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Energy

Volume 292, 1 April 2024, 130561
Energy

A numerical study of bio-inspired wingtip modifications of modern
wind turbines

Author links open overlay panelKhashayar RahnamayBahambary, Mohammad
Reza Kavian-Nezhad, Alexandra Komrakova, Brian A. Fleck
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2024.130561Get rights and content
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Highlights

  * *

    Retrofitting wind turbines with bio-inspired winglets can enhance
    the power output, with an average increase in energy production
    by 10%.

  * *

    The boost in the power production is attributed to the
    aerodynamic changes introduced by the winglets, not just an
    increase in the rotor's swept area.

  * *

    The presence of winglets modifies the vortex structures at the
    blade tips, reducing the rotational tendencies of the flow near
    the tip.

  * *

    The winglets improve wake recovery and have a positive effect on
    the recovery of velocity deficit.

Abstract

In this study, we propose an efficient turbine retrofit based on the
use of bio-inspired winglets to increase the power production of a
wind turbine. To assess the capability of the modified wingtips, we
perform the steady-state Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations
of a DTU 10 MW wind turbine using ANSYS Fluent. The addition of this
novel retrofit, inspired by the world's heaviest soaring bird, the
Andean condor, aims to increase the power output of a wind turbine
while requiring only a modest capital investment. The results
indicate that the addition of this retrofit leads to an increase of
9.69% in power production (average of four cases of 8, 9, 10, and 11
m/s). In addition to examining power production, the study also
investigates the load distribution on the blade and the flow
structures at the blade tip. The results illustrate that the winglets
significantly affect the wingtip's vortical structures, leading to an
overall increase of 8.5 % in the axial loading along the span. We
also show that the presence of the winglet affects the velocity
recovery at the wake, leading to a more compact velocity recovery in
the wake.

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Keywords

Winglet
Bio-inspired
Wind turbine
CFD
Full rotor modeling
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(c) 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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