Aerodynamic Design and Blade Angle Analysis of a Small Horizontal–Axis Wind Turbine

Abstract

The wind turbine blades are the main part of the rotor. Extraction of energy from wind depends on the design of the blade. In this paper, a design method based on Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory is explained for small horizontal–axis wind turbine model (HAWT) blades. The method was used to optimize the chord and twist distributions of the wind turbine blades to enhance the aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine and consequently, increasing the generated power. A Fortran program was developed to use (BEM) in designing a model of Horizontal–Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT). NACA 4412 airfoil was selected for the design of the wind turbine blade. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of HAWT blade cross section was carried out at various blade angles with the help of ANSYS Fluent. Present results are compared with other published results. Power generated from wind turbine increases with increasing blade angle due to the increase in air–velocity impact on the wind turbine blade. For blade angle change from 200 to 600, the turbine power from wind has a small change and reaches the maximum when the blade angle equals to 900. Thus, HAWT power depends on the blade profile and its orientation.