Fixed Wake Theory for Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Abstract

A theory for vertical axis wind turbines has been developed using a fixed wake approach. The theory combines some of the best features of vortex and streamtube approaches. This approach accounts for flow differences between fore-and-aft-blade positions that are predicted by vortex methods while retaining the low computation costs associated with streamtube theories. The theory is applied to high tip speed ratio operation of a Darrieus Rotor where the use of linear aerodynamics results in explicit calculation of the induced velocities. Comparison to test results shows good agreement.

Progress and recent trends in wind energy

“…The momentum models use actuator surfaces to approximate wind-turbine effects and subdivide the flow domain into finite numbers of stream-tubes [205][206][207][208][209]. Vortex models simulate the wind-turbine blades and use bounded and distributed vortices [210][211][212][213]. Finally, finite difference models solve the fluid-dynamic governing equations by means of finite-volume or finitedifference methods [214,215].…”

Aeroelastic analysis of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine blade

“…6 using the DMST model and compared with experimental and numerical results from the literature. The field data were taken from [6], and [37], and the numerical results of [38] were also included in the graph where an acceptable match among the results was achieved. The DMST model was programmed in Matlab script, beginning with a few stream tubes at first and refining gradually to see if the performance is enhanced.…”