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Numerical study of the effect of turbulence intensity on VAWT performance

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  • Belabes, Belkacem
  • Paraschivoiu, Marius

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the capability of CFD to accurately simulate the effect of the flow turbulence intensity on the performance of vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT). This effect is quite important as it increases the performance of small VAWTs. For this study, two and three dimensional CFD analysis has been performed on different straight-bladed Darrieus-type rotors. Both a small and a large H-Darrieus VAWT with diameters of 0.5 m and 35 m respectively are investigated using NACA0018 blades. Computational results based on a commercial CFD code (Star CCM+) are compared with experimental measurements. Several simulations based on full URANS calculations are proposed. Firstly, the sensitivity of time step, the number of iterations by time step, and discretization schemes are studied. Secondly, the effect of turbulence intensity on the VAWT performance is simulated and compared with experimental data. Finally, results reveal that the power coefficient of a small turbine is increasing for higher turbulence intensity, up to 20%, but stops increasing afterward. For a small turbine H-Darrieus turbine, the power coefficient is increased by 22% when the turbulence intensity is changed from 0.7% to 20%, however, there is no increase detected in the case of a large H-Darrieus wind turbine. The impact of the turbulence intensity was assessed and a range of behaviors was identified.

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  • Belabes, Belkacem & Paraschivoiu, Marius, 2021. "Numerical study of the effect of turbulence intensity on VAWT performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:233:y:2021:i:c:s0360544221013876
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.121139
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    Cited by:

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    3. Cameron Gerrie & Sheikh Zahidul Islam & Sean Gerrie & Naomi Turner & Taimoor Asim, 2023. "3D CFD Modelling of Performance of a Vertical Axis Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-25, January.
    4. Shisheng Chen & Kuniaki Mihara & Nyuk Hien Wong & Jason Kai Wei Lee & Chun Liang Tan, 2022. "A Semi-Automatic Data Management Framework for Studying Thermal Comfort, Cognitive Performance, Physiological Performance, and Environmental Parameters in Semi-Outdoor Spaces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, December.
    5. Liu, Zhen & Qu, Hengliang & Song, Xinyu & Chen, Zhengshou & Ni, Heqiang, 2023. "Energy-harvesting performance of tandem coupled-pitching hydrofoils under the semi-activated mode: An experimental study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    6. Farzadi, Ramin & Bazargan, Majid, 2023. "3D numerical simulation of the Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine with J-type and straight blades under various operating conditions including self-starting mode," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PB).

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