Calculation of aerodynamic performance of wind turbine airfoil incorporating transition prediction

Based on two dimensional Reynold Averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS) equations coupled with the eN database method to predict transition, the SA turbulence model was applied to calculate the aerodynamic performance of wind turbine dedicated airfoil DU91-W2-250 of Reynold number 1.0×106. The coefficients of lift and drag as well as the pressure distribution were computed with the airfoil's angle of attack changing from -11° to 12°. The comparison between fully turbulent calculation, computed results incorporating transition prediction and experimental data showed that transitional predicted results were closer to the experimental values. It's necessary to take transition into account in order to simulate the flow around wind turbine airfoil more accurately.