Active Gurney Flap for Wind Turbine Load Control
Wind turbine blades see large, rapid changes in loading, and the ability to modulate lift in real time is valuable for both power capture and fatigue life. This project evaluated an Active Gurney Flap (AGF) — a small deployable tab near the trailing edge on the pressure surface — as a fast, low-power actuator for that job.
A wind tunnel model based on a commonly-used wind turbine blade geometry was designed with embedded sensing and a deployable flap. Testing covered Reynolds numbers from 160,000 to 414,000, angles of attack from −10° to 15°, and deployment positions from 0° to 135°. Two results stand out: the aerodynamic change is proportional to deployment angle, peaking near 70°, and it happens essentially instantaneously as the flap moves.
Carried out at Brown University with industrial partners Actura Wind Inc. and Aquanis, Inc.