Modelling of the fluid structure interaction of the horizontal axis bio-inspired wind turbine blade and effect on annual energy production

Abstract

In response to South Africa’s ongoing energy crisis, the exploration of renewable energy technologies has become increasingly urgent. Wind energy, as one of the fastest growing renewable sources, offers significant potential for sustainable power generation. In this study, performance improvement of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs) was explored by employing a bio inspired blade design method. To improve the aerodynamic efficiency, inspired by the aerodynamically efficient wing shape of the albatross, a corrugated version of the GOE174 airfoil was designed. The original airfoil geometry was rebuilt from NACA data and methodically adjusted by amplitude functions for generating corrugations. The resulting 2D profile was extruded in Solid Edge to get a full 3D blade model and then analyzed with ANSYS Fluent 2025R1. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed using the k-ω SST turbulence model to examine the lift and drag characteristics over a wide variety of angles of attack. The main goal was to investigate the potential of bio-inspired corrugation to boost the aerodynamic efficiency compared to smooth blade. The results revealed that corrugated geometry always have higher drag but offer better lift-to-drag ratios at low angles of attack, particularly around 2.71 m/s where stall delay is noted. The corrugated airfoil performs similarly at 3.47 m/s, with a marginal edge at 20° angle of attack, with a power coefficient (Cp) of 0.466 relative to 0.459 for the smooth profile. Analysis of the Annual Energy Production (AEP) showed a small but measurable increase of 1.4%: 16.753 kWh/year for the corrugated blade compared to 16.518 kWh/year for the smooth blade. These efficiencies are minor but important to long term turbine operating in low to moderate wind environments. The results demonstrate the promise of bio-inspired corrugated patterns for HAWT performance improvement, tying computational modelling to experimental applicability, and emphasize the relevance of biomimicry in the development of renewable energy technology. Error comparison between CFD and wind tunnel experiments indicated good agreement at low velocity (σ = 0.156), considerable variability at 3.47 m/s (σ = 0.322) and significant disparities at 5.36 m/s (σ = 0.908). The corrugated airfoil showed better lift stability, stall delay and higher efficiency, which is beneficial for the practical application in HAWTs.