Comparison of Computational Fluid Dynamics and Experimental Power Output of a Micro Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine

Abstract

This paper presents a combined experimental and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of Micro wind Turbine with 2.28 meters rotor Diameter is performed using the FLUENT 16.2 WORKBENCH. A Micro Horizontal Axis Three Blade Wind Turbine was designed, developed and tested for power performance on new airfoil AFN2016 Designed. The three blades were fabricated from glass fiber with a rotor swept area of 3.14 sq.m for the 1-meter length of the blade and angle of attack experimentally determined to be 5o.The blade is designed for tip speed ratio (TSR) of 7. The power out measured for wind speed from 3.0m/s to 9.0 m/s. The comparison of the CFD and experimental results on the relationship between the power obtained and the wind speed of the wind turbine at the wind from 3-9 m/s. It can be clearly seen that the experimental data match quite well again with the numerical analysis and they both demonstrated that the power of wind turbine increasing with wind speed increases.