Wind turbines are machines driven by aerodynamics. Their loads, performance, and also the majority of the noise they produce depend directly on the aerodynamics of the rotor blades themselves. Developments which improve the aerodynamics of wind turbines are therefore an ongoing requirement, and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are utilized to bring about these improvements.
At Fraunhofer IWES, one of the main focuses is on the enhancement of numerical methods for better prediction of wind turbine aerodynamics and, to this end, we employ the open-source CFD code OpenFOAM. Fraunhofer IWES works intensively in the following fields, where detailed investigations and solutions to specific problems can be offered.