Descriptions of Attack Angle and Ideal Lift Coefficient for Various Airfoil Profiles in Wind Turbine Blade

Abstract The angle of attack is highly sensitive to pitch point in the airfoil shape and the decline of pitch point value induces smaller angle of attack, which implies that airfoil profile possessing closer pitch point to the airfoil tip reacts more sensitively to upcoming wind. The method of conformal transformation functions is employed for airfoil profiles and airfoil surfaces are expressed with a trigonometric series form. Attack angle and ideal lift coefficient distributions are investigated for various airfoil profiles in wind turbine blade regarding conformal transformation and pitch point. The conformed angle function representing the surface angle of airfoil shape generate various attack angle distributions depending on the choice of surface angle function. Moreover, ideal attack angle and ideal lift coefficient are susceptible to the choice of airfoil profiles and uniform loading area. High ideal attack angle signifies high pliability to upcoming wind, and high ideal lift coefficient involves high possibility to generate larger electric energy. According to results obtained pitch point, airfoil shape, uniform loading area, and the conformed airfoil surface angle function are crucial factors in the determination of angle of attack.