| Abstract: | This paper describes a three‐dimensional analysis of the laminar boundary layer that develops on the blades of an horizontalaxis wind turbine. The main aim was to investigate a fundamental phenomenon: the effect of rotation on the blade boundary layer of a wind turbine in conjunction with the widely observed phenomenon of stall‐delay. The separation position in retarded flows with pressure gradients is calculated and compared for the rotation and non‐rotation cases. It is concluded that the stall is linearly postponed due to the Coriolis force and the separation point is delayed as a result of increasing rotation speed or decreasing blade spanwise position. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
