09-09-2017, 10:29 AM
To analyze the complex and unstable aerodynamic flow associated with wind turbine operation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an attractive and powerful method. In this paper we study the influence of different numerical aspects on the precision of the simulation of a rotating wind turbine. In particular, the effects of mesh size and structure, time and speed of rotation have been taken into account to simulate different wind turbine geometries. The application goal of this study is to compare the performance between a straight blade vertical axis wind turbine and a helical blade. First, two-dimensional simulations are used in a preliminary configuration of the numerical procedure and for calculating approximate performance parameters, namely torque, power, lift and resistance coefficients. Next, three-dimensional simulations are performed to accurately determine the differences in the complex aerodynamic flow associated with straight-blade and helical-blade turbines. Below are static and dynamic results for different values of rotational speed.