Aerodynamic study of a Savonius type vertical axis wind turbine for different axial positions between the blades

Abstract

In this work we present a numerical study on the aerodynamic behavior of a vertical axis wind turbine of the Savonius type for different axial positions between the blades (overlap rates a/D). The study focuses on predicting the effect of the axial position of the blades to the torque coefficient and also to determine the dynamic field of the flow around the wind turbine for three cases overlap rates (a/D=0, a/D=0.16 and a/D=0.32). The study of the numerical simulation is carried out using a CFD calculation code with use of the finite volume method for the discretization of the differential equations. The equations governing the flow are solved by the SIMPLE algorithm using the K-epsilon model as the closure model.