Improved Lift for Thick Flatback Airfoils in the Inboard Blades of Large Wind Turbines

Thick airfoils are often used in the inboard sections of blades in commercial wind turbines. The main reason for this is to give the blade greater structural strength, but it is well known that thick airfoils degrade aerodynamic performance by stalling at relatively small angles of attack. The adoption of flatback airfoils instead of sharp trailing edges allows high lift coefficient to be maintained in thick airfoils. In this paper, we propose a novel airfoil design based on a passive flap to further improve the lift coefficient. This new design was tested by numerical simulation on several airfoils with different maximum thickness and different TE thickness. The improved design for flatback airfoils yields a higher lift coefficient, while the drag behaviour is strictly related to the baseline airfoil shape: some airfoils show a decrease in drag at certain angles of attack, while others exhibit a drag increase. In conclusion, the practical implications of the flap’s utilisation on a state-of-the-art blade designed for a 5 MW wind turbine are analysed. The findings demonstrate that, due to the enhanced lift coefficient, it is feasible to shorten the chord while maintaining the power output, thereby reducing material costs.