Impact of Surface Roughness on the Aerodynamic Efficiency of Wind Turbines: A New CFD-based Correlation

Document Type : Regular Article

Authors

1 Laboratory of Green and Mechanical Development (LGMD), Ecole Nationale Polytechnique -ENP-, P.B. 182 El-Harrach, Algiers, 16200, Algeria

2 Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ferhat Abbas-Setif 1, Bejaia Road, Setif, Algeria

10.47176/jafm.18.2.2830

Abstract

The aerodynamic performance of wind turbines is significantly influenced by the design of their blades, which are engineered with advanced aerodynamic airfoils. However, the effectiveness of these designs is compromised by environmental factors such as dust, corrosion, sand, and insects, leading to alterations in blade shape and surface integrity over the turbine's operational period. These changes reduce the aerodynamic efficiency of the turbines. To assess these detrimental effects, this study utilizes a 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model based on the exact blade geometry. A modified version of the universal logarithmic wall function was implemented to quantify the influence of surface roughness. Comparative analyses between clean and rough blade surfaces under varying wind conditions showed that surface degradation significantly impacts the efficiency of wind turbines. Specifically, the findings indicate that surface roughness can lead to a substantial decrease in power output, with losses potentially reaching up to 35% under tested conditions. Notably, this roughness effect exhibits a critical value of  , beyond which the impact of roughness becomes negligible. Based on these results, an exponential correlation has been proposed. This study suggests that maintaining smooth blade surfaces or minimizing roughness is crucial for optimal turbine performance, especially under high wind conditions. 

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Anderson, C. (2020). Wind turbines: Theory and practice. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108478328
Boorsma, K., & Schepers, J. G. (2016). Rotor experiments in controlled conditions continued: New Mexico. Journal of Physics: Conference Series. IOP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/753/2/022004
Bouhelal, A., & Smaili, A. (2022a). Introduction à la CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). Ecole Nationale Polytechnique. https://hal.science/hal-04427690/document
Bouhelal, A., Guerri, O., Smaili, A., & Masson, C. (2018a). Contribution to the aerodynamic study of the air-sand flow around a wind turbine blade installed in desert environment of Algeria. 2018 International Conference on Wind Energy and Applications in Algeria (ICWEAA) (pp. 1-6). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICWEAA.2018.8605050
Bouhelal, A., Smaili, A., & Guerri, O. (2016). Numerical study of an horizontal axis wind turbine rotor: assessments of turbulence modeling. 10 èmes Journées de Mécanique de l’EMP (JM’10–EMP), 12-13.
Bouhelal, A., Smaili, A., Guerri, O., & Masson, C. (2017, December). Comparison of BEM and full Navier-Stokes CFD methods for prediction of aerodynamics performance of HAWT rotors. 2017 International Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conference (IRSEC). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IRSEC.2017.8477247
Bouhelal, A., Smaili, A., Guerri, O., & Masson, C. (2018b). Numerical investigation of turbulent flow around a recent horizontal axis wind Turbine using low and high Reynolds models. Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, 11(1), 151-164. https://doi.org/10.29252/jafm.11.01.28074
Bouhelal, A., Smaili, A., Guerri, O., & Masson, C. (2022b). Numerical investigations on the fluid behavior in the near wake of an experimental wind turbine model in the presence of the nacelle. Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, 16(1), 21-33. https://doi.org/10.47176/jafm.16.01.1382
Cebeci, T., & Bradshaw, P. (1977). Momentum transfer in boundary layers. Washington.
Celik, I. B., Ghia, U., Roache, P. J., & Freitas, C. J. (2008). Procedure for estimation and reporting of uncertainty due to discretization in CFD applications. Journal of fluids Engineering-Transactions of the ASME, 130(7). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2960953
Chakroun, W., Al-Mesri, I., & Al-Fahad, S. (2004). Effect of surface roughness on the aerodynamic characteristics of a symmetrical airfoil. Wind Engineering, 28(5), 547-564. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1624614
Drela, M. (1989, June). XFOIL: An analysis and design system for low Reynolds number airfoils. Low Reynolds Number Aerodynamics: Proceedings of the Conference Notre Dame, Indiana, USA, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84010-4_1
Hamlaoui, M. N., Bouhelal, A., Smaili, A., & Fellouah, H. (2024). An engineering approach to improve performance predictions for wind turbine applications: comparison with full navier-stokes model and experimental measurements. Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, 17(7), 1379-1397. https://doi.org/10.47176/jafm.17.7.2404
Khalfallah, M. G., & Koliub, A. M. (2007). Effect of dust on the performance of wind turbines. Desalination, 209(1-3), 209-220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2007.04.030
Launder, B. E., & Spalding, D. B. (1983). The numerical computation of turbulent flows. Numerical prediction of flow, heat transfer, turbulence and combustion. Pergamon. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-030937-8.50016-7
Manwell, J. F., McGowan, J. G., & Rogers, A. L. (2010). Wind energy explained: theory, design and application. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119994367  
Menter, F. R. (1994). Two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence models for engineering applications. AIAA Journal, 32(8), 1598-1605. https://doi.org/10.2514/3.12149
Munduate, X., & Ferrer, E. (2009, January). CFD predictions of transition and distributed roughness over a wind turbine airfoil. 47th AIAA aerospace sciences meeting including the new horizons forum and aerospace exposition. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2009-269
Nikuradse, J. (1933). Stromungsgesetze in rauhen Rohren. Vdi-Forschungsheft, 361, 1.
Pope, S. B. (2001). Turbulent flows. Measurement Science and Technology, 12(11), 2020-2021. https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/12/11/705
Ramsay, R. F., Hoffman, M. J., & Gregorek, G. M. (1995). Effects of grit roughness and pitch oscillations on the S809 airfoil. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). https://doi.org/10.2172/205563
Ren, N., & Ou, J. (2009). Numerical simulation of surface roughness effect on wind turbine thick airfoils. 2009 Asia-Pacific power and energy engineering conference. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/APPEEC.2009.4918540
Richardson, L. F., & Gaunt, J. A. (1927). VIII. The deferred approach to the limit. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, containing papers of a mathematical or physical character, 226(636-646), 299-361. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1927.0008
Roache, P. J. (1994). Perspective: A method for uniform reporting of grid refinement studies. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2910291
Sagol, E., Reggio, M., & Ilinca, A. (2013). Issues concerning roughness on wind turbine blades. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 23, 514-525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.02.034
Snel, H., Houwink, R., Bosschers, J., Piers, W. J., Van Bussel, G. J., & Bruining, A. (1993). Sectional prediction of sD effects for stalled flow on rotating blades and comparison with measurements.
Snel, H., Schepers, J. G., & Montgomerie, B. (2007). The MEXICO project (Model Experiments in Controlled Conditions): The database and first results of data processing and interpretation. Journal of Physics: Conference Series. IOP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/75/1/012014
Sørensen, N. N., Zahle, F., Boorsma, K., & Schepers, G. (2016, September). CFD computations of the second round of MEXICO rotor measurements. Journal of Physics: Conference Series. IOP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/753/2/022054
Van Rooij, R. P. J. O. M., & Timmer, W. A. (2003). Roughness sensitivity considerations for thick rotor blade airfoils. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering 125(4), 468-478. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1624614
Yakhot, V., & Orszag, S. A. (1986). Renormalization group analysis of turbulence. I. Basic theory. Journal of Scientific Computing, 1(1), 3-51. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01061452
Yigit, C. (2020). Effect of air-ducted blade design on horizontal axis wind turbine performance. Energies, 13(14), 3618.
Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics
Volume 18, Issue 2 - Serial Number 94
February 2025
Pages 438-449

Files

History

  • Received: 04 May 2024
  • Revised: 22 August 2024
  • Accepted: 15 September 2024
  • Available online: 04 December 2024

Share

How to cite

Statistics