NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MIZORAM

Under the supervision of

FINAL YEAR UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Dr. Bachu Deb
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINES USING CFD (Asst. Prof., Dept. of ME)
GAURAB SINGH (BT15ME002), GOPESH TIWARI (BT15ME003), ANMOL KARTIKEYA (BT15ME015)

ABSTRACT: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

For Helical Savonius Rotor:
The need for developing renewable energies has thoroughly increased over the past decade due to 12

VELOCITY MAGNITUDE (M/S)

depletion of fossil fuels and global warming threats. In particular, due its diverse applicability, 10 Simple Savonius (Returning blade)

research work has had a great focus on wind energy and wind turbines which act as a primitive 8
Simple Savonius (Advancing blade)

medium in utilisation of wind and its extracted energy. With a full bloom in the sector of Horizontal 6
Helical Savonius (Returning blade)

axis wind turbines, the practicability of its counterpart – Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) is still 4

Helical Savonius (Advancing blade)

2
insecure. Understanding of the flow physics of VAWT still happens to be a major area of dilemma and
0
ambiguity. After going through the available literature on Vertical axis wind turbines, it was 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

DISTANCE ALONG THE AXIS (CM)

apprehended that these could turn out to be a sensible alternative for off grid energy conversion for
Fig.2. Variation in Static Pressure and Wind Velocity along the axis of the rotor
confined latitudes and low wind speed zones. However, the available designs and models are yet a
For Helical Bach Rotor:
matter of research to make it even more feasible and practical. In view of this, the objectives of the 100 18

16
present analysis were formulated with a motive to enhance the available designs with slight yet
50 14

effective modifications with the motive of enhancing its performance in terms of starting

STATIC PRESSURE

WIND VELOCITY
12

characteristics and power coefficients. Computational models of helical Savonius, helical Bach (HBR) 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
10

8
and H-Darrieus wind turbines were designed with modifications in designs presumed to be viable in -50
6

view of the available research work. Real time wind parameters were indulged for preferable analysis. 4
-100
After successful computational and flow physics analysis, it was observed that with the prescribed 2

0
modifications in place, the performance of the Vertical axis wind turbines, was computationally found -150 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
DISTANCE ALONG THE AXIS DISTANCE ALONG THE AXIS
to be enhanced. Another distinctive manifestation of this thesis was the consideration of a first of its 0̊ HS 0̊ HBR 30̊ HS 30̊ HBR 60̊ HS 60̊ HBR 90̊ HS 90̊ HBR 0̊ HS 0̊ HBR 30̊ HS 30̊ HBR 60̊ HS 60̊ HBR 90̊ HS 90̊ HBR

kind work on dimpled H-Darrieus rotors which could ethically turnout to be a great triumph. Fig.3. Variation in Static Pressure and Wind Velocity along the axis of the rotor
OBJECTIVES: For H-Darrieus Rotor:
14
• To study the performance of twisted blade helical wind turbine.
14

12 12

• Performance study of newly developed helical Bach-type wind turbine.

VELOCITY (M/S)
10 10

• To study the performance of symmetrical and asymmetrical H-Darrieus wind turbines.

VELOCITY (M/S)

8 8

• To study the performance of dimple effect on symmetrical and asymmetrical H-Darrieus wind
6 6

turbines. 4 4

• Flow physics analysis of Helical, Helical Bach, and H-Darrieus Wind Turbines. 2 2

CFD ANALYSIS: 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

DISTANCE FROM LEADING EDGE (MM) DISTANCE FROM LEADING EDGE (MM)
NACA 0018 (4m/s) S1210 (4m/s) NACA 0018 (6m/s) NACA 0018 (4m/s) S1210 (4m/s) NACA 0018 (6m/s)

S1210 (6m/s) NACA 0018 (8m/s) S1210(8m/s) S1210 (6m/s) NACA 0018 (8m/s) S1210(8m/s)

Fig.4. Velocity Variation for 0018 and S1210 airfoil without and with dimple.

4.5
COEFFICIENT OF

4
NACA 0018 (4m/s)
3.5
S1210 (4m/s)
LIFT (CL)

2.5 NACA 0018 (6m/s)

2
S1210 (6m/s)
1.5
NACA 0018 (8m/s)
1

0.5 S1210(8m/s)

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

DISTANCE FROM LEADING EDGE (MM)

Fig.5. CL vs Distance from leading edge for 0018 and S1210 airfoil (with dimple).

CONCLUSIONS:
 By analyzing the four models of helical Savonius wind turbine, it was found that the more will be
velocity then the more the better efficiency achieved and among the four different model the
velocity inlet, 11 m/s provides the more drag force on the rotor blade which leads to achieve the
PHYSICAL MODEL: much better efficiency through the rotor.
 CFD analysis of both HBR and helical Savonius turbine, shows that HBR has better coefficient of
power (=0.2) and starting torque capability due to the longer period of attachment of wind to
blade profile and its best performance of HBR is observed at 30̊ rotor angle.
 Endplates enhances the Cp (by 10% in case of HBR) by providing concentrated and equally
distributed wind flow over the blade profile as shown in velocity streamlines and vectors.
(a) (b)
 For S1210, the presence of a circular dimple affects the fluid (air) flow pattern and densification
in and around the trailing edge than for 0018 airfoil where as its presence in NACA 0018 did not
had much effect as it had for S1210 airfoil. A velocity drop of 4.2 m/s was observed for NACA
0018 around the dimple region was and that of 0.36 m/s for S1210 airfoil.
 Presence of static confined vortices for both the cases of analysing S1210 airfoil (with and
without dimple) for the initial region of the blade advance, which metamorphosed into benign
(c)
vortices during the succeeding part of the power stroke with better clarifications for case with the
Fig.1. Physical Model of (a) Helical Savonius Rotor (b)Helical Bach Rotor with and without
endplates and (c) H-Darrieus Rotors presence of a circular dimple.
GOVERNING EQUATION & TURBULENCE MODEL:
REFERENCES:
The realizable k-ε turbulence model is used for the present study because it’s fast and more accurate [1] Damak A, Driss Z, Abid MS. Experimental investigation of helical Savonius rotor with a twist of
than the standard k-ε turbulence model in terms of predicting separated flow from the wind rotor. It
solves two separate transport equations to allow the turbulent kinetic energy and its dissipation rate 180̊degree. Renewable Energy 2013; 52: 136-142.
to be independently determined. The realizable k-ε model is extensively used for planar and round [2] Damak A, Driss Z, Abid M S. Optimization of the helical Savonius rotor through wind tunnel
jet flows, rotating homogeneous shear flows and for flows involving separation and recirculation.
experiments. Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics (2018); 174: 80-93.
The modelled transport (1) 𝜕 𝜌𝑘 + 𝜕 𝜌𝑘𝑢𝑖 = 𝜕 𝜇 + 𝜇𝑡 𝜕𝑘 + 𝐺𝑘 + 𝐺𝑏 − 𝜌𝜖 − 𝑌𝑚 + 𝑆𝑘
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥𝑖 𝜕𝑥𝑗 𝜎𝑘 𝜕𝑥𝑗 [3] Sengupta A R, Biswas A, Gupta R. Comparison of low wind speed aerodynamics of
equations for k and ε in
the realizable k-ε 𝜕 𝜕 𝜕 𝜇𝑡 𝜕𝑘 𝜖 𝜖2 unsymmetrical blade H-Darrieus rotors-blade camber and curvature signatures for performance
(2) 𝜌𝜖 + 𝜌𝜖𝑢𝑖 = 𝜇+ + 𝐶1𝑒 𝐺𝑘 + 𝐶3𝑒 𝐺𝑏 − 𝐶2𝑒 𝜌 + 𝑆𝑒
model are: 𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥𝑖 𝜕𝑥𝑗 𝜎𝜖 𝜕𝑥𝑗 𝑘 𝑘
improvement (2019); XX: 2-29