Advances in the Standards & Applied Sciences

Advances in the Standards & Applied Sciences

Standard-Oriented Numerical Investigation of Small Offshore Wind Turbine Blades in Warm Coastal Climates

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Standard Administration of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran
2 Bandar Abbas Oil Refining Company, Bandar Abbas, Iran
10.22034/asas.2026.575010.1096
Abstract
This study presents a comprehensive numerical analysis of small-scale offshore wind turbine blade configurations, focusing on a direct integration of international design standards (IEC 61400-1, DNV-GL) with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) under representative hot-humid coastal conditions. We systematically investigated the aerodynamic performance and wake stability of two-blade versus three-blade rotor designs using the SST k−ω turbulence model within a steady RANS framework. The simulations were conducted at a wind speed of 7 m/s, considering specific atmospheric properties (ρ=1.145 kg/m³, μ=1.86×10−5 kg/(m·s)) simulating a tropical climate (35 ∘C, 85% RH). Our findings reveal that the three-blade configuration achieves a 16% higher power coefficient (Cp) compared to the two-blade design, alongside improved wake stability. Crucially, the analysis demonstrates that neglecting the 6.5% reduction in air density characteristic of tropical climates can lead to a proportional overestimation of annual energy production, necessitating site-specific thermophysical corrections in standard-compliant design workflows. This quantitative insight underscores the importance of considering site-specific climatic parameters alongside established design standards in the preliminary assessment of offshore wind turbines, particularly for tropical and subtropical regions.
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