IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v136y2019icp1170-1189.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

2D-3D Computations of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Flow Field: Modeling Issues and Physical Interpretations

Author

Listed:
  • Franchina, N.
  • Persico, G.
  • Savini, M.

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation on the flow field past a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine at different operating conditions. Several numerical issues are considered, including the extension of the domain, the class of boundary conditions assigned, the space and time resolution, and the numerical accuracy in the resolution of the equations. The inlet boundary condition and the physical position where it is assigned, as well as appropriate far field conditions, are shown to be crucial for the reliability of the computed turbine performance. The use of proper boundary conditions and numerical settings allows performing three-dimensional unsteady calculations of VAWT aerodynamics with a technically-acceptable computational cost. The conclusions obtained are strengthened by a detailed comparison with a large data-base of experiments available for the turbine under consideration, that include both performance and time-resolved velocity measurements in the wake. The resulting flow model is then used to run time-accurate two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) simulations of the flow around the turbine. This set of simulations is exploited in combination to dedicated studies on the unsteady profile aerodynamics as well as detailed three-dimensional measurements in the wake to provide consistent physical interpretations of the computed flow fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Franchina, N. & Persico, G. & Savini, M., 2019. "2D-3D Computations of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Flow Field: Modeling Issues and Physical Interpretations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1170-1189.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:136:y:2019:i:c:p:1170-1189
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.09.086
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148118311595
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2018.09.086?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Battisti, L. & Benini, E. & Brighenti, A. & Raciti Castelli, M. & Dell'Anna, S. & Dossena, V. & Persico, G. & Schmidt Paulsen, U. & Pedersen, T.F., 2016. "Wind tunnel testing of the DeepWind demonstrator in design and tilted operating conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 484-497.
    2. 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.
    3. Battisti, L. & Persico, G. & Dossena, V. & Paradiso, B. & Raciti Castelli, M. & Brighenti, A. & Benini, E., 2018. "Experimental benchmark data for H-shaped and troposkien VAWT architectures," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 425-444.
    4. Balduzzi, Francesco & Bianchini, Alessandro & Ferrara, Giovanni & Ferrari, Lorenzo, 2016. "Dimensionless numbers for the assessment of mesh and timestep requirements in CFD simulations of Darrieus wind turbines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 246-261.
    5. Trivellato, F. & Raciti Castelli, M., 2014. "On the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy criterion of rotating grids in 2D vertical-axis wind turbine analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 53-62.
    6. Rezaeiha, Abdolrahim & Kalkman, Ivo & Blocken, Bert, 2017. "CFD simulation of a vertical axis wind turbine operating at a moderate tip speed ratio: Guidelines for minimum domain size and azimuthal increment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 373-385.
    7. Li, Chao & Zhu, Songye & Xu, You-lin & Xiao, Yiqing, 2013. "2.5D large eddy simulation of vertical axis wind turbine in consideration of high angle of attack flow," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 317-330.
    8. Lam, H.F. & Peng, H.Y., 2016. "Study of wake characteristics of a vertical axis wind turbine by two- and three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 386-398.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Franchina, N. & Kouaissah, O. & Persico, G. & Savini, M., 2022. "Three-dimensional modeling and investigation of the flow around a troposkein vertical axis wind turbine at different operating conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 368-381.
    2. Jia Guo & Liping Lei, 2020. "Flow Characteristics of a Straight-Bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with Inclined Pitch Axes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-23, November.
    3. Siddiqui, M. Salman & Khalid, Muhammad Hamza & Zahoor, Rizwan & Butt, Fahad Sarfraz & Saeed, Muhammed & Badar, Abdul Waheed, 2021. "A numerical investigation to analyze effect of turbulence and ground clearance on the performance of a roof top vertical–axis wind turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 978-989.
    4. 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.
    5. 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).
    6. 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.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Franchina, N. & Kouaissah, O. & Persico, G. & Savini, M., 2022. "Three-dimensional modeling and investigation of the flow around a troposkein vertical axis wind turbine at different operating conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 368-381.
    2. Dessoky, Amgad & Lutz, Thorsten & Bangga, Galih & Krämer, Ewald, 2019. "Computational studies on Darrieus VAWT noise mechanisms employing a high order DDES model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 404-425.
    3. Zanforlin, Stefania & Deluca, Stefano, 2018. "Effects of the Reynolds number and the tip losses on the optimal aspect ratio of straight-bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 179-195.
    4. Wong, Kok Hoe & Chong, Wen Tong & Poh, Sin Chew & Shiah, Yui-Chuin & Sukiman, Nazatul Liana & Wang, Chin-Tsan, 2018. "3D CFD simulation and parametric study of a flat plate deflector for vertical axis wind turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PA), pages 32-55.
    5. Dessoky, Amgad & Bangga, Galih & Lutz, Thorsten & Krämer, Ewald, 2019. "Aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performance assessment of H-rotor darrieus VAWT equipped with wind-lens technology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 76-97.
    6. Thé, Jesse & Yu, Hesheng, 2017. "A critical review on the simulations of wind turbine aerodynamics focusing on hybrid RANS-LES methods," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 257-289.
    7. Hand, Brian & Kelly, Ger & Cashman, Andrew, 2021. "Aerodynamic design and performance parameters of a lift-type vertical axis wind turbine: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    8. Jinghua Lin & You-Lin Xu & Yong Xia & Chao Li, 2019. "Structural Analysis of Large-Scale Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines, Part I: Wind Load Simulation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-31, July.
    9. Elkhoury, M. & Kiwata, T. & Nagao, K. & Kono, T. & ElHajj, F., 2018. "Wind tunnel experiments and Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation of a three-bladed micro vertical axis wind turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PA), pages 63-74.
    10. Barnes, Andrew & Marshall-Cross, Daniel & Hughes, Ben Richard, 2021. "Towards a standard approach for future Vertical Axis Wind Turbine aerodynamics research and development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    11. Li, Gang & Li, Yidian & Li, Jia & Huang, Huilan & Huang, Liyan, 2023. "Research on dynamic characteristics of vertical axis wind turbine extended to the outside of buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    12. Antar, E. & Elkhoury, M., 2019. "Parametric sizing optimization process of a casing for a Savonius Vertical Axis Wind Turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 127-138.
    13. Lam, H.F. & Peng, H.Y., 2017. "Measurements of the wake characteristics of co- and counter-rotating twin H-rotor vertical axis wind turbines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 13-26.
    14. Atlaschian, Omid & Metzger, M., 2021. "Numerical model of vertical axis wind turbine performance in realistic gusty wind conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 211-223.
    15. Hand, Brian & Cashman, Andrew, 2018. "Aerodynamic modeling methods for a large-scale vertical axis wind turbine: A comparative study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PA), pages 12-31.
    16. Li, Chao & Xiao, Yiqing & Xu, You-lin & Peng, Yi-xin & Hu, Gang & Zhu, Songye, 2018. "Optimization of blade pitch in H-rotor vertical axis wind turbines through computational fluid dynamics simulations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1107-1125.
    17. Trentin, Pedro Francisco Silva & Martinez, Pedro Henrique Barsanaor de Barros & dos Santos, Gabriel Bertacco & Gasparin, Elóy Esteves & Salviano, Leandro Oliveira, 2022. "Screening analysis and unconstrained optimization of a small-scale vertical axis wind turbine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    18. Hassan, Syed Saddam ul & Javaid, M. Tariq & Rauf, Umar & Nasir, Sheharyar & Shahzad, Aamer & Salamat, Shuaib, 2023. "Systematic investigation of power enhancement of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines using bio-inspired leading edge tubercles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    19. Liu, Qingsong & Miao, Weipao & Ye, Qi & Li, Chun, 2022. "Performance assessment of an innovative Gurney flap for straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1124-1138.
    20. 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).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:136:y:2019:i:c:p:1170-1189. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.