Investigation of active flow control effect on performance of 100 kW horizontal axis wind turbine

In this paper dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator effect on flow separation of a horizontal axis wind turbine blade section were studied. Firstly, two dimensional flow simulations of plasma actuator with improved electrostatic model were performed in various operational conditions and angle of attacks. Then, an explicit response surface mathematical model was derived for the effect of variables on aerodynamic coefficients. Separation zone shrinkage was observed as a consequence of momentum injection from plasma actuation. The mathematical model has an acceptable validity and shows the significant interaction between parameters. Finally, a MATLAB code was developed to implement blade element momentum method and evaluate the mechanical output power of Tellus 100 kW wind turbine with actuator operation. The results indicate no significant effect on output power for cut-in to 10 m/s wind speeds and an increase of about 11 percent for 11 to 16 m/s speeds.