Evaluation of aerodynamic performance enhancement of Risø_B1 airfoil with an optimized cavity by PIV measurement

Airfoils are mostly inefficient in their off-design conditions. In order to improve the aerodynamic performance of airfoils in these conditions, using an optimized cavity on airfoils as a passive method can be useful. In this study, a cavity on a Risø_B1_18 airfoil, which is used as a wind turbine airfoil, was optimized at an off-design angle of attack by incorporating a genetic algorithm into a RANS flow solver. For the cavity optimization, the geometry and downstream suction surface were defined by 16 parameters, and the lift-to-drag ratio was considered as the cost function at 14° angle of attack. The numerical solution showed that the optimized cavity traps a vortex, which postpones the stall. Due to the uncertainty of CFD especially at off-design conditions, it was necessary to evaluate the performance of the optimized cavity in a wide range of angles of attack. This study used the particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement method to evaluate the improved flow structures over the optimized cavity. Two models of airfoils with and without the cavity were made of aluminum and installed inside the test section of an open-jet wind tunnel with an air speed of 30 m/s and a cross section of 30 × 30 cm 2 . The air flow on the suction side of the airfoils was measured at 7°–15° angles of attack by PIV. A comparison between the measured flow fields over the two airfoils showed that the optimized cavity postpones the stall angle by 3°. Furthermore, the cavity increases the momentum behind the airfoil at the angles of attack greater than 9°. After this angle, a further increase in the angle of attack increases the difference between the momentums behind the airfoils with and without cavity. The Risø_B1_18 airfoil with the optimized cavity can be used as a wind turbine airfoil at high angles of attack to increase the stall angle and decrease the instability and fluctuation at off-design conditions. Graphic abstract