The approach and results of a study on the optimization of airfoils for wind turbines through geometrical modification of the leading edge are presented. The objective is to produce a constant lift-coefficient after the airfoil stalls and to remain at this constant lift for as long as possible. An experimental and numerical methodology that yields optimized geometries that influence lift this certain manner has been devised. The procedure is performed by experimentally testing a base airfoil (TEG2618) for a wide range of α at Re = 8×10^5 (u∞=38ms−1) and using the produced experimental data as a reference for validating computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models. A software tool is developed to automatically carry out analyses of all predefined geometrical variations between α=−10 and 20∘. The leading edge variants yielding the best results in the CFD analyses according to the criteria are selected, 3D printed and experimentally analyzed. The results demonstrate that the maximum lift coefficient at stalling can be maintained for at least another Δα of 6∘ with reasonable loss of the total maximum lift compared to the unmodified base airfoil.     «

The approach and results of a study on the optimization of airfoils for wind turbines through geometrical modification of the leading edge are presented. The objective is to produce a constant lift-coefficient after the airfoil stalls and to remain at this constant lift for as long as possible. An experimental and numerical methodology that yields optimized geometries that influence lift this certain manner has been devised. The procedure is performed by experimentally testing a base airfoil (TE...     »