• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2009

To numerically simulate aerodynamics of rotor-airframe interaction in a rigorous manner, we need to solve the Navier-Stokes system for a rotor-airframe combination in a single computational domain. This imposes a computational burden since rotating blades and a stationary body have to be simultaneously dealt with. An efficient alternative is a momentum source method in which the action of rotor is approximated as momentum source in a stationary mesh system built around the airframe. This makes the simulation much easier. The magnitude of the momentum source is usually evaluated by the blade element theory, which often results in a poor accuracy. In the present work, we evaluate the momentum source from the simulation data by using the Navier-Stokes equations only for a rotor system. Using this data, we simulated the time-averaged steady rotor-airfame interaction and developed the unsteady rotor-airframe interaction. Computations were carried out for the simplified rotor-airframe model (the Georgia Tech configuration) and the results were compared with experimental data. The results were in good agreement with experimental data, suggesting that the present approach is a usefull method for rotor-airframe interaction analysis.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.96-101
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• 2011

In this study, we have established the design techniques, with which we can design and evaluate performance of blades on a horizontal axis current turbine, by application of blade element momentum theory considering the blade tip's loss model, and finally developed the domestic software(MCT-blade V2.0). We have designed and evaluated performance of blades for the 2MW class by using of the software, and confirmed its calculation results from BEMT by comparing those results from commercial code of ANSYS FLUENT. In a state of rated velocity 2.5m/s, the mechanical power from BEMT is calculated as 2,121kW, which is considered to satisfy the electrical power, but the value from CFD is calculated as 1,901kW, which is considered a little deficient for the target output.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.6A
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• pp.369-378
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• 2012

In this study, direct-search based optimization methods are applied for blade shape optimization of wind turbines and the optimization performances of several methods including conventional genetic algorithm, micro genetic algorithm and pattern search method are compared to propose a more efficient method. For this purpose, the currently available version of HARP_Opt (Horizontal Axis Rotor Performance Optimizer) code is enhanced to rationally evaluate the annual energy production value according to control strategies and to optimize the blade shape using pattern search method as well as genetic algorithm. The enhanced HARP_Opt code is applied to obtain the optimal turbine blade shape for 1MW class wind turbines. The results from pattern search method are compared with the results from conventional genetic algorithm and also micro genetic algorithm and it is found that the pattern search method has a better performance in achieving higher annual energy production and consistent optimal shapes and the micro genetic algorithm is better for reducing the calculation time.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.884-890
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• 2007

The procedure for the aerodynamic design of the rotor blades for 10 kW-level HAWT (horizontal axis wind turbine) has been investigated to be practiced systematically. The approximately optimal shape was designed using an inverse method based on the momentum theory and the blade element method. The configuration was tested in the wind tunnel of the Korea Air Force Academy, and the data was compared with those obtained from the real system manufactured from the present design. From this research, the authors established the systematic technolo for wind turbine blades, and set up the technical procedure which can be extended for the future design of middle and large sized wind turbines.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.368-375
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• 2018

In the present study, aerodynamic load analysis for a floating off-shore wind turbine was conducted to examine the effect of periodic platform motion in the direction of 6-DOF on rotor aerodynamic performance. Blade-element momentum method(BEM) was used for a numerical simulation, the unsteady airload effects due to the flow separation and the shed wake were considered by adopting a dynamic stall model based on the indicial response method. Rotor induced downwash was estimated using the momentum theory, coupled with empirical corrections for the turbulent wake states. The periodic platform motions including the translational motion in the heave, sway and surge directions and the rotational motion in the roll, pitch and yaw directions were considered, and each platform motion was applied as a sinusoidal function. For the numerical simulation, NREL 5MW reference wind turbine was used as the target wind turbine. The results showed that among the translation modes, the surge motion has the largest influence on changing the rotor airloads, while the effect of pitch motion is predominant for the rotations.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.156-162
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• 2011

The preliminary design stage of helicopters consists of various operations and in each operation design several detailed analysis tasks are needed. The analysis tasks include performance and the required power estimation. In helicopter design, those are usually carried out by adopting the momentum theory. In this paper, an explicit form of computational analysis based on the blade element theory and uniform/non-uniform inflow model is developed. The other motivation of the present development is to obtain trim and required power estimation for various helicopter configurations. Sectional and hub loads, power, trim, and flapping equations are derived by using a symbolic tool. Iterative computations are carried out till convergence is achieved in the blade response, inflow, and trim. The predictions regarding the trim and power estimation turn out to be correlated well with the experimental results. The effect of inflow is further investigated. It is found that the present prediction for the lateral cyclic pitch angle is improved with the non-uniform inflow model as compared to that by the uniform inflow model. The presently improved trim and power estimation will be useful for future helicopter sizing and performance analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.891-898
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• 2007

Optimal aerodynamic design for the pitch-controlled horizontal axis wind turbine and its aerodynamic performance for various pitch angles are performed numerically by using the blade element momentum theory. The numerical calculation includes effects such as Prandtl‘s tip loss, airfoil distribution, and wake rotation. Six different airfoils are distributed along the blade span, and the special airfoil i.e. airfoil of 40% thickness ratio is adopted at the hub side to have structural integrity. The nonlinear chord obtained from the optimal design procedure is linearized to decrease the weight and to increase the productivity with very little change of the aerodynamic performance. From the comparisons of the power, thrust, and torque coefficients with corresponding values of different pitch angles, the aerodynamic performance shows delicate changes for just $3^{\circ}$ increase or decrease of the pitch angle. For precisive pitch control, it requires the pitch control algorithm and its drive mechanism below $3^{\circ}$ increment of pitch angle. The maximum torque is generated when the speed ratio is smaller than the designed one.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.25-34
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• 2006

In this paper, a method of designing the pitch control algorithm for the wind turbine generator system (WTGS) and results of nonlinear simulation are presented. For this, the WTGS is treated as a multibody system and the blade element and momentum theory are adopted to model the aerodynamic force and torque acting the rotor blades. For the purpose of controller design, the WTGS is approximated to 1 DOF system using the fact that the WTGS is eventually a constrained multibody system. Then a classical PID controller is designed and used to regulate the rotational speed of the generator. FORTRAN based nonlinear simulation program is written and used to evaluate the performance of the proposed controller at the various wind scenario and operational modes.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.62.1-62.1
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• 2011

The wind can be stronger and steadier further from shore, but water depth is also deeper. Then bottom-mounted towers are not feasible, and floating turbines are more competitive. There are additional motions in an offshore floating wind turbine, which results in a more complex aerodynamics operating environment for the turbine rotor. Many aerodynamic analysis methods rely on blade element momentum theory to investigate aerodynamic load, which are not valid in vortex ring state that occurs in floating wind turbine operations. So, vortex lattice method, which is more physical, was used in this analysis. Floating platform's prescribed positions were calculated in the time domain by using floating system RAO and waves that are simulated using JONSWAP spectrum. The average value of in-plane aerodynamic force increase, but the value of out-of-plane force decrease. The maximum variation aerodynamic force abruptly increases in severe sea state. Especially, as the pitch motion of the barge platform is large, this motion should be avoided to decrease the aerodynamic load variation.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.59.2-59.2
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• 2011

Although there are many activities on the construction of wind farm to produce amount of power from the wind, in practice power productions are not as much as its expected capabilities. This is because a lack of both the prediction of wind resources and the aerodynamic analysis on turbines with far wake effects. In far wake region, there are velocity deficits and increases of the turbulence intensity which lead to the power losses of the next turbine and the increases of dynamic loadings which could reduce system's life. The analysis on power losses and the increases of fatigue loadings in the wind farm is needed to prevent these unwanted consequences. Therefore, in this study velocity deficits have been predicted and aerodynamic analysis on turbines in the far wake is carried out from these velocity profiles. Ainslie's eddy viscosity wake model is adopted to determine a wake velocity and aerodynamic analysis on wind turbines is predicted by the numerical methods such as blade element momentum theory(BEMT) and vortex lattice method(VLM). The results show that velocity recovery is more rapid in the wake region with higher turbulence intensity. Since the velocity deficit is larger when the turbine has higher thrust coefficient, there is a huge aerodynamic power loss at the downstream turbine.