Turbulent Unsteady Flow Analysis of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Airfoil Aerodynamics Based on the Harmonic Balance Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations

Several horizontal axis wind turbine unsteady flows, such as that associated with the yawed wind regime, are predominantly periodic. Harmonic balance Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solvers can be used to accurately analyze such flows substantially faster than what their time-domain counterparts can do. The paper presents the mathematical and numerical features of a new turbulent harmonic balance Navier-Stokes solver using Menter’s shear stress transport model for the turbulence closure. The effectiveness of the developed technology is demonstrated by using two-dimensional harmonic balance flow simulations to determine the periodic aerodynamic loads acting on a blade section of a 164 m-diameter wind turbine rotor in yawed wind. Presented results highlight that the turbulent harmonic balance solver can compute the sectional hysteresis force cycles more than 10 times faster than its time-domain counterpart, and with an accuracy comparable to that of the time-domain solver.