Design and Performance Analysis of a Bio-Inspired Small Wind Turbine with Maple Seed Aerodynamics

A bio-inspired small wind turbine with two blades and a rotor diameter of 1 m is designed and analyzed for its performance in this study. The turbine aerodynamic properties are inspired by the maple seed, and the high-lift airfoil S826 is used. Blade twist is optimized using the airfoil experimental lift and drag data from the literature. The turbine is optimized at a low tip speed ratio of 3, as that is a requirement for small wind turbines to guarantee low noise and vibration levels. Computational fluid dynamics simulations with flow visualization are conducted to analyze the turbine performance. It is found that the turbine performance is competitive with other small wind turbines with a maximum power coefficient of 0.38 achieved at low tip-speed ratio of 3. The potential of bio-inspired design in improving the performance of small wind turbines is demonstrated in this study, and it can serve as a basis for further research in this area.