A 3d multidisciplinary automated design optimization toolbox for wind turbine blades based on ns solver and experimental data
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Date
2018
Authors
Sagimbayev, Sagi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences
Abstract
This thesis attempts to develop a framework to optimize wind turbine
blades automatically by a multidisciplinary 3D modeling and simulation
methods. The original NREL Phase VI wind turbine blade and its
experimental measurements are used to validate the Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) model developed in ANSYS Fluent and based on the 3D
Navier-Stokes (NS) solver with a realizable k-epsilon turbulence model,
which is later used in the automation process. The automated design
optimization process involves multiple modeling and simulation methods
using Solidworks and ANSYS Mesher and ANSYS Fluent NS solver, which
are integrated and controlled through Matlab by implementing the scripting
capabilities of each software package. Then all scripts are integrated into one
optimization cycle, with its optimization objective being the highest mean
value of 3D Lift/Drag ratio (3DLDR) across the blade. A 3DLDR distribution
across the blade can be calculated by the Inverse Blade Element Momentum
(IBEM) Method based on experimental measurements. The optimization
process is performed to find optimized twist angles across the blade using the
Angle of Attack (AOA) with the highest 3DLDR as a reference, in order to
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achieve the optimization objective. Therefore, the automatic optimization
framework is based on 3D solid modeling and 3D aerodynamic simulation
and guided by IBEM and experimental data. Thus the design tool is capable
of exploiting the 3D stall delay of blades designed by the traditional 2D BEM
method to enhance their performances. It is found that this automated
framework can result in optimized blade geometries with the improvement of
performance parameters compared to the original ones.
Description
Keywords
Toolbox, Wind turbine blade, Optimization, 3D flow, IBEM