Design and Analysis of Wind turbine blade with and without winglet

The project was aimed at designing a HIGH EXPLOSIVE SQUASH HEAD-TANK SHELL . The project was undertaken as a part of undergraduate Major thesis in the Fourth year of the degree.  These have benefit in the defence industry because it doesn't rely on the use of high precision electronics and also penetrates the targeted tank body by creating a highly effective blast shockwave which damages the enemy armour from the inside. 

Problem Statement 

The wind turbines have been used a one major source of alternative energy. Many countries have implemented this process of energy harvesting. However, the energy extracted is not  very efficient as compared to conventional sources. Also, it has some impact on the environment such as the noise due to vortex creation , which impact the remote population and fauna around the wind mill location. Research has shown that if the tip losses of the wing profile is reduced, we have a chance of improving the efficiency of the wind turbine blade. Therefore, the research was carried out to test the airflow of the wind turbine blade with and with out winglet , as it is an industry norm to add winglets on the wings to reduce the vortices or tip losses. 

The geometry of the wind mill consists the following: 

1. Wind turbine : It is the component which rotates using the wind energy  and creates the rotatory force to transfer the rotation to the turbine of the generator. 

2. Nacelle : It is the housing where the generator and other actuation mechanism is placed. 

3. Tower: The tower is used to raise the wind turbine blade  to the altitude that it is safer to rotate and also has better air flow. 

4. Base: It provides support to the entire structure of the wind mill.  

 For the project , only the turbine blade was focussed on. Hence, the geometry below shows the turbine blade without the winglet and the winglet attachment which can be mounted on the turbine for simulation and optmization . This model was imported in to the ANSYS CFD module and analysis was run on it to compare both the designs. 

The analysis of the wind turbine blade was carried out using CFD simulations of the blade to obtain the pressure maps and then using the data to obtain the deformation using FEA at various points. 

The analysis of the of the wind turbine blade was carried out for two different configuration : 

a. With Winglet 

b. Without winglet 

From the figures below we can observe that the airflow over the winglet is much higher compared to the one without winglet . This suggests that if the tip profile of the wings are modified then we can observe a significant impact in the blade performance.