FEM analysis.
Blade-element momentum theory (BEM) known as also strip theory, which is the current
mainstay of aerodynamic design and analysis of HAWT blades, is used for HAWT blade
design in this thesis.
BLADE DESIGN PROGRAM which is a user-interface computer program for HAWT
blade design is written. It gives blade geometry parameters (chord-length and twist
distributions) and design conditions (design tip-speed ratio, design power coefficient and
rotor diameter) for the following inputs; power required from a turbine, number of blades,
design wind velocity and blade profile type (airfoil type). The program can be used by
anyone who may not be intimately concerned with the concepts of blade design procedure
and the results taken from the program can be used for further studies.
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Thermal Engineering Stream