Subscale testing of horizontal-axis wind turbines

Gavin K. Ananda, Suraj Bansal, Michael S Selig

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

This paper discusses the development of wind tunnel test capabilities at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to obtain the aerodynamic performance of highly-coned subscale wind turbine rotor configurations as part of the ARPA- E funded project to design extreme-scale Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotors (SUMR). The scaled rotors were designed to be configurable for various coning and pitch angles. Many challenges were associated with testing at these small scales numbers due to the small forces generated, Reynolds number effects, and the high rotor rotation rates required. Rotors were tested at freestream velocities from 4.5 m/s to 9.5 m/s at various coning angles (0 to 50 deg) and pitch angles (4-8 deg). The results obtained can be used to further validate blade element momentum theory (BEMT) codes developed for design and analysis of highly-coned rotors.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication35th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 2017
PublisherAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA
ISBN (Print)9781624105012
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2017
Event35th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 2017 - Denver, United States
Duration: Jun 5 2017Jun 9 2017

Publication series

Name35th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 2017

Other

Other35th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityDenver
Period6/5/176/9/17

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering

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