Numerical investigation on the exergetic performance of NREL airfoil families for wind turbine application

Increment of extracting wind energy efficiency via wind turbines substantially depends on a consummate understanding of the process of conversion of wind energy to useful work. In this study, the performances of three different National Renewable Energy Laboratory airfoil families are numerically investigated using a 2D incompressible unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver and exergy analysis. The results indicate that the flow conditions possessing highest magnitudes of lift force do not obligatory represent the topmost exergetic efficiency; furthermore, it is concluded that the most exergetic effective flow condition can represent lowest drag to lift ratio. Dissipated exergy evaluation is demonstrated to assists defining how much of the inlet exergy would remain available in downstream. The results of an exergy analysis provide influential insights over different aspects of flow over airfoils and can be useful in wind engineering.