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The aerodynamics of a camber-bladed vertical axis wind turbine in unsteady wind

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  • Bausas, Michael D.
  • Danao, Louis Angelo M.

Abstract

VAWT (Vertical axis wind turbines) pose several advantages over the horizontal axis machines that make them more suitable for applications where wind conditions are inherently turbulent. However, due to the complexity of VAWT aerodynamics, technical literature on the subject is very limited with research on VAWT performance mostly focused on steady wind analysis. This paper aims to numerically predict the performance of a 5 kW VAWT under fluctuating wind conditions through computational fluid dynamics modeling. Two dimensional VAWT models using symmetric and cambered blades were created with open field boundary extents. Fluctuating wind speed was imposed on the inlet with average magnitude of 5 m/s, amplitude of fluctuation of 10%, and frequency of fluctuation of 1 Hz. Results revealed that fluctuating wind imposes a detrimental effect on VAWT performance. A VAWT blade with 1.5% camber shows the best performance with the cycle-averaged unsteady power coefficient at 0.31 versus the optimum steady power coefficient of 0.34. In spite of increased available wind power due to the fluctuating wind at 233.13 Watts in one wind cycle compared to 229.69 Watts for the steady 5 m/s wind case, power generated by the camber bladed VAWT drops to 74.96 Watts from the steady wind rotor power of 78.32 Watts.

Suggested Citation

  • Bausas, Michael D. & Danao, Louis Angelo M., 2015. "The aerodynamics of a camber-bladed vertical axis wind turbine in unsteady wind," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 1155-1164.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:93:y:2015:i:p1:p:1155-1164
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.09.120
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Raciti Castelli, Marco & Englaro, Alessandro & Benini, Ernesto, 2011. "The Darrieus wind turbine: Proposal for a new performance prediction model based on CFD," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 4919-4934.
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    Cited by:

    1. Balduzzi, Francesco & Drofelnik, Jernej & Bianchini, Alessandro & Ferrara, Giovanni & Ferrari, Lorenzo & Campobasso, Michele Sergio, 2017. "Darrieus wind turbine blade unsteady aerodynamics: a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes CFD assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 550-563.
    2. Wekesa, David Wafula & Wang, Cong & Wei, Yingjie & Danao, Louis Angelo M., 2017. "Analytical and numerical investigation of unsteady wind for enhanced energy capture in a fluctuating free-stream," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 854-864.
    3. Lositaño, Ian Carlo M. & Danao, Louis Angelo M., 2019. "Steady wind performance of a 5 kW three-bladed H-rotor Darrieus Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) with cambered tubercle leading edge (TLE) blades," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 278-291.
    4. Meana-Fernández, Andrés & Solís-Gallego, Irene & Fernández Oro, Jesús Manuel & Argüelles Díaz, Katia María & Velarde-Suárez, Sandra, 2018. "Parametrical evaluation of the aerodynamic performance of vertical axis wind turbines for the proposal of optimized designs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 504-517.
    5. Wu, Zhenlong, 2019. "Rotor power performance and flow physics in lateral sinusoidal gusts," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 917-928.
    6. Sengupta, A.R. & Biswas, A. & Gupta, R., 2019. "Comparison of low wind speed aerodynamics of unsymmetrical blade H-Darrieus rotors-blade camber and curvature signatures for performance improvement," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1412-1427.
    7. Lakshmi Srinivasan & Nishanth Ram & Sudharshan Bharatwaj Rengarajan & Unnikrishnan Divakaran & Akram Mohammad & Ratna Kishore Velamati, 2023. "Effect of Macroscopic Turbulent Gust on the Aerodynamic Performance of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-24, February.
    8. Ould Moussa, Mohamed, 2020. "Experimental and numerical performances analysis of a small three blades wind turbine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    9. Su, Jie & Chen, Yaoran & Han, Zhaolong & Zhou, Dai & Bao, Yan & Zhao, Yongsheng, 2020. "Investigation of V-shaped blade for the performance improvement of vertical axis wind turbines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    10. Wu, Zhenlong & Bangga, Galih & Cao, Yihua, 2019. "Effects of lateral wind gusts on vertical axis wind turbines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 1212-1223.
    11. Jeffrey E. Silva & Louis Angelo M. Danao, 2021. "Varying VAWT Cluster Configuration and the Effect on Individual Rotor and Overall Cluster Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-22, March.

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    Keywords

    Camber; CFD; NACA; Unsteady wind; VAWT;
    All these keywords.

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