Unsteady Surface Pressures and Airload of a Pitching Airfoil

Worasinchai, Supakit; Ingram, Grant; Dominy, Robert

Abstract

This paper presents unsteady surface pressure variations of a symmetrical NACA0012 section commonly used on Vertical-axis wind turbine blades. The section was tested at a Reynolds number of 90,000, mean incidence angles of 15 and -15, and a reduced frequency of 0.20. The experimental results show that the airfoil motion had significant effects on surface pressure distribution over the airfoil, leading to a formation and shedding of an energetic leading edge vortex which strongly affects the overall airload over the incidence range.

Citation

Worasinchai, S., Ingram, G., & Dominy, R. (2013). Unsteady Surface Pressures and Airload of a Pitching Airfoil. Energy Procedia, 34, 407-416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2013.06.769

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Aug 7, 2013
• Journal: Energy Procedia
• Print ISSN: 1876-6102
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Pages: 407-416
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2013.06.769
• Keywords: Airfoil, Dynamic performance characteristics, Low Reynolds number, Vortex formation.