Investigation of effect of transition on wind turbine airfoil optimization design

The optimization method using Kriging model was used to design the wind turbine dedicated airfoil. In addition to designing under the full turbulence condition, aerodynamic optimization incorporating laminar-turbulent transition prediction was also accomplished, the transition point of the upper-lower surface of airfoil was considered as the constraint, the optimization design method using Kriging model was applied to realize design of wind turbine airfoil incorporating transition prediction. The maximum lift-drag ratio of wind turbine airfoil showed that the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil were greatly improved under the two conditions, but in contrast to the result obtained under the full turbulent condition, the optimization design of airfoil incorporating transition prediction can gain the better aerodynamic performance under more realistic circumstance.