  Despite substantial growth in wind energy technology in recent decades,
aerodynamic modeling of wind turbines relies on momentum models derived in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries, which are well-known to break down under
flow regimes in which wind turbines often operate. This gap in theoretical
modeling for rotors that are misaligned with the inflow and also for
high-thrust rotors has resulted in the development of numerous empirical
corrections which are widely applied in textbooks, research articles, and
open-source and industry design codes. This work reports a unified momentum
model to efficiently predict power production, thrust force, and wake dynamics
of rotors under arbitrary inflow angles and thrust coefficients without
empirical corrections. This unified momentum model can form a new basis for
wind turbine modeling, design, and control tools from first-principles and may
enable further development of innovations necessary for increased wind
production and reliability to respond to 21st century climate change
challenges.
