Introduction to Wind Turbine Rotor Aerodynamics

Workshop Structure

• Fully online, learner-paced, self-guided learning workshop
• Estimated time of completion: 8-10 hours
• Pre-recorded videos, quizzes, assignments and solutions (not required or graded, no group projects)
• Regularly moderated discussion board for all students
• Curriculum taught by UMass Professor Matthew Lackner (Director of the Wind Energy Center), adapted from a current upper-level undergraduate mechanical engineering course
• Access to Professor via email
• No time limit, and no expiration. Leave the course and return to complete it at any time.
• Certificate of completion available as a PDF
• Workshop is not for credit, and hours may apply towards professional continuing education credits

Workshop Learning Objectives

• Understand the basic fluid dynamic model of a wind turbine rotor modeled as an actuator disk, apply conservation equations, and develop equations for power and thrust
• Utilize conservation of angular momentum to analyze actuator disks, and apply conservation equations to develop equations for torque.
• Understand 2D airfoil behavior and how 2D airfoil data is used in wind turbine rotor analysis.
• Specify the flow angles and forces of a rotating blade element.
• Understand and specify the blade element momentum theory equations for a wind turbine rotor.
• Specify the blade shape for an optimal rotor with wake rotation.
• Understand non-ideal rotor behavior and its impact on performance including drag, tip/hub losses, and high induction flow states.
• Design a wind turbine rotor using BEM equations and analyze the rotor performance with general BEM analysis method.

Meet the Instructor

Dr. Matthew Lackner is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the Wind Energy Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He received his B.S.E in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton in 2002, his M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 2004, and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2007.  After graduating, he was appointed as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. He joined the UMass Amherst faculty in January of 2009.  His research focuses on the aerodynamics and structural control of floating offshore wind turbines. He is the director of the Wind Energy Center. He also directs the NSF-funded ELEVATE program, which is a Ph.D. program focused on solving the technical socioeconomic, and climate challenges in the energy transition.  More about the Instructor: Google Scholar

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