A computationally efficient engineering aerodynamic model for non-planar wind turbine rotors

In the present work, a computationally efficient engineering model for the aerodynamic load calculation of non-planar wind turbine rotors is proposed. The method is based on the vortex cylinder model and can be used in two ways: either used as a correction to the currently widely used blade element momentum (BEM) method or used as the main model, replacing the BEM method in the engineering modeling complex.

The proposed method needs the same order of computational effort as the ordinary BEM method, which makes it ideal for time-domain aero-servo-elastic simulations. The results from the proposed method are compared with results from two higher-fidelity aerodynamic models: a lifting-line method and a Navier–Stokes solver.

For planar rotors, the aerodynamic loads are identical to the current BEM model when the drag force is excluded during the calculation of the induced velocities. For non-planar rotors, the influence of the blade out-of-plane shape, measured by the difference of the load between the non-planar rotor and the planar rotor, is in very good agreement with higher-fidelity models.

Meanwhile, the existing BEM methods, even with a correction of radial induction included, show relatively large deviations from the higher-fidelity method results.