IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v99y2016icp1213-1226.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fluid dynamic mechanisms of enhanced power generation by closely spaced vertical axis wind turbines

Author

Listed:
  • Zanforlin, Stefania
  • Nishino, Takafumi

Abstract

We present a comprehensive set of two-dimensional (2D) unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) simulations of flow around a pair of counter-rotating vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs). The simulations are performed for two possible configurations of the counter-rotating VAWT pair, with various gaps between the two turbines, tip-speed-ratios and wind directions, in order to identify key flow mechanisms contributing to the enhanced performance of a pair of turbines compared to an isolated turbine. One of the key mechanisms identified, for the case of two turbines arrayed side-by-side with respect to the incoming wind, is the change of lateral velocity in the upwind path of each turbine due to the presence of the neighbouring turbine, making the direction of local flow approaching the turbine blade more favourable to generate lift and torque. The results also show that the total power of a staggered pair of turbines cannot surpass that of a side-by-side pair of turbines. Some implications of the present results for the prediction of the performance of single and multiple rows (or a farm) of VAWTs are also discussed. The local flow mechanisms identified in the present study are expected to be of great importance when the size of the farm is relatively small.

Suggested Citation

  • Zanforlin, Stefania & Nishino, Takafumi, 2016. "Fluid dynamic mechanisms of enhanced power generation by closely spaced vertical axis wind turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1213-1226.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:99:y:2016:i:c:p:1213-1226
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2016.08.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148116307169
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2016.08.015?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. Balduzzi, Francesco & Bianchini, Alessandro & Maleci, Riccardo & Ferrara, Giovanni & Ferrari, Lorenzo, 2016. "Critical issues in the CFD simulation of Darrieus wind turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 419-435.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. Kamal, Md. Mustafa & Saini, R.P., 2023. "Performance investigations of hybrid hydrokinetic turbine rotor with different system and operating parameters," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Stefania Zanforlin & Fulvio Buzzi & Marika Francesconi, 2019. "Performance Analysis of Hydrofoil Shaped and Bi-Directional Diffusers for Cross Flow Tidal Turbines in Single and Double-Rotor Configurations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-25, January.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Lidong Zhang & Kaiqi Zhu & Junwei Zhong & Ling Zhang & Tieliu Jiang & Shaohua Li & Zhongbin Zhang, 2018. "Numerical Investigations of the Effects of the Rotating Shaft and Optimization of Urban Vertical Axis Wind Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-25, July.
    9. Kamal, Md. Mustafa & Saini, R.P., 2022. "A numerical investigation on the influence of savonius blade helicity on the performance characteristics of hybrid cross-flow hydrokinetic turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 788-804.
    10. 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.
    11. Peng, H.Y. & Liu, H.J. & Yang, J.H., 2021. "A review on the wake aerodynamics of H-rotor vertical axis wind turbines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Peng, H.Y. & Han, Z.D. & Liu, H.J. & Lin, K. & Lam, H.F., 2020. "Assessment and optimization of the power performance of twin vertical axis wind turbines via numerical simulations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 43-54.
    14. Cinzia Rainone & Danilo De Siero & Luigi Iuspa & Antonio Viviani & Giuseppe Pezzella, 2023. "A Numerical Procedure for Variable-Pitch Law Formulation of Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-20, January.
    15. Peng, H.Y. & Liu, M.N. & Liu, H.J. & Lin, K., 2022. "Optimization of twin vertical axis wind turbines through large eddy simulations and Taguchi method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    16. 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.
    17. Syawitri, T.P. & Yao, Y.F. & Chandra, B. & Yao, J., 2021. "Comparison study of URANS and hybrid RANS-LES models on predicting vertical axis wind turbine performance at low, medium and high tip speed ratio ranges," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 247-269.
    18. Aya Aihara & Victor Mendoza & Anders Goude & Hans Bernhoff, 2022. "Comparison of Three-Dimensional Numerical Methods for Modeling of Strut Effect on the Performance of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-21, March.
    19. Mohamed, M.H., 2019. "Criticism study of J-Shaped darrieus wind turbine: Performance evaluation and noise generation assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 367-385.
    20. Abdalrahman, Gebreel & Melek, William & Lien, Fue-Sang, 2017. "Pitch angle control for a small-scale Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine with straight blades (H-Type VAWT)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PB), pages 1353-1362.

    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:99:y:2016:i:c:p:1213-1226. 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.