Simulation of an airfoil with a deformable flap applicable in wind turbine structural load reduction

Flow over an airfoil equipped with Deformable Trailing Edge Flap (DTEF) has been numerically studied in a two-dimensional steady-state condition with various angles of attack. The airfoil is NACA 64-418, and the flap angle is defined by changing camber-line geometry at 10% chord length from the trailing edge. It has been shown that the direction of the flap deflection has significant impacts on aerodynamic behaviors, which provides an extra means to adjust wind turbine structural loads. Simulations have been conducted with aerodynamic-aeroelastic FAST code in the form of an open-loop control scheme to determine the DTEF's performance in a wind turbine. The wind turbine behavior has been plotted and compared for various flap angles. The load-variation ranges of the wind turbine have been identified, which help determine their sensitivity to flap changes. Finally, an open-loop control circuit is aimed at reducing the amplitude of oscillations of the blade root flapwise bending moment.