Wind tunnel test of wind turbine ?

Wind & Water Testing
1

As we all know that the wind tunnel test can only test very limited Reynolds number scope flows around wind turbines, how would we validate the accuracy of our CFD works ?

2

Zhou,

I think that most people would agree that matching Reynolds number is important for validating CFD codes, particularly when there is such a large range along the blade of a typical turbine. My suggestion is to try to get access to data that covers the range that you are interested in for validation. There have been full scale tests on smaller turbines such as the NREL NASA Ames Experiment or the upcoming European MEXICO test. There are also higher Reynolds number tests of turbines done at Riso and NREL, but the data is much more sparse - typically integrated loads and power. Often, these data are shared through IEA working groups that many different countries are involved in, although I’m not sure that China is active yet.

Of course the first step of validating most codes is done by looking at much more simple geometries (but complex flowfields), like cylinders, airfoils, etc… where the data are much more detailed and widely available.

cheers,
Pat

3

Thanks, Pat,

I think that will be the only way to ‘validate’ the codes. I computed the performance of NREL S827 airfoil, there exits obvious difference between the data from NREL report and my results, with my analysis, I believe the reason is the Reynolds Number. But I don’t have experiment data to support this analysis. BTW, where could I get the geometry of S809, it seems to be a very popular airfoil, but I can’t find its geometry data via internet. Is that airfoil still a tech-secret ?

4

Zhou,

the coordiantes for the s809 are available in the following

osti.gov/bridge/servlets/pur … 437668.pdf

or

wind.nrel.gov/amestest/MachineData.pdf

cheers,
Pat

5

Thanks, Pat !

6

Hi guys;

I would like to know if the experimental results of NREL S809 blades are available or not?
I need them to validate my CFD results.

Thanks.

7

Try nosing around here: wind.nrel.gov/airfoils/. Especially, “Airfoil Docs” and “OSU WT Tests.”