Capturing tip-corrected blade element momentum loading with wind turbine models

Selvatici, D.; Stevens, R.J.A.M.

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2024.122265

Capturing tip-corrected blade element momentum loading with wind turbine models

D. Selvatici, R.J.A.M. Stevens, Renew. Energ. 241, 122265 (2025).

Main finding

Strong conditional evidence for restoring a chosen tip-corrected BEM loading target, not a general physical validation of turbine/wake fidelity.

Blade loads, velocity ratio and angle of attack for two actuator line methods against theory — **How to read the figure.** Normal (a) and tangential (b) blade loads, the velocity ratio (c) and the angle of attack (d) along the blade, for blade element momentum theory with and without a tip correction, a classic actuator line model, and the corrected method. Near the tip the classic model departs from the tip-corrected target while the corrected method follows it: fixing the sampled velocity fixes the tip-load bias. This restores a chosen loading target rather than validating turbine or wake fidelity in general. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 4. D. Selvatici and R.J.A.M. Stevens (2025). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Correcting the sampled actuator-line velocity removes a tip-loading bias relative to the chosen tip-corrected BEM target.

Research context

Earlier coarse-grid and actuator-line studies show that sampled velocity, force projection, and grid support control the resolved loading. This paper adds a blade-element-momentum-consistent tip correction; later yawed-vortex work examines wake evolution rather than only tip loading.

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