Calculating Best Dimensions for an Airfoil

[Beau Brown]

Hello all,

I'm trying to design an efficient airfoil for a wind turbine blade. To be entirely honest, I'm not entirely familiar with this field of engineering; I mainly specialize with steam applications, so this design attempt is obviously a somewhat far cry from that! Yet I've been trying to get myself as acquainted as possible with the design of airfoils, and now I'm here for help.

What I'm looking for is a way to plug in various formulas, such as the lift and drag coefficients, so that I can determine the best ratio(s) of the chambers and chord length; or just the best ratio of dimensions (if possible!).

All the best,
-BB

 

[Brian_C]

Some guy named Ed Lenz is selling a blade design program for wind turbines. It is only $5. Here's the link:
http://www.windstuffnow.com/main/blade_design_help.htm

 

[berkeman]

Hello all,

I'm trying to design an efficient airfoil for a wind turbine blade. To be entirely honest, I'm not entirely familiar with this field of engineering; I mainly specialize with steam applications, so this design attempt is obviously a somewhat far cry from that! Yet I've been trying to get myself as acquainted as possible with the design of airfoils, and now I'm here for help.

What I'm looking for is a way to plug in various formulas, such as the lift and drag coefficients, so that I can determine the best ratio(s) of the chambers and chord length; or just the best ratio of dimensions (if possible!).

All the best,
-BB

Welcome to the PF.

This isn't what you are looking for exactly, but may still give you some additional ideas and resources:

February 17, 2010

Controllable Rubber Trailing Edge Flap May Ease Stress on Wind Turbine Blades

Risø DTU Reports results successful results of wind tunnel tests on CRTEF for wind turbine blades.
by Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy
Lunderskov, Denmark [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]
For some years, the Wind Energy Division at Risø DTU has been working to develop a method for controlling the loads on large wind turbine blades using a flexible trailing edge made of an elastic material which can be controlled by means of compressed air or hydraulics. Now, the invention, which has been called CRTEF (Controllable Rubber Trailing Edge Flap), has been tested in a wind tunnel with promising results.

More: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/02/controllable-rubber-trailing-edge-flap-may-ease-stress-on-wind-turbine-blades

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