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2015
Poster
Titel
Lift optimization of airfoils using the adjoint approach
Titel Supplements
Poster presented at EWEA 2015, Europe's Premier Wind Energy Event, 17 - 20 November 2015, Paris, France
Abstract
Optimization of aerodynamic profiles is often done using methods based on coupling potential flow theory and boundary layer corrections. In order to have a higher accuracy in the prediction of loads, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are used in this work, based on the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS). CFD simulations are computationally more expensive than other methods and thus a cheap optimization method is needed. In this context, a gradient-based optimization using the adjoint approach is proposed as it is independent from the number of design parameters. This approach is implemented in the open-source library OpenFOAM [1] and compared to differential evolution for a simple test case at low Reynolds number. Furthermore a lift optimization is shown for a NACA 63-415 airfoil at high Reynolds number.