Experimental and Numerical Studies on a Single Coherent Blade of a Vertical Axis Carousel Wind Rotor

Abstract

This article presents the results of experimental and numerical studies on a single coherent rotor blade. The blade was designed for a vertical-axis wind turbine rotor with a self-adjusting system and planetary blade rotation. The experimental tests of the full-scale blade model were conducted in a wind tunnel. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the blade’s cross section was then carried out, including the boundary conditions corresponding to those adopted in the wind tunnel. The main objective of the study was to determine the aerodynamic forces and aerodynamic moment for the proposed single coherent cross-section of the blade for the carousel wind rotor. Based on the obtained results and under some additional assumptions, the driving torque of the wind rotor was determined. The obtained results indicated the possibility of using the proposed blade cross-section in the construction of a carousel wind rotor.