Numerical Investigation of Wind Turbine Airfoils under Clean and Dusty Air Conditions

This paper focuses on the simulation of the airflow around wind turbine airfoils (S809 and S814) under both clean and dusty air conditions by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The physical geometries of the airfoils and the meshing processes are completed in the ANSYS Mesh package ICEM. The simulation is done by ANSYS FLUENT. For clean air condition, Spalart– Allmaras (SA) model and realizable k-ε model are used. The results are compared with the experimental data to test which model agrees better. For dusty air condition, simulation of the two-phase flow is operated by realizable k-ε model and discrete phase model (DPM) in different concentration of dust particles (1% and 10% in volume). The results are compared with the data of clean air to illustrate the effect of dust contamination on the lift and drag characteristics of the airfoil

Aerodynamic and Aeroacoustic Properties of a Flatback Airfoil: An Update

Results from an experimental study of the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic properties of a atback version of the TU Delft DU97-W-300 airfoil are presented for a chord Reynolds number of 3 106. The data were gathered in the Virginia Tech Stability Wind Tunnel, which uses a special aeroacoustic test section to enable measurements of airfoil self-noise. Corrected wind tunnel aerodynamic measurements for the DU97-W-300 are compared to previous solid wall wind tunnel data and are shown to give good agreement. Aeroacoustic data are presented for the atback airfoil, with a focus on the amplitude and frequency of noise associated with the vortex-shedding tone from the blunt trailing edge wake. The effect of a splitter plate attachment on both drag and noise is also presented. Computational Fluid Dynamics predictions of the aerodynamic properties of both the unmodied DU97-W-300 and the atback version are compared to the experimental data. I

The role of conservation agriculture in sustainable agriculture

The paper focuses on conservation agriculture (CA), defined as minimal soil disturbance (no-till, NT) and permanent soil cover (mulch) combined with rotations, as a more sustainable cultivation system for the future. Cultivation and tillage play an important role in agriculture. The benefits of tillage in agriculture are explored before introducing conservation tillage (CT), a practice that was borne out of the American dust bowl of the 1930s. The paper then describes the benefits of CA, a suggested improvement on CT, where NT, mulch and rotations significantly improve soil properties and other biotic factors. The paper concludes that CA is a more sustainable and environmentally friendly management system for cultivating crops. Case studies from the rice–wheat areas of the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia and the irrigated maize–wheat systems of Northwest Mexico are used to describe how CA practices have been used in these two environments to raise production sustainably and profitably. Benefits in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on global warming are also discussed. The paper concludes that agriculture in the next decade will have to sustainably produce more food from less land through more efficient use of natural resources and with minimal impact on the environment in order to meet growing population demands. Promoting and adopting CA management systems can help meet this goal