Reynolds Number and Drag Influences on Large Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Design

The aerodynamic design of large wind turbines involves many factors, the most important of which are Reynolds number, drag and air density. This paper discusses the influence of these factors on the aerodynamic performance of a large horizontal axis wind turbine covering the drag term in the theoretical analysis. The drag term complicates the system of resolution for the axial and tangential induction factors. Previous work (Mingwei Ge) simplified this system by taking approximations for the axial and tangential induction factors. To make the analysis more general, the nonlinear equation system with the axial and tangential induction factors is solved. In the first step, the effect of Reynolds numberis studied for the DU00-W-350 blade profile though three values,,.Increasing the Reynolds number improves both the torque in the outer section of the blade and the power coefficient along the blade. In the next step, the effect of drag is examined using a comparison between the blade without drag and the blade with drag for the DU00-W-350 and NACA64618 profiles. It is found that a blade profile with lower drag gives higher torque and power coefficient than a blade profile with higher drag. In addition, the air density affects the torque and power coefficient of the NACA64618 blade profile. The simulation of this work is compared to previous work in the literature.