Creation and Optimization of Compliant Flow for an Existing Wind Turbine Rotor Geometry

A compliant flow is created on a wind turbine rotor through geometric optimization in order to make it more susceptible to active flow control. Feasible designs were limited to ones that can be implemented without permanent modification to the existing geometry. Computational fluid dynamics and quantitative optimization methods are employed to evaluate different design families that incorporate plasma flow control. Designs that resulted in the largest left control authority are presented. The application of these active lift designs on a horizontal wind turbine is discussed.