High wind speeds associated with Low-Level Jet (LLJ) make wind resources more favorable for wind energy production. However, the aerodynamic loads of large-scale horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) rotor under different LLJ inflow conditions have not been thoroughly studied. To gain insight into the aerodynamic loads of rotor under LLJ inflow conditions with different LLJ intensities, a method to establish an engineering LLJ inflow model was proposed according to the plane wall jet theory and Von Karman spectra model with user-defined scaling. The parameters in the engineering LLJ inflow model were determined by comparing the wind speed distribution obtained from the GP_LLJ spectral model, which was summarized from field measurements in the real atmosphere. The LLJ fluctuating wind fields with different intensities generated by the engineering LLJ inflow model were used as the inflow conditions of Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence (FAST) open source code to calculate and analyze the aerodynamic loads of the HAWT. It was found that the engineering LLJ inflow model can be used to establish the LLJ inflow condition of HAWT. When the LLJ height is located at the hub height and LLJ intensity increases from 8 to 16 m/s, the RMS rotor unbalanced aerodynamic load coefficients, including ones of lateral force, longitudinal force, tilt moment and yaw moment are increased by 2.2, 2.13, 1.02 and 0.95 times, respectively. ARTICLE HISTORY

The airfoil plays an important role in improving the performance of wind turbines. However, there is less research dedicated to the airfoils for Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) compared to the research on Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs). With the objective of maximizing the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil by optimizing its geometrical parameters and by considering the law of motion of VAWTs, a new airfoil, designated the LUT airfoil (Lanzhou University of Technology), was designed for lift-driven VAWTs by employing the sequential quadratic programming optimization method. Afterwards, the pressure on the surface of the airfoil and the flow velocity were measured in steady conditions by employing wind tunnel experiments and particle image velocimetry technology. Then, the distribution of the pressure coefficient and aerodynamic loads were analyzed for the LUT airfoil under free transition. The results show that the LUT airfoil has a moderate thickness (20.77%) and moderate camber (1.11%). Moreover, compared to the airfoils commonly used for VAWTs, the LUT airfoil, with a wide drag bucket and gentle stall performance, achieves a higher maximum lift coefficient and lift–drag ratios at the Reynolds numbers 3 × 105 and 5 × 105.

The influence of the heights of low-level jets (LLJs) on the rotor power and aerodynamic loads of a horizontal axis wind turbine were investigated using the fatigue, aerodynamics, structures, and turbulence code. The LLJ and shear inflow wind fields were generated using an existing wind speed spectral model. We found that the rotor power predicted by the average wind speed of the hub height is higher than the actual power in relatively weak and shallow LLJ inflow conditions, especially when the LLJ height is located inside the rotor-swept area. In terms of aerodynamic loads, when the LLJ height is located inside the rotor-swept area, the root mean square (RMS) rotor thrust coefficient and torque coefficient increase, while the RMS rotor unbalanced aerodynamic load coefficients, including lateral force, longitudinal force, tilt moment, and yaw moment, decreased. This means that the presence of both positive and negative wind shear in the rotor-swept area not only increases the rotor power but also reduces the unbalanced aerodynamic loads, which is beneficial to the operation of wind turbine. Power spectrum analysis shows no obvious difference in the power spectrum characteristics of the rotor torque and thrust in LLJ inflow conditions with different heights.