Blade Element Momentum Theory Applied to Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines
Open Access
Author:
Purcell, Thomas Russell
Area of Honors:
Aerospace Engineering
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Dennis K Mclaughlin, Thesis Supervisor Dennis K Mclaughlin, Thesis Supervisor Susan W Stewart, Faculty Reader Dr. George A Lesieutre, Faculty Reader Dennis K Mclaughlin, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
green energy renewable green energy wind energy blade element momentum theory wind turbine wind turbine PSUWTA WT_Perf BEMT
Abstract:
Research efforts in the field of small wind turbines at Penn State has led to the need of an open source Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) code for preliminary performance analysis. PSUWTA, a MATLAB code, has been developed in hopes of fulfilling this need. When checked against experimental wind turbine data and WT_Perf, the National Wind Technology Center’s non-open source BEMT code, the results of PSUWTA came to within engineering accuracy of both of these data sources. PSUWTA was then used to analyze Southwest Windpower’s Whisper 500 turbine, which Penn State currently uses, as well as to analyze the two and three-bladed versions of the Carolus turbine, an in-house design currently under construction. The Whisper 500 was found to have sub-par performance due to poor design while the Carolus turbine’s performance was found to be a substantial improvement. The source code for PSUWTA, as well as operating instructions, is also included.