The influence of sinusoidal leading edge tubercle- and Leading Edge Vortex Generator (LEVoG) technology on the performance of wind turbine airfoils have been investigated in the UniBwM wind tunnel for the Reynolds number Re = 8.0×10^5. Infra-red thermography and oil flow visualization were implemented for the flow visualization and the lift- and drag measurements obtained with the use of an above-tunnel force scale and a wake rake. At lower incidences the tubercles and LEVoGs are located close to the stagnation point and the suction side flow remains unaffected. At higher incidences longitudinal vortices are induced which impact the suction side flow, lowering the lift production. With a parameter study the influence of the LEVoG parameters were analysed for the ability to limit the lift production beyond the operation point. The tubercle amplitude and leading edge radius have the largest influence on the performance with a larger peak radius preventing the formation of laminar separation bubbles and maintaining a higher lift production in comparison. The LEVoG height to boundary layer thickness as well as the LEVoG’s distance to the leading edge was found to have the largest influence on the performance and an optimum ratio for the distance between LEVoGs is observed. An optimum LEVoG configuration was defined for the tested case.    «

The influence of sinusoidal leading edge tubercle- and Leading Edge Vortex Generator (LEVoG) technology on the performance of wind turbine airfoils have been investigated in the UniBwM wind tunnel for the Reynolds number Re = 8.0×10^5. Infra-red thermography and oil flow visualization were implemented for the flow visualization and the lift- and drag measurements obtained with the use of an above-tunnel force scale and a wake rake. At lower incidences the tubercles and LEVoGs are located close t...    »