In the Wind: From Tunnel to Turbine

A country or region where energy production is based on imported coal or oil can become more self-sufficient by using alternatives such as wind power.Horizontal axis wind turbines are the most common wind turbine design available and are typically seen with three blades.These projects observed the effect of blade number on the start-up wind velocities of wind turbines.Models were drawn using SolidWorks and generated by a stereolithography machine.The models were observed in a wind tunnel by using the flow visualization methods of smoke and Schlieren photography.The wind tunnel was constructed to have at least double the test section area of the current fluid mechanics laboratory wind tunnel and was able to achieve a wind velocity range from 5mph to 25mph.