Aerodynamic Simulation of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Abstract

Fullscale, 3D, timedependent aerodynamics modeling and simulation of a Darrieustype verticalaxis wind turbine (VAWT) is presented. The simulations are performed using a movingdomain finiteelementbased ALEVMS technique augmented with a slidinginterface formulation to handle the rotorstator interactions present. We simulate a single VAWT using a sequence of meshes with increased resolution to assess the computational requirements for this class of problems. The computational results are in good agreement with experimental data. We also perform a computation of two sidebyside counterrotating VAWTs to illustrate how the ALEVMS technique may be used for the simulation of multiple turbines placed in arrays.