DBD Plasma Actuator Effect on Mid-Blade Aerodynamics Enhancement of a NREL 5-MW Wind Turbine

The utilization of a plasma actuator to increase the aerodynamic performance of a 5-MW offshore NREL wind turbine is studied in this paper. To boost the total production capacity, numerical air flow control in a central region of the blade using two distinct actuators independently and sequentially has been examined. The blade is separated into seven pieces, each of which is subjected to examination. Between 45 and 55 percent of the blade spam, the actuators are mounted in single and tandem configurations, in two 30 percent for single and 30–40 percent for tandem in chord wise directions. The interaction of electrostatic force and fluid flow is simulated using an improved electrostatic model created by the authors. The generated power capacity is computed using the lift and drag coefficients of each part, as calculated by numerical modeling. The output power is improved by 65 kW for single and 101 kW for tandem actuators. We also show that when the wind speed is lowered by 28% of the nominal wind speed, the same power can be generated utilizing plasma actuators.