Energy, Vol.109, 602-611, 2016
An optimization methodology for wind lens profile using Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation
An effective optimization method is presented for the shape design of the axis-symmetric wind lens aiming at velocity augmentation and drag force reduction. The profile of the wind lens is approximated by a polynomial function. Velocity and drag force are calculated by CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) method. The wind lens profile is optimized adopting GA (genetic algorithm). GA and CFD method are combined by the platform software modeFRONTIER for fully automatic process. By this method, an actual wind lens is researched. The optimized results show that the velocity inside the wind lens is increased and the drag force is decreased dramatically. The recommended inlet length of the wind lens is given through analyzing the optimized results. The effect of incoming boundary conditions on the optimized result is also discussed. The results indicate that the optimized wind lens has good performance under various incoming boundary conditions. It is suggested that the combination of CFD and GA is an effective method for wind lens profile design. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.