In the past few years Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has evolved from a research tool mainly used at universities and research institutions to a practical tool applied by the wind industry for design optimization. This paper presents how CFD is practically and systematically applied by a wind turbine manufacturer. The classical application of CFD is for blade optimization, providing solutions to the fundamental challenge of continuously reducing the energy cost from wind. The presentation will give examples on how 2D airfoil coefficients can be estimated accurately and how the full 3D model additionally can take 3D effects into account, both in order to improve performance. Recent advances in wind turbine related CFD include correlation-based transition models offering new insight into how laminar and turbulent boundary layer flows influence overall performance. The presentation presents the consequences on airfoil and rotor performance resulting from the inclusion of transition modeling in a commercial code, ANSYS-CFX. Examples of how actuator models can be used in a more practical CFD approach to modeling off-design conditions such as e.g. high wind shear inflow and is also presented. A less common use of full 3D Navier-Stokes solvers is in the assessment of siting in complex terrain. The paper presents application of ANSYS-CFX for complex site analysis in order to identify critical turbine locations with respect to terrain-generated wind shear and turbulence. The output is the basis for a more accurate assessment of turbine lifetime as a function of actual terrain than is possible with other available tools.
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