The primary tool currently used for a wind turbine preliminary design is the blade element momentum method, which lacks a detailed wake model and relies on an assumption of non-interacting streamtubes. These simplifications limit the designer's ability to tailor the blade shape to minimize the induced power loss of the rotor. Improved prediction of the induced velocity distribution on the blades can be achieved through the use of vortex-based models at a computational cost low enough for use in design processes requiring many iterations. This paper presents the implementation of a potential flow, lifting-surface methodology using elements of distributed vorticity. The use of such elements provides several advantages including higher resolution than filament-based methods, simulation of non-planar blade planforms, and avoids the need for empirical corrections. Because the wake has a strong influence on the flow at the rotor, the accurate prediction of its geometry is highly important for wind turbine analysis. To this end, a force-free relaxed-wake model is presented as well as less numerically intensive fixed-wake and hybrid-wake models. Comparison is made to the blade element momentum method and Goldstein's theoretical solution for the ideal lightly loaded rotor.

中文翻译：

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使用分布式涡量单元对水平轴风力发电机进行无粘性分析

目前用于风力涡轮机初步设计的主要工具是叶片单元动量法，该方法缺乏详细的尾流模型，并且依赖于非相互作用流管的假设。这些简化限制了设计者定制叶片形状以最小化转子的感应功率损失的能力。通过使用基于涡流的模型，可以改进对叶片上诱导速度分布的预测，其计算成本足够低，可用于需要多次迭代的设计过程。本文介绍了使用分布式涡量元素实现势流、升力面方法。使用此类元件具有多种优点，包括比基于细丝的方法具有更高的分辨率、非平面叶片平面形状的模拟，并且无需经验校正。由于尾流对转子处的流动有很大影响，因此准确预测其几何形状对于风力涡轮机分析非常重要。为此，提出了无力松弛尾流模型以及数值强度较低的固定尾流和混合尾流模型。将叶片单元动量法与理想轻载转子的Goldstein理论解进行了比较。