Events

SEMS Seminar Series: Dr Marinos Manolesos, City University London

Date: Monday 26 June 2023 15:00 - 16:00

Location: SEMS Seminar room

Title: Design and Demonstration of Enhanced Vortex Generators for Wind Turbines

Abstract

Vortex Generators (VGs) are one of the most attractive passive flow control solutions for horizontal axis wind turbines. Their operating principle is relatively simple in that they generate streamwise vortices that energize the boundary layer on the blade, thus delaying separation and improving performance. They are usually small (at the order of the Boundary Layer height) and vane type VGs is currently the industry standard. They owe their popularity to the fact that they are effective, light, easy to install and can be retrofitted to existing blades without endangering the integrity of the turbine, despite the small increase in loads. Off the shelf VG solutions are expected to provide a 2% increase in AEP for standard wind turbines.

But can we get more?

In this talk, the design and installation of bespoke VGs for two Wind Turbines will be discussed. A group of academic and industrial partners worked on designing VGs for an onshore 0.85MW and an offshore 7MW machine. The objective was to increase the expected AEP benefit compared to conventional solutions. Results from Wind tunnel tests, CFD and Aeroelastic simulations, field power measurements, Blade tuft flow visualization and Blade Infrared Thermography will be presented. The new VGs, their placement and effectiveness will be discussed in detail, along with the design methodology followed.

Speaker's Biography

Dr Manolesos is a reader in Aerospace Engineering at City, University of London. Before joining City, he was a Senior Lecturer at Swansea University, where he holds an honorary placement. He has also worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the National Technical University of Athens, where he did his PhD. Outside Academia, he has worked for Red Bull Racing and Renault F1, as well as as a Wind Energy consultant.

His research interests include separated flows and separation control, drag reduction and flatback airfoils, wind and tidal turbine aerodynamics and aeroelasticity, aeroacoustics and atmospheric boundary layer flows. He likes to use both experimental and numerical tools in a complementary manner, combining the strengths of the two approaches.