Aer — Wind Turbine Design Platform

Step 01 — Site

Site Selection

Place your turbine on the map and retrieve wind resource data from the Global Wind Atlas for your exact coordinates. Air density is derived from elevation via the ISA standard atmosphere.

Click the map or drag the pin to place your site — elevation is fetched automatically. Open the Global Wind Atlas to read mean wind speed, capacity factor, and power density at your coordinates, then enter them here.

🌍 Open Global Wind Atlas for this Location

Coordinates

Latitude (°N)

Longitude (°E)

Site Name

Ground Elevation (m ASL)

Auto-fetched when the pin moves — editable

Wind Resource From Global Wind Atlas

Mean Wind Speed (m/s)

At anemometer height

Anemometer Height (m)

GWA Capacity Factor (%)

Mean Power Density (W/m²)

Weibull Shape k

k = 2 → Rayleigh distribution (standard assumption)

Step 02 — Parameters

Design Parameters

Define target power, rotor configuration, and airfoil selection — or let Aer recommend them from your site and power rating. These drive the iterative sizing process.

Power & Rotor

Rated Power (kW)

Number of Blades

Design TSR λ

Optimal 6–8 for 3-blade rotors

Initial Cp

Betz limit = 0.593

Blade Geometry

Solidity σ

σ ≈ 0.07 optimal at high TSR

Taper Ratio (tip/root)

Hub Fraction

Hub radius as fraction of R

BEM Segments

Aer Recommendations

Derived from your power rating, wind resource, and the reference-study design rules.

Airfoil Assignment

Public-domain NACA 4-digit airfoils — geometry drawn from the exact analytic equations, no royalties. Thickness-matched replacements for the royalty-bound NREL S818/S825/S826 set used in the reference study.

Root Section (0–40% span) — Structural

Mid Section (40–80% span) — Power

Tip Section (80–100% span) — Low Noise

Optimal Design Angles — from Viterna-extended polars

Section	Airfoil	α* (°)	CL	CD	L/D

Step 03 — Sizing

Turbine Sizing

Iterative convergence of rotor radius, hub height, and hub-height wind speed — solving the power equation and the H ≈ 2R siting rule simultaneously.

Solver Controls

Initial Radius (m)

Tolerance (m)

Governing Equations

P = ½ · ρ · Cₚ · π · R² · V(H)³
V(h) = V_ref · (h / h_ref)^(1/7)
H = 2 · R (siting rule)
Ω = λ · V_hub / R · RPM = 60Ω / 2π

Step 04 — Blade Design

Blade Design

Chord from solidity with linear taper; twist from ideal-rotor theory with wake rotation, φ_opt = ⅔·atan(1/λ_r) — frozen at manufacture. Cross-sections are exact NACA analytic geometry.

Blade Geometry

Planform (Top View)

Airfoil Cross-Sections — exact NACA equations, true t/c & camber

Twist Distribution

Blade Segment Table

r/R	r (m)	Chord (m)	Twist (°)	φ_opt (°)	Section

Step 05 — Performance

Performance Analysis

Blade-element momentum with Prandtl tip + hub loss, Glauert–Buhl high-induction correction, and Du–Selig 3-D stall delay — the rotational-augmentation physics WT_PERF's 2-D tables miss.

Centrifugal pumping of the separated boundary layer on a rotating blade delays stall and holds lift — the reason 2-D BEM codes under-predict power at high wind speeds (NASA-Ames UAE result). Toggle the corrections below to see each effect.

Analysis Settings

V cut-in (m/s)

V rated (m/s)

V cut-out (m/s)

Pitch (°)

Drivetrain η

Rotor Speed Control

Fixed-speed mode reproduces the Kern County study (CF ≈ 50%)

Corrections

Prandtl Tip + Hub Loss Glauert–Buhl Du–Selig 3-D Stall

Performance Summary

Power Curve — P vs Wind Speed

Rotor Efficiency — Cₚ vs λ (twist frozen, Ω varied)

3-D vs 2-D Model — fixed-speed stall regime (WT_PERF divergence)

Spanwise Loading Cₙ / Cₜ at 7 m/s

Step 06 — Economics

Economic Analysis

NREL/TP-500-40566 cost-scaling model (2002 $) with inflation adjustment. Annual energy production via Weibull distribution at hub height, with soiling, array, and availability losses.

Financial Parameters

Fixed Charge Rate

11.85% — NREL standard

Inflation Factor (2002→2026)

Set 1.0 to read in 2002 $ like the study

Soiling Losses (%)

Desert environment

Array / Cable Losses (%)

Availability (%)

Retail Rate (¢/kWh)

Kern County, CA 2026

Annual Energy Production

NREL Component Costs

Component	2002 ($k)	Adjusted ($k)

Cost of Energy

Step 07 — Environmental

Environmental Assessment

Noise propagation from the Lowson source model driven by your rotor's actual tip speed, avian context with peer-reviewed mortality data, and the Kern County regulatory framework.

Noise Analysis — Lowson source + hemispherical spreading

Distance to Receptor (m)

Nearest community

Elevation Difference (m)

Site minus receptor

Noise vs Distance

Annual U.S. Bird Mortality by Cause — Loss et al. / USFWS (log scale)

Wind turbines account for ~0.3M of ~3B+ annual anthropogenic bird deaths — roughly 1/7000th of cat predation. Median estimates: cats 2,400M; building glass 599M; vehicles 214M; power lines 31M; communication towers 6.6M; turbines 0.34M.

Aer — Wind TurbineDesign Platform

Site Selection

Design Parameters

Turbine Sizing

Blade Design

Performance Analysis

Economic Analysis

Environmental Assessment

Design Report

Aer — Wind Turbine
Design Platform