Modeling and Performance Analysis of a Small Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

Abstract Wind energy is increasingly becoming a major discussion amongst renewable energy sources due to its sustainability, reduced impact on the environment, and being significantly cheaper than conventional fossil fuels. Researchers have been particularly concerned with studying improved design and optimization using computational technique and experimentation. This research aims at designing blades for a small horizontal axis wind turbine for low Reynolds number using blade element momentum theory and using computational fluid dynamics (cfd) and experiment to analyze its performance. Two airfoils (SG6050 and SG6043) were selected for different regions of the blade span. Four turbulent models were used in predicting its performance. The performance was analyzed for wind speeds between 2 m/s and 7 m/s. Studies showed that the blade is capable of generating power up to 241 W with a power coefficient of 34.3% at a speed of 6 m/s. The computed power coefficient is in good agreement with experimental results of 33.7%.