Advances in wind turbine blade design and materials: 3. Aerodynamic design of wind turbine rotors (Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy)

This chapter describes the process of aerodynamic rotor design for horizontal axis wind turbines. Apart from describing the state-of-the-art, it presents the mathematical models used, explains how airfoil and rotor control choice are decided and lists common design constraints. An example is used to illustrate the rotor design process, covering all the main aspects from choice of rotor size, airfoil types and number of blades to the exact aerodynamic shape of the blades. At the end of the chapter there is a summary of future trends and sources of further information.