Abstract: | Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been used by numerous researchers
for the simulation of flows around wind turbines. Since the 2000s, the experiments
of NREL phase VI blades for blind comparison have been a de-facto standard
for numerical software on the prediction of full scale horizontal axis wind turbines
(HAWT) performance. However, the characteristics of vortex structures in the wake,
whether for modeling the wake or for understanding the aerodynamic mechanisms
inside, are still not thoroughly investigated. In the present study, the flow around NREL
phase VI blades was numerically simulated, and the results of the wake field were
compared with the experimental ones of a one-to-eight scaled model in a low-speed
wind tunnel. A good agreement between simulation and experimental results was
achieved for the evaluation of overall performances. The simulation captured the complete
formation procedure of tip vortex structure from the blade. Quantitative analysis
showed the streamwise translation movement of vortex cores. Both the initial formation
and the damping of vorticity in near wake field were predicted. These numerical
results showed good agreements with the measurements. Moreover, wind tunnel wall
effects were also investigated on these vortex structures, and it revealed further radial
expansion of the helical vortical structures in comparison with the free-stream case. |