Investigating Three-Dimensional

and Rotational Effects on Wind

P. K. Chaviaropoulos
Dr., Head of the Research
and Development Department,
CRES-Center for Renewable Energy Sources,
19th km Marathonos Ave.,
190 09 Pikermi Attiki, Greece
M. O. L. Hansen
Dr. Assistant Professor,
Department of Energy Engineering,
Fluid Mechanics Section,
Technical University of Denmark, bldg. 404,
DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark
Turbine Blades by Means of a
Quasi-3D Navier-Stokes Solver
Three-dimensional and rotational viscous effects on wind turbine blades are investigated
by means of a quasi-3D Navier-Stokes model. The governing equations of the model are
derived from the 3-D primitive variable Navier-Stokes equations written in cylindrical
coordinates in the rotating frame of reference. The latter are integrated along the radial
direction and certain assumptions are made for the mean values of the radial derivatives.
The validity of these assumptions is cross-checked through fully 3-D Navier-Stokes cal-
culations. The resulting quasi-3D model suggests that three-dimensional and rotational
effects be strongly related to the local chord by radii ratio and the twist angle. The
equations of the model are numerically integrated by means of a pressure correction
algorithm. Both laminar and turbulent flow simulations are performed. The former is used
for identifying the physical mechanism associated with the 3-D and rotational effects,
while the latter for establishing semiempirical correction laws for the load coefficients,
based on 2-D airfoil data. Comparing calculated and measured power curves of a stall
controlled wind turbine, it is shown that the suggested correction laws may improve
significantly the accuracy of the predictions. 关S0098-2202共00兲02702-4兴

Introduction especially at the inboard sections of the blade. Numerical investi-

The state of the art aeroelastic codes used today for simulating
horizontal axis wind turbines still rely on simple aerodynamic
models based on the ‘‘blade element momentum theory’’ 共BEM兲.
It is recognized that the overall problem, including deformations
of the elastic structure, stochastic inflow conditions, complicated
geometry 共as far as the nacelle and the tower are present兲 and
massively separated flow in stall controlled machines, is highly
complex and stiff. This prohibits the use of more elaborate flow
solvers 共Navier-Stokes solvers, for instance兲 which are systemati-
cally used today in other aerodynamic applications. Although
quite simple, the BEM method yields surprisingly accurate pre-
dictions of the aerodynamic loads provided that ‘‘proper’’ lift and
drag-incidence curves are used for the airfoils mounted on the
rotor blade. The evident question is how these proper data are
obtained. It is common experience that the use of the mostly avail-
able steady two-dimensional airfoil data may lead to serious dis-
crepancies between measured and simulated power production
and loads; especially for stall regulated wind turbines. The two
main reasons responsible for this are 共i兲 the inability of the steady
airfoil data to respond to fast inflow transients 共e.g., dynamic stall
effects兲 and 共ii兲 the absence of any correction with respect to the
three-dimensionality of the flow due to the blade geometry and
rotation. The systematic under-prediction of the blade loads in
stalled conditions, when pure 2-D airfoil data are used, is mainly
attributed to that second reason. Therefore, there is a strong need
for expressing appropriate correction laws for airfoil data that
would improve the reliability of the aeroelastic simulations.
Himmelskamp 关1兴, who was the first to address the three-
dimensional effects of rotation, found lift coefficients as high as 3
near the hub of a fan blade. Recent experiments carried out for
wind turbine blades by Ronsten 关2兴 and Bruining et al. 关3兴 con-
firmed that the effective lift-coefficient was higher than expected,
Contributed by the Fluids Engineering Division for publication in the JOURNAL
OF FLUIDS ENGINEERING. Manuscript received by the Fluids Engineering Division
October 3, 1997; revised manuscript received February 22, 2000. Associate Techni-
cal Editor: C. H. Merkle.
gation of the three-dimensional and rotational effects on wind
turbine blades is, today, limited to quasi-3D approaches, since
fully 3D Navier-Stokes computations have just started to appear
in the literature 共see Hansen et al. 关4兴 for instance兲. Such a
quasi-3D approach, based on the viscous-inviscid interaction
method, was introduced by Snel et al. 关5,6兴. Based on systematic
use of their model, Snel et al. proposed a semi-empirical law for
the correction of the 2-D lift curve, identifying the local chord to
radii (c/r) ratio of the blade section as the main parameter of
influence. This result has later been confirmed by Soerensen and
Soerensen 关7兴 and Shen and Soerensen 关8兴, who performed airfoil
computations applying a quasi-3D Navier-Stokes model, based on
the streamfunction-vorticity formulation.
A quasi-3D model based on the primitive variables form of the
incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is presented in this paper
and applied for both laminar and turbulent flows. The incompress-
ibility assumption is suitable for wind engineering applications
where the Mach number is limited to a maximum of approxi-
mately 0.2. The model equations resemble the 2-D Navier-Stokes
system except from an additional transport-diffusion equation for
the radial momentum component and two source terms appearing
into the continuity and the axial momentum equations. All the
source terms are weighted with the c/r ratio indicating that the
three-dimensional effects are stronger at the inner part of the blade
where c/r becomes relatively large. In addition to the local chord
to radii parameter the present model introduces a second param-
eter of importance, the local twist angle of the blade section. The
resulting equations are numerically integrated by means of an un-
steady incompressible Navier-Stokes solver of the ‘‘pressure cor-
rection’’ kind. The standard k-␻ model of Wilcox 关9兴, supported
by wall-function-type boundary conditions, is used for turbulence
closure.
The development of the quasi-3D model is discussed in the first
part of the paper. A limited number of laminar flow simulations
are discussed in the Results section, where particular emphasis is
given in understanding the underlying physical mechanism which
triggers the 3-D and the rotational effects. Semi-empirical correc-

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 tion laws based on systematic turbulent flow computations for the
NACA 63-2-15 airfoil are proposed for the lift drag and pitching
moment coefficients and to validate these corrections an example
冉 冊
⳵共 兲
⳵t
⫽
⳵ 共兲
⳵t
, 冉 冊
⳵共 兲
⳵⌰
⫽
⳵ 共兲
⳵⌰
, 冉 冊 ⳵共 兲
⳵z
⫽
⳵ 共兲
⳵z
(7)

of a BEM power curve computation is finally shown. Step 3: The resulting system of equations is subjected to the fol-
lowing assumptions:

The Quasi-3D Model

A simplified quasi-3D model has been devised in order to iden-
冉
冊冉 冊冉 冊
⳵ 共 W ⌰ /r 兲
⳵r
⫽
⳵Wz
⳵r
⫽
⳵Wr
⳵r
⫽0,

tify the influence of the three-dimensional and rotational effects

on the blade section characteristics. The governing equations are
derived using the following steps:
冉 冊冉 冊冉 冊
⳵ 2 共 W ⌰ /r 兲
⳵r 2 ⫽
⳵ 2W z
⳵r 2 ⫽
⳵ 2W r
⳵r2
⫽0,

Step 1: The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are written

in conservative form in the cylindrical coordinate system, 共⌰, z, r兲
共see Bird et al. 关10兴兲 which rotates with the blade with a constant
冉 冊 冉 冊
⳵共 pt /␳ 兲
⳵r
⫽q⇒
⳵ 共 p/ ␳ 兲
⳵r
1
⫽q⫺ 共 W ⌰ ⫹⍀r̄ 兲 2 ,
r̄
rotational speed ⍀ 共see Vavra 关11兴兲. ⌰ denotes the peripheral, z ab⬇āb̄ (8)
the axial and r the radial 共blade spanwise兲 direction. The infini-
tesimal length in the peripheral direction is ds⫽rd⌰. For sim- In other words, it is thus assumed that 共i兲 the mean value of the
plicity the equations are presented here in their laminar form: radial derivatives 共first and second兲 of the contravariant relative
Continuity velocity components are small and can be neglected, 共ii兲 the radial
derivative of the total pressure 共related to the specific work兲 is a
⳵ W ⌰ ⳵ 共 rW z 兲 ⳵ section-depending constant, called q, and 共iii兲 mean values of
⫹ ⫹ 共 rW r 兲 ⫽0 (1)
⳵⌰ ⳵z ⳵r products can be approximated with products of mean values. Far
from the airfoil the velocities are W ⌰ ⫽⫺⍀r, W z ⫽constant and
Momentum, ⌰-Component
W r ⫽0, which directly satisfy the above quasi-3D assumptions.
⳵W⌰
⳵t
⫹
⳵ W⌰
⳵⌰ r
2
⌽
再
⫹ ⫺␯
r
⳵ W⌰
⳵⌰ r2 冉 冊冎 再 ⫹
⳵
⳵z
W zW ⌰⫺ ␯
⳵W⌰
⳵z 冎 The validity of these assumptions in the viscous boundary layer
close to the airfoil is discussed in the next section.
Step 4: The outcome of the analysis is the following set of

⫹
⳵
⳵r 再
W rW ⌰⫺ ␯ 冉
r 冊冎
1 ⳵ 共 rW ⌰ 兲
⳵r
equations including the modified continuity equation 共9兲 and Eq.
共10兲–共12兲 accounting for the momentum balance in the 共⌰, z, r兲
directions, respectively.

⫽␯
2 ⳵ Wr
r ⳵⌰ r 冉 冊 冉 冊
⫺2W r
W⌰
r
⫹⍀ (2)
ⵜ 2D"W2D⫹
Wr
r̄
⫽0 (9)

冉 冊
Momentum, z-Component
⳵Wz
⳵t
⫹
⳵ W⌰
⳵⌰ r 再
W z⫺ ␯
⳵ Wz
⳵⌰ r2 冉 冊冎 再 ⫹
⳵
⳵z
W z2 ⫹⌰⫺ ␯
⳵Wz
⳵z 冎 N 2D共 W ⌰ 兲 ⫹
⳵ ⌽̄
⳵s
⫽⫺2W r
W⌰
r̄
⫹⍀ ⫹
2 ⳵Wr
Re r̄ ⳵ s
(10)

⫹
⳵
⳵r 再
W rW z⫺ ␯
⳵Wz
⳵r 冉 冊冎 N 2D共 W z 兲 ⫹
⳵ ⌽̄
⳵z
⫽0 (11)

⫽␯
1 ⳵ Wz
r ⳵r r 冉 冊 (3) N 2D共 W r 兲 ⫽⫺q⫹
2
r̄
共 W ⌰ ⫹⍀r̄ 兲 2 ⫺ 冋
1 2 ⳵W⌰ 1
Re r̄ ⳵ s
⫹ 2 Wr
r̄
册
Momentum, r-Component (12)

再 冉 冊冎 再 冎
In the above system of equations subscript 2D denotes ‘‘equiva-
⳵Wr ⳵ W⌰ ⳵ Wr ⳵ ⳵Wr
⫹ W r⫺ ␯ ⫹ W zW r⫺ ␯ lent’’ two-dimensional properties on the 共⌰, z兲 plane and N stands
⳵t ⳵⌰ r ⳵⌰ r2 ⳵z ⳵z for the Navier-Stokes scalar operator.

⫹
⳵
⳵r 再 p
W r2 ⫹ ⫺ ␯
␳
1 ⳵ 共 rW r 兲
r ⳵r 冎 W2D⬅ 关 W ⌰ ,W z 兴 , ⵜ 2D⬅ 冋 1 ⳵ ⳵
,
r̄ ⳵ ⌰ ⳵ z
⬅
⳵ ⳵
,
⳵s ⳵z册冋 册
,

2 ⳵ W ⌰ W r2 1 p̄ 1
⫽⫺ ␯ ⫺ ⫹ 共 W ⌰ ⫹⍀r 兲 2 (4) ⌽̄⫽ ⫺ 共 ⍀r̄ 兲 2
r2 ⳵⌰ r r ␳ 2
W stands for the relative velocity vector, ␳ for the fluid density, p ⳵ 1 2
is the static pressure, and ␯ the kinematic viscosity. It is recalled N 2D⫽ ⫹W2D"ⵜ 2D⫺ ⵜ (13)
that W⫽V⫺⍀xr, where V is the velocity vector in the absolute ⳵t Re 2D
frame. ⌽ is a pressure like term including the centrifugal effect The presented set is nondimensional. Dimensionless variables are
introduced as follows:
p 1
⌽⫽ ⫺ 共 ⍀r 兲 2 (5) 共 r,z 兲 → 共 r,z 兲 /c⇒ⵜ 2D→ⵜ 2D•c, t→t 兩 W2D兩 ⬁ /c
␳ 2
Step 2: The equations are integrated along the radial direction and W→ 兩 W2D兩 ⬁ , ⍀→ 兩 W2D兩 ⬁ /c, ⌽→⌽/ 兩 W2D兩 ⬁2 (14)
‘‘mean radial values,’’ denoted with an overbar, are obtained. The
mean value operator reads: where c stands for the chord of the local blade section, Re is the
Reynolds number and ⬁ denotes far-field conditions.
共兲⫽
1
⌬r 冕
r
r⫹⌬r
共 兲 dr (6)
The initial conditions needed for the solution of the quasi-3D
problem are provided under the assumption that the far-field flow
is uniform at the absolute frame, having a nonzero axial velocity
As a consequence, component (V z ⫽W z ) only. To compare quasi-3D against pure

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Fig. 1 Velocity triangle at the „ z ,⌰… plane
2-D results the quasi-3D initial conditions are formulated in the
2-D sense. Considering the flow around a blade section of twist
angle ␥, see Fig. 1, the following relations provide the far-field
velocity conditions and the corresponding rotational speed ⍀.
1 the NACA63-415 airfoil. The pitch setting is 0 degrees. The inner
W ⌰⬁ ⫽cos共 ␥ ⫹ ␣ 兲 , W z⬁ ⫽sin共 ␥ ⫹ ␣ 兲 , ⍀⫽⫺ cos共 ␣ ⫹ ␥ 兲
r̄
(15)
Before concluding this section a brief discussion is held on the
governing equations and their boundary conditions for better un-
derstanding the shortcomings and consequences of the proposed
model. The following remarks are therefore made:
共i兲 Compared to the 2-D problem, the quasi-3D one includes
an additional momentum equation, Eq. 共12兲, for the radial velocity
component, while two source terms involving this radial compo-
nent are added into the continuity and the peripheral momentum
equations. All the extra terms are weighted with the 1/r̄ factor, or
the c/r ratio in dimensional quantities. This implies that the quasi-
3-D effects become stronger as c/r increases 共inner part of the
blade兲, which is in full accordance with the experimental obser-
vations. The 3-D and rotational effects are strictly due to the Co-
riolis force and not to the centrifugal force. The effect of the latter
is well-hidden in the pressure-like term ⌽ which replaces the
static pressure in the governing equations. Clearly, Eqs. 共9兲–共12兲
degenerate to the 2-D Navier-Stokes equations when c/r→0 and
q⫽0.
共ii兲 The influence of the twist angle is implicitly taken into
account in the above analysis. Actually, ␥ along with ␣ define the
‘‘equivalent’’ rotational speed ⍀ affecting the strength of the
source terms appearing in the peripheral and radial momentum
equations.
共iii兲 The main production term appearing in Eq. 共12兲, i.e., the
first R.H.S. term, is always positive leading to the generation of a
radial velocity field of positive sign 共hub to tip兲. The production is
larger as c/r increases and W ⌰ decreases. W ⌰ takes small values
within the wall shear layer, the thickness of which depends on the
Reynolds number. Thus, a Reynolds number effect should be ex-
pected. When the flow is detached, radial velocity is generated in
the separation bubble. The above remarks imply that even for
large c/r ratios the solutions of the 2-D and the quasi-3D problem
are rather identical at low angles of attack and high Reynolds
numbers, where the flow remains fully attached and the boundary
layer is thin, while larger differences, depending on the extent of
the separation bubble, should be expected for detached flows.
共iv兲 The resulting quasi-3D model depends strongly on the as-
sumptions made. It is perfectly understood that the fully 3-D flow
around a rotating blade does not satisfy strictly any of the above
assumptions in the vicinity of the blade as also shown with the full
3-D computation described below. It is also understood that the
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proposed simplification set is by no means unique. Regarding the
approximations of the radial derivatives of the velocity vector,
these apply on the contravariant components instead of the cylin-
drical components themselves, in an attempt to satisfy the far-field
conditions at least. Regarding the pressure field, it is preferred to
model the total pressure instead of the static pressure radial de-
rivative since it is expected, by intuition, that the work distribution
along the blade span should affect the 3-D character of the flow.
In all applications that follow the ‘‘work distribution’’ parameter
q is supposed to be zero. Positive q values are expected to reduce
the 3-D and rotational effects.
The extension of the model for turbulent flow is straightfor-
ward. The main difference compared to the equations already pre-
sented is the introduction of the eddy viscosity in the diffusion
term of the ‘‘2-D’’ Navier-Stokes operator N.
Validation of the Quasi-3D Assumptions
To investigate whether the quasi-3D assumptions are approxi-
mately valid in the viscous boundary layer close to the airfoil a
full 3-D computation is performed on a single rotating blade en-
closed in a tube between two cylinders as described in 共Hansen
et al. 关12兴兲. The blade is non-tapered, non-twisted and based on
and outer radial boundaries are 1 and 20 chords from the rota-
tional axis, respectively. Only the blade mid-section is investi-
gated, i.e., 10 chords from the cylindrical boundaries. The inflow
velocity V z and the rotational speed ⍀ is specified to give a geo-
metrical angle of attack of 15 degrees and a Reynolds number of
1.55⫻106 at the mid-span. The k-␻, SST turbulence model, see
Menter 关13兴, is used and the flow is assumed turbulent from the
leading edge. At mid span the computation show a trailing edge
separation starting at approximately 50 percent chord. In the sepa-
ration bubble the radial velocity becomes quite high with a maxi-
mum value of 0.8 times the local rotational speed, ⍀r, of the
blade.
The present investigation is limited to the assumptions made for
the first radial derivatives of the velocity components 共first line of
Eq. 共8兲兲. Due to quite high angles of attack in the inboard part of
the blade the solution never becomes stationary, but at a certain
time two residuals are computed denoted RES1 and RES2. RES1
is the residual for the continuity equation 共1兲 and RES2 denotes
the residual for the modified continuity equation 共9兲, where the
quasi-3D assumptions have been applied. Within a circle of a
radius of 1 chord around the mid-section airfoil the maximum
value of RES1 is 164 times bigger than the maximum absolute
difference between RES1 and RES2 verifying the quasi-3D as-
sumption for the radial derivative of the radial velocity compo-
nent. To investigate the validity of the assumption on ⳵ W z / ⳵ r the
following ratio, R 1 , is calculated in all computational cells within
the boundary layer, the denominator expressing some norm of the
local W z gradient.
兩⳵Wz /⳵r兩
R 1⫽ (16)
兩 ⳵ 共 W z /r 兲 / ⳵ ⌰ 兩 ⫹ 兩 ⳵ W z / ⳵ z 兩 ⫹ 兩 ⳵ W z / ⳵ r 兩
In a similar way the following ratio, R 2 , is used regarding
⳵ (W ⌰ /r)/ ⳵ r
兩 ⳵ 共 W ⌰ /r 兲 / ⳵ r 兩
R 2⫽ (17)
兩 ⳵ 共 W ⌰ /r 兲 / ⳵ r 兩 ⫹ 兩 ⳵ 共 W ⌰ /r 兲 / ⳵ z 兩 ⫹ 兩 ⳵ 共 W ⌰ /r 2 兲 / ⳵ ⌰ 兩
At mid-span the average values of R 1 and R 2 in the vicinity of the
blade, i.e., in the viscous region, are 2.18⫻10⫺2 and 1.87
⫻10⫺2 , respectively, suggesting that the quasi-3D assumptions
are well satisfied in this case.
Transactions of the ASME
 Brief Description of the Unsteady Quasi-3D Navier-
Stokes Solver
The equations of the quasi-3D model 共9兲–共12兲 are numerically
integrated by means of an unsteady, implicit, matrix-free, pressure
correction algorithm. The matrix free pressure correction solver
employs a conjugate gradient scheme, which is suitable for prob-
lems with nonsymmetric characteristic matrix. Spatial discretiza-
tion is performed on C-type structured body fitted meshes em-
ploying second order accurate numerical schemes. For turbulent
flow computation the standard k-␻ 共Wilcox 关9兴兲 is employed. The
model is equipped with wall function-type boundary conditions
for coarse grid computations. Transition may be either fixed or
free. Details on the basic 2-D code can be found in Chaviaropou-
los 关14兴.

Results and Discussion

Having performed one full 3-D Navier-Stokes computation,
which indicated that the quasi 3-D assumptions seem reasonable,
numerical results are now presented for laminar as well as turbu-
lent flows using the quasi 3-D method. The boundary conditions
employed in both cases are of the isolated airfoil type 共undis-
turbed flow conditions at the far-field boundary, periodicity ef-
fects on the blade-to-blade surface are not taken into account兲.
The laminar flow results are mainly explored to identify the trig-
gering mechanism of the 3-D and rotational effects. The turbulent
flow results are used for expressing correction laws for the lift,
drag and pitching moment coefficients of the NACA 63-2-15 air-
foil. It is noted that the NACA 63-2-XX family is one of the
favorites of the wind turbine blade manufacturers. Finally, a BEM
computation is shown, where the empirical corrections have been
used to correct pure 2-D airfoil data and it is seen that this im-
proves the results considerably, especially at the high wind speed Fig. 2 Influence of the c Õ r ratio on „a… the pressure and „b… the
regime, where the blades are stalled. skin friction coefficient of the NACA 0015 airfoil in laminar flow.
ReÄ400, ␣Ä15 degrees, twistÄ0 degrees.
Quasi-3D Computations for Laminar Flows
Quasi-3D results are presented for the NACA 0015 airfoil at a effect is present, see Fig. 4 for the contour plots of W r . As al-
Reynolds number of 400 and at an angle of attack of 15 degrees. ready discussed earlier, the development of this strong radial ve-
The choice of a rather low Reynolds number was intentional for locity field is due to the production term of the radial momentum
producing a ‘‘stable’’ separation bubble to facilitate the investiga- equation and this term becomes significant in the presence of a
tion. Several parametric runs have been performed in terms of the separation bubble. The continuity and the axial momentum bal-
c/r ratio 关0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3兴 and the twist angle 关0, 10, 20 degrees兴.
A C-type 197⫻41 grid with 150 nodes on the airfoil has been
used in all cases. The mean distance of the first grid-line from the
airfoil is 5⫻10⫺4 c. With the exception of the c/r⫽0 case, which
presented a little unsteadiness, all calculations resulted in a steady,
converged, solution where the L2 residual norms of all equations
dropped at least five orders of magnitude from the free-stream
initialization. The calculated lift Cl and drag Cd coefficients
共mean values in time, when needed兲 increase with c/r and de-
crease with the twist angle faster than linearly. For the c/r⫽0.3
and twist⫽0 degrees case the lift coefficient is nearly doubled
compared to pure 2-D results (c/r⫽0).
The increase of lift and drag is better understood considering
Fig. 2 where the pressure coefficient Cp and the skin friction Cf
are plotted against x/c for the zero twist angle runs. It is seen that
although the flow remains massively separated in all cases 共actu-
ally the separation point location is not really affected by c/r兲 the
suction side distribution of the pressure coefficient moves rapidly
towards lower levels as c/r increases. The lift coefficient and the
pressure drag, contributing to the total drag, are therefore in-
creased. The significant drop of the pressure coefficient along the
suction side can be interpreted as follows. Consider the contour
plot detail of the W 2D magnitude 共the in-plane component兲 shown
in Figs. 3共a兲 and 3共b兲 corresponding to the c/r⫽0 and c/r⫽0.3
cases. It is evident that the volume of the separation bubble cor- Fig. 3 Laminar flow around NACA 0015, ReÄ400, ␣Ä15 de-
responding to c/r⫽0.3 is much reduced compared to the 2-D grees, twistÄ0 degrees. Contour plots of the in-plane „ W 2D…
(c/r⫽0) result. At the same time a strong radial velocity compo- velocity magnitude, „a… 2-D flow, „b… c Õ r Ä0.3. Contour step
nent is developing within the separation bubble when the 3-D Ä0.1.

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 Fig. 4 Laminar flow around NACA 0015, ReÄ400, ␣Ä15 de-
grees, twistÄ0 degrees. Contour plot of the radial velocity com-
ponent W r . Contour stepÄ0.1.

ance imply that mass is sucked out of the 共⌰, z兲 plane to compen-
sate for the developing radial component. Thus, the separation
bubble is reduced, the flow is compressed along the suction side
of the airfoil and the pressure level drops proportionally there.

Quasi-3D Computations for Turbulent Flows

Turbulent flow results are presented for the NACA 63-2-15
airfoil at Reynolds number 2 million, a rather characteristic num-
ber for a wind turbine blade section. All calculations have been
performed using the k-␻ model with wall functions, assuming
fully turbulent flow conditions. A series of parametric runs has
been performed in terms of the c/r ratio and the twist angle as
presented in Table 1. It is seen that two sets of angles of attack
have been used, called SET1 and SET2. SET1 is wider, including
angles of attack from 5 to 29 degrees with steps of 1 degree, while
SET2 includes selective values focusing on the stall–post-stall
regime. A C-type 197⫻45 grid with 145 nodes on the airfoil has
been used in all cases. The mean distance of the first grid-line
from the airfoil is 2⫻10⫺4 c. For the c/r⫽0 case steady results,
corresponding to converged solutions, have been obtained for
angles of attack lower than 13 degrees. Convergence is assumed
when the L2 residual norms of all equations are dropped four
orders of magnitude starting from the potential flow initialization.
A periodic variation of the load coefficients is obtained at higher
angles of attack. The load coefficients presented below for those
cases represent mean values in time. The amplitude of the peri-
odic oscillations is, however, reduced as c/r increases. This is
probably due to the reduction of the separation bubble volume, as
explained earlier.
The calculated values of the lift Cl, drag Cd and pitching mo-
ment Cm coefficients, corresponding to the c/r⫽0 共viscous 2D兲
and the c/r⫽0.3 共viscous 3D兲 cases, are presented versus the
angle of attack in Fig. 5 for the 0 degrees twist angle. The corre-
sponding inviscid values are plotted in the same figure. Note that
the ‘‘inviscid’’ label at the Cd plot corresponds to the minimum
drag value of the 2-D runs for reasons which will be explained
below. It is seen that quasi-3D lift curve lies between the corre- Fig. 5 2-D and quasi-3D load coefficients versus angle of at-
sponding inviscid and 2-D values while both the drag and pitching tack, „a… CI, „b… Cd, and „c… Cm. NACA 63-2-15, ReÄ2Ã106 , fully
moment curves are well above the corresponding 2-D values. As turbulent flow, twistÄ0 degrees.
expected, the differences between the 2-D and the quasi-3D
curves are more pronounced at higher angles of attack. Looking
for a semi-empirical correction law for the load coefficients we
adopt the idea of Snel et al. 关6兴 to express the 3-D correction of the lift coefficient as a fraction of the difference ⌬C l between the
inviscid value C l,INV and the corresponding 2-D value C l,2D . The
obtained results for Cd and Cm suggest that a similar correction
Table 1 Parametric quasi-3D runs for the NACA 63-2-15 airfoil law can be used for the 3-D effect on the drag and pitching mo-
c/r⫽0 c/r⫽0.1 c/r⫽0.2 c/r⫽0.3
ment coefficients as well. In addition, the influence of the twist
angle, not present in the analysis of Snel at al., could be intro-
twist⫽0 deg SET 1 SET 2 SET 2 SET 1 duced through the ⌬C l multiplier. In view of the above the fol-
5 deg SET 2 lowing correction law is proposed:
10 deg SET 2
15 deg SET 2
20 deg SET 2 C X,3D⫽C X,2D⫹a 共 c/r 兲 h cosn 共 twist兲 ⌬C X ; X⫽l,d,m (18)
Set 1: ␣ 关5 To 29 deg, Step 1 deg兴 Re⫽2 mil., Fully Turbulent
Set 2: ␣关12, 15, 20, 25 deg兴 Re⫽2 mil., Fully Turbulent where

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Fig. 6 Influence of the c Õ r ratio on „a… the pressure and „b… the
skin friction coefficients. NACA 63-2-15, ReÄ2 mil, ␣Ä15 de-
grees, fully turbulent flow. TwistÄ0 degrees.
⌬C l ⫽C l,INV⫺C l,2D
⌬C d ⫽C d,2D⫺C d,2D-MIN (19)
⌬C m ⫽C m,2D⫺C m,INV
The three constants of the model a, h, and n are calibrated using a
best-fit procedure on the computational data base. This procedure
resulted in the following numbers, a⫽2.2, h⫽1, n⫽4. For the
NACA 44XX series Snel et al. 关6兴 proposed the values a⫽3 and
h⫽2, however as they state in their paper the ⌬C l multiplier is
probably airfoil and Reynolds dependent. The lift, drag and pitch-
ing moment curves resulting from the above model are also shown
in Fig. 5 under the label ‘‘reproduced’’ and, in general, compare
well with the quasi-3D results.
The physical mechanism producing the airfoil overloading has
already been discussed in the laminar results section. To illustrate
the statement the calculated pressure and skin friction coefficients
for different values of c/r and twist angles are presented versus
x/c for 15 degrees angle of attack in Fig. 6. It is seen that no
significant variations of Cf are encountered in the attached part of
the flow while the location of the separation point is practically
unaltered. Nevertheless, the pressure coefficient along the suction
side of the airfoil drops to lower levels as c/r is increased, in-
creasing the lift and the pressure drag contribution to the total
drag.
Finally, to test the correction formulas 共18兲 and 共19兲 a BEM
computation is performed on a Bonus 300 Combi stall regulated
wind turbine. The rotor is comprised by three LM14.2 blades,
the diameter is 31 m the pitch is zero and the rotational speed is
31 rpm. The LM14.2 blade is based on NACA63-4XX and
NACA63-2XX airfoils. Measured 2-D lift and drag coefficients
for the NACA63-415, NACA63-418, NACA63-421, NACA63-
212, NACA63-215 and NACA63-218 airfoils are found in Abbott
Journal of Fluids Engineering
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Table 2 Assumed airfoil data for high angles of attack
␣ Cl Cd
25 0.95 0.35
30 1.00 0.48
40 1.00 0.70
50 0.90 0.90
70 0.50 1.15
90 0.00 1.30
Fig. 7 Measured and computed electrical power for a Bonus
300 Combi wind turbine using ‘‘pure’’ 2-D airfoil data and using
the same data corrected for 3-D rotational effects, Eqs. „18… and
„19…
and Doenhoff 关15兴. In the absence of measured data beyond 20
degrees angle of attack an extrapolation procedure is employed
which is standard in wind engineering practice. It is assumed that
all the applied airfoils are equally loaded at high angles of attack
and that their load coefficients are those presented in Table 2. The
results of the BEM model are presented in Fig. 7, showing the
computed power curve with and without corrections. It is seen
that the power is underestimated compared to measurements when
the uncorrected 2-D airfoil data are used. Using the suggested
value h⫽1 helps to increase the power for high wind speeds
while using h⫽1.3 excellent results are obtained. It must be em-
phasized that the BEM results depend on the airfoil data and thus
also on the data assumed for the high angle of attack regime. It is
very clear, however, that the suggested 3-D corrections improve
considerably the results at high wind speeds where the flow is
separated. At the low wind speed regime where the flow is at-
tached no corrections are actually needed. The measured power
curve is found in Petersen 关16兴.
Conclusions
Navier-Stokes modeling is used to identify and quantify the
influence of rotational and three-dimensional effects on the load-
ing of wind turbine blades. A quasi-3D flow model is established
and an existing 2-D incompressible Reynolds averaged solver has
been suitably enriched with a simplified radial momentum equa-
tion and source terms to account for three-dimensional and rota-
tional effects. The equations of the model are derived from the
3-D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, expressed in the cy-
lindrical coordinate system, taking mean radial values and making
consistent assumptions for the mean values of the radial deriva-
tives. The main aim of this effort is to provide insight to the
physical mechanisms driving these effects and to express appro-
priate semi-empirical correction laws for the load coefficients of
airfoils mounted on wind turbine blades.
Theoretical considerations and numerical experimentation im-
ply that the two most important parameters that trigger three-
JUNE 2000, Vol. 122 Õ 335
 dimensional effects are the chord by radii ratio and the twist angle Subscripts
of the considered blade section. It also appears that these effects 2D ⫽ two-dimensional properties
do not influence the aerodynamic performance in the attached 3D ⫽ three-dimensional properties
flow regime significantly, while they play an important role at INV ⫽ inviscid
higher angles of attack where the flow is massively separated. MIN ⫽ minimum value
Results presented for both laminar and turbulent flows indicate t ⫽ stagnation properties
that when the flow separates the Coriolis force sucks mass from z, r, ⌰ ⫽ cylindrical components
the separation bubble and redirects it to the radial direction, lead- ⬁ ⫽ far-field properties
ing to a relative reduction of the volume of the separation bubble.
The reduction of the bubble volume produces a pressure drop Superscripts
along the suction side of the airfoils increasing, thus, the blade ⫺ ⫽ mean radial value
loading.
Systematic turbulent flow computations have been performed
for the NACA 63-2-15 airfoil, at a realistic Reynolds number for References
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