Wind Tunnel Tests of a Thick Wind Turbine Airfoil

This article reports about a wind‐tunnel experiment carried out in the ONERA F2 low‐speed wind tunnel on a model of the DU 97‐W‐300Mod airfoil designed for wind turbine application. The wind tunnel, the airfoil model, and experimental techniques used are presented, with special emphasis on the data processing and corrections required to derive airfoil forces and pressure distribution. To better document the flow physics at play, the results are illustrated by infrared thermography and surface oil flow visualization. The test allowed investigating Reynolds number effects between 1 and 3.8 millions. To ameliorate the understanding of the benefits and limitations of such airfoil testing, one section is devoted to the comparison of present results with previous experiments in other wind tunnels. Some of the difficulties arising in airfoil testing are evidenced and discussed to contribute to the improvement of test methods.