Aerodynamics of an airfoil subjected to icing

Abstract

Wind turbines located in cold climate face several issues due to ice accretion. These include power losses, mechanical failures and changes in the aerodynamic behaviour. Particle image velocimetry measurements have been performed on a NREL S826 airfoil subjected to three different ice accretions. The ice accretions represent different atmospheric icing conditions, including rime, glaze and mixed conditions. The measurements have been done on a range of angle of attack between \(-4^\circ\) to \(16^\circ\). The mean flow field, turbulent kinetic energy, mean vorticity and instantaneous swirl are reported for all cases. In addition, proper orthogonal decomposition was performed to identify high energy modes, and to investigate the possibility of controlling the flow based on a limited number of modes.