RWA

Coursework for AE4135 Rotor/Wake Aerodynamics 2020/21 at TU Delft. Written in Python with occasional notes in Jupyter notebooks.

Assignment 1: BEM

Blade element momentum code. Investigating effect of tip-speed ratio on non-yawed and yawed rotor. Geometry optimisation based on Aerodynamic Design of Wind Turbine Rotors (2013) by Bak.

• Mesh sensitivity analysis
• Non-yawed and yawed rotors rotor
  • Angle of attack and inflow angle
  • Induction factors
  • Loads
  • Thrust and torque
  • Circulation
• Non-yawed
  • Stagnation enthalpy
• Geometry optimisation

Assignment 2: Lifting Line

Wind turbine vortex lifting line model in Python. Single rotor and double rotor configurations investigating, amongst other things, streamtube independence.

• Sensitivity study
  • Wake convection speed
  • Radial discretisation
  • Azimuthal discretisation
  • Wake length
• Single rotor case
  • Angle of attack and inflow angle
  • Circulation
  • Induction factors
  • Loads
  • Thrust and power coefficients
• Double rotor case
  • Effect of distance
  • Effect of phase

Assignment 3: Unsteady Aerodynamics

Unsteady, incompressible, potential flow, thin-airfoil, vortex panel code based on Section 13.10 of "Low-Speed Aerodynamics" by Joseph Katz & Allen Plotkin.

• Sensitivity study
  • Number of panels
  • Time step
• Steady aerofoil
• Unsteady aerofoil
• Steady aerofoil with flap
• Unsteady aerofoil experiencing gust