Optimal Airfoil Selection and Aerodynamic Analysis of Small-Scale Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blade Profiles Using CFD

The world faces problems due to energy crises as the energy production rate lags behind the energy demand. Power generation is mainly dependent on fossil fuels, which harms the climate. Wind energy is one of the alternative renewable options for eliminating fossil fuel-based power production. Installing small-scale wind turbines (decentralized grid system) is a sustainable option for which various blade airfoils are used. The current research study aims to analyze the aerodynamic performance of three airfoils (S809, S822, and S834) for small horizontal axis wind turbine blades through ANSYS 16.2-based computational fluid dynamic analysis. For this, the Design Modeller created the geometry model and a structured meshing was done. The shear stress transport model (k-ω) was chosen for analyzing the turbulence behavior of airfoils with various parametric conditions (i.e., wind speed ranging from 4 to 16 m/s and angle of attack (α) ranging from 0° to 14°). The maximum power extraction was found at α = 2° and a wind velocity of 12 m/s for all airfoils. The S822 profile showed the best performance. The stall angle was 14° for all three profiles as the lift coefficient increased with wind velocity up to 14° α.