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Advances in Wind Energy Harvesting via Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Friday, April 28, 2-3 p.m.

EN-4000

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) are efficient devices to harvest wind energy. These turbines perform well in cities when placed on the roof of buildings and offshore as the generator is located at the bottom which improves the stability when floating on water.

In this presentation, different environments that improve the performance of  VAWT will be discussed. The aerodynamic performance of the turbine is measured by the power coefficient (Cp) which, in this work, is calculated by simulating the unsteady flow around the entire turbine with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Validation of the computational methodology is demonstrated by comparing CFD results with experimental results for different sizes of turbines.

To start, the effect of the turbulent intensity on the performance of the turbine is analyzed for both a small turbine and a very large turbine. Then, the placement of the turbine on the roof is investigated. At least two locations significantly increase the performance of the turbine. In one case, the Cp has almost doubled the value of the Cp for the same turbine in a uniform flow. Lastly, two new technologies are introduced.

First, it is shown that morphing the shape of the turbine blade as it rotates can lead to significant improvement in performance.

Second, a new turbine concept is developed for which the blade travels perpendicular to the flow which leads to higher Cp.

Presented by Engineering Research Office

Event Listing 2023-04-28 14:00:00 2023-04-28 15:00:00 America/St_Johns Advances in Wind Energy Harvesting via Vertical Axis Wind Turbines Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) are efficient devices to harvest wind energy. These turbines perform well in cities when placed on the roof of buildings and offshore as the generator is located at the bottom which improves the stability when floating on water. In this presentation, different environments that improve the performance of  VAWT will be discussed. The aerodynamic performance of the turbine is measured by the power coefficient (Cp) which, in this work, is calculated by simulating the unsteady flow around the entire turbine with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Validation of the computational methodology is demonstrated by comparing CFD results with experimental results for different sizes of turbines. To start, the effect of the turbulent intensity on the performance of the turbine is analyzed for both a small turbine and a very large turbine. Then, the placement of the turbine on the roof is investigated. At least two locations significantly increase the performance of the turbine. In one case, the Cp has almost doubled the value of the Cp for the same turbine in a uniform flow. Lastly, two new technologies are introduced. First, it is shown that morphing the shape of the turbine blade as it rotates can lead to significant improvement in performance. Second, a new turbine concept is developed for which the blade travels perpendicular to the flow which leads to higher Cp. EN-4000 Engineering Research Office