Performance analysis of the airfoil-slat arrangements for hydro and wind turbine applications

Standard airfoils historically used for wind and hydrokinetic turbines had maximum lift coefficients of around 1.3 at stall angles of attack, which is about 12°. At these conditions, the minimum flow velocities to generate electric power were about 7 m/s and 2 m/s for the wind turbine and the hydrokinetic turbine cases, respectively. In this study, NACA4412-NACA6411 slat–airfoil arrangement was chosen for these two cases in order to investigate the potential performance improvements. Aerodynamic performances of these cases were both numerically and experimentally investigated. The 2D and 3D numerical analysis software were used and the optimum geometric and flow conditions leading to the maximum power coefficient or the maximum lift to drag ratio were obtained. The maximum lift to drag ratio of 24.16 was obtained at the optimum geometric and flow parameters. The maximum power coefficient of 0.506 and the maximum torque were determined at the tip speed ratios of 5.5 and 4.0 respectively. The experimental work conducted in a towing tank gave the power coefficient to be 0.47 which is about %7 lower than the numerical results obtained. Hence, there is reasonable agreement between numerical end experimental values. It may be concluded that slat-hydrofoil or airfoil arrangements may be applied in the design of wind and hydrokinetic turbines for electrical power generation in lower wind velocities (3–4 m/s) and current velocities (about 1 m/s).