16 Numerical Simulations of the Aerodynamics of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

Influences of nacelle on rotor aerodynamics and, computational domain scale, far-field boundary condition and turbulence model on CFD simulation are investigated respectively in this paper, based on the NREL Phase VI wind turbine by using a commercial software FINE™∕Turbo. Detailed comparisons with the experimental data, including static pressure distributions at five spanwise sections (30, 47, 63, 80, and 95% span), blade loadings along span and aerodynamic power for different wind speeds, are made. According to the results to be shown, suggestions for practical application of CFD technique to industrial problems are drown out.