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Performance improvement of adaptive flap on flow separation control and its effect on VAWT

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  • Hao, Wenxing
  • Li, Chun

Abstract

Flow separation on blades is the main factor to reduce the power efficiency of vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). A bio-inspired flow control device called adaptive flap is considered to have a good adaptability in mitigating the flow separation. The present study investigated the adaptive flap in terms of improving its performance and exploring its effect on VAWT by the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method combining the SST k-ω turbulence model. Firstly, a static flap with adjustable flap angles was installed on a static airfoil to explore the influence of the flap angle on the flap performance. Then, to improve the performance of the free rotating flap, a linear torque related to the aerodynamic moment acting on the static flap was proposed to constrain the flap. Besides, another torque composited from the aerodynamic moment distribution was proposed to give full control of the flap. The verification results showed that the two torques both worked in two typical airfoil flow separation processes, and the composite torque performed better. Finally, the rotating flaps improved by the composite torque were installed on blades of a VAWT. The simulation results showed that the flap sensibly improved the power coefficient of the VAWT at tip speed ratios (TSRs) of 0.6 and 1.2, providing a solution to slow down the flow separation in WAWT.

Suggested Citation

  • Hao, Wenxing & Li, Chun, 2020. "Performance improvement of adaptive flap on flow separation control and its effect on VAWT," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:213:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220319162
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118809
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. Liu, Zhen & Qu, Hengliang & Song, Xinyu, 2024. "Experimental and numerical studies on a passively deformed coupled-pitching hydrofoil under the semi-activated mode," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).

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