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CFD computation of the Savonius rotor

Article  in  Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics · February 2015

DOI: 10.15632/jtam-pl.53.1.37

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JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL
AND APPLIED MECHANICS
53, 1, pp. 37-45, Warsaw 2015
DOI: 10.15632/jtam-pl.53.1.37

CFD COMPUTATION OF THE SAVONIUS ROTOR

Krzysztof Rogowski, Ryszard Maroński

Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering, Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

In this paper, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of a two-dimensional two-

-bucket Savonius rotor, using ANSYS Fluent solver, is presented. Computational methods
of fluid dynamics are used to estimate the aerodynamic forces acting on the rotor, the torque
and the power extracted by the Savonius rotor. In addition, an analysis of the results for
different turbulence models is performed. Numerical investigations are compared with the
experiment of the Sandia National Laboratories.
Keywords: vertical axis wind turbine, simulation, Computational Fluid Dynamics

1. Introduction

A wind turbine with the Savonius rotor is usually a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). It is
a drag-type machine; however, because of an airflow between buckets (the bent sheets of the
Savonius rotor), an additional lift force appears on the buckets. The Savonius rotor is the biggest
achievement of Finnish inventor Sigurd Johannes Savonius, who patented it in 1927 (Savonius,
1931). The typical Savonius rotor is equipped with two buckets; however, three or more buckets
are possible. It usually has an S-shape cross-section. The Savonius-type wind turbine can achieve
even 30% of the maximum power coefficient comparing with 60% following from Betz theory
(Hansen, 2008). However, this turbine needs 30 times greater surface of the buckets as compared
with the wing area of a conventional wind turbine to give the same output power. Therefore,
the Savonius rotors are small and low energy devices (Szuster, 2000). They can work as water
pumps, drives for small electric generators or ventilators (e.g. Flettner Ventilator). Moreover, the
Savonius wind turbines can provide water agitation to keep stock ponds ice-free during winter
(Paraschivoiu, 2002; Backwell et al., 1977). Anemometers are often Savonius-type turbines due to
low costs and reliability. Because of a very low starting torque of the Darrieus-type wind turbine,
the Savonius-type wind turbine is sometimes used as a starter for these machines (Alam and
Iqbal, 2010; Gupta and Sharma, 2012). Undoubtedly, one of the advantages of the Savonius rotor
is the possibility of using it by residents of Third World countries living without electricity.
A worn out and empty oil barrel can be used as a low-power device. During rotation of the
Savonuius rotor, the Magnus effect appears. This effect depends on the tip speed ratio of the
rotor. Although the tip speed ratio of the Savonius rotor is very close to unity and the created
lift forces are low, there are investigations of Savonius-type Magnus wind turbines where the
Savonius rotor is used to create lift forces for a classical horizontal axis wind turbine (Tokumaru
and Dimotakis, 1993; Komatinovic, 2006). The main advantages of the Savonius rotor are as
follows: simple and cheap construction of the wind turbine; low noise level; very high starting
torque; rotor operation independent of the wind direction. On the other hand, disadvantages of
the Savonius-type wind turbine are as follows: lower efficiency in comparison with lift devices; low
rotational speed; fluctuations in the torque during operation of the rotor; difficulty in designing
high-power wind turbines because of large mass of the rotor. Many shapes and configurations
of the Savonius rotor are currently used. Some rotors have the shape of a drill or the two-unit
38 K. Rogowski, R. Maroński

two-bucket Savonius rotors rotated 90◦ apart. It decreases the pulsation of the torque with
the azimuth. Flat circular discs are attached at the ends of the Savonius rotor. Sometimes, an
additional shaft which makes the structure more stiff is used (Johnson, 2004; Komatinovic, 2006;
Alam and Iqbal, 2010).
In spite of the very simple structure of the Savonius rotor, its aerodynamics is very difficult to
analyze. There are not many simplified aerodynamic methods for modeling wind turbines of this
type. One model (perhaps the only one) noticed by Paraschivoiu (2002) is a mathematical model
proposed by Chauvin, based on the pressure drop on each side of the blades. It enables computing
the power of the two-bucket Savonius rotor without any gap between the buckets. However, the
Savonius rotor without the gap is only a drag-type device and its maximum power coefficient is
much lower than that the one for the rotor with a specific gap width. There are mainly two ways
to investigate the aerodynamic performance of the Savonius rotor: computational methods of
fluid dynamics and/or via an experiment. In the 70’s, experimental research on a large scale of
2 and 3 bucket Savonius configurations were conducted by Blackwell, Sheldahl and Feltz in the
Sandia National Laboratories (Blackwell et al., 1977). The aim of that study was to determine
torque characteristics of the Savonius rotors. More detailed measurements of the static and
dynamic torque were performed by Ushiyama and Nagai in the 80’s (Ushiyama and Nagai,
1988). More detailed numerical investigation of the performance of the Savonius wind turbine,
based on the discrete vortex method, was performed by Fernando and Modi (1989).
Numerical computations of the flow around the rotor require integration of the Navier-Stokes
equations. Direct integration of these equations (Direct Numerical Simulation – DNS) requires
very fine mesh and very efficient supercomputers. It gave an impulse for further development
of the CFD methods based on time-averaged equations (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes –
RANS) or spatially averaged equations (Large Eddy Simulation – LES). Using them, large scale
problems can be solved and they are satisfactory for many practical applications (ANSYS, 2013).
The Savonius rotor is shown in Fig. 1, wherein the symbols are as follows: HP is the height
of the Savonius rotor; d is the diameter; R is the rotor radius; DP is the diameter of the plate;
s is the bucket gap width.

Fig. 1. Savonius rotor

2. Mathematical formulation

The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, ANSYS Fluent, is used to obtain the power
coefficient CP as a function of the tip speed ratio, TSR. The power coefficient CP , and the tip
speed ratio TSR are as follows
ωR
CP = CQ · TSR TSR = (2.1)
Vin
where: ω is the turbine rotational speed; R is the rotor radius of rotation; Vin is the freestream
velocity; CQ is the torque coefficient which is given by
Q
CQ = 1 2
(2.2)
2 ρVin AS R
 CFD computation of the Savonius rotor 39

where: ρ is the air density; Q is the turbine torque; AS is the rotor swept area which is defined
as

AS = (4r − s) · 1 (2.3)

where: r is the bucket radius; s is the bucket gap width; 1 is a unit height of the Savonius rotor.
Moreover, the side force Fy , and the downwind force (drag) Fx , acting on the Savonius rotor
as a function of the azimuth position are investigated (see Fig. 2). These forces, expressed as
dimensionless coefficients, can be written as
Fx Fy
CFx = 1 2
CFy = 1 2
(2.4)
2 ρVin AS 2 ρVin AS

Fig. 2. The side force F y and downwind force F x exerted on the Savonius rotor

3. Basic fluid flow

CFD codes use the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for computing turbulent
flows. The instantaneous continuity and momentum equations can be written as
∂ρ ∂
+ (ρui ) = 0
∂t ∂xi
(3.1)
∂ ∂ ∂p ∂ h  ∂ui ∂uj 2 ∂ul i ∂
(ρui ) + (ρui uj ) = − + µ + − δij + (−ρu′i u′j )
∂t ∂xj ∂xi ∂xj ∂xj ∂xi 3 ∂xl ∂xj

There are many hypotheses which allow one to solve the Reynolds stresses −ρu′i u′j . One of
them is the hypothesis of Boussinesq which can be written as
 ∂u ∂uj  2  ∂uk 
i
−ρu′i u′j = µt + − ρk + µt δij (3.2)
∂xj ∂xi 3 ∂xk

where µt is the turbulent viscosity.

This hypothesis is commonly used to determine the Reynolds stresses. It is considered in the
following turbulence models: the Spalart-Allmaras, the k-ε and the k-ω. The differences between
these models is the way of computing the turbulent viscosity µt . The Spalart-Allmaras turbulence
model solves only one transport equation from which the turbulent viscosity is computed, while
the k-ε and the k-ω turbulence models introduce two transport equations, for the turbulence
kinetic energy k, and for its dissipation rate ε in the case of the k-ε model, or specific dissipation
rate ω in the case of the k-ω turbulence model. For the k-ε and the k-ω models, the turbulent
viscosity µt is a function of k and ε or k and ω. One of the disadvantages of the Boussinesq
hypothesis is the constant isotropic scalar, µt . Therefore, this hypothesis cannot be used for
flows with anisotropic turbulence. However, for many flow classes, this hypothesis gives accurate
results (Hinze, 1975).
40 K. Rogowski, R. Maroński

3.1. Numerical approach

The geometrical model of the examined wind turbine (Fig. 3a), used for CFD analysis, consists of
two buckets (blades of the Savonius wind turbine). This two-dimensional model of the Savonius
rotor is developed based on Blackwell et al. (1977). Usually, the Savonius rotor has upper and
lower plates (Fig. 1) so that the energy loss associated with the finite length of the buckets is not
large. Therefore, the use of the two-dimensional model is justified. There is the gap s between
the buckets of the Savonius rotor (see Fig. 3a). The dimension s, one of the main parameters of
the Savonius rotor, is defined in the presented study as a distance between the bucket chamber
lines. The bucket thickness is 2 mm. The computations presented in this article are performed
for the same buckets but for two different lengths of the gap which are expressed as a ratio of
the gap length s to the diameter of the bucket d. The most important geometrical parameters
of the Savonius rotor, which are used during computations, are presented in Table 1.

Fig. 3. (a) The basic geometrical parameters of the Savonius wind turbine, (b) the virtual wind tunnel
(domain)

Table 1. Basic parameters of the Savonius rotor

Parameter Value
Bucket diameter d 0.5 m
Gap width ratio s/d 0.1 and 0.2
Rotor radius R 0.47 m and 0.45 m

The problem considered in the work does not involve mesh deformation, therefore the sliding
mesh model has been used. This approach is simpler and more efficient in comparison with the
dynamic mesh model. The area around the Savonius rotor is modeled as a large square. The
rotor is located in the middle of this square area. Moreover, a smaller circle zone around the
rotor is created. This circle zone can rotate with the rotor during simulation. The model of the
Savonius rotor and the virtual tunnel is presented in Fig. 3b. The area of the virtual wind tunnel
has been discretized using triangular elements. An irregular mesh without inflation layers on the
blade surfaces is used. The mesh interface is situated between the circle zone and the square
zone to allow the exchange of data. There are 41336 cells and 21039 nodes in the presented
mesh. Figure 4 presents the mesh used during computations.

4. Results and discussions

4.1. Turbulence models

There is not any single turbulence model which gives satisfactory results for all classes of
flow. The choice of the turbulence model depends on many factors, for example: physics of the
flow, accuracy of the solution, computational resources and the amount of time available for
simulation. The ANSYS Fluent solver provides many turbulence models. During the authors’
 CFD computation of the Savonius rotor 41

Fig. 4. Example of mesh (the buckets – bold line)

Fig. 5. Power coefficient as a function of the tip speed ratio

investigations, the following turbulence models are used: the SpalartAllmaras (SA), the k-ε, the
realizable k-ε, the RNG k-ε and the k-ω. The CFD results and the experimental results of the
power coefficient as a function of the tip speed ratio are presented in Fig. 5. Most of the used
turbulence models except for the standard k-ε and the standard k-ω models give satisfactory
results in the low tip speed ratio range. For a range of tip speed ratios between 0.8 and 2, two
turbulence models: the SpalartAllmaras and the RNG k-ε present results similar to those of the
experiment. The results for the SpalartAllmaras turbulence model seem to be overestimated in
comparison to the experimental ones. However, the CFD model is two-dimensional and the effects
of the finite aspect ratio of the Savonius buckets are neglected. All aerodynamic characteristics
of the Savonius rotor, presented in the next Sections, are performed using the SpalartAllmaras
turbulence model because it is the simplest model and the accuracy of the solution is satisfactory
for the purposes of this work.

4.2. Dimensions of the virtual wind tunnel

Appropriate size of the virtual wind tunnel (domain) is very important from the viewpoint
of CFD computation. Too small size of the virtual wind tunnel causes too high results of the
power coefficients CP , whereas too large size causes an increase in computation time. To find an
optimal size of the domain, an analysis of the following three dimensions is performed: W -width
of the virtual wind tunnel, Z-length between the inlet of the tunnel and the axis of rotation
of the Savonius rotor, and T -length between the axis of the Savonius rotor and the outlet
(Fig. 6a).
42 K. Rogowski, R. Maroński

Fig. 6. (a) Dimensions of the domain, (b) the influence of the dimensions on the rotor performance

The results of the power coefficient as a function of length of the domain are presented in
Fig. 6b. For the diameter of the rotor of 0.97 m, the dimensions: W , Z and T should be minimum
10 times larger than the rotor diameter. If these lengths are two times larger than the diameter,
the power coefficients are overestimated even by 30%.
All CFD results of the Savonius rotor presented in this article are performed for a square
domain with the side of 60 m.

4.3. Power coefficient

Unsteady flow of the air has been considered in the work. During the computations, aerody-
namic forces and the torque are determined at each time step. The time step size corresponds
to the azimuth of 0.5 deg. The simulation of 4-6 revolutions of the Savonius rotor is required
to eliminate the effects associated with initial conditions. Therefore, all simulations presented
in this article are performed for 10 revolutions of the rotor. The results of the torque and the
forces from the last computed revolution of the rotor are taken for the performance analysis of
the Savonius rotor.
Figure 7 presents the torque coefficient CQ as a function of the azimuth position for six values
of the tip speed ratio. As it can be observed, the maximum values of the torque coefficient are
approximately 0.6 for each tip speed ratio except for the torque coefficient for the tip speed of 0.6.
However, the average value of the torque coefficient decreases as the tip speed ratio increases.

Fig. 7. Torque coefficient as a function of the azimuth position

The mean values of the torque coefficient as a function of the tip speed ratio are presented
in Fig. 8a. The obtained results are compared with the experimental torque coefficient. As it
can be seen, for the range of the tip speed ratio between 0.4 and 1.2, the results of the torque
coefficient are acceptable. However, the power coefficient CP depends on the tip speed ratio
(see Eq. (2.1)1 ). Figure 8b presents the power coefficient as a function of the tip speed ratio.
The maximum power coefficient CPmax of 0.24 is computed for the tip speed ratio of 0.8. The
experimental results are confirmed numerically.
 CFD computation of the Savonius rotor 43

Fig. 8. (a) The torque coefficient as a function of the tip speed ratio, (b) the power coefficient as a
function of the tip speed ratio

4.4. Gap length

Blackwell et al. (1977) tested different configurations of buckets of the Savonius rotor to find
the optimal one. They recommended a configuration consisting of two buckets positioned as it
is shown in Fig. 3a, with dimensionless gap width of 0.1-0.15. In this Section, the results of
the power coefficient as a function of the tip speed ratio for two dimensionless gap widths are
presented. The torque coefficient versus the tip speed ratio is presented in Fig. 9b whereas the
power coefficient as a function of the tip speed ratio is shown in Fig. 9a. The CFD results of
the torque coefficient in comparison with the experimental one seem to be optimistic. Larger
differences are observed for the power coefficient. However, it seems to the authors that the
computational analysis confirms the results taken from literature. The power coefficient is higher
for the dimensionless gap width of 0.1 in comparison with the gap width of 0.2. This is the most
important conclusion for constructors.

Fig. 9. (a) The torque coefficient as a function of the tip speed ratio, (b) the power coefficient as a
function of the tip speed ratio

4.5. Effect of the Reynolds number

During experimental tests of Blackwell et al. (1977), it turned out that the power coefficient
depends on the Reynolds number. The performance of the Savonius rotor is computed for two
velocities of wind, Vin of 7 m/s and 14 m/s. The computed results are shown in Fig. 10. As can
be seen, the efficiency of the Savonius rotor is slightly larger for the wind speed of 7 m/s in
comparison with the results for the wind speed of 14 m/s.
44 K. Rogowski, R. Maroński

Fig. 10. Power coefficient as a function of the tip speed ratio

4.6. Influence of the side force

In this Section, the aerodynamic forces acting on the Savonius rotor as a function of the
azimuth position are presented. The reason for which the authors of this article decided to
perform these computations is the following sentence from the article by Blackwell et al. (1977):
Recent analytical studies, along with unpublished data of the authors, indicate that the Savonius
rotor experiences side forces that are of the same order of magnitude as the downwind (drag)
force.

Fig. 11. (a) Drag force coefficient as a function of the azimuth position, (b) the side force coefficient as a
function of the azimuth position

Figures 11a and 11b present coefficients of the aerodynamic force: the drag force coeffi-
cient CFx and the side force coefficient CFy , respectively. Figure 2 shows the vectors of the drag
force Fx and the side force Fy . The aerodynamic forces acting on the Savonius rotor vary perio-
dically in time. The results of the drag force coefficient and the side force coefficient for both tip
speed ratio of 0.8 and 1.0 differ slightly. For these tip speed ratios CFx is approximately in the
range of 0.5-1.8 whereas CFx is approximately in the range of −2.0-−0.4. For the tip speed ratio
of 0.4 CFx varies in the range of 0.35-2.0 and CFy varies in the range of −1.4-0.15. The average
values of the force coefficients are shown in Table 2. As it can be seen, the mean value of CFx
is similar for all tip speed ratios while the average value of the side force coefficient increases
with an increase in the tip speed ratio. For the tip speed ratio of 0.4, the mean value of the side
force coefficient is about two times lower in comparison with the drag force coefficient, while for
the tip speed ratio of 0.8 and 1.0 the side force coefficients are in the same order of magnitude
as the drag force coefficients. This conclusion is important from the viewpoint of the design of
bearings and dynamics of the shaft.
 CFD computation of the Savonius rotor 45

Table 2. The average values of the drag force coefficient and the side force coefficient for three
tip speed ratios
Tip speed ratio CF x CF y
0.4 1.1436 0.6405
0.8 1.1372 1.0824
1.0 1.1383 1.1974

5. Conclusions

In the present investigation, the aerodynamic efficiency of the Savonius rotor using computa-
tional methods of fluid dynamics is studied. The obtained CFD results are compared with the
experiment. The conducted analyses have shown that the one-dimensional turbulence model
Spalart-Allmaras and mesh without inflation layers can be used for the Savonius rotor applica-
tions in the two-dimensional case. The optimum size of the domain has been investigated. This
study has demonstrated that the CFD methods confirm the experimental results and can be
used to optimize the shape of buckets of the Savonius rotor. According to the results of this
research, it can be concluded that the side force acting on the Savonius rotor can be in the same
order of magnitude as the drag force, depending on the tip speed ratio.

References

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Manuscript received May 25, 2014; accepted for print July 11, 2014

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