The impact of inertial forces on morphing wind turbine blade in vertical axis configuration

• A novel flexible VAWT has been experimentally tested alongside numerically simulations.
• Using FEA and CFD, direction of blade bending was predicted from inertial and aerodynamic forces.
• High-speed camera footage has been used to validate the model.
• The flexible VAWT was found to self-start in the majority of tests, while the rigid one did not.
• It is suggested that flexible VAWTs can have improved performance in part-load applications.

A novel flexible blade concept with the ability to morph and geometrically adapt to changing flow conditions has been proposed to improve part-load performance of horizontal-axis wind turbines. The extension of these benefits to a vertical axis wind turbine would make wind technology a more competitive player in the energy market. Both flexible and rigid wind turbine rotor blades for vertical axis application were modeled, designed, manufactured and tested. Their performances were tested in a low speed wind tunnel. The predicted magnitude and direction of blade morph was validated using a high speed camera as well as finite element analysis. The comparative results of straight rigid and straight morphing blades show that the coefficient of performance greatly depends on the tip speed ratio. Overall, the morphing blade has better performance at low RPMs, but the rigid blade performed better at high RPMs. It was observed that the flexible blade self-started in the majority of the experiments. At high RPM, the centrifugal force overwhelmed the lift force, bending the flexible blade out of phase in an undesired direction increasing drag and therefore reducing the coefficient of performance.

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