Sharif Digital Repository

In this study a multi-objective genetic algorithm is utilized to obtain a Pareto optimal set of solutions for geometrical characteristics of airfoil sections for 10-meter blades of a horizontal axis wind turbine. The performance of the airfoil sections during the process of energy conversion is evaluated deploying a 2D incompressible unsteady CFD solver and the second law analysis. Artificial neural networks are trained employing CFD obtained data sets to represent objective functions in an algorithm which implements exergetic performance and integrity characteristics as optimization objectives. The results show that utilizing the second law approach along with Pareto optimality concept... 

Extensive experimental investigation was conducted to study the effect of leading-edge roughness on the state of the boundary layer of a wind turbine blade section. The application of surface grit roughness simulates surface irregularities that occur on the wind turbine blades. The measurements were done using multiple hot-film sensors and surface pressure transducers in both static and plunging oscillation of the airfoil. Frequency domain analysis was used to determine the state of the unsteady boundary layer  

This investigation addresses the boundary layer study of a plunging airfoil. It specifically concerns the effect of reduced frequency on transition and separation/reattachment of the unsteady boundary layer. The wind tunnel measurements were conducted using multiple hot-film sensors, pressure transducers and a boundary-layer rake, at Reynolds numbers of 0.42 to 0.84 million, and over reduced frequencies from 0.05 to 0.11. It was observed the boundary layer transition occurs by a laminar separation bubble. The unsteady laminar separation is promoted (delayed) by the increase of the reduced frequency in upstroke (downstroke) portion of the equivalent angle of attack  

In this paper, the effects of turbulence on sound generation and velocity fluctuations due to pressure waves in a large subsonic wind tunnel are studied. A trip strip located at different positions in the contraction part or at one position in the diffuser of a large wind tunnel is used to investigate the aforementioned phenomenon, and the results indicate that the trip strip has significant effects on sound reduction. The lowest turbulence intensity and sound are obtained from a trip strip with a diameter of 0.91mm located either at X/L = 0.79 or at X/L = 0.115 in the wide portion of the contraction. Furthermore, the effect of monopole, dipole and quad- rupole sources of aerodynamic noise... 

A series of experiments was performed to investigate the interaction of an under-expanded axisymmetric supersonic jet exhausted from a flat plate with a high subsonic crossflow. The goal was to study the effect of boundary layer thickness (δ) and jet to freestream dynamic pressure ratio (J) on flow field pressure distributions. The resulting measurements upstream of the jet showed that with increasing boundary layer thickness, the magnitude of the pressure coefficient decreases, whereas downstream of the jet, the recovery of the back-pressure moved closer to the nozzle exit. Flow field measurements indicated that with increasing boundary layer thickness, the jet plume dissipation rate... 

The first notable megawatt class wind turbine, which was the pioneer of improvement in the blade performance in large wind turbines, appeared in Vermont. Nowadays, modern wind turbines are using blades with multi-airfoils at different sections. In this study, in order to indicate the best airfoil profile for the optimum performance in different sections of a blade, five popular airfoils, including S8xx, FFA and AH series, were studied. On the large-scale profile, shear stress transport K–ω model was applied for the simulation of horizontal axis wind turbines for different wind speeds. The aerodynamic simulation was accomplished using computational fluid dynamic method, which in turn is based... 

The effect of porosity in oscillating situations (to the authors' knowledge, for the first time) on a supercritical airfoil (SC0410) has been experimentally investigated. Tests have been carried out in an open circuit suction-type wind tunnel at a free stream Mach number of M = 0:80. Both static and dynamic (pitching) tests have been carried out on the mentioned airfoil. The oscillation frequency for the unsteady tests has been set to 3 and 6 Hz. The amplitude of frequency is ±1 deg. The effect of porosity has been surveyed on the magnitude of pressure fluctuations, phase shift, and lift coefficient loop. The investigations show that increasing porosity in the test section of transonic... 

This paper introduces a shock-wave-detection technique based on the schlieren imaging for continuum and rarefied-gas flows. The scheme is applicable for any existing two-dimensional flowfields obtained by experimental or numerical approaches. A Gaussian distribution for a schlieren function within the shock-wave region is considered. This enables the authors to access any desired locations through the shock (e.g., shock center, or leading- and trailing-edge locations). The bow shock-wave profile is described via a rational function, which could be employed for the estimation of shock angle. The relation between pre- and postshock flow properties along the shock wave with a high resolution... 

The performance of an HTPB/N2O hybrid motor was experimentally investigated. A hybrid motor was designed and manufactured in a laboratory with the purpose of studying the effects of various parameters on the motor's performance, including fuel regression rate and specific impulse. A series of tests were conducted to find a correlation between the fuel regression rate and the oxidizer's mass flux. The effects of chamber's pressure on the regression rate as well as other performance parameters were investigated. While the burning rate did not change dramatically, both the efficiency and ISP of the motor increased. The local fuel regression rate and the fuel port were also calculated. In... 

In this study, in order to indicate the best airfoil profile for the different sections of a blade, five airfoils including S8xx, FFA, and AH series were studied. Among the most popular wind power blades for this application were selected, in order to find the optimum performance. Nowadays, modern wind turbines are using blades with multi-airfoils at different sections. On the large scale profile, SST K-ω model with different wind speed at large-scale profile was applied to the simulation of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT). The aerodynamic simulation was accomplished using the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) method based on the finite volume method. The governing equations applied in... 

Series of experimental tests were conducted on a section of a 660 kW wind turbine blade to measure the pressure distribution of this model oscillating in plunging motion. In order to minimize the amount of data required to predict aerodynamic loads of the airfoil, a General Regression Neural Network, GRNN, was trained using the measured experimental data. The network once proved to be accurate enough, was used to predict the flow behavior of the airfoil for the desired conditions. Results showed that with using a few of the acquired data, the trained neural network was able to predict accurate results with minimal errors when compared with the corresponding measured values. Therefore with... 

In this paper, an extensive experimental tests were performed to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of an airfoil undergoing static, dynamic pitch, dynamic plunge and dynamic combined pitch and plunge motions for various cases. This paper, however, focuses on the effects of reduced frequencies and mean angles of attack on the surface pressure distribution and on the corresponding lift of the airfoil oscillating in either pure pitch or in combined pitch–plunge motions. The angles of attack variations were set such that the model motion would be ceased lower than the static stall, near the static stall and beyond the static stall angles of attack. All tests were conducted at a constant... 

Effects of reduced frequency, stop angle, and pause duration have been studied on a thin supercritical airfoil undergoing a pitch-pause-return motion, which is one of the classic maneuvers introduced by the AIAA Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee. Experiments were conducted in a low-speed wind tunnel at both a constant mean angle of attack and an oscillation amplitude with a reduced frequency ranging from 0.01 to 0.12. The desired stop angles of the airfoil were set to occur during the upstroke motion. The unsteady pressure distribution on the airfoil was measured for below, near, and beyond static stall conditions. Results showed that the reduced frequency and stop angle were the dominant... 

Comprehensive numerical analyses are conducted to simulate and capture “Buzz” phenomenon in a supersonic mixed compression air inlet. The buzz is an unsteady self-sustained feature that occurs in supersonic inlets, especially when operating in their subcritical condition. In such a situation, the shock waves oscillate along the inlet and cause mass flow fluctuations inside the inlet that will deteriorate the engine performance significantly. An axisymmetric unsteady numerical simulation was used to solve the Navier–Stokes equations combined with the URANS SST k–ω turbulence model. The simulations for two different free-stream Mach numbers of M∞=2.0 and 2.2 and at two specific subcritical... 

A new technique for the laminar-turbulent intermittency measurement based on the surface hot-film data is presented. The existing techniques require data acquired from the calibrated hot-films which leads to the real wall shear stress values. However, calibration of the hot-films is usually very complex. In the proposed method, a technique based on the probability distribution function (PDF) of the acquired data using the uncalibrated hot-film sensors is presented and evaluated. The PDF is prepared for a reduced form of the quasi-wall shear stress value instead of the real shear stress value one. This leads to a standard normal distribution curve for the PDF in the turbulent flow region and... 

Transitional boundary layer over an airfoil in the combined pitch-plunge oscillating motions at low Reynolds number is experimentally investigated. The study is based on the data obtained from both surface hot-film and surface static pressure. Different oscillation zones prior to, within, and beyond the static stall angle of attack of the airfoil are considered. The hysteresis loops for the laminar separation bubble, transition, relaminarization points, as well as the airfoil lift coefficient are investigated and are compared for different types of dynamic motions. Two different types of combined pitch-plunge motions, constructive and destructive, are considered. In the constructive motion,... 

In this paper, extensive experimental tests were carried out for an aerodynamic characterization of the airfoil cross-section of a wind turbine blade. The wind turbine blade cross-sections are usually exposed to unsteady pitch and plunge oscillations. One way to increase the power of blade, is to improve it's aerodynamic performance, so it is necessary to study and compare the unsteady aerodynamic behavior of the airfoil. The aerodynamic behavior of turbine blades are dependent on several parameters including initial angle of attack, reduced frequency and oscillation amplitude. In this study, reduced frequency and oscillation amplitude assumed constant and the initial angle of attack of the... 

Low-speed wind tunnel experiments were conducted to examine the effects of jet exit behavior on the near-field characteristics of jets in crossflow. To better understand this problem, a row of six square jets were perpendicularly injected into the main turbulent flow. The jet-to-crossflow velocity ratios examined were 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0, while the jet spacing to jet diameter was 3.0. No significant temperature differences between the jet and the crossflow were introduced. The analysis of the vertical structure of the transverse jets, including focusing on the jet shear layer and the vorticity dynamics of the exiting jets, is complicated. The vorticity around the circumference of the jets was... 

The boundary-layer control authority of a DBD plasma actuator using surface mounted hot-film sensors is evaluated. Wind tunnel experiments on a wind-turbine blade section were established at a Reynolds number of 0.27 x 106. Aerodynamic performance of the wind-turbine blade section for both plasma-ON and plasma-OFF modes are evaluated using measurements made by both surface pressure and wake survey behind the model. Two distinct boundary-layer states are recognized. A state which occurs at the onset and in proximity of the deep stall, which is affected by the low-frequency instabilities of the separated flow. In this case, the steady actuation of plasma imparts local momentum on the nearby... 

An extensive experimental investigation was conducted to study the effects of Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD), on the flow field of an airfoil at low Reynolds number. The DBD was mounted near the leading edge of a section of a wind turbine blade. It is believed that DBD can postpone the separation point on the airfoil by injecting momentum to the flow. The effects of steady actuations on the velocity profiles in the wake region have been investigated. The tests were performed at α = 4 to 36 degrees i.e. from low to deep stall angles of attack regions. Both surface pressure distribution and wake profile show remarkable improvement at high angles of attack, beyond the static stall angle of...