High-Reynolds-number investigations on the ability of the full-scale e-TellTale sensor to detect flow separation on a wind turbine blade section

Abstract

The complexity of the flow over a wind turbine blade makes its understanding and monitoring a challenging task, especially on operating wind turbines. The innovative electronic TellTale (e-TellTale) sensor is developed for that purpose - detecting the flow separation on wind turbines blades. In this paper, high-Reynolds-number wind tunnel tests have been performed with different configurations of full-scale e-TellTale sensors and wall pressure measurements on a wind turbine blade section. A comparison between the lift curve and the e-TellTale signal was used to evaluate the ability of the sensor to detect flow separation. Results show different interesting properties of the sensor response depending on its size, position along the chord and fitting process that could be used in real applications.