Armour EDGE is a novel shield developed to protect the leading edge of wind turbine blades from erosion. The aerodynamic impact on aerofoils of National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 5MW wind turbine has been investigated using 2D fully turbulent computational fluid dynamics (CFD), with three profiles at critical locations along the blade simulated both with and without the shield to compare aerodynamic performance. Two wind speeds were investigated that reflect regular operating conditions: at rated speed of 11.4 m/s and a below rated speed of 7 m/s. The results showed that the presence of the shield during rated wind speed reduced the drag by as much as 4.5%, where the lift‐to‐drag ratio increased by a maximum of 4%. At the below rated wind speeds, the shield had negligible impact on the performance of all but one National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 64‐618 profile, which resulted in an increase in the drag coefficient of 7%. It was also found that the suction side of the aerofoil is much more sensitive to leading edge protection placement than the pressure side. It was concluded that the erosion shield as a method of leading edge protection, with a gradual transition from shield to blade, will not have a major impact on the aerodynamic performance of a multi‐megawatt wind turbine blade and could slightly increase aerofoil efficiency at high wind speeds.

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前缘防腐蚀罩对风力涡轮机叶片的空气动力性能的影响

Armor EDGE是一种新颖的防护罩，旨在保护风力涡轮机叶片的前缘不受腐蚀。已使用2D全湍流计算流体动力学（CFD）研究了国家可再生能源实验室（NREL）5兆瓦风力发电机对空气动力学的影响，在叶片的关键位置模拟了三个轮廓，并带有或不带有护罩，以比较空气动力学性能。研究了反映正常运行条件的两种风速：额定风速为11.4 m / s和低于额定风速7 m / s。结果表明，在额定风速下，屏蔽的存在使阻力降低了4.5％，而升阻比最大增加了4％。在低于额定风速的情况下，除了一个国家航空咨询委员会（NACA）64-618轮廓以外，该盾牌对所有性能的影响都可以忽略不计，这导致阻力系数增加了7％。还发现，机翼的吸入侧比压力侧对前缘保护位置更为敏感。得出的结论是，防腐蚀护罩作为一种前沿保护方法，并逐渐从护罩过渡到叶片，不会对多兆瓦级风力涡轮机叶片的空气动力性能产生重大影响，并且在高风速下可以略微提高机翼效率风速。还发现，机翼的吸入侧比压力侧对前缘保护位置更为敏感。得出的结论是，防腐蚀护罩作为一种前沿保护方法，并逐渐从护罩过渡到叶片，不会对多兆瓦级风力涡轮机叶片的空气动力性能产生重大影响，并且在高风速下可以略微提高机翼效率风速。还发现，机翼的吸入侧比压力侧对前缘保护位置更为敏感。得出的结论是，防腐蚀护罩作为一种前沿保护方法，并逐渐从护罩过渡到叶片，不会对多兆瓦级风力涡轮机叶片的空气动力性能产生重大影响，并且在高风速下可以略微提高机翼效率风速。