Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 71 (2016) 2026

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enganabound

A boundary integral equation over the thin rotating blade of a wind

turbine
K. Mescheryakov, M.A. Sumbatyan n, A.A. Bondarchuk
Institute of Mathematics, Mechanics and Computer Science, Southern Federal University, Milchakova Street 8a, 344090 Rostov-on-Don, Russia

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the present paper we study the aerodynamics of a thin rotating Wind Turbine (WT) blade. Under the
Received 17 December 2015 assumption of high specic speed (i.e. large angular velocity), by using the classical potential theory, the
Received in revised form problem is reduced to a dual integral equation over the surface of the blade. Since a certain value of the
19 June 2016
axial component of the velocity vector, which is not known a priori, is present in the right-hand side of
Accepted 23 June 2016
Available online 18 July 2016
the basic dual integral equation, the method proposed is based on an iteration scheme. This rapidly
converges in two-three steps. The method is tested on example of a small WT, by a comparison with the
Keywords: results obtained by the ANSYS-CFX nite-volume software.
Thin rotating blade & 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Dual integral equation
Iteration method
Method of discrete vortices

1. Introduction
Currently, new technologies in application of the renewable
wind energy have caused a rapid progress in Wind Turbine (WT)
aerodynamics, both in practical and theoretical aspects. Un-
fortunately, there is a limit of energy one can gather from the
wind. In 1966 Albert Betz [1] has shown that it is impossible to
collect more than 59.3% of kinetic energy of the wind. In practice,
the best wind turbines have energetic conversion efciency of
about 3540%. The main reason of this inefciency is explained by
non-optimal wind turbine parameters, in particular, by non-opti-
mal geometry of the blade. The optimization of turbine's para-
meters allows one to attain higher efciency. Theoretically, this is
connected with the problem of optimal aerodynamics.
The theoretical treatments of the wind turbine rotating blades'
aerodynamics is typically performed by either the Finite-Element
Methods (FEMs) or the Boundary-Element Methods (BEMs). The
former requires, as a rule, huge computer resources, and it is well
known that signicantly less computation time can be provided
with the mesh reduction BEMs, which show a good balance be-
tween accuracy and computer implementation. Analytically, the
so-called Boundary Integral Equation method (BIE) is allied to the
BEM, and in fact the former is often only a continuous formulation
of the latter. Unfortunately, in both the discrete and the con-
tinuous formulations only techniques with meshes distributed
n Of course, such an approach cannot be exact, otherwise the clas-
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: m.keyran@gmail.com (K. Mescheryakov),
sumbat@math.rsu.ru (M.A. Sumbatyan), melchior@list.ru (A.A. Bondarchuk).
over the union of the blade surface and the vortex wake are
known in the literature. The latter has a relatively complex shape,
that is why such a treatment is associated with a complicated
computer implementation.
In the meantime, in the classical Lifting Surface theory there is
known a basic dual integral equation [2]
1 x (, ) dd
4
S + 1
(y ) 2
= F (x , y ) , (x , y ) S ,
(x )2 + (y ) 2 (1.1)
where the unknown function is connected with the aerodynamic
pressure over the wing, and the known function F is dened by the
shape of the lifting surface S. Eq. (1.1) holds over the surface of the
wing S, without any mesh nodes on the vortex wake. The inuence
of the vortex wake is taken into account analytically. As a result,
the total mesh becomes much smaller; this signicantly improves
the efciency of the mesh-reduction boundary-element method.
Let us give a more detailed survey of the works which use BEMs
or BIEs to the WT aerodynamics. Apparently, the rst application
of a BIE to the horizontal-axis WT was reported in [3]. A number of
assumptions are accepted in that work, and the key approximation
is that the vortex intensity over the vortex wake is not a certain
unknown function but this can be assumed the same as at the
respective node on the trailing edge. This allows the authors [3] to
use the slip boundary condition on the blade, reducing in a dis-
crete form the respective system of linear algebraic equations
(SLAE) to the mesh nodes distributed over the blade's surface only.
sical lifting-surface dual integral equation could be obtained di-
rectly in the same way, instead of using a long mathematical

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enganabound.2016.06.008
0955-7997/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 K. Mescheryakov et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 71 (2016) 2026 21

transformation like the one rstly applied by E. Reissner in 1947, x2 L, ( > 0). Physically, the accepted assumptions are correct
see [2]. A good recent review on the WT wake aerodynamics is if the angular velocity is large enough, more precisely, if x2/u0 1
presented in [4]. for all points (x2, x3 ) S .
The so-called Prescribed Vortex Wake methods use some ex- Let us assume that the uid motion is potential, then the pro-
perimental information about the structure of the vortex wake blem can be formulated for the scalar potential function, which
from natural measurements; after that the BEM approach permits should satisfy the continuity equation becoming in the case of
the implementation at much lower computational cost [5]. The incompressible uid the Laplace equation for the potential:
more advanced Free Vortex Wake models do not require any ex-
2 2 2
perimental input data, being self-consistent [6]. However, as v = grad , div v = 0, + 2 + 2 = 0,
x12 x2 x3 (2.1)
mentioned above, they are computationally very expensive. In [7]
the authors use similar techniques which they call panel meth- for arbitrary point x = (x1, x2, x3 ) outside the surface S and the
ods, the panels are associated again with nodes of a mesh dis- vortex wake.
tributed over the blade's surface and on the vortex wake. On the Let us assume that the problem is stationary in the rotating
chosen panels there are located sources and doublets, i.e. the coordinate system coupled with the blade, then in the xed co-
standard BEMs elements. The algorithm of the Free Vortex Wake ordinate system one obtains:
method is further improved in [8], where a time-stepping method

(TSM) is used to produce the trailing vortex sheet grid as a part of (x1, r , t + , t ) = (x1, r , , 0), + = 0,
t (2.2)
the solution.
In the present paper we propose a new approximate approach where the second equation here can easily be obtained by apply-
which results in a dual integral equation holding over the blade's ing time derivative to the rst one. Note that the relation between
boundary surface. The method becomes asymptotically exact for the Cartesian (x2, x3 ) and the polar (r, ) coordinates is
large angular velocity. x2 = r cos , x3 = r sin .
It is seen from Fig. 1 that the setting angle b and the attack
angle a are connected by the following relation:
2. Problem formulation u0 u0
a = atan b, a = b.
r r (2.3)
Let a thin blade of the wind turbine rotate with the angular
velocity in a steady homogeneous ow of the incompressible The former relation in Eq. (2.3) is general, while the latter is
non-viscous uid, see Fig. 1. By analogy to the classical lifting- written in the case of high specic speed (large angular velocity
surface theory, the viscosity is neglected as a rst-step approx- ). If all blade chords are mounted, for respective distances r along
imation [2]. Since no integral equation over the blade surface is the span, with the setting angle b = atan (u0 /r ) u0 /r , then the
known nowadays for the rotating blade, such an equation may be attack angle is zero for every cross-section. In the non-viscous
formulated at least with this zero-viscosity assumption. Besides, uid this regime implies no perturbation: v = u 0 .
Let us represent, in the general case, the velocity eld as a sum
if the solution for the non-viscous uid is constructed, then the
of the incoming velocity and a perturbed one: v = u 0 + v, the
inuence of viscosity can be taken into account in frames of a
same for the aerodynamic pressure: p = p0 + p. In the linearized
certain iteration technique [9]. The extension of the present results
aerodynamic theory we have |v| /u0 1, |p| /p0 1. With these
to the case of viscous ow will be a subject of the authors' next
assumptions, the linearized Bernoulli integral is
work.
The incoming velocity vector in the Cartesian coordinate sys- p 1 p u2
+ [(u0 + v1)2 + (v2 )2 + (v3 )2] + = 0 + 0,
tem (x1, x2, x3 ) is v0 = {u0 , 0, 0}, and the rotation takes place around 2 t 2
the horizontal axis x1. We accept a linearized aerodynamic theory, p p
assuming that both the angle of setting b and the attack angle a + u0 v1 + = 0, + u0 v1 = 0,
t (2.4)
are small, hence the blade's surface is located close to the vertical
plane x2 x3. We accept that the shape of the blade may be slightly where equality (2.2) has been taken into account.
curved but, nevertheless, all points of the blade's surface as before In order to complete the mathematical formulation of the
are located close to the vertical plane and the unit normal vector n problem, one should add to the governing equations (2.1) and (2.4)
to the surface subtends a small angle with axis x1. This implies an appropriate boundary condition. In the non-viscous uid it is
that, by using the linearized theory, the slip boundary condition the slip condition which holds on the blade's surface,
which should be satised on the blade's surface, may be shifted to vn |S = (vb )n |S , (v n )|S = (vbn )|S , where vb is the velocity vector of the
a projection of this surface into the vertical plane x2 x3, a certain blade. If function x1 = f (x2, x3 ), ( f /x2 1, f /x3 1) denes the
domain S. In the simplest case S is a rectangular domain but surface of the thin blade, then in the linear approximation this is
the method developed in the present work is valid for arbitrary equivalent to:
domain S, if this is distant from the axis of rotation: f
v = { u0 + v1, v2 , v3 }, n = 1, , b , vb = { 0, 0, r},
x2
u0 + v1 = rb, v1 = rb u0 , (x2 , x3 ) S. (2.5)

This boundary condition should be satised on both the faces of

the thin blade, i.e. for both x1 =+ 0 and x1 = 0. One can conclude
from the boundary condition (2.5), once again, that in the case
b = u0 /r the perturbation of the velocity eld is trivial indeed.

3. The basic dual integral equation

In order to reduce the posed problem to a boundary integral

Fig. 1. Design model of the thin rotating WT blade. equation, let us analyze the regularity of the physical elds,
22 K. Mescheryakov et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 71 (2016) 2026

Let us introduce the new function (y ) = +(y ) (y ) ,

S
which is the difference of the values of function s at x1 =+ 0 and
x1 = 0, i.e. its jump if intersecting the blade. Then, passing to
the polar coordinate system (x = (x1, r , ) , y = (y1, , )), Eq. (3.1)
can be rewritten in the following form:
(x1, r , ) G (y , x) x dy2 dy3
= S (y) dsy = 1 S (y) ,
y1 4 R3

R = R (x1, r , , ) = y x

= x12 + (y2 x2 )2 + (y3 x3 )2 = x12 + r 2 + 2 2r cos ( ) . (3.3)

The integration of Eq. (3.3) over variable implies:

( x1, r , 0 ) ( x1, r , )
x1 0 d
=
4
S (y)

dy dy ,
R3 (x1, r , , ) 2 3 (3.4)

where
Fig. 2. The shape of the vortex sheet in the case of high specic speed.
0 is a certain angle far from blade's position at the
moment.
according to Figs. 1 and 2. It is obvious that the aerodynamic The simple differentiation of Eq. (3.4) respectively x1 yields:
pressure, function p, by its physical essence, is a regular function in ( 0, r , 0 ) ( 0, r , ) 1 0 d
the uid, outside domain S. Besides, as this is a standard as- = S (y) dy2 dy3,
x1 x1 4 Q 3 (r , , )
sumption for the non-viscous uid model, the normal component
of the velocity, quantity vn, is also a regular function all over the
Q (r , , ) = R (0, r , , )
uid, outside domain S, like the aerodynamic pressure p. The full
velocity vector, as well as potential , is a regular function in the
uid, outside the union of the domain S and the free vortex wake = (y2 x2 )2 + (y3 x3 )2 = r 2 + 2 2r cos ( ) . (3.5)
shown in Fig. 2. However, as follows from the above discussion,
the normal component of the velocity vn is regular when crossing Now, by satisfying the boundary condition (2.5), one comes to the
the vortex sheet. following basic dual integral equation (where (r , ) S ):
Let us apply the basic assumption that the angular velocity is
1 0 d ( 0, r , 0 )
so large (high specic speed) that the wind does carry the vortices S (y ) dy dy = rb + u0 .
4 Q 3 (r , , ) 2 3 x1 (3.6)
from the trailing edge downstream enough slowly. As a result, the
vortex sheet is created as a periodic helical surface, with a step
along axis x1 being small when compared with the radius of the
It is obvious that the unknown function (y ) , which is to be
blade L. Then the leaves of the sheet are approximately parallel to
determined from Eq. (3.6), is connected with the difference of the
each others being almost orthogonal to axis x1. This means that in aerodynamic pressure between the left and the right faces of the
frames of the accepted approximation one obtains on the vortex blade's boundary surface. Really, it follows from Eq. (2.4) that
sheet: vn v1. As a result, it follows from the discussion in the

previous paragraph that function v1 is regular in the uid ex- p p+ = p p+ = = ( ) = ,
+
+
cepting only domain S. Therefore, since two functions p and v1 in (3.7)
Eq. (2.4) possess this discovered property, it means that also
since function v1 is continuous across the blade due to boundary
function = / is a regular function all over the uid except
condition (2.5).
only the blade's surface S. Then the basic theorem of the potential
The obtained integral equation (3.6) is an analogue of the thin
theory asserts [10]:
lifting-surface integral equation (1.1), modied for the case of the
G (y , x) (y) rotating blade. The difference is that Eq. (1.1) is exact, without any
(x) = S ext
(y)
ny

ny
G (y , x) dsy,

(x outside Sext ), approximation, while Eq. (3.6) is asymptotically valid in the case of
high specic speed only. The more signicant difference is that the
x = (x1, x2 , x3 ), y = (y1 , y2 , y3 ), (3.1) right-hand side of Eq. (1.1) is a denite function, but the right-
hand side in Eq. (3.6) contains the quantity ( 0, r , 0 )/x1, i.e. the
where G (y, x ) = 1/(4 |y x|) is the Green's function for the Laplace
axial component of the velocity vector somewhere in the plane of
equation, Sext denotes an arbitrary closed surface external with
rotation x1 = 0 outside domain S occupied by the blade, the
respect to S.
quantity which is generally unknown. When deriving the classical
In the linearized aerodynamic theory the boundary condition
lifting-surface equation (1.1), an analogous term arises too, but
over the thin boundary surface of the blade is satised on the
outside the wing S the point of the observation there can be
domain S located in the plane x1 = 0. Therefore, in the limit, when
moved far to innity upstream, where this term vanishes due to
Sext approaches S, one obtains
no perturbation condition. In the problem under consideration
vn the additional unknown term arises after integration of Eq. (3.3)
= = = = 0,
ny ny ny (3.2) over variable , hence this can be arranged small but not trivial
somewhere in the plane of rotation x1 = 0 ahead of the blade, say
due to the slip boundary condition vn S = 0. at 0 = /2 or 0 = , see Figs. 1 and 2.
 K. Mescheryakov et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 71 (2016) 2026 23

Nevertheless, the detailed investigation shows that all devel- b d

oped expressions are physically correct. Let us control, for ex-
K = K0 + Kc , K0 (y , x) = Q3
ample, the asymptotic behavior of the solution in the far zone, 1 b d 3
upstream and downstream. Physically, the velocity potential
=
r
x 3 [( 3 y3 )2 + (y2 x2 )2]3/2
should vanish far upstream (x1 ) since there is no pertur- b
bation in that zone. On the contrary, because of the vortex 1 3 y3
= ,
wake, the perturbation does not vanish downstream, as x1 . r (y2 x2 )2 ( 3 y3 )2 + (y2 x2 )2
3 = x3
However, it is physically obvious that the difference
( x1, r , 0 ) ( x1, r , ), vanishes as x1 for any xed r, both
d
(2 +da 2)3/2
0
upstream and downstream. K c (y, x ) = K c (r , , ) = b , = ,
Q3 a2 2 + a2 (4.1)
Let us check that this is valid indeed for the integral in Eq. (3.4).
For this aim, let us calculate the internal integral there, which is where the last integrand is a continuous function for any combi-
tabulated [11]: nation of parameters. The rst, principal, part of the kernel K0 (y, x )
is hyper-singular along the span, i.e. respectively variable x
0 d 0 d
= 2. It
R 3 (x1, r , , ) [x12 + r 2 + 2 2r cos ( )]3/2 should be noted that this hyper-singular part of the kernel is the
2
=

E [ , k (r , )] =0 , analogue to the kernel of the lifting-surface integral equation (1.1).
(x12 + r 2 + 2 2r) x12 + r 2 + 2 + 2r The full kernel for the rotating blade contains a certain additional
continuous function Kc. It is known [12] that the bounded solution
2 r x12 + r 2 + 2 + 2r
, = asin sin .

k (r , ) =
r+ 2 x12 + r2 + 2 2r cos ( ) of the hyper-singular integral equations is unique and auto-
(3.8)
matically vanishes at the side ends.
The numerical scheme applied is based on the method of dis-
Since for large values of x1 it asymptotically holds: | |/2,
crete vortices initially developed for the lifting-surface equation
and since the elliptic integral of the second kind, function E ( , k ),
(1.1) [13]. It is proved in [13] that along the span (i.e. along x2) the
is uniformly bounded for all regular values of its both arguments, correct quadrature formula can be applied like for standard in-
then expression (3.4) with x1 is asymptotically equivalent tegration of continuous functions, with the use of coinciding mesh
to: nodes for both internal and external variables y2 and x2, respec-

x1
tively: (
y2i = x2i = + (i 0.5) h2, i = 1, , N2 , h2 = (L ) /N2, )
(x1, r , 0 ) (x1, r , ) where N2 is the dimension of the mesh along the blade span. For
2
the principal hyper-singular kernel in (4.1) the integration over
E 0 , k (r , ) E , k (r , ) 1
2 2 variable y2 can be performed explicitly (x2 = x2i , i = 1, , N2 ):
S (, ) dd = O 2 ,
(x12 + r2 + 2 2r) x12 + r2 + 2 + 2r x1 (3.9) L L
(y2 , y3 ) K 0 (y, x ) dy2 = (y2 , y3 ) K 0 (y2 , y3 , x2, x3 ) dy2

i.e. the same asymptotic behavior like in the classical lifting-sur- N2 j

x + h2 /2
b
2 3 y3 dy2
face theory [2], that is to be proved. (x2j, y3 ) j
j =1 x h2 /2
2
2 2
(y2 x2 ) (3 y3 ) + (y2 x2 )
2
r
3= x 3
j
x + h2 /2
2
N2 b
1 (3 y3 )2 + (y2 x2 )2
= (x2j, y3 )
,
4. The numerical scheme r j =1 (3 y3 )(y2 x2 )
3= x3 y = x j h /2
2 2 2 (4.2)
First of all, we note that dealing with polar coordinates is very
where we have used the value of the tabulated integral [11]
fruitful for the qualitative investigation of the integral equation
obtained. In the numerical treatment for the blades of practicable d 2 + a2
geometries, domain S is covered by the polar coordinate grids too
=
a2
.
2 2 + a2 (4.3)
hardly, and the Cartesian coordinates seem to be more appropriate
when applied to real blade geometries, like trapezoidal or rec- The quadrature formula for the regular part of the kernel Kc can be
tangular in plan, or some others close to them. To be more specic written by analogy in a simple way.
According to [13], when passing to the discrete form, the
with blade's geometry, we accept that it is rectangular in plan:
Cauchy-type singular behavior O [1/(x3 y3 )] , (y3 x3 ) along the
S = (, L ) ( b , b).
chord direction x3 in the principal part of the kernel, see Eq. (4.2),
Let us represent the integral over in Eq. (3.6) as a sum of the
can be treated correctly by introducing the two different grids
two ones: (1) along the path inside blade's domain S ( b );
separately for the internal variable y3 and the external one x3.
(2) along the path located entirely inside the uid (b 0 ).
With this treatment, the nodes of the former should be placed in
Here b = b (x2 ) corresponds to the leading edge of the blade, the middle between respective nodes of the latter:
obviously the quantity b varies along the span (i.e. along axis x2). m m
x3n = b + (n 1/2) h3, y3 = x3 + h3/2 = b + mh3, ( n , m = 1, , N3 ),
When performing the integration over parameter , let us in- h3 = 2b /( N3 + 1). Here N3 is the dimension of the grid along the
troduce the new auxiliary variable: 2 = r cos , 3 = r sin , in or- vertical axis x3. It is proved in [13] that such a grid guarantees the
der to integrate along the Cartesian coordinate 3, instead of the automatical validity of the KuttaJoukowski hypothesis of boun-
polar one . Since d3 = r cos d , hence for the rst part of the ded aerodynamic pressure just on the edge closest to a node of the
integration path, over the blade surface where 1, one can write external grid. Since in our case x31 = b + h3/2, x3N3 = b 3h3/2,
in the linear approximation: d d3/r , 2 r x2. As a result, one hence the trailing edge x3 = b is the closest one to the node x31.
obtains for the full kernel of the basic dual integral equation (3.6) Therefore, the applied discretization grids provide the KuttaJou-
of the rotating blade the following expression: kowski condition on the true trailing edge x3 = b. Within this
24 K. Mescheryakov et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 71 (2016) 2026

method, the quadrature formula for the Cauchy-type integral over
variable y3 is simply a summation over grid nodes y3 = y3m , then
multiplying this sum by the grid step h3. As a result, the dual in-
tegral for the principal kernel K0 in the discrete form takes the
following form:
L b
b (y2 , y3 ) K0 (y2 , y3 , x2i , x3n ) dy2 dy3
b ( 0, r , /2)/x1 from (3.5).
( 3 y3m )2 + (y2 x2i )2
( 3 y3m )(y2 x2i )
(1 i N2, 1 n N3 ),
Taking into account that the term ( 0, r , 0 )/x1 in Eq. (3.6) is
unknown, the numerical algorithm proposed is founded upon the
following iteration process. On the rst step one may set the value
of 0 corresponding to a position in the uid far from the blade
upstream, say 0 = 01 = , to omit this term in the rst approx-
imation as a small one. Then the dual integral equation (3.6) has to
be solved with the right-hand side u0 rb . Recall that the angle
of setting b = b (r ) generally is not constant along the blade span.
Let us rewrite the dual integral operator applied to the con-
tinuous kernel Kc, see Eq. (4.1), as follows (r =
L b
b (y2 , y3 ) Kc (y, xi,n) dy2 dy3 = b (y2 , y3 )
/2
b
L b r r
(y2 , y3 ) dy2 dy3 d 3
= b + 0
b 2 2 homogeneous wind stream is u0 = 8 m/sec . The blade is twisted so
r 3 [( 3 y3 )2 + (y2
Here we have taken into account that 2 = r cos , 3 = r sin ,
hence d3 = r cos d =
d = d3/ r 2 32 .
Since the integration over y2 in (4.5) can be performed ex-
plicitly, like for the integral in the last square brackets in (4.1),
equality (4.5) in the discrete form reduces to the following ap-
2 2
proximate relation r =
x2i + ( x3n ) :
( )
L b
b (y2, y3 ) Kc (y2, y3, x2i , x3n ) dy2 dy3 h3 (x2j, y3m )
r (y2 r 2 32 ) d3
b
r2 32 (3 y3m )2 (3 y3m )2 + (y2
r (y2 + r 2 32 ) d3
+ 0
r 2 32 (3 y3m )2 (3 y3m )2 + (y2 +
where the integrals over 3 should be treated numerically.
Now, after both singular and regular parts of the basic dual
integral operator in Eq. (4.1) have correctly been reduced to the
discrete form, the solution on the rst iteration step is reduced to a
system of linear algebraic equations (SLAE) of the size N2 N3 N2 N3.
In order to operate with the unknown quantities (x2j , y3m ) as with
a standard one-dimensional vector, it is sufcient to transform the
two-dimensional indices to the one-dimensional ones, for both
internal and external variables, say, in the following way:
J = j + (m 1) N2, I = i + (n 1) N2. After this re-designation,
indices J and I become the ordinary one-dimensional indices for
internal and external grid, respectively, ( I , J = 1, , N2 N3).
In order to complete the rst iteration step of the algorithm, let
us introduce the second reference point 0 = 02 = /2, additionally
to the rst one 01 = dened above. If the quantities 0 = 01 =
N2 N3 and = 02 = /2 are substituted to Eq. (3.5) then, since the
h3
r
(x2j , y3m ) quantity ( 0, r , )/x1 is assumed to be innitesimal and since
j=1 m=1 the main unknown function (y ) , y S is already known on the
j
x2 + h2 /2 rst iteration step, this allows us to determine the quantity
, The second step of the iterations repeat the rst step, with the
n only difference that the second reference point 0 = 02 = /2 is
3 = x3 j
y 2 = x2 h2 /2
applied, instead of the rst one 0 = 01 = . This means to solve
2 2
1/2
numerically the basic dual integral equation (3.6), where the
( )
r = x2i + ( x3n ) .
(4.4) quantity ( 0, r , /2)/x1 in its right-hand side is already known
from the rst iteration step. The matrix of the respective SLAE is
constructed based on the discrete representations (4.4) and (4.6),
where the last integral in (4.6) corresponding to interval
( /2, ) should be omitted.
If the quantities (y ) , (y S ) , (0, r , ) /x1 and
(0, r , /2) /x1 stabilize with iterations and, moreover, the values
of (0, r , ) /x1 and (0, r , /2) /x1 remain small at any step,
then this means that the iterative process converges and that the
physical hypotheses applied are correct. The calculations made for
the example below show that the second and the third iterations
i 2 n 2
( x ) + ( x ) ):
2 3 differ from the rst one with a relative error less than 1%. The
L b iterative method proposed thus converges in two-three steps.
As an example to test the proposed algorithm, we have taken a
virtual thin blade rectangular in plan. The angular velocity
= 1400 rev/min = 146.6 rad/s, its span between = 0.08 m and
+ /2 Qd3 dy2 dy3 L = 0.80 m from the rotation axis x1. We also keep the average
chord length 2b = 0.138 m of the experimental blade. The mass
density of air is = 1.185 kg/m3. The incoming velocity of the
.
2 )2]3/2 (4.5)
that the attack angle a = atan (u0 /r ) b is constant over the
blade span: a = 40 . This uniquely determines the values of the
r 2 32 d , 2 = r 2 32 , angle of setting b along the span. Of course, the chosen geometry
is far from being optimal in aerodynamic sense, this is taken to
check the precision of the proposed method only.
The obtained results are compared with those calculated by the
nite-volume-method (FVM) software ANSYS-CFX, when the in-
coming ow is laminar, the uid is incompressible, and the Free-Slip
boundary condition is applied over the blade surface. The viscosity
is accepted in 100 times smaller that the one for real air. More ex-
N2 N3
actly, we assume: = 1.831107 kg/(ms), = / = 1.545107 m2/s . This
low viscosity and the free-slip boundary condition are specially
j =1 m=1 chosen, to compare the FVM results with our non-viscous BIE
solution.
The ANSYS CFX mesh consists of tetrahedral elements, with an
automatic creation and smoothing. The chosen mesh domain in
r 2 32 )2
the ow is a truncated cone, with the diameters of the cone bases
j being 4 and 6 m respectively, see Fig. 4. The length of the domain
x 2 + h2 /2
is 6 m. We apply a mesh renement when approaching the blade
, surface. The ow is studied in the rotating coordinate system. The
r 2 3 )2
2
y =x jh boundary conditions are as follows: on the smaller cone's basis
2 2 2 /2 (4.6)
and the lateral surface the Inlet condition, with the assigned
velocity 8 m/s; on the bigger cone's basis the Outlet condition
with the trivial perturbation of the aerodynamic pressure. The
convergence criterium is the RT (Residual Type) RMS (Root Mean
Square), the target value is 10 7.
It should be noted that two other articial levels of low visc-
osity have been taken, namely in 300 and 1000 times lower when
compared with the real air. The ANSYS CFX results expressed with
the three kept signicant digits are the same like those shown in
the second part of Table 1. This can be explained by the articial
free-slip boundary condition for the viscous uid.
 K. Mescheryakov et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 71 (2016) 2026 25

Table 1 5. Conclusions
Comparison between the BIE and the ANSYS CFX results for the aerodynamic
moment with various mesh sizes, by a PC with INTEL-2600 single-core processor.
(1) The new dual boundary integral equation (3.6) for the ro-
NBIE 1008 1512 2016 2520 3024 4032 5040 6048 6552 tating Wind Turbine blade is developed in the present work. This
CPU time, 0.8 2.0 3.1 4.4 6.5 11.3 17.6 25.6 30.3 holds over the blade surface, unlike other BIEs known in literature
minutes which hold over the union of blade's surface and the vortex sheet.
M, Nm 1.182 1.152 1.133 1.119 1.109 1.096 1.089 1.086 1.086 Such a formulation signicantly reduces the size of the mesh,
which is accompanied with faster implementation on computer.
NCFX 401 912 582 391 933 024
NsCFX 29 916 43 326 68 094 (2) The method proposed is founded upon an iteration scheme
CPU time, minutes 37 52 72 which requires at each its step to solve the basic dual boundary
M, Nm 1.035 1.026 1.026 integral equation. The convergence of the iteration algorithm is
very rapid, namely the solution at the 2-nd and the 3-rd iterations
coincide with the relative error less than 1%.
(3) The qualitative structure of the solution to the basic integral
equation (3.6) is absolutely the same as for the lifting surface
equation (1.1). Namely, the algorithm proposed, based on the
method of discrete vortices [13], automatically provides the true
vanishing aerodynamic pressure on the side blade tips. This is
clearly seen from Fig. 3, where the aerodynamic forces fall down
over those sections which are located closer to the side tips. The
pair of the mesh sets prescribed by the discrete vortices method
along the chord direction automatically provides the KuttaJou-
kowski condition, giving a vanishing aerodynamic pressure when
approaching trailing edge, and a large (theoretically, innite) so-
lution at the front edge.
(4) The approach proposed is asymptotically valid for high
specic speed (more precisely, for large values of r ). Therefore,
our method is perfect closer to the external side edge, being less
precise when approaching the internal side edge where the dis-
tance r from the axis of rotation is small. An example considered
for a small WT blade shows the difference around 6% for the total
rotation aerodynamic moment when compared to a FVM solution,
this property is clearly seen from Table 1. When evaluating the
precision of the two methods in our comparison, it should be
noted that both BIE and CFX are approximative numerical meth-
ods. Usually, with the same surface mesh dimension, the BIE
method demonstrates better precision than the Finite Volume
method, because the former uses the fundamental solution of the
Fig. 3. The value of the aerodynamic moment versus blade-span section: the governing equations. Since the used surface-mesh dimension of
present BIE method, - - - the ANSYS CFX method.
the CFX is by an order of magnitude greater than the respective BIE
mesh applied, we could attain in our numerical experiments a
The comparison is performed for 9 equal sections, along blade's comparable precision of both these methods. However, the com-
span, each of them being of 8 cm length. Recall that the size of the putation time of our BIE method is signicantly smaller than the
blade in plan is (L ) (2b) = 72 cm 13.8 cm . Fig. 3 demon- one required for the FVM implementation.
strates the value of the rotation moment of aerodynamic pressure (5) Following the standard way of development of the classical
around axis x1, calculated for each of these 9 sections. The results lifting surface theory, when the simplest dual integral equation of
by the present BIE method are obtained for various mesh sizes, the the 3d theory is derived for a thin surface, we also propose here an
smallest of them having NBIE = 72 14 = 1008 equal elements, i.e. analogous theory for the thin blade which results in a certain
approximately with 1 cm constant step between neighbor nodes approximate dual integral equation holding over the blade's sur-
along both x2 and x3 axes. The denser meshes are obtained by a face only, without any additional integration along the vortex
proportional subdivision of each mesh element, along the two sheet. In the classical wing theory (see, for example [14]) in the
axial directions. The value of the total aerodynamic moment ver- case of real aeronautic prole with a certain airfoil section, it is
sus mesh size is presented in Table 1, together with the CPU time shown that the most difcult study is required just for a thin
implemented on a PC with an INTEL-2600 single-core processor; lifting surface which is a middle curve between the upper and the
the time needed for integration is included in the indicated CPU lower faces of the wing, since mathematically such a problem is
time. This table contains also analogous results obtained by the reduced to a complex boundary value problem with mixed
ANSYS CFX software for various meshes with NCFX tetrahedrons. boundary conditions. This is the case of odd velocity potential,
The table also indicates the dimension of the surface mesh on the when the mixed boundary value problem can be reduced to an
two faces of the blade, quantity NsCFX . It can be seen that with the integral equation. In the general case of airfoil section, a supple-
growth of the mesh dimension the BIE value of the aerodynamic mentary problem arises for an even velocity potential which is
moment tends to 1.086 N m , while the CFX value tends to reduced to a simple Neumann boundary value problem in the half-
1.026 N m . The difference between the BIE and the FVM results is space (no mixed boundary conditions) whose solution can easily
around 6%. This discrepancy is caused by the following factors: be expressed in explicit form through some simple integrals. The
(1) The non-viscous model in the BIE method, and nite (low but analogous mathematical ideas are applied in the rotating blade
not zero) viscosity in the ANSYS CFX model; (2) Approximate BIE theory. In this sense the theory proposed here deals with the key
theory developed for high specic speed of the rotating blade. case of thin blade reduced to the integral equation (3.6), while the
26 K. Mescheryakov et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 71 (2016) 2026
Fig. 4. Volumetric and surface meshes.
effect of the airfoil thickness can easily be taken into account
without any integral equation. An example of the blade with an
aeronautic prole will be considered in the authors' next work.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the Russian Ministry for Education
and Science, the second author as an organizer of science 1218 in
the Southern Federal University, the rst and the third authors
for the support by Project 9.1371.2014/K.
The authors are also thankful to the anonymous reviewers for
their helpful comments.
References
[1] Betz A. Introduction to the theory of ow machines (D.G. Randall, Transl.).
Oxford: Pergamon Press; 1966.
[2] Bisplinghoff RL, Ashley H, Halfman RL. Aeroelasticity.Cambridge: Addison-
Wesley; 1955.
[3] Preuss RD, Suciu EO, Morino L. Unsteady potential aerodynamics of rotors
with applications to horizontal-axis windmills. AIAA J 1980;18(4):38593.
[4] Vermeer LJ, Srensen JN, Crespo A. Wind turbine wake aerodynamics. Progr
Aerosp Sci 2003;39:467510.
[5] Dumitrescu H, Cardos V. Wind turbine aerodynamic performance by lifting
line method. Int J Rotat Mach 1999;4(3):1419.
[6] Simoes FJ, Graham JMR. Application of a free vortex wake model to a hor-
izontal axis wind turbine. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 1992;39:12938.
[7] Hampsey M, Wood DH. Designing small wind turbine blades for optimal
starting and power extraction. Wind Eng 1999;23(1):319.
[8] Politis GK. Simulation of unsteady motion of a propeller in a uid including
free wake modeling. Eng Anal Bound Elem 2004;28:63353.
[9] Brebbia CA, Telles JCF, Wrobel LC. Boundary element techniques.Heidelberg:
Springer-Verlag; 1984.
[10] Colton D, Kress R. Integral equation methods in scattering theory.New York:
John Wiley; 1983.
[11] Prudnikov AP, Brychkov YA, Marichev OI. Integrals and series, vol. 1. Gordon &
Breach: Amsterdam; 1986.
[12] Sumbatyan MA, Scalia A. Equations of mathematical diffraction theory.Boca
Raton, Florida: CRC Press; 2005.
[13] Belotserkovsky SM, Lifanov IK. Method of discrete vortices.Boca Raton, Florida:
CRC Press; 1992.
[14] Katz J, Plotkin A. Low-speed aerodynamics. From wing theory to panel
methods.New York: McGraw-Hill; 1991.