Computational Fluid Dynamics Prediction of a Modified Savonius Wind Turbine with Novel Blade Shapes

Energies

Wenlong Tian²  Baowei Song²  James H. VanZwieten¹  Parakram Pyakurel¹ 

[1] Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA; E-Mails:;School of Marine Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, Shaanxi, China; E-Mail:

关键词: vertical axis wind turbine;    Savonius;    Myring Equation;    computational fluid dynamics (CFD);   

DOI  :  10.3390/en8087915

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The Savonius wind turbine is a type of vertical axis wind turbine (VAWTs) that is simply composed of two or three arc-type blades which can generate power even under poor wind conditions. A modified Savonius wind turbine with novel blade shapes is introduced with the aim of increasing the power coefficient of the turbine. The effect of blade fullness, which is a main shape parameter of the blade, on the power production of a two-bladed Savonius wind turbine is investigated using transient computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Simulations are based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with a renormalization group turbulent model. This numerical method is validated with existing experimental data and then utilized to quantify the performance of design variants. Results quantify the relationship between blade fullness and turbine performance with a blade fullness of 1 resulting in the highest coefficient of power, 0.2573. This power coefficient is 10.98% higher than a conventional Savonius turbine.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.