In this chapter we will discuss the detailed characteristics of the lifting surfaces which we know as airfoils, in order to provide guidance in the selection of airfoil shapes that will perform satisfactorily over the broad operating environment of a wind turbine. In addition, the fundamental fluid-dynamic principles involved in modeling the structure of rotor wakes and integrating wake-induced effects over an array of turbines are presented in this chapter.

Wind turbines operate by the action of the relative wind (the natural wind plus wind caused by rotor motion and rotor-induced flow), which creates aerodynamic forces on the rotating...