Abstract:
A theoretical investigation is performed to determine performance
characteristics of a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWI) with circular arc
blade section. The results are compared with those of HAWI having airfoil blade
section. It is observed that the results of turbine with circular arc profile are
comparable to those with airfoil blade section. With a view to diminishing cost of
production and eliminating manufacturing complexity with airfoil blade section,
the study is taken into account.
The design of HAWI with circular arc blade profile is also carried out. The
usual design uses the minimum value of the ratio of drag co-efficient to lift c0-
efficient, but in this design maximum value of lift co-efficient (0.9 of maximum
lift co-efficient) is considered to obtain optimum values of power coefficient and
other parameters.This condition rather improves the power coefficient a little bit.
The maximum value of power coefficient obtained by using circular arc
blade profile is 0.38 while using conventional blade profile of NACA or
Wortman, this value becomes around 0.40.
The investigation is carried out by using only Momentum Theory and
Blade Element Theory. Hence it may not be useful to apply for the multibladed
wind turbine.
