Analysis of a micro vertical-axis wind turbine by computational fluids simulation

Abstract

The installed capacity of wind energy around the world using big horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT) has grown substantially in the last two decades. Likewise, research and development of vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT) for small power applications has been increased during the last seven years. This paper presents the performance analysis related to the power output of a micro VAWT with three blades in helicoidal form, based on computacional fluids dynamics simulation (CFD), using Ansys Fluentr. In the analysis, several parameters related to the aerodynamic performance were varied, keeping constant the sweeping area. To compare results, a mathematical model was created in Matlabr, using the double-multiple streamtube method (DMST), which considers variations in relative wind speed through the wind turbine. Results from both, CFD simulation and DMST model, applied to the micro turbine are presented.