Abstract
This paper reports the results of optimizing design of the drag-type modified Savonius VAWTs with 4, 5 and 6 blades by using uniform test method. The optimal design is performed in the light of wind energy utilization rate as the goal function and conducted by numerical simulation for drag-type modified Savonius VAWTs with 4, 5 and 6 blades; the FLUENT software, sliding grid technology and PISO algorithm are employed in the process. In the optimization, the blade width, the blade installation angle and the rotation rate of windmill are taken as the basic parameters. The results indicated that the optimal wind energy utilization rate is \({C}_{\mathrm{p}} = 27.140\%\) for the 4-blade turbine at the blade width \(d = 0.882\,\hbox {m}\), blade installation angle \(\theta = 24.895^{\circ }\) and the windmill rotation rate \(\omega =17.206 \,\hbox {r}/\hbox {min}\); the optimal wind energy utilization rate is \({C}_{\mathrm{p}}=28.493\%\) for the 5-blade turbine at \(d = 0.803\,\hbox {m}\), \(\theta =17.425^{\circ }\) and \(\omega =16.265\, \hbox {r}/\hbox {min}\); the optimal wind energy utilization rate is \({C}_{\mathrm{p}}= 30.564\%\) for the 6-blade turbine at \(d = 0.681\,\hbox {m}\), \(\theta = 21.650^{\circ }\), \(\omega = 18.369\, \hbox {r}/\hbox {min}\).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dodd H.M.; Beng D.E.; Ashwill T.D.; et al.: The Status of the U.S. VAWT Program[R]. Sandia National Laboratories Report. 1-7 (1991)
Price, Trevor J.: UK large-scale wind power program from 1970 to 1990: the Carmarthen Bay experiments and the musgrove vertical axis wind turbines. Wind Eng. 30, 225–239 (2006)
Islam, M.; Ting, D.S.-K.; Fartaj, A.: Aerodynamic models for Darrieus-type straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbines. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 12, 1087–1109 (2008)
Saha, U.K.; Thotla, S.; Maity, D.: Optimum design configuration of Savonius rotor through wind tunnel experiments. J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 96, 1359–1375 (2008)
Zhao, Z.; Zheng, Y.; Zhou, D.: Optimization of the performance of Savonius wind turbine based on numerical study. Acta Energ. Sol. Sin. 31, 907–911 (2010)
Ghatage, S.V.; Joshi, J.B.: Optimisation of vertical axis wind turbine: CFD simulations and experimental measurements. Can. J. Chem. Eng. 90, 1186–1201 (2012)
Howell, R.; Qin, N.; Edwards, J.: Wind tunnel and numerical study of a small vertical axis wind turbine. Renew. Energy 35, 412–422 (2009)
Pope, K.; Rodrigues, V.; Doyle, R.: Effects of stator vanes on power coefficients of a zephyr vertical axis wind turbine. Renew. Energy 35, 1043–1051 (2010)
Kjellin, J.; Bülow, F.; Eriksson, S.: Power coefficient measurement on a 12 kW straight bladed vertical axis wind turbine. Renew. Energy 36, 3050–3053 (2011)
Farahani, E.M.; Hosseinzadeh, N.; Ektesabi, M.: Comparison of fault-ride-through capability of dual and single-rotor wind turbines. Renew. Energy 48, 473–481 (2012)
Kacprzak, K.; Liskiewicz, G.; Sobczak, K.: Numerical investigation of conventional and modified Savonius wind turbines. Renew. Energy 60, 578–585 (2013)
Nobile, R.; Vahdati, M.; Barlow, J.F.: Unsteady flow simulation of a vertical axis augmented wind turbine: a two-dimensional study. J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 125, 168–179 (2014)
Bukala, J.; Damaziak, K.; Karimi, H.R.: Modern small wind turbine design solutions comparison in terms of estimated cost to energy output ratio. Renew. Energy 83, 1166–1173 (2015)
Kosasih, B.; Hudin, H.S.: Influence of inflow turbulence intensity on the performance of bare and diffuser-augmented micro wind turbine model. Renew. Energy 87, 154–167 (2016)
Zhang, B.; Song, B.; Mao, Z.; Tian, W.: A novel wake energy reuse method to optimize the layout for Savonius-type vertical axis wind turbines. Energy 121, 341–355 (2017)
Zheng, M.S.; Li, Y.S.; Tian, Y.Y.: Effect of blade installation angle on power efficiency of resistance type VAWT by CFD study. Int. J. Energy Environ. Eng. 6, 1–7 (2014)
Zheng, M.; Guo, L.; Li, Y.: Power efficiency of 5-blade drag type vertical axis wind turbine. Appl. Sol. Energy 51, 225–231 (2015)
Zheng, M.; Li, Y.; Teng, H.; Hu, J.; Tian, Z.; Zhao, Y.: Effect of blade number on performance of drag type vertical axis wind turbine. Appl. Sol. Energy 52, 315–320 (2016)
Ferrari, G.; Federici, D.; Schito, P.; Inzoli, F.; Mereu, R.: CFD study of Savonius wind turbine: 3D model validation and parametric analysis. Renew. Energy 105, 722–734 (2017)
Gormont R.E.: A mathematical model of unsteady aerodynamics and radial flow for application to helicopter rotors. Technical report, USAAV Labs, TR72-67 (1973)
Goude A.; Lundin S.; Leijon M.: A parameter study of the influence of struts on the performance of a vertical-axis marine current turbine. In: Proceedings of the 8th European wave and tidal energy conference, pp. 477–483, EWTEC09, Uppsala, Sweden (2009)
Van den Braembussche, R.A.: Numerical Optimization for Advanced Turbo Machinery Design. Optimization and Computational Fluid Dynamics, pp. 147–188. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)
Fujisawa, N.: Velocity measurements and numerical calculations of flow fields in and around Savonius rotors. J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerod. 59, 39–50 (1996)
Yaakob, O.B.; Tawi, K.B.; Sunanto, D.T.S.: Computer simulation studies on the effect overlap ratio for savonius type vertical axis marine current turbine. Int. J. Eng. Trans. A Basics 23, 79–88 (2010)
Ferreira, S.C.J.; Van Zuijlen, A.; Bijl, H.; Van Bussel, G.; Van Kuik, G.: Simulating dynamic stall in a two-dimensional vertical-axis wind turbine: verification and validation with particle image velocimetry data. Wind Energy 13, 1–17 (2010)
Bedon, G.; Castelli, M.; Benini, E.: Numerical validation of a blade element–momentum algorithm based on hybrid airfoil polars for a 2-m Darrieus wind turbine. Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Tech. 12, 1–6 (2012)
Fang, K.T.; Lin, D.K.J.; Winker, P.; Zhang, Y.: Uniform design: theory and application. Technometrics 42, 237–248 (2000)
Fang, K.T.; Mukerjee, R.: A connection between uniform and aberration in regular fractions of 2-level factorials. Biometrika 87, 193–198 (2000)
Fang, K.T.; Wang, Y.: Number-Theoretic Methods in Statistics. Chapman and Hall, London (1994)
Zhou, Y.X.: Experimental Design and Data Processing. Hubei Sci. & Tech Press, Wuhan (2005)
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the projects “technological innovation program ” 2011ZKC07-4, “natural science foundation” s2010JC3655 and “13115 program” 2008 ZDKG-54 of Shaanxi Province, China.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zheng, M., Zhang, X., Zhang, L. et al. Uniform Test Method Optimum Design for Drag-Type Modified Savonius VAWTs by CFD Numerical Simulation. Arab J Sci Eng 43, 4453–4461 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2920-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2920-5