how to find the angle of attack in the wind turbine blade

lin-lynn · March 9, 2015, 15:15

Dear all,
I calculated a 3D floating wind turbine, so the angles of attack are different in every time and every element.
how can I get the angle of attack or flow angle in every section of the blade.
Thanks

fluid23 · March 9, 2015, 16:20

You probably cannot if you have actual 3D geometry modeled. As you are probably aware, as the air approaches the blades it moves in response. Therefore there is no point in the flow field you can exract velocity vectors from to determine AOA.

There is a tool in star-ccm+ that may help you get the answer you are after, but I am not sure if you can get the spanwise distribution of AOA back out. It's called the blade element virtual disk. If you are a wind turbine engineer, then you are probably aware of blade element momentum theory, yes? Well, star has coupled BEM theory with a momentum source.

Here you specify blade geometry and coefficients, as well as some other model related info. When it runs, the velocity at the inflow face and rotor speed is used to calculate blade forces using what essentially amounts to BEM theory.

It looks like from the help files that you can create a virtual disk angle report, but it's not immediately clear if that is spanwise angle of attack or not. I encourage you to do some reading and maybe play around with it.

lin-lynn · March 10, 2015, 06:40

Thank you. now I am trying the virtual disk method. And I found a paper "determination of angle of attack for rotating blades" from Wen Zhong Shen to find the AOA

dai549592484 · March 17, 2015, 05:34

wo shi lai guan shui de xiao shi mei

March 9, 2015, 15:15	how to find the angle of attack in the wind turbine blade	#1
lin-lynn New Member lin lin Join Date: Jan 2015 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 11	Dear all, I calculated a 3D floating wind turbine, so the angles of attack are different in every time and every element. how can I get the angle of attack or flow angle in every section of the blade. Thanks

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March 9, 2015, 16:20		#2
fluid23 Senior Member Matt Join Date: Aug 2014 Posts: 947 Rep Power: 18	You probably cannot if you have actual 3D geometry modeled. As you are probably aware, as the air approaches the blades it moves in response. Therefore there is no point in the flow field you can exract velocity vectors from to determine AOA. There is a tool in star-ccm+ that may help you get the answer you are after, but I am not sure if you can get the spanwise distribution of AOA back out. It's called the blade element virtual disk. If you are a wind turbine engineer, then you are probably aware of blade element momentum theory, yes? Well, star has coupled BEM theory with a momentum source. Here you specify blade geometry and coefficients, as well as some other model related info. When it runs, the velocity at the inflow face and rotor speed is used to calculate blade forces using what essentially amounts to BEM theory. It looks like from the help files that you can create a virtual disk angle report, but it's not immediately clear if that is spanwise angle of attack or not. I encourage you to do some reading and maybe play around with it.

March 10, 2015, 06:40		#3
lin-lynn New Member lin lin Join Date: Jan 2015 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 11	Thank you. now I am trying the virtual disk method. And I found a paper "determination of angle of attack for rotating blades" from Wen Zhong Shen to find the AOA

March 17, 2015, 05:34		#4
dai549592484 Member David Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 39 Rep Power: 15	wo shi lai guan shui de xiao shi mei