CFD analysis on novel vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT)

Date published

2024-11-12

Free to read from

2024-12-16

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

MDPI

Department

Type

Article

ISSN

2075-1702

Format

Citation

Bang CS, Rana ZA, Prince SA. (2024) CFD analysis on novel vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). Machines, Volume 12, Issue 11, November 2024, Article number 800

Abstract

The operation of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) to generate low-carbon electricity is growing in popularity. Their advantages over the widely used horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) include their low tip speed, which reduces noise, and their cost-effective installation and maintenance. A Farrah turbine equipped with 12 blades was designed to enhance performance and was recently the subject of experimental investigation. However, little research has been focused on turbine configurations with more than three blades. The objective of this study is to employ numerical methods to analyse the performance of the Farrah wind turbine and to validate the findings in comparison with experimental results. The investigated blade pitch angles included both positive and negative angles of 7, 15, 20 and 40 degrees. The k-ω SST model with the sliding mesh technique was used to perform simulations of a 14.4 million element unstructured mesh. Comparable trends of power output results in the experimental investigation were obtained and the assumptions of mechanical losses discussed. Wake recovery was determined at an approximate distance of nine times the turbine diameter. Two large complex quasi-symmetric vortical structures were observed between positive and negative blade pitch angles, located in the near wake region of the turbine and remaining present throughout its rotation. It is demonstrated that a number of recognised vortical structures are transferred towards the wake region, further contributing to its formation. Additional notable vortical formations are examined, along with a recirculation zone located in the turbine’s core, which is described to exhibit quasi-symmetric behaviour between positive and negative rotations.

Description

Software Description

Software Language

Github

Keywords

VAWT, Farrah wind turbine, computational analysis, vortical structures, 4015 Maritime Engineering, 40 Engineering, 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, 4003 Biomedical engineering

DOI

Rights

Attribution 4.0 International

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