FLUID STRUCTURE INTERACTION OF WIND TURBINE BLADE USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYANAMICS

Mechanical Engineering

In today’s rapid increase in energy demands and decaying fossil fuels availability, it is very important to investigate the different alternatives, renewable sources for energy generation. Wind energy is the biggest available source of energy which can easily be harnessed using the mechanical turbines; by converting wind energy into mechanical energy. A wind turbine is a rotary device that extracts kinetic energy from the wind. It has rotor blades mounted on the shaft which is connected to the generator through transmission devices. The blade profiles play an important role which decides the performance of the wind turbine. In this work, two blade profiles are simulated using CFD modeling and results are validated for coefficient of drag and lift. Further, the two profiles are compared for the flow separation point for different angle of attack. Optimization is performed between the two geometries for two different Re numbers using k-epsilon model for minimum drag. Coefficient of performance and critical angle of attack are also discussed for the two blade profiles. The pressure coming over the blade is used as input forces for structural analysis for calculation of displacement and structural parameters a like vomises stress and mode shapes. The study uses different shapes of blade to characterize the performance of these blades in wind turbine applications

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