This paper will provide an overview of some projects in support of Wind Energy development involving Doppler lidar measurement of wind flow profiles. The high temporal and vertical resolution of these profiles allows the uncertainty of Numerical Weather Prediction models to be evaluated in forecasting dynamic processes and wind flow phenomena in the layer of rotor-blade operation.

A design and aeromechanics investigation was conducted for a 100,000-lb compound helicopter with a single main rotor, which is to cruise at 250 knots at 4000 ft/95 deg F condition. Performance, stability, and control analyses were conducted with the comprehensive rotorcraft analysis CAMRAD II. Wind tunnel test measurements of the performance of the H-34 and UH-1D rotors at high advance ratio we...

A fluid-structure analysis framework which couples Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Computational Structural Dynamics (CSD) is constructed to study the aero-mechanics of a helicopter rotor system under maneuvering flight conditions. The CFD approach consists of the solution of Unsteady Reynolds Average Navier Stokes (URANS) equations for the near-field of the rotor coupled with the dynami...

The present paper aims to simulate and reproduce the experiments on a imbalanced rotor with one blade off pitched by 20degees carried out within the IEA task 29 Mexnext Phase III. Models of increasing complexity were used (Blade Element Method simulation (BEM) lifting line with free vortex wake (FVW) and URANS CFD) and the results were compared. The rotor has a diameter of 4.5m and three differ...

To bridge the gap between high and low fidelity numerical modeling tools for vertical-axis (or cross-flow) turbines (VATs or CFTs), an actuator line model (ALM) was developed and validated for both a high and a medium solidity vertical-axis turbine at rotor diameter Reynolds numbersReD ∼ 10. The ALM is a combination of classical blade element theory and Navier–Stokes based flow models, and in t...

A computational and experimental study was carried out to determine whether blade tip suction can increase compressor efficiency. Compressor flow fields contain concentrated regions of high entropy fluid near the blade surfaces. Blade suction can remove this fluid, lowering the entropy of the compressor throughflow, thereby avoiding a thermodynamic inefficiency, ultimately raising the compresso...

A new mechanism responsible for structural life consumption due to resonant fatigue in turbine blades, or vanes, is presented and explained. A rotating blade or vane in a gas turbine can change its contour due to erosion and/or material build up, in any of these instances, the surface pressure distribution occurring on the suction and pressure sides of blades-vanes can suffer substantial modifi...

We approximate a wind turbine using the Actuator Disc methodology with loading for an optimum Glauert rotor, and vary blade length and tip speed ratio, to determine base flows for linear stability computations at a Reynolds number of 100. Results from such computations suggest that the least stable mode is axisymmetric and insensitive to changes in tip speed operation, suggesting that the stabi...

The analysis of impeller shape performance was carried out with the SST (Shear-Stress Transport) model coupled with the streamline curvature turbulence model. This model combines the advantages from the κ−ε and κ−ω models, ensuring proper relation between turbulent stress and turbulent kinetic energy and allowing accurate and robust prediction of the impeller blade flow separation. The Multiple...

Structural damage in materials evolves over time due to growth of fatigue cracks in homogenous materials and a complicated process of matrix cracking, delamination, fiber breakage and fiber matrix debonding in composite materials. In this study, a finite element model of the helicopter rotor blade is used to analyze the effect of damage growth on the modal frequencies. Phenomenological models o...