2.07 - Aerodynamic Analysis of Wind Turbines

The aerodynamics of wind turbines concerns modeling and prediction of the aerodynamic forces on wind turbines. Wind turbine aerodynamics is the most central discipline for the design and construction of wind turbine blades. Here we give a status of the most important research areas within the aerodynamics of wind turbines, rotor wakes and wind farms. This includes an introduction to basic rotor models, such as the blade element momentum theory, vortex models, numerical actuator disk models and computational fluid dynamics. Furthermore, a description is given of optimization of wind turbine rotors with respect to minimizing the cost of energy produced by wind turbines. Finally, an introduction to the prediction of aerodynamic noise from wind turbine rotors is carried out.