Term of Award

Spring 2017

Degree Name

Master of Science in Applied Engineering (M.S.A.E.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Electrical Engineering

Committee Chair

Adel El Shahat

Committee Member 1

Mohammad Ahad

Committee Member 2

Rami Haddad

Abstract

Wind energy, being easily accessible, environmentally friendly, and being cost effective, has become one of the world’s popular growing renewable energy sources of electricity generation. To spread this technology to mankind it is necessary to develop turbines in this way that people can use it individually and comfortably. This kind of thinking accelerates the advancement of integration of wind turbine with Nano grid concept. Although significant progress has been achieved in the wind technology, there is still scope to reduce the cost and improve the performance of small-scale wind turbines. Moreover, low wind velocity should also need to be utilized properly to achieve saturated energy production. So, concentration is going to small scale wind. Small scale wind energy systems such as Small Scale Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (SSHAWT), and Vortex Blade-Less (VBL) wind generators can provide a clean, prospective and viable option for energy supply. Moreover, this energy consumption system can also be utilized as one of the reliable power sources of Nano grid. To design efficient wind technologies it requires a smooth and continuous development process. The first part of the current study focused on the aerodynamic design and performance analysis of small-scale horizontal axis wind turbine blade using the blade element momentum (BEM) method with the most updated and corrected model. In this case, the blade was designed with a single airfoil. Results show that the maximum coefficient of performance is 0.446 at the tip speed ratio 6.5 which is very good indication in preliminary stage power prediction. The 2nd part of the study concentrated on improving the performance of blade by modifying the blade with a combination of three airfoils. After that, a comparative study was done between “Blade-Element-Momentum” (BEM) analysis and “Computational-Fluid-Dynamics” (CFD) analysis of mixed airfoil small-scale horizontal axis wind turbine blades. In CFD analysis, k-ω “Shear-Stress-Transport” (SST) model was conducted for three-dimensional visualization of turbine performance. The pitch is considered as fixed and rotor speed is variable for both of the studies. However, the best coefficient of performance was observed at 60 angle of attack. At this angle of attack, in the case of BEM, the highest coefficient of performance is 0.47 whereby CFD analysis, it is 0.43. Both studies show good performance prediction which is a positive step to accelerate the continuous revolution in the wind energy sector. However, as an extension of continuous study on small-scale wind energy systems, the aim of the 3rd part is to investigate the possible extraction of power from wind energy by using a new conceptual vortex bladeless wind generators. In this work, first of all design parameters were selected based on the Von Karman effect. After that a mathematical model was developed to get maximum lift force generated by the designed body. Finally, a complete model was recommended by fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation to get a clear idea of extracted vibration energy from vortex bladeless wind generator for further conversion to electricity generation.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

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