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Flow control for the vertical axis wind turbine by means of flapping flexible foils

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Abstract

An active flow control mechanism is proposed to improve the efficiency of the energy extraction for the vertical axis wind turbine. The proposed system consists of a vertical axis wind turbine with flexible blades. The conception is inspired from the vortex control mechanism utilized by the aero-/aqua animals to improve their performance via the flexion of their fins. The viscous non-stationary flow around the turbine is simulated using the ANSYS-FLUENT 15 software. The complex flapping motion is reproduced using a dynamic mesh technique and a user-defined function. The results show that, with this strategy of control, the turbine generates a higher moment coefficient due to the increase in the peaks of lift force caused by a better difference in the pressure between the two sides of the blade due to the flexure motion. The turbine power coefficient can reach 38 % enhancement for the optimal flow control conditions.

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Abbreviations

A :

Rotor swept area

a 0 :

Oscillating amplitude (m)

C :

Blade chord (m)

C L :

Lift coefficient

\(C_{\text{D}}\) :

Drag coefficient

\(C_{\text{m}}\) :

Moment coefficient

\({\text{CP}}\) :

Power coefficient

\(C_{\text{p}}\) :

Pressure coefficient

\(D\) :

Turbine diameter (m)

\(f\) :

Oscillating frequency (Hz)

\(h(x)\) :

Instantaneous airfoil position along the x axis

\(h(y)\) :

Instantaneous airfoil position along the y axis

t :

Instant time (s)

T :

Turbine revolution

\(L\) :

Lift force (N)

\(M\) :

Moment (N m)

\(P\) :

Power (W)

\(R\) :

Turbine radius (m)

\(U\) :

Incoming flow velocity (m/s)

LEV:

Leading edge vortex

\({\text{zi}}\) :

Flapping frequency controlled parameter relative to turbine radius

η :

Efficiency

μ :

Dynamic viscosity

ρ :

Density

λ :

Tip speed ratio

θ :

Turbine azimuthal angle (°)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Génie Mécanique, Département de Génie Mécanique, Université de Biskra, Biskra, 07000, Algeria

    Mohamed Taher Bouzaher, Mohamed Hadid & Derfouf Semch-Eddine

  2. Unit of Applied Research in Renewable Energy, BP 88, Garat Ettaam, Ghardaïa, Algeria

    Mohamed Taher Bouzaher

Authors
  1. Mohamed Taher Bouzaher
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  2. Mohamed Hadid
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  3. Derfouf Semch-Eddine
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Correspondence to Mohamed Taher Bouzaher.

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Technical Editor: Jose A. dos Reis Parise.

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Bouzaher, M.T., Hadid, M. & Semch-Eddine, D. Flow control for the vertical axis wind turbine by means of flapping flexible foils. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 39, 457–470 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-016-0618-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-016-0618-3

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