What is it about?
This study explores how the rotation of wind turbine blades influences the formation and behavior of laminar separation bubbles—small regions where airflow briefly detaches and then reattaches to the blade surface forming air buckets. These bubbles can impact the aerodynamic performance of the blades as they modify the shape of the blade airfoil seen by the airflow. Using large-eddy simulations (a type of advanced fluid dynamics modeling), the researchers examined how blade rotation affects these bubbles compared to when the blades are not rotating. They found that rotation significantly alters the size and shape of the bubbles, generally stabilizing the flow and reducing bubble size which leads to a significant change in the aerodynamic forces produced by the wind turbine blade compared to a non-rotating blade under the same relative flow velocity. These insights help improve predictions of wind turbine performance and may inform better blade designs.
Featured Image
Photo by Sander Weeteling on Unsplash
Why is it important?
We show how blade rotation in small wind turbines significantly alters the behavior of laminar separation bubbles through Coriolis and centrifugal forces. This directly affects the transition to turbulence and the aerodynamic forces on the blades. This matters because standard aerodynamic models like BEM theory use static airfoil data that ignores these rotational effects. At low Reynolds number flow, where laminar separation bubbles dominate, this leads to inaccurate predictions. Our findings provide the physical basis for correcting aerodynamic input in BEM-based models, enabling more reliable performance predictions for small wind turbines.
Perspectives
Writing this article was a valuable opportunity to dive deep into the complex behavior of laminar separation bubbles and their interaction with the forces arise from rotation. It's a topic I feel passionate about because the transition from laminar to turbulent flow is so crucial in predicting the aerodynamic forces produced by the wind turbine airfoil sections. The study not only provided fresh insights into the physics behind these rotational effects but also highlighted the importance of accurate aerodynamic modeling for predicting turbine behavior. I hope this work sparks further discussion on improving predictive models, ultimately helping to design more efficient, reliable small-scale turbines. It’s always rewarding to contribute to research that bridges theoretical understanding with practical, real-world applications.
Dr. AMR KHEDR
Universita degli Studi di Perugia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Large eddy simulation of the effect of blade rotation on laminar separation bubbles in horizontal axis wind turbines, Physics of Fluids, April 2025, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0261925.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
