The effect of single-horn glaze ice on the vortex structures in the wake of a horizontal axis wind turbine

The present study experimentally investigated the effect of a simulated single-horn glaze ice accreted on ro- tor blades on the vortex structures in the wake of a hori- zontal axis wind turbine by using the stereoscopic particle image velocimetry （Stereo-PIV） technique. During the ex- periments, four horizontal axis wind turbine models were tested, and both ＂free-run＂ and ＂phase-locked＂ Stereo-PIV measurements were carried out. Based on the ＂free-run＂ measurements, it was found that because of the simulated single-horn glaze ice, the shape, vorticity, and trajectory of tip vortices were changed significantly, and less kinetic en- ergy of the airflow could be harvested by the wind turbine. In addition, the ＂phase-locked＂ results indicated that the pres- ence of simulated single-horn glaze ice resulted in a dramatic reduction of the vorticity peak of the tip vortices. Moreover, as the length of the glaze ice increased, both root and tip vortex gaps were found to increase accordingly.

Simulation of SLD Impingement on Wind Turbine Blade Airfoil

Accurate prediction of droplet impingement on wind turbine blade is one of the most important premises of anti-icing and de-icing system design.In a super-cooled large droplets(SLD)conditions,droplet no longer maintains a sphere shape,and it may deform,break up,and splash when moving or impinging on the surface.Semi-empirical models of droplet dynamic behaviours are embedded into the Eulerian droplet model to improve the accuracy of the numerical simulation of droplet impingement limits and local collection efficiency.Eulerian droplet model(Model 1)for small droplets and improved Eulerian droplet model(Model 2)for large droplet are both validated by comparing to the wind tunnel experiment results.Using the proposed methods,droplet impingement limitation and local collection efficiency on the S809 airfoil are calculated in various conditions.A detailed derivation of Model 1and Model 2is presented along with a comparison of numerical trajectories,drag coefficient and collection efficiency distributions.The results show that droplet dynamic behaviours,including splashing,break-up and deforming,must be considered to accurately simulate the impingement behaviour in the SLD conditions.And with the increase of the droplet diameters,the effects of the droplet dynamic behaviors on the impingement characteristics are more obvious.