NREL Advanced Research Turbine (ART) Aerodynamic Design of ART-2B Rotor Blades

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) installed two Advanced Research Turbines (ART) at the National Wind Technology Center near Boulder, Colorado, to use as full-scale test beds for ongoing research efforts, including three-dimensional blade aerodynamics and the effects of various control methods on turbine loads and performance. The Westinghouse WWG-0600 was selected as a baselineconfiguration for the ART turbines. The first turbine, ART-1, is currently operational and has been used to collect a baseline set of performance and loads data. A second turbine, ART-2A, incorporates several major modifications and may be upgraded further to a configuration designated aRT-2B. Possible features of the ART-2B turbine include a multi-degree of freedom hum and newly designed rotorblades. Global energy concepts, L.L.C. provided engineering support to NREL in designing the components for the ART-2B turbine. This document provides a summary of work performed by GEC on the aerodynamic design of ART-2B rotor blades.