Development of Three-Dimensional Icing Simulation Code for Wind Turbines

This study aims to develop a three-dimensional icing simulation code for wind turbines under various icing conditions named WISE (Wind turbine Icing Simulation code with performance Evaluation). In order to explain the rotating wind turbines, the Moving Reference Frame (MRF) method is applied for both aerodynamic and droplet fields.

The thin water film model plays a role to predict the motion of the water film is applied in the thermodynamic module. The ice accretion shapes on NREL Phase VI were obtained by using WISE under rime and glaze ice conditions. The ice accretion shapes were qualitatively compared against FENSAP-ICE, the state-of-the-art program.

For rime ice condition, the icing limits, maximum thickness and its location of WISE are well matched with those ofFENSAP-ICE. For glaze ice condition, there are discrepancies of icing limits. On the suction side, the results of WISE with high accuracy flow field calculation are expected to be valid.

However, WISE underestimates the mass of ice on the pressure side. To improve the accuracy for the pressure side, the turbulence model, currently a fully turbulence model, is considered, will be investigated.