O QBlade é um software de código aberto para o cálculo de turbinas eólicas, distribuído sob a GNU General Public License e possui uma integração nativa com a ferramenta de projeto e análise de aerofólios XFOIL. Ele permite ao usuário desenhar aerofólios segundo seus próprios parâmetros e calcular sua performance, além de realizar a extrapolação dos dados para uma extensão de ângulo de ataque de 360° e diretamente integra-los às simulações de rotor e turbina eólica. Sua integração com a interface gráfica do XFLR torna o QBlade acessível à uma grande comunidade de usuários em potencial.
O QBlade é especialmente adequado para fins educacionais, pois permite uma experiência prática no estudo de turbinas eólicas, mostrando as relações entre torção da pá, corda da pá, seção do aerofólio, mecanismos de controle, e curvas de carga e potência de forma fácil e intuitiva. Adicionalmente, o software oferece pós processamento das simulações realizadas, possibilitando análises aprofundadas nas variaveis relevantes das pás e do rotor.
Histórico de Desenvolvimento
QBlade's development started in 2009 as a small part of the PhD work of G. Pechlivanoglou at the Hermann Föttinger Institute of TU Berlin. The initial development was done by D. Marten, at the time an undergraduate student of Physical Engineering. Prof. C.O. Paschereit, head of the Hermann Föttinger Institute was a strong proponent of the idea to release QBlade under GPL and thus the software was quickly hosted on the official site of the institute. The 1st online version was received with positive remarks which led to the continuation of the development. G. Weinzierl, undergraduate student at the time initiated the development of an integrated turbulent wind field generator, while J. Wendler under the supervision of D. Marten developed the VAWT module as well as the Viterna 360° extrapolation module. M. Lennie, performed the development of a structural Euler-Bernoulli beam module (QFEM). N. Moesus further developed and integrated the code of G. Weinzierl and M. Lennie in the QBlade code. Furthermore, he initiated the integration of a fully developed (GUI) for the aeroelastic code FAST inside QBlade. The completion of the integration of all the aforementioned modules in QBlade is handled by J.Wendler, N. Moesus and D. Marten and the updated version (v0.8) of the software was released on the 9th of May 2014.
An updated stable version was released in August 2015. This included a new aerodynamic module which replaced the BEM of QBlade with a new advanced Lifting Line Theory (LLT) module. Furthermore, a Free Wake Vortex model was implemented for the accurate representation of the near and far wake of the turbine. The entire development of this version was undertaken by D. Marten.
Current development focuses on the expansion of both the dynamic and the aerodynamic capabilities of the software as well as its export/import interface. D. Marten is the person mainly responsible for the development and supervision of future versions while G. Pechlivanoglou, J. Saverin, N. Moesus and J. Wendler are currently active in the project.
Functionality
The functionality of QBlade includes the following features:
Extrapolation of XFOIL generated or imported polar data to 360° Angle of attack.
Blade design and optimization, including 3D visualization, using XFOIL generated or imported airfoil.
Access to all simulation parameters for flexible use.
Data post processing and visualization (dynamic graphs).
Export functionality for all simulation data.
Blade geometry export functionality.
Storing of projects, rotors, turbines and simulations in a runtime database.
Lifting Line Theory (LLT) aerodynamic module
Free Wake Vortex Model
Multi-thread capability
Advanced project & blade import and export functionality
Integration of sample test projects including the popular NREL 5MW blade design
HAWT and VAWT Rotors designed with QBlade
New in 0.95
-Added unsteady aerodynamics model with Beddoes-Leishman type dynamic stall model
-All project files have been updated to include decomposed polars for the UA model
-Added multi (Reynolds number) polar blade definition in the blade design module
-Added polar preprocessor for dynamic stall simulations
-Added PNoise module for airfoil self-noise evaluation
-Added floating platform turbine simulations through *.sim files
-Binary windfield files (*.bts) can now be imported through the “Windfield” menu
-Added turbine startup simulations, including adaptive time stepping
-Added ParaView export functionality for velocity fields
-Added vortex centered & higher order velocity integration scheme for improved stability
-Added graph menu to choose number and arrangement of graphs
-Added VAWT blade design: “pitch axis” for blade sections has been added as a design parameter
-Added HAWT blade design: Added Z-Offset parameter to advanced design for pre-bend blades
-Added 3D correction for the Himmelskamp effect to LLFVW HAWT simulations
-Added position of bound vortex and evaluation point for AoA's to LLFVW simulation parameters
-Added estimates for vortex induced velocities to LLFVW simulation dialog
-Added .stl and .txt geometry export functionality for VAWT blades
-Added dialog to change graph arrangements
-Several improvements of overall stability, GUI and numerous bug fixes
v0.96.3 includes a hotfix for a problem leading to crashes during polar extrapolation!
License
QBlade is distributed under the GPL license. It is maintained and continuously developed by the Hermann Föttinger Institute of TU Berlin (Chair of Fluid Dynamics).
Graph of Rotor Torque over Wind Speed for a 10m rotor-diameter stall turbine. The turbine rotor design data are extracted from the NREL International Energy Agency Annex XIV and Annex XVIII turbine tested at the NASA Ames wind tunnel. The comparative curves represent the simulation results between QBlade and WT_Perf (BEM code of NREL)
↑D. Marten, et al., "QBlade: An open source tool for design and simulation of horizontal and vertical axis wind turbines," International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering (IJETAE) 3.3 (2013): 264-269, March 2013. Available here. Accessed 16 August 2017/
