Multiobjective Airfoil Design for Airborne Wind Energy

Gaël de Oliveira1 , Uwe Fechner2 , , Ricardo Pereira1

1 Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology
2 Aenarete ś Smart Wind

Pumping-mode airborne wind energy systems (PM-AWE)
consist of an airborne drone (UAV) that flies tethered to a
ground station. The tethered UAV is expected to generate
high lifts when reeling the tether out, descend with low
force and damp gusts during take-off or landing events.
Gaël de Oliveira These missions take place in unpredictable environmen-
silience to leading edge soiling. Finally, desirable pitching
moment characteristics are framed within the broader
question of planform design, a question on which we
hope to engage the audience in a lively discussion.
50
Pareto Front Airfoil Shapes (16, 18, 20 and 22% Thickness (t/c))

PhD Researcher tal conditions. Winds can be more or less turbulent, 45

0.2

Structural Goal (t/c%)

Delft University of Technology ground proximity prompts leading edge soiling and aero- 40 0.1
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Faculty of Aerospace Engineering structural effects induce shape deformations. Conven-

y/c
0
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Wind Energy Research Group tional aviation airfoils were not designed for these con- 25 -0.1

ditions but wing designers miss specialized alternatives. 20 -0.2

Kluyverweg 1 The need for specialized airborne wind energy airfoils
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0 5000 10000 15000 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
2629 HS Delft was first identified by Venturato [1]. He redesigned the
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Aerodynamic Goal (C /C )
l
2
d x/c

The Netherlands
g.l.deoliveiraandrade@tudelft.nl
www.lr.tudelft.nl/windenergy
Clark Y airfoil with a genetic optimization approach based
on a simple performance goal and a RANS CFD solver.
This type of CFD model cannot capture important phys-
ical phenomena like laminar bubbles or turbulent transi-
tion but Venturato’s work had the groundbreaking merrit
of raising awareness about specialized airfoils.
Here we present a collection of airfoils designed for the
needs of the airborne wind energy industry. The design
exercise builds upon an established airfoil optimization
framework with a proven track record in the conventional
wind turbine industry [2,3,4,5]. The method is known to
provide a broad coverage of the design space thanks to
the use of a CST parametrization, a tuned version of the
RFOIL viscous-inviscid solver and multi-objective genetic
optimization algorithms. Candidate airfoils are assessed
in terms of conflicting structural and aerodynamic goals.
Pareto fronts quantify compromises between glide ratio,
maximum lift, building height, stall harshness and re-
Pareto front quantifying compromise between design goals.
References:
[1] Venturato A.: Analisi fluidodinamica del profilo alare Clark Y ed
ottimizzazione multi-obbiettivo tramite algoritmo genetico. Tesi
magistrale, Università degli studi di Padova (2013)
[2] Pereira R.B., Timmer W.A., de Oliveira G. and van Bussel G.J.W.:
Design of HAWT airfoils tailored for active flow control. Wind Energy
DOI:10.1002/we.2109 (2017)
[3] Batlle E.C., Pereira R.B., Kotsonis M., de Oliveira G.: Airfoil Opti-
misation for DBD Plasma Actuator in a Wind Energy Environment.
55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting AIAA 2017-1578 (2017)
[4] Vila M.C., Alfaro D.M.: New airfoil family design for large wind
turbine blades. 33rd Wind Energy Symposium AIAA 2015-0996 (2015)
[5] de Oliveira G, Campe R and Terry E: Boundary Layer Suction for
Wind Turbine Blades : An Integral Design Approach. EWEA Confer-
ence Brussels (2011)
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