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Numerical simulation of rime ice accretion on a three-dimensional wind turbine blade using a Lagrangian approach

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Abstract

The accreted ice on wind turbine blades significantly deteriorates the blade aerodynamic performance and consequently the power production. The existing numerical simulations of blade icing have mostly been performed with the Eulerian approach for two-dimensional (2D) blade profiles, neglecting the possible three-dimensional (3D) rotating effect. This paper conducts a numerical simulation of rime ice accretion on a 3D wind turbine blade using the Lagrangian approach. The simulation results are validated through previously published experimental data. The icing characteristics along the blade radial direction are then investigated in detail. Significant radial airflow along the blade is observed, which demonstrates the necessity of 3D simulation. In addition, more droplets are found to impinge on the blade surface near the tip region, thereby producing severer ice accretion there. The accreted ice increases almost linearly along the blade radial direction in terms of both ice mass and maximum ice thickness.

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Acknowledgements

This project is jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52078380) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. SLDRCE19-B-14), which are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Tiange Zhang & Xuanyi Zhou

  2. State Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Science and Technology, Trina Solar, Changzhou, 213031, China

    Zhenbiao Liu

Authors
  1. Tiange Zhang
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  2. Xuanyi Zhou
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  3. Zhenbiao Liu
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Correspondence to Zhenbiao Liu.

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Zhang, T., Zhou, X. & Liu, Z. Numerical simulation of rime ice accretion on a three-dimensional wind turbine blade using a Lagrangian approach. Front. Struct. Civ. Eng. 17, 1895–1906 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11709-023-0971-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11709-023-0971-0

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