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Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 407e415

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Numerical study of the aerodynamic performance of a 500 W


Darrieus-type vertical-axis wind turbine
Young-Tae Lee, Hee-Chang Lim*
School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, San 30, Jangjeon-Dong, Geumjeong-Gu, Busan 609-735, South Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study characterizes the performance of a Darrieus-type vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) with the
Received 29 May 2014 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) airfoil blades. The performance of Darrieus-type
Accepted 21 April 2015 VAWT can be characterized by torque and power. Various parameters affect this performance, such as
Available online
chord length, helical angle, pitch angle, and rotor diameter. To estimate the optimum shape of the
Darrieus-type wind turbine in accordance with various design parameters, we examined aerodynamic
Keywords:
characteristics and the separated flow occurring in the vicinity of the blade, the interaction between the
Numerical study
flow and the blade, and the torque and power characteristics derived from these characteristics. In flow
Darrieus wind turbine
NACA airfoil
analysis, flow variations were investigated based on the unsteady Reynolds-averaged NaviereStokes
Solidity equation. A sliding mesh algorithm was also employed to consider the rotational effect of the blades. To
Pitch angle derive more realistic results, we coaxially conducted experimental and numerical calculations in a three-
Helical angle dimensional domain. Additionally, we focussed on the optimum design of the blade shape showing few
disturbances and interactions with the ambient flow. In general, although the NACA airfoil made sig-
nificant changes in the lift and drag force against the angle of attack, the use of the longer chord length
and smaller main diameter (i.e., higher solidity) increased the power performance in the range of low
tip-speed ratio (TSR). In contrast, in the high TSR range, the short chord and long-diameter rotors (i.e.,
lower solidity) performed better. In addition, when a pitch angle equals 2 with a helical angle of 0 , the
Darrieus-type VAWT showed maximum power.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction also its own advantages. In particular, a yaw control device is not
necessary in VAWT, because VAWT can produce power indepen-
In recent decades, fuel prices have rapidly increased and global dently of the wind direction. Additionally, the levels of noise caused
warming has worsened owing to the reckless use of fossil fuels. by VAWT are relatively low owing to its slower rotational speed
Consequently, as an alternative to fossil fuels, attention and de- than that of HAWT. Other advantages include its low production
mand for new renewable energy has increased across the world. cost and affordable maintenance cost, because a VAWT blade
Among new renewable energy sources, wind power energy has consists of a consistently shaped airfoil, whereas a HAWT blade
gained the spotlight. (IEA, 2012) [1] Wind turbines can be divided consists of a variety of airfoils whose shape changes along the
into two groups: horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) and vertical radius direction.
axis wind turbine (VAWT). HAWT has successfully evolved into a There are two primary types of VAWT: drag-type (Savonius) and
mature technology for converting wind energy into electricity. lift-type (Darrieus). A drag-type turbine performs better at the
Presently, HAWT is applied to large-scale wind power plants. initial start-up wind speed. On the other hand, drag-type shows
Although many studies on VAWT were conducted from the late lower power generation efficiency than a lift-type turbine. This
1970s to the early 1980s, the depth of recent works and studies on study examines a Darrieus-type wind turbine, which is more effi-
VAWT are not as profound as those examining HAWT, primarily cient than a Savonius-type VAWT, under the condition of wind
because of the superior efficiency of HAWT. However, VAWT has speed exceeding a specific level. Among the experimental studies
on Darrieus-type VAWT, one by Ref. [2] examined the performance
characteristics of Darrieus VAWT in accordance with various design
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ82 515 102 302; fax: þ82 515 125 236. parameters (for example, number of blades, chord length,
E-mail address: hclim@pusan.ac.kr (H.-C. Lim).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2015.04.043
0960-1481/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
408 Y.-T. Lee, H.-C. Lim / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 407e415

thickness, pitch angle, and rotor diameter) by extensively


combining experimental studies published before 2009. [3] and [4]
studied stall and pitch control for Darrieus-type blades.
Owing to the evolution of computer technology, three-
dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) have led to
highly accurate models and calculation. Using these technologies, a
wide variety of studies on blade-shape development are being
actively conducted. Regarding numerical studies focusing on small-
scale VAWT, [5] employed air as a fluid to present different detailed
strategies for predicting the aerodynamic characteristics of a
VAWT. [6] applied the sliding mesh strategy to two blade VAWTs
using commercial software combined with the one-equation tur-
bulence model, Spalart-Allmaras. [7] performed an extensive nu-
merical study examining the hydrodynamic performance of a
three-bladed tidal current turbine introduced in a duct to accel-
erate the flow upstream of the turbine. [8] examined a Darrieus
VAWT with a specific shape and investigated torque, power coef-
ficient, and flow characteristics by comparing the results of wind
tunnel tests and three-dimensional numerical analysis. According
to the previous studies, the numerical analysis results were
significantly similar to the experimental results. However, the re-
sults from previous studies were primarily obtained by using spe-
cific shapes and only certain parameters of interest. Numerical
approaches have also been used within a very limited range, such as
with turbulence models, which tend to be inconsistent with other
works.
This paper describes a design optimization study conducted on a
Darrieus blade by considering various parameters such as chord
length, rotor diameter, pitch angle, blade thickness ratio, and he-
lical angle using ANSYS FLUENT®, three-dimensional CFD com-
mercial software. According to previous studies, it is clear that the
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of Darrieus-type vertical axis wind turbine.
performance estimations and comparisons with experimental data
for small Darrieus-type VAWTs of 500 W have been extremely
insufficient. In this study, a wind tunnel test was also conducted
based on a Darrieus VAWT with NACA airfoil blades. The experi-
four different cases at varying helical angles in range 0 ~30 with
mental results of this wind tunnel experiment were verified in
an interval of 10 .
conjunction with numerical results. This study proposes an opti-
mum shape for a Darrieus VAWT showing maximum power under
different design variables and aims to analyse flow characteristics
caused by interactions between the blade and the induced flow 2.2. Computational grids
with respect to design parameters, temporal flow, and pressure
characteristics for wind load. This study also highlights the fluid The computational mesh consists of a tetrahedron shape in most
dynamic characteristics around the blade design that yield the areas, but a partly hexahedron shape close to the blade surface for
maximum output power. better accuracy. For proper simulation of the wind turbine, several
separate zones are considered and the rotating region of the wind
2. Numerical analysis and experimental method in wind turbine mainly moves relative to the other zones (stationary re-
tunnel gions). Fig. 2 indicates the computational grid with rotational and
stationary regions. The number of grids for the calculation was
2.1. Darrieus numerical model 1,500,000 for the rotational region, 500,000 for the stationary re-
gion, and approximately 2,000,000 for the total domain. The full
The Darrieus blade profiles used in this study primarily consist size of the computational domain is the same, with the real wind
of the NACA series; in particular, NACA0015. The detailed specifi- tunnel size located in the Pusan National University (PNU) (i.e.,
cations of the VAWT used in the wind tunnel experiment are as 2mwidth2mheight) for comparison with the wind tunnel test.
follows: airfoil, NACA0015; chord length, 150 mm; rotor diameter
(D), 740 mm; length (L), 600 mm; and aspect ratio (L/D), 0.81. The
turbine consists of three blades with identical airfoil shapes. The 2.3. Governing equation
three blades are connected to a centre shaft. A schematic diagram of
the Darrieus VAWT used in this study is shown in Fig. 1. Several The governing equation used in this study is the NaviereStokes
design parameters for the Darrieus VAWT include blade thickness equation and the discretization method is the finite-volume
ratio (t/c), pitch angle (f), solidity (NC/D), and helical angle. Ac- method. In unsteady Reynolds-averaged NaviereStokes (RANS)
cording to the design parameters, this study considers several modelling, the flow properties are disintegrated into their mean
different cases as follows: three different cases with varying and fluctuating components by Reynolds decomposition and
thickness ratios of 0.15, 0.18, and 0.21, and varying solidity values of substituted into the NaviereStokes equations, which yield the
0.4, 0.6, and 0.8. In addition, the study examined six different cases time-averaged RANS equations for incompressible Newtonian
at varying blade pitch angles of 6 , 3 , 2 , 1, 0 , and 3 , and fluids as follows:
Y.-T. Lee, H.-C. Lim / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 407e415 409

Fig. 2. (a) Analysis domain grid (b) blade shape for flow analysis of Darrieus-type vertical axis wind turbine.

quantities ak and aε are the inverse effective Prandtl numbers for k


vui and ε, respectively; Sk and Sε are user-defined source terms, and
¼0 (1)
vxi C1ε ¼ 1.42, C2ε ¼ 1.68, and Cm ¼ 0.0845.

vui vu 1 vp v2 u vu0 2.5. Boundary conditions for numerical analysis


þ uj i ¼  þ n 2i  u0j i þ fi (2)
vt vxj r vxi vxj vxj
Boundary conditions for numerical analysis were set as shown
in Fig. 3, with the aim to accurately investigate torque and power
u0i
where ui and are the mean and fluctuating parts, respectively, of
characteristics of a Darrieus-type VAWT. A constant uniform ve-
the velocity component, ui, in the xi-direction. In addition, p is the
locity profile is imposed as an inlet condition. The outlet is under
mean pressure, r is the density, and n is the viscosity. The fluctua-
outflow condition without gradient towards the outlet, except for
tions associated with turbulence initiate additional stresses in the
pressure gradient. In addition, the side, top, and bottom surfaces
fluid, so-called Reynolds stresses, ru0i u0j , which need to be modelled
fall under the standard no-slip wall condition. The size of the for-
to mathematically close the problem. The term fi represents ’other’
ward direction of the rotor is 5D, the sizes of the left and right di-
body forces (forces per unit volume), such as gravity or centrifugal
rections are identical to wind tunnel size (2 m  2 m), and the size
force; these forces are ignored for simplicity.
of the backward direction is 7D. To explore performance charac-
teristics at various tip-speed ratios (TSRs), we adjust the TSR
2.4. Turbulence model
through the rotational speed of the rotor. TSR is the blade-tip speed
against wind speed, which is defined as Equation (6). The power
The choice of the turbulence models is important to ensure the
performance of the rotor can be presented as a power coefficient
correct numerical result and to satisfy the time required to achieve
depending on TSR.
the accurate solution. For HAWTs, [9] found that standard kε
turbulence model provided inaccurate results after flow separation. Tip speed uR
However, the RNG kε turbulence model is known to more accu- TSR ¼ ¼ (6)
Wind speed U∞
rately predict flow fields involving large flow separations. [8]
applied the RNG kε turbulence model to a study of three-blade
Darrieus wind turbine simulation; the result was agreed well
with tunnel experiments. Therefore, the RNG kε turbulence model 2.6. Vortex shapes around blade surfaces (l2)
was used for the present simulation. The transport equations for
the RNG kε turbulence model and the turbulent viscosity are Since the discovery of vortical structures in turbulent flow,
presented as Equations (3)e(5). vortex identification has garnered significant interest and resulted
!
v v v vk
ðrkÞ þ ðrkui Þ ¼ ak meff þ Gk þ Gb  rε  YM þ Sk
vt vxi vxj vxj
(3)
!
v v v vε ε
ðrεÞ þ ðrεui Þ ¼ aε meff þ C1ε ðGk þ C3 εGb Þ
vt vxi vxj vxj k
ε2
 C2ε r  Rε þ Sε (4)
k

k2
mt ¼ rCm (5)
ε
In these equations, Gk represents the generation of turbulence
kinetic energy owing to the mean velocity gradients; Gb is the
generation of turbulence kinetic energy owing to buoyancy; YM
represents the contribution of the fluctuating dilatation in Fig. 3. Rotational direction, approach flow, and ambient boundary condition of
compressible turbulence to the overall dissipation rate. The Darrieus-type vertical axis wind turbine used in numerical analysis.
410 Y.-T. Lee, H.-C. Lim / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 407e415

in an array of methods designed for identifying vortices in the the torque meter is converted to voltage level which is used to
outputs of simulations and experiments. In this study, the l2 cri- acquire the power of the blade using a data measuring program
terion method [11] was applied for identifying the vortex, which implemented by Labview® and running on a PC connected to an A/
basically interprets turbulent flows in terms of the motion of D converter. For analysing the results, torque coefficient (CQ) and
vortices. This is defined as the second eigenvalue of the matrix, power coefficient (CP) are used. The torque coefficient and power
coefficient were calculated by Equations (8) and (9), respectively.
l2 ¼ Sik Skj þ Uik Ukj (7)
Q
! CQ ¼ 2
(8)
vui vu 0:5rARU∞
where Sij ¼ 12 vxj þ vxij is the rate-of-strain tensor, and
! The torque coefficient, denoted by CQ, can be calculated by
vui vu Equation (8), where Q is torque [N m], r denotes the air density [kg/
Uij ¼ 12  vxij is the vorticity tensor.
vxj m3], and A is the cross-sectional area of the rotor [m2]. In the case of
The construction of the characteristic cubic equation and its a wind rotor using lift as a propelling factor, the torque is generated
resolution are required for obtaining l2.For coherent structures, the by the moment attributable to the lift acting on the blade surface.
above matrix can be regarded as the opposite of the pressure
Qu
Hessian matrix, which is real and symmetric and therefore, has two CP ¼ 3
(9)
0:5rAU∞
positive eigenvalues when the pressure is at minimum. Conse-
quently, the above matrix has two negative eigenvalues, and l2 is The power coefficient, denoted by CP, is a ratio of the power
certainly negative. [11] Under appropriate adiabatic assumptions, produced by the wind rotor to the power available at a specific
this last criterion guarantees an instantaneous local pressure wind speed. The power coefficient can be calculated by Equation
minimum in a two-dimensional plane for NaviereStokes flows. (9).

2.7. Wind tunnel experiment 3. Results and discussion

In this study, we conducted experiments using the open large- 3.1. Comparison of numerical and experimental results
scale boundary layer wind tunnel at Pusan National University, as
shown in Fig. 4. The dimensions of the wind tunnel are Numerical results were obtained by simulating a three-
2.0 m2.1 m20 m (width  height  length); maximum speed is dimensional numerical tunnel under the exact same conditions as
23 m/s. Before conducting the blade experiment, we firstly in the wind tunnel. Fig. 5 shows the numerical and experimental
measured and analysed wind flow for information about the flow of results for comparison. In the figure, the horizontal axis represents
wind generated by the wind tunnel. A pitot tube to measure wind the TSR and the vertical axis represents the power coefficient
speed was installed 5 m ahead of the test device and was approx- produced by the Darrieus VAWT. In terms of the Darrieus-type
imately 1 m high; this is the approximate middle height of the wind VAWT used in this experiment, the whole length of a blade (L) is
turbine. Real-time monitoring was achieved by utilizing a micro- 600 mm and the rotor diameter (D) is 740 mm. Hence, the aspect
manometer (FCO12). The wind generated in the wind tunnel ratio (L/D) is 0.81. A blade airfoil of NACA0015 with a chord length
pushes the blades and applies rotational power to the blade shafts. of 200 mm is used. The inlet wind speed is set to 12 m/s.
Subsequently, the rotational power is transferred to the torque All experimental data may contain a large or small extent of
meter. The amount of rotation, or RPM, is measured in real time by a uncertainty. Thus, uncertainty analysis was conducted for all
data logger which receives the signals sent by the optic sensor. experimental results to assess the confidence level using the
When the wind speed reaches the target speed, the number of method suggested by [10]. The total error consists of bias and
rotations is adjusted by using powder brake which forces control precision errors. The bias error can be minimised by careful cali-
power. While the experiment is conducted, the signal obtained by bration of measuring instruments. To evaluate the precision error,

Fig. 4. (a) Measurement system and (2) Darrieus-type vertical axis wind turbine experimental model used for wind tunnel experiment.
Y.-T. Lee, H.-C. Lim / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 407e415 411

values for each chord length appear to be 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8,
respectively. In the figure, when TSR is 2 or less, the rotor with the
chord length of 200 mm (with the highest solidity) shows the
highest torque and power coefficients. On the other hand, when
TSR is 2.4 or higher, the rotor with the chord length of 100 mm
(with the lowest solidity) shows the highest torque and power
coefficients. These observations indicate that the dominant power
affecting blades is lift attributable to low rotational speed at low
TSR. However, as the TSR increases, the rotational speed of the
blades increases. Consequently, among the parameters causing
variations in performance, the drag is the most dominant. In the
case of the lift, the long-chord length rotor displays a high power
coefficient. On the contrary, when the drag is regarded as the
dominant parameter, the long-chord length rotor displays a lower
Fig. 5. Comparison of results of three-dimensional numerical analysis and wind tunnel performance because it encounters stronger resistance.
experiments; Solid circles and square symbols represent calculated and experimental
data, respectively; relative uncertainties shown by error bar are within 5%.
3.3. Performance evaluation with varying rotor diameters

the standard deviation of the sample records of surface pressure As another method to explore the influences on solidity(s),
was calculated. The total error with 95% confidence is depicted in varying rotor diameters were examined, maintaining a chord
the form of an error bar (see Fig. 5). length of 200 mm. Fig. 7 shows the results in two cases of rotor
As generally revealed, the performance curve of the Darrieus- diameter (D) of 740 and 1000 mm. The solidities for D ¼ 740 mm
type VAWT appears to be parabolic and reaches maximum value and 1000 mm are 0.8 and 0.6, respectively. In the case of a TSR
at the TSR of 0.8e2.0. According to the results of this study, higher than 1.8, the rotor with D ¼ 1000 mm (s ¼ 0.6) is more
maximum power occurs at the TSR of 1.2e1.4. At this point, the efficient. On the contrary, in the case of a TSR lower than 1.8, the
power coefficient appears to be approximately 0.23. Particularly rotor with D ¼ 740 mm (s ¼ 0.8) shows better efficiency. Longer-
interesting results were observed during the wind tunnel experi- diameter rotors display greater power efficiency at a TSR higher
ment at TSRs both higher and lower than 1.2: the power coefficient than 1.8 because the torque applied to the rotor shaft grows as the
decreases, showing a parabolic shape in the region with higher TSR rotor diameter increases. This observation is consistent with ob-
than 1.2, whereas the power coefficient drastically decreases in the servations from previous studies. In the case of a rotor with a
region with TSR lower than 1.2. This can be explained with the shorter diameter (high solidity), higher power occurs at a lower
changing magnitude of the lift force causing the Darrieus VAWT to TSR, probably because when the rotor diameter decreases at
rotate. The rotational driving power required to rotate the Darrieus identical TSRs, rotational speed increases. Consequently, the angle
VAWT gains its propelling power whenever the rotor rotates by 1/3 of the attack working on the blade changes. Therefore, the TSR
turns owing to the rotational power caused by the wind load range in which maximum power occurs decreases. According to
equilibrium of three blades as well as the lift force of the blade it- open sources, the optimum value of the angle of attack for
self. However, when the TSR decreases, the rotational speed of the NACA0015 is approximately 6 . The rotor with D ¼ 740 mm gen-
rotor slows. Consequently, the time interval spent to attain suffi- erates the optimum angle of attack at the TSR of 1.8. Therefore, at
cient propelling power increases. This means that the rotor fails to this point, the rotor produces maximum power. On the other hand,
achieve propelling power in a short moment. As a result, the power the rotor with D ¼ 1000 mm produces the optimum angle of attack
coefficient decreases. These numerical analysis results are signifi- at the TSR of approximately 2.5. Therefore, in the region of higher
cantly consistent with experimental results, although a slight TSR, specifically increasing by 0.7, the highest power occurs
discrepancy exists. This implies that an optimized design can be compared to that of the rotor with D ¼ 740 mm.
achieved by using only numerical results when modifying design
parameter values of a Darrieus VAWT. To save the cost of numerical 3.4. Performance evaluation with varying thickness ratios
analysis, all other parameters except for helical angle were exam-
ined by a two-dimensional (2D) analysis method. Based on the In the case of the NACA-family airfoil, the thickness ratio of the
results of analysis, the flow characteristics and tendencies for each blade can be recognized by reading the last two digits of the airfoil
parameter were numerically investigated. Furthermore, design number. For instance, the last two digits of NACA0015 are ‘15’,
optimisation was conducted based on this numerical calculation, which means that the width ratio (t/c) is 0.15. This study examined
which is discussed later in the paper. the influences for three cases with different thickness ratios, 0.15,
0.18, and 0.21, as shown in Fig. 8. For the entire range of TSR, there is
no significant difference in the power coefficient against width
3.2. Performance evaluation with varying chord lengths
ratio. However, the NACA0015 airfoil displays higher efficiency in
the TSR range of 2 or higher, compared to other types of airfoils.
To investigate the effect of variations in chord length on solidity,
NACA0015 shows higher power in the range of higher TSR because
which is one of the design parameters of a Darrieus-type VAWT, we
it is thinner than NACA0018 and NACA0021. Because of its thinness,
obtained torque and power coefficients against TSR with fixed rotor
the amount of drag applied to NACA0015 becomes relatively low as
diameter, as shown in Fig. 6. Solidity is the ratio of the length of
rotational power increases the speed.
blades to the rotor diameter (D), defined by Equation (10).

Number of blades  chord length N  C 3.5. Performance evaluation with varying pitch angles
sðsolidityÞ ¼ ¼ (10)
Diameter of rotor D
To explore the influences of pitch angle on the blade, we
Fig. 6 compares torque and power coefficient variations with considered six distinct cases with different pitch angles,
three different chord lengths: 100, 150, and 200 mm. The solidity including 6 , 3 , 2 , 1, 0 , and 3 . Pitch angle, as shown in
412 Y.-T. Lee, H.-C. Lim / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 407e415

Fig. 6. Variations in (a) torque and (b) power coefficients according to changing chord lengths.

Fig. 7. Variations in (a) torque and (b) power coefficients with varying rotor diameters.

Fig. 9, has a positive value when it directs towards the inside and a 0 e5 . The interval of cycle is observed to be 360 . According to the
negative value when it directs towards the outside. The results results, the azimuth angle with lowest torque is at approximately
presented in Fig. 10 are power coefficients at TSR of 1.6 with varying 280 . Fig. 12 presents the pressure distribution at a specific azimuth
pitch angles. Fig. 10 indicates that the highest power coefficient at which maximum and minimum torque values appear. When the
occurs at a pitch angle of 2 . In other ranges except for this angle, TSR equals 1.6, the highest power is produced at a pitch angle
the power coefficient decreases showing a parabolic curve pattern. of 2 . This is because the performance of blade is highest in the
Fig. 11 shows the variations of torque applied to the rotor at range of the blade's azimuth angle of 0 e90 , compared to that of
different azimuth angles for each case of three-bladed and one-
bladed turbines.
In the case of a three-bladed turbine, the rotor with pitch angle
of 0 instantly displays maximum torque at intervals of 0 e120 .
However, there is a significant difference between maximum and
minimum torque. Therefore, average torque occurs at the rotor
with pitch angle of 3 . The rotor with pitch angle of 3 produces a
low torque distribution in the entire range of azimuths. In the case
of a one-bladed rotor, the highest torque appears in the range of

Fig. 8. Variations in power coefficients with varying thickness ratios. Fig. 9. Definition of pitch angle of the blade used in numerical analysis.
Y.-T. Lee, H.-C. Lim / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 407e415 413

three-dimensional analysis are 0 (A0), 10 (A10), 20 (A20), and


30 (A30), as shown in Fig. 13. Fig. 14 shows a graph presenting the
power estimation results for the Darrieus-type VAWT at varying
helical angles against the distinct TSR occurring at each rotor. The
TSR, shown on the horizontal axis, ranges from 0.8 to 2.4 with in-
tervals of 0.2. According to the results of this study, the highest
power occurs when TSR equals 2.0, which reaches 0.32. In these
results, generated output power reaches approximately 980 W.
With numerical analysis, this output power seems significantly
high. However, it is predicted that the actual wind rotor might
generate lower power than this numerical result owing to me-
chanical and electrical loss. It is also observed that helical angle has
no significant influence on power performance. Furthermore, in the
low TSR range, the performance decreases as the helical angle
Fig. 10. Variations in power coefficients at varying pitch angles. increases.

other pitch angles. As the TSR increases, the rotational speed of the 3.7. Vortex interactions with the TSR
blade increases and the angle of attack decreases. This implies that
a better performance can be achieved with a larger pitch angle. To understand and identify the characteristics of the vortex
shape behind the rotating blades, the isosurface contours of the l2
criterion around the blade surfaces were visualised as shown in
3.6. Performance evaluation with varying helical angles Fig. 15. The level of l2 is defined as 0.0029 and the l2 criterion
simply concerns the definition of the scalar l2. Depending on the
Among the performance characteristics of the Darrieus-type definition, the turbulent structures may be visualised as shown in
VAWT, it is not possible to analyse the helical angle in a 2D simu- Fig. 15, which identifies the characteristics of the vortex shape
lation. Therefore, the performance characteristics against the heli- behind the rotating blades when the wind blows from the left side
cal angle can be analysed only in three-dimensional simulation. The at three different TSRs (1.4, 2.0, and 2.6). In the figure, when the TSR
Darrieus VAWT profile used for analysis is NACA0018. The length, is 1.4, the rotational speed of the blades is the lowest and the TSR
rotor diameter, and chord length of NACA0018, are 1,600, 1,800, and increases with an increase in the rotational speed. At this TSR, the
200 mm, respectively. The helical angles applied to the blade for vortex substantially aggregates behind the blade tail, which makes

Fig. 11. Variations in torque at varying pitch angles at distinct azimuth. (a) All blades are installed. (b) One blade is installed.

Fig. 12. Position of blade at which (a) maximum and (b) minimum torque appear.
414 Y.-T. Lee, H.-C. Lim / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 407e415

Fig. 13. Three-dimensional Darrieus blade with varying helical angles.

the vortices at both the upper and lower ends of the right blade (3) In terms of power performance at varying pitch angles, the
nearly invisible. In contrast, when the TSR is 2.6, the rotational highest efficiency occurs at the TSR of 1.6 and pitch angle
speed of the blades is so high that the vortex around the blade of 2 . When the TSR changes, however, the optimum pitch
becomes elongated and thinner. Additionally, in the neighbouring angle is predicted to change in accordance with the angle of
blade, a group of vortices is recreated before the previous vortex attack.
disappears. When the TSR reaches 2.0, however, the vortex from (4) Regarding power performance at varying helical angles of
the blades is relatively shorter and more stable, and appears to have the blade, the highest performance appears at a shape
the highest output coefficient. without a helical angle. If performance is the only factor to be
taken into account, it is considered to be reasonable to
exclude the helical angle from consideration because a he-
4. Concluding remarks lical blade shows a low power coefficient, although it is
difficult to produce.
In this study, wind tunnel experiment and numerical analysis
were conducted on a Darrieus-type VAWT with a NACA airfoil
blade. The study proposes an optimum shape which produces
maximum output power in Darrieus-type VAWTs by varying values
of design parameters. Additionally, variations of flow and perfor-
mance characteristics which appear while design parameters are
varied were derived numerically. The results can be summarized as
follows.

(1) As solidity increases, power coefficient increases in a low TSR


range. However, in a high TSR range, as the rotational speed
increases, drag force also increases. Therefore, a model with
high solidity produces a low power coefficient because it is
affected by a stronger drag force.
(2) The thickness ratio of the airfoil makes no significant dif-
ference in the performance of the wind rotor. However,
similar to solidity, a thick airfoil is applied by a higher drag
force, which leads to a low power coefficient. Therefore,
NACA0015 shows the best performance in a high TSR range. Fig. 14. Variations in power coefficients at varying helical angles.
Y.-T. Lee, H.-C. Lim / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 407e415 415

Fig. 15. Iso-surface contours of l2 criterion for three blades illustrating change in tip vortex at different TSRs. Level of l2 criterion is 0.0029.

Acknowledgements [3] Paraschivoiu I, Trifu O, Saeed F. H-Darrieus wind turbine with blade pitch
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