Wood, David HoweYan, Haoxuan2016-02-032016-02-032016-02-032016http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2834The aim of this project is to investigate the effect of cascade on lift and drag coefficients and the angle of attack at which lift to drag ratio is maximized using the method of CFD. The blades of wind turbines are separated by a finite distance in the azimuthal direction. The Blade Element Theory (BET) assumes a blade element to be an airfoil and the blade element is independent to each other; and conducting experiments for low solidity blades is difficult. Thus, CFD would be an appropriate method to investigate how the cascade effect would impact the aerodynamics of wind turbines. The computational results were compared with experimental results (Hoffmann 1996). User Defined Functions (UDF) of transition SST model were also tested in order to find the most optimal correlations. The results show that the lift and drag coefficients are influenced by the solidity and pitch angle.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Engineering--MechanicalCascadeCFDWind Turbinemaster thesis10.11575/PRISM/25393