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Numerical Predictions of Wind Turbine Power and Aerodynamic Loads for the NREL Phase II and IV Combined Experiment RotorAccurate, reliable and robust numerical predictions of wind turbine rotor power remain a challenge to the wind energy industry. The literature reports various methods that compare predictions to experiments. The methods vary from Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEM), Vortex Lattice (VL), to variants of Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RaNS). The BEM and VL methods consistently show discrepancies in predicting rotor power at higher wind speeds mainly due to inadequacies with inboard stall and stall delay models. The RaNS methodologies show promise in predicting blade stall. However, inaccurate rotor vortex wake convection, boundary layer turbulence modeling and grid resolution has limited their accuracy. In addition, the inherently unsteady stalled flow conditions become computationally expensive for even the best endowed research labs. Although numerical power predictions have been compared to experiment. The availability of good wind turbine data sufficient for code validation experimental data that has been extracted from the IEA Annex XIV download site for the NREL Combined Experiment phase II and phase IV rotor. In addition, the comparisons will show data that has been further reduced into steady wind and zero yaw conditions suitable for comparisons to "steady wind" rotor power predictions. In summary, the paper will present and discuss the capabilities and limitations of the three numerical methods and make available a database of experimental data suitable to help other numerical methods practitioners validate their own work.
Document ID
20030062900
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Duque, Earl P. N.
(Army Aviation Systems Command Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Johnson, Wayne
(Army Aviation Systems Command Moffett Field, CA, United States)
vanDam, C. P.
(California Univ. Davis, CA, United States)
Chao, David D.
(California Univ. Davis, CA, United States)
Cortes, Regina
(California Univ. Davis, CA, United States)
Yee, Karen
(California Univ. Davis, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
May 20, 1999
Subject Category
Numerical Analysis
Meeting Information
Meeting: Joint ASME/AIAA Wind Energy Symposium
Location: Reno, NV
Country: United States
Start Date: January 1, 2000
Sponsors: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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