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Numerical and experimental investigation of wind loadings on vertical axis wind turbine blade deflection

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Abstract

This work focuses on experimental and numerical investigation of the deflection on VAWT blade surface against the high measured wind speeds that were simulated in FLUENT to obtain the corresponding static forces. The effect of forces, blade setting angle and thickness to chord ratio along with their combined effects on deflection were assessed experimentally and numerically. Three airfoils of gradually increasing thickness to chord ratio, NACA 0015, 0021 and 4412, were selected along with three levels of forces and tested at 5°, 10° and 15° of blade setting angle. A 33 factorial experimental design was used to perform experiments and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that individual effects of force and thickness to chord ratio were the most significant factors while blade setting angle had lesser significance on deflected values. However, interactive effects of these parameters were significant. Minimum deflections were observed in the range of 0.25-0.28 mm on NACA 0021 at 3 kg force in combination with all blade setting angles. Maximum observed value of defection was 1 mm, which occurred at 9 kg force at 5°, 10° and 15° of blade setting angle on NACA 0015 and 4412 airfoil shapes. The results ensure that the blade structure remains stable at 9 kg which corresponds to 20 m/s wind speed without affecting the performance. The deflections obtained from Finite element method were compared with experimental results and found in good agreement with each other.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Department, NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, 75270, Pakistan

    Muhammad Muzamil & Mubashir Ali Siddiqui

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi′an, 710072, China

    Muhammad Muzamil & Jianjun Wu

Authors
  1. Muhammad Muzamil
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  2. Mubashir Ali Siddiqui
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  3. Jianjun Wu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Muzamil.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Beomkeun Kim

Muhammad Muzamil is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering Department, NEDUET, Pakistan. His Expert areas are Finite Element analysis and Mechanical Testing of Materials.

Mubashir Siddiqui, Professor at Mechanical Engineering Department, NEDUET, holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from NED University, and M.S. and Ph.D. from Wayne State University, Michigan, USA. He has taught various courses including Renewable Energy, Design of Experiments, and Heat Transfer. His research interests include Energy, and application of Statistics in the field of Energy Systems.

Jianjun Wu is a Professor at School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China. His research interests include Aeronautics, Aircraft Manufacturing and Materials Forming ability.

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Muzamil, M., Siddiqui, M.A. & Wu, J. Numerical and experimental investigation of wind loadings on vertical axis wind turbine blade deflection. J Mech Sci Technol 30, 5555–5563 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-1124-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-1124-3

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