Numerical investigation of airfoils for small wind turbine applications

A detailed numerical investigation of the aerodynamic performance on the five airfoils namely Mid321a, Mid321b, Mid321c, Mid321d, and Mid321e were carried out at Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.5×105 to 2.5×105. The airfoils used for small wind turbines are designed for Reynolds number ranges between 3×105 and 5×105 and the blades are tend to work on off-design conditions. The blade element moment method was applied to predict the aerodynamic loads, power coefficient, and blade parameters for the airfoils. Based on the evaluate data, it was found that Mid321c airfoil has better lift to drag ratio over the range of Reynolds numbers and attained maximum power coefficient of 0.4487 at Re = 2×105