Estimation Method to Achieve a Noise Reduction Effect of Airfoil with a Serrated Trailing Edge for Wind Turbine Rotor

This chapter describes a wind tunnel experiment that was undertaken to investigate the changes in the aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine due to the inclusion of a 2-Dimension (2D) airfoil with a serrated trailing edge designed to reduce the noise caused by a wind turbine rotor blade. The restrictive condition for the serrated trailing edge equipped with the use of a 2D airfoil was examined through the use of a wind tunnel experiment after studying existing restrictive condition and analyzing prior research on serrated trailing edges. The study was conducted according to Howe's theory, which is a cornerstone of the study of noise reduction effects produced by a serrated trailing edge. For the serrated trailing edge equipped on a 2D airfoil, the wake distribution and the relation to noise were analyzed in order to determine the restrictive condition in accordance with Howe's theory. The results indicated that an empirical formula or a theoretical approach should consider changes in the boundary layer thickness of a 2D airfoil, so an empirical noise prediction formula is suggested for the serrated trailing edge. Also, a comparison and an analysis of the prediction and the experimental results for the noise produced by the NACA0012 or the baseline airfoil equipped with a serrated trailing edge suggested a novel formula for a 2D airfoil. Finally, the 2D airfoil noise data are compared with wind tunnel test data by using an empirical formula estimation method.