Aerodynamic Testing of a Rotating Wind Turbine Blade

Aerodynamic, load, flow-visualization, and inflow measurements were taken on a downwind horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT). A video camera mounted on the rotor recorded video images of tufts attached to the low-pressure side of the blade. Strain gages, mounted every 10% of the blade's span, provided load and pressure measurements. Pressure taps at 32 chordwise positions recorded pressuredistributions. Wind inflow was measured via a vertical-plane array of anemometers located 10 m upwind. The objectives of the test were to address whether airfoil pressure distributions measured on a rotating blade differed from those measured in the wind tunnel, if radial flow near or in the boundary layer of the airfoil affected pressure distributions, if dynamic stall could result in increaseddynamic loads, and if the location of the separation boundary measured on the rotating blade agreed with that measured in two-dimensional flow in the wind tunnel.