Alternative Method of Nature Inspired Geometrical Design Strategy for Drag Induced Wind Turbine Blade Morphology

Abstract

Although drag driven wind turbine is regarded as an efficient rotor for low wind speed region, design reconfiguration is a continuous process in order to improve the performance of the rotor. The main governing factor that influences the performance of the rotor is the blade morphology. Hence, this paper presents a proposed nature inspired design approach for the development of drag driven wind turbine blade morphology. The design approach framework comprise of 3 main elements namely image processing, geometrical analysis and bio-hybridization. The proposed bio-hybridized design consist of blade mainframe curve inspired by nautilus shell and barnacle on the blade surface. It is found that integration of barnacle geometries on the surface of the blade has affected the performance of the rotor. Result shows that the peak C_m is at λ = 0.55 for experimental and CFD is C_m = 0.238 and C_m = 0.253 respectively. The proposed design resulted in experimental and numerical C_p = 0.113 and C_p = 0.127 respectively at 7 m/s and λ = 0.7. The presented design technique with appropriate design bio-element provides a systematic method for engineers to model wind turbine blade morphologies.