Aerodynamic performance of blades in particle-laden two-phase flows

The aerodynamic loads and turbulent flow dynamics of a blade section under particle-laden two-phase flows were experimentally investigated through wind tunnel measurements. Time-resolved particle image and tracking velocimetry were employed to simultaneously capture the wind flow structures and sand particle distributions over the blade surface. A high-resolution load cell was embedded within the blade section to measure the resulting aerodynamic loads. The results indicate that the presence of sand particles induces a drag penalty, particularly at low angles of attack. Visualizations of particle distributions reveal significant sand particle impingement on the blade’s leading edge. Meanwhile, due to particle inertia, the dispersed phase demonstrates pronounced separation from the blade surface, leading to a sharp reduction in particle concentration near the trailing edge. Comparison between the dispersed and carrier phase dynamics shows that the streamwise velocity of sand particles exhibits substantially lower spatial variation than the surrounding airflow. Further analysis indicates that the spatial distribution of sand particle velocity can be effectively predicted using a data-driven advection-diffusion model.