Optimal Design of a Blade of a Small Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) with considering Mechanical Constraints

Aerodynamic and optimal design of a blade of a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) has been performed in order to extract maximum power output with considering the strength of the blade structure resulted from different loads and moments. A design procedure is developed based on the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory and suitable correction factors are implemented to include three-dimensionality effects on the turbine performance. The design process has been modified to achieve the maximum power by searching an optimal chord distribution along the blade. Based on the aerodynamic design, the blade loads have been extracted and the blade mechanical strength has been investigated by analyzing the thickness of the blade surface and the blade material. The developed numerical model can be considered as a suitable tool for aerodynamically and mechanically design of a turbine blade. The results for a 500 W turbine show that the turbine performance improves by 5% approximately, by modifying chord radial distribution. Yield stress analysis shows the effect of introduced chord distribution on the blade strength, in different blade thicknesses and different blade materials. In addition, optimum tip speed ratio for having favorable mechanical safety factor is derived. Three different airfoil are examined for this investigation and comparing their mechanical safety factor.