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Examples of Wind Tunnels for Testing Wind Turbine Airfoils

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Handbook of Wind Energy Aerodynamics

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Abstract

Wind tunnel testing of airfoils is an indispensable part of the wind turbine design process. Especially very large wind turbines with 100m+ blades demand robust airfoils with highly accurate aerodynamic data during the design phase which requires special attention for wind tunnel testing. This chapter provides an overview of wind tunnels that are suitable to support these demands in wind turbine airfoil testing. Starting with two historic wind tunnels, NASA Langley Low-Turbulence Pressure Tunnel and Velux wind tunnels which were supporting designers and researchers at some stage since the beginning of wind energy, a total of 13 wind tunnels are elaborated in terms of both their specifications and the measurement methods. Moreover, a summary of different tests performed in each of these wind tunnels is given. Although the challenges in wind turbine airfoil testing are still out there, it can be concluded that both more precise measurement techniques and modern wind tunnels with special features will serve to tackle these challenges in the near future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The average electricity consumption of a European household in 2016 is 1567 kWh according to https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Energy_consumption_in_households#cite_note-1 accessed on 20-05-2019.

  2. 2.

    https://www.dnv.com/services/wind-turbine-design-software-bladed-3775

  3. 3.

    https://www.hawc2.dk/hawc2-info

  4. 4.

    https://www.3ds.com/products-services/simulia/products/simpack/product-modules/wind-modules/

  5. 5.

    http://www.sata.aero/

  6. 6.

    This info is based on communication with Peter Fuglsang (one of the editors of the book and was one of the most frequent users of Velux wind tunnel) in August 2018. The author was not able to find any other info regarding the use of the Velux tunnel in the Velux website.

  7. 7.

    https://wind.nrel.gov/airfoils/OSU_data/

  8. 8.

    Available via https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/facilities/icing-tunnel accessed in March 2021.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sirris, 3001, Gaston Geenslaan 8, Heverlee, Belgium

    Özlem Ceyhan Yilmaz

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  1. Özlem Ceyhan Yilmaz
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Correspondence to Özlem Ceyhan Yilmaz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and, Oldenburg, Germany

    Bernhard Stoevesandt

  2. TNO-Energy Research Centre of the Nether, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Sci, Petten, The Netherlands

    Gerard Schepers

  3. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Brande, Denmark

    Peter Fuglsang

  4. Goldwind Americas, Chicago, IL, USA

    Sun Yuping

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  1. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Borupvej 16, 7330, Brande, Denmark

    Peter Fuglsang

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Ceyhan Yilmaz, Ö. (2021). Examples of Wind Tunnels for Testing Wind Turbine Airfoils. In: Stoevesandt, B., Schepers, G., Fuglsang, P., Yuping, S. (eds) Handbook of Wind Energy Aerodynamics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05455-7_28-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05455-7_28-1

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