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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/seta

Optimized design and performance parameters for wind turbine blades of a

solar updraft tower (SUT) plant using theories of Schmitz and aerodynamics
forces
Ramakrishna Balijepalli, V.P. Chandramohan⁎, K. Kirankumar
DEPARTMENT of MECHANICAL Engineering, NATIONAL Institute of Technology WARANGAL , WARANGAL, TELANGANA STATE 506 004, INDIA

ARTICLEINFO ABSTRACT

For extracting maximum power output from the wind, it is very important that the blades of a small wind turbine
Keywords:
Solar updraft tower
should rotate at any range of wind velocity. A step has been taken to estimate the optimized design and per-
Wind turbine formance parameters of small scale wind turbine blades for a solar updraft tower (SUT). The pitch angle (β),
Rotor blade relative wind angle (φ), lift force (dFL) and relative chord length (c/R) of rotor blade are estimated and optimized
Pitch angle using conservation of angular momentum (Schmitz theory) and theory of aerodynamic forces on an airfoil. For
Relative wind angle different blade segments, dFL and power generation were evaluated and analysed. β, φ and dFL were optimised
Chord
such as 18.4°, 26.4° and 0.0052 N, respectively, for achieving the maximum power output of 0.06 W at lower
Lift and drag
wind velocities (2 m/s). At higher wind velocities (10 m/s), the above parameters are optimised as 42.9°, 50.94°
Power
and 0.168 N, respectively for achieving a maximum power output of 1.75 W. The optimized values are compared
with values from literature and these were found to be in reasonable agreement.

Introduction
These days, the primary source of energy used in the globe is ob-
tained from petroleum products and this kind of energy will soon be
depleted. Then again, energy from petroleum and natural gas produces
corrosive rains, poisonous gases and ecological pollutions. Among dif-
ferent forms of sustainable power sources, solar energy is the safest and
very reliable option. The solar updraft tower (SUT) (otherwise called as
solar chimney power plant) is one of the new means to deliver electrical
power and this has been improved in the last two decades. Fabrication
procedures are easy and materials needed to construct this type of
plants are easily available and not very expensive. Therefore, this setup
can be established in any country/region with minimum technology.
They require huge land which is exceptionally reasonable for nations
with extensive deserts [1].
An SUT plant has the same working principle as a hydroelectric
power plant in which hot air is utilized in place of water. Fig. 1 shows
the front view of SUT plant. It mainly consists of a solar collector, a
turbine and a chimney. This type of energy plant utilizes the daylight of
sun to build the internal energy of air. In a sunny day, solar radiation
falls on the surface of collector cover (glass material). A fraction of this
radiant energy transmits through the cover and remaining part of it
reflects back to the atmosphere. Again this transmitted energy falls on
absorber plate (copper material) of solar collector. Now this plate ab-
sorbs the energy and gets heated up. By natural convection the air gets
heated from this hot absorber plate. Then this hot air produces buoy-
ancy effect due to density difference which gives motion to the air. Now
this hot air passes through a wind turbine blade which converts the
kinetic energy of hot air into mechanical energy. Afterwards this me-
chanical energy can be converted into electric power by means of a
generator.
Velocity and the blade angles involved in this study are mentioned
in Fig. 2. The wind enters in to upstream section of rotor blade with a
velocity of v1. The blade also experiences with a relative wind velocity
w, due to the tangential velocity component of blade (u) which is equal
to ωr in rotor plane. The axial component of relative wind velocity (v) is
estimated using (1-A)V1, which acts in the direction of rotor axis and
gives the information about the reduction of wind velocity when it
reaches to plane of rotation of the blade. Where, A is axial interference
factor which is the fractional reduction in wind velocity between the
upstream and energy extraction device (turbine).
The force which acts perpendicular to relative wind flow is lift force
(FL) and acts in parallel to the relative wind flow is drag force (FD) as
mentioned in Fig. 2. FL helps to rotate the blade in the correct direction
for producing power and it is a result of the uneven pressure distribu-
tion on top and bottom surfaces of aerofoil. FD causes to rotate the blade

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-MAIL ADDRESS: vpcm80@nitw.ac.in (V.P. Chandramohan).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2018.10.001
Received 13 May 2018; Received in revised form 6 September 2018; Accepted 15 October 2018
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Nomenclature
a Axial interference factor
A Area swept by the turbine blade, (m2)
C Length of the chord line, (m)
C Coefficient
dm Mass flow rate of air, (kg/s)
dr Width of the blade section, (m)
dF Force acting on blade segment, (N)
dP Power produced by each blade segment, (W)
dU Elemental blade velocity in the direction of rotor plane,
(N)
f Interference factor
F Force, (N)
n Number of rotor blades
N Number of rotations of shaft, (rpm)
P Air pressure, (N/m2)
P Power, (W)
r Blade segment radius, (m)
R Turbine blade radius, (m)
T Torque, (N)
u Blade velocity in rotor plane, (m/s)
v Air velocity, (m/s)
w Relative wind velocity, (m/s)
Δw change in rotational wind (wake) velocity, (m/s)
in counter rotating direction which leads to decrease the blade velocity
(u) (tangential velocity component of blade), FD is because of both the
viscous forces acts at the aerofoil surface and uneven pressure on upper
and lower surfaces.
Angle of attack (α) is the angle between the blade chord line and the
relative wind velocity. It is important to select best α for getting max-
imum FL. Blade pitch angle (β) is the angle between the blade chord line
and plane of rotation. Relative wind angle (φ) is the angle between the
plane of rotation and relative wind velocity (w). Flow angle (γ) is the
angle between relative wind velocity (w) and its axial component acts
parallel to the rotor axis (v).
Over the last 20 years, a number of studies have concentrated on
SUT plants. Mullet [2] introduced a simple and sophisticated handling
of the fluid flow and physical process inside the SUT plant and the fluid
flow equations for estimation of efficiency in terms of plant design
parameters. Thermal as well as technical analysis of SUT plant was
investigated by Bernardes et al. [3]. In this study, in order to evaluate
the influence of different geographical location conditions and geo-
metrical dimensions of plant on power generation rate, a numerical
model was introduced. This study concluded that pressure drop across
the turbine, optical properties of the collector and geometrical dimen-
sions of the plant such as chimney height and collector diameter ef-
fectively influence the performance of the plant.
A numerical study was carried out by Zhou et al. [4] to estimate
power generation under steady state conditions of solar updraft tower
for various solar radiation intensities, surface area of collector and
different heights of the chimney. A parametric study was performed by
Das and Chandramohan [5] and found that 31% of maximum velocity
increase when the chimney height was increased from 3 to 8 m. Col-
lector angle variation from 20 to 35°, created a drop of 4.2 °C tem-
perature of air at chimney base. Technical and economic feasibility of
SUT power plants in a specified region (island countries surrounded by
the Mediterranean Sea) was investigated by Nizetic et al. [6] and it was
concluded that the unit price of electric power generated by solar
chimney plant in this region was more compared to other power plants.
Pretorius and Kröger [7] discussed the influence of various types of
soil and collector roof material on the performance on prototype of SUT
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Symbols
α Angle of attack on to the blade, (°)
β Turbine blade pitch angle, (°)
Δ change in variable
γ Angle of relative wind to rotor axis (°)
λ Tip speed ratio
φ Angle of relative wind to rotor plane, (°)
ρ Air density across the control volume, (kg/m3)
σ Solidity ratio
ω Angular velocity, (rad/s)
Subscripts
1 Entry of control volume 1–2
2 Rotor upwind side
3 Rotor downwind side
4 Exit of total control volume
a Atmospheric, axial
D Drag
L Lift
max Maximum
P Power
r local radius of blade section
R Rotor plane
t Turbine rotor blade
plant. They found that newly introduced convective heat transfer
equation diminished the power production rate. Turbine inlet loss
coefficient did not affect the plant performance and it also showed that
the use of better quality collector glass could improve plant annual
power by 3.4%. A small scale SUT plant was developed at Jordan by Al-
Dabbas [9] and all flow parameters were experimentally observed and
performance parameters were estimated. Experimentally observed
parameters were, the maximum ambient temperature = 24 °C, max-
imum rotational speed of turbine = 55 rpm, maximum wind
speed = 7 m/s. They also found that the efficiency of the system was
increased during higher solar irradiance.
Nizetic and Klarin [9] had calculated a key factor of solar chimney
power plants, namely, the pressure drop. In their study, they estimated
that the SUT plants had a turbine pressure drop factor of range 0.8–0.9.
Various wind flow fields, heat transfer models, and free stream (la-
minar) heat transfer problem in convective mode of a solar chimney
were studied by Chergui [10].
Bilgen and Rheault [11] introduced a new mathematical model
which depends mainly on the monthly mean meteorological data of a
specific location and thermodynamic cycle for higher latitudes of SUT
power plants. They concluded that the annual power generation rate in
higher latitudes of SUT plants could be easily achieved to 85% of the
same plants, which are located in the southern regions of Canada.
Numerical simulations were performed on SUT plant by Lal et al. [12]
and exact turbine location was confirmed. They suggested that 0.25–
1 m height from the base was better fit for turbine location as the
maximum air flow velocity (12.2 m/s) noticed in that location.
The performance parameters of an SUT power plant were evaluated
by a mathematical model developed by Li et al. [13] and these results
were compared with the experimental results of large scale Manzanares
power plant, Spain. Asnaghi and Ladjevardi [14] had analysed the
functioning of a solar chimney plant located in Iran. The conclusions of
the analysis was that the SUT model has similar geometrical dimensions
of large scale Manzanares power plant, Spain and was able to produce
electric power in a range of 10–28 MWh/month. Srilakshmi et al. [15]
described the optimum chimney height, solar field and other perfor-
mance parameters of SUT plant. This work also concentrated on
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Fig. 1. Elevation view of solar updraft tower (SUT) power plant (All dimensions are in mm).

thermal energy storage and hybrid power plant (steam Rankine cycle).
The present authors’ previous work [16] developed the complete design
and performance investigation of each component of small scale SUT
plant which had a collector diameter of 3.5 m, chimney height of 6 m
and chimney diameter of 0.6 m. Empirical correlations were used to
evaluate the solar radiation, wind turbine blade design calculations,
heat and pressure loss calculations. The actual solar heat flux that im-
pinged on the collector was estimated as 878.3 W/m2. The maximum
theoretical power generation of SUT was evaluated as 0.29 W. The
maximum air velocity (1.9 m/s) was found at the chimney base. Pres-
sure drop across the turbine in the chimney was 0.54 N/m2. Optimal
hub height of wind turbine was determined by Rehman et al. [17] after
doing real time experiments at various locations of Saudi Arabia. The
height of the wind plant and maximum air velocity were measured in
different locations and from that the parameter wind shear exponent
(WSE) was estimated. A correlation was developed between the hub
height and WSE which was useful to estimate the optimal hub height.
A review work on SUT plant was made by Zhou and Xu [18]. They

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explained SUT’s history, working principle, power output and other
heat transfer mechanisms. Heat transfer coefficients on collector plate
and absorber plate with air were discussed with proper correlations.
They suggested that this technology should be commercialized. A nu-
merical analysis on SUT plant was made by Fasel et al. [19]. Simula-
tions were run by scaling (1:30) the real plant of Manzanares. They
estimated the viscosity ratio and turbulent kinetic energy inside the
setup by assuming laminar flow. They analysed various instabilities
(Rayleigh–Bénard–Poiseuille instability, buoyancy/gravity driven in-
stability) and suggested that similar instabilities may affect while
erecting much larger plants.
Fathi et al. [20] analysed various expressions meant for estimating
power output of SUT plant. They pointed out the problems faced during
numerical simulations and estimating the power output of SUT plant.
Power output was estimated and was compared with various analytical
models and compared with the prototype of the Manzanares plant. Hu
et al. [21] investigated the effect of various geometric parameters such
as the area ratio of chimney entrance to exit, divergence angle of
chimney and size of the plant on power generation of SUT power plant.
Few studies contributed on the turbine of SUT plant. The perfor-
mance of counter-rotating turbines was evaluated with the help of an
efficient thermodynamic model in order to assess the various design
parameters and operating conditions by Denantes and Bilgen [22].
They concluded that the counter rotating turbines (without having
guide vanes) showed low design efficiency and higher performance
compared to conventional wind turbines. Several types of turbo gen-
erator layouts have been introduced by Fluri and Von-Backstrom [23]
to evaluate the influence of these layouts on the performance of SUT
using various mathematical models and different optimization techni-
ques. Finally, they reported that single rotating turbine layouts gave a
very low performance and counter rotating turbine layouts gave highest
plant efficiency under low speed conditions (high torque).
An experimental investigation was accomplished towards the
functioning of a small scale solar chimney wind turbine by Gannon and
Von-Backstrom [24]. They found that the total-to-static efficiency was
in the range of 77–80% and total-to-total efficiency of 85–90%. Another
study [25] of the same authors explained the estimation procedures of
temperature difference need to be maintained inside SUT using ther-
modynamic and pressure loss calculations. Various analytical models
were used for estimating the load coefficient and degree of reaction and
analysed the effect of these parameters on turbine efficiency.
From the literature survey, it is noticed that quite a few prototype of
SUTs have been developed [2,3,6,7,15]. Some studies explained the
flow behaviour inside the setup and analysed the various parameters
Fig. 2. Velocities and blade angles.
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such as pressure and velocity of air numerically and analytically at
different locations inside the chimney and collector [4–5,8–14,19–22].
Temperatures of air, cover and absorber plate at various locations were
estimated through experiments [8–9,20]. Some studies contributed on
turbine of SUT plant [22–25]. The overall design procedure of SUT
plant was discussed in the authors’ previous work [15]. But no detailed
study has been carried out on a wind turbine of an SUT plant for
electricity generation. There is no study reported on design procedures
of wind turbine of an SUT plant. Also, no study was found on the es-
timation of the optimized blade angles of SUT plant.
Therefore the main objectives of this work are (i) To develop a
design procedure of small wind turbine blade for lower as well as higher
wind velocities applications using conservation of angular momentum
theory (Schmitz model) and theory of aerodynamics, (ii) to evaluate
and analyse the power generation by wind turbine under various wind
velocity ranges, (iii) to determine the various forces and loads acting on
turbine blade, (iv) to optimize the blade pitch angle (β), relative wind
angle (φ) and relative chord length (c/R) of blade under different wind
velocities.
Design methodology
Wind turbines are devices which can pull out energy from air by
applying aerodynamic terminology of lift and drag forces. These forces
act on the turbine blade in perpendicular and parallel to the wind flow
and these forces are helpful to rotate the blade so that kinetic wind
energy is converted to rotational energy. After that the same rotational
energy is converted to electrical power by means of a generator/alter-
nator. Wind turbines are generally categorised into two groups on the
basis of rotational axis about which it rotates. Horizontal axis turbine is
one in which the wind flow is parallel to the axis of turbine rotation
(most commonly used). In vertical axis turbine, the wind flow is per-
pendicular to the axis of turbine rotation (less frequently used).
The main objective of this section is to optimise FL which acts on the
blade and to simultaneously minimise the FD on it, which causes the
force acts in tangential direction which needs to be maximised. FL acts
in the radial direction to the wind flow and does not essentially act in
tangential direction once the rotor blades start to rotate. In a majority of
wind turbine blade designs, FL can develop a tangential force in the
correct path and at the same time FD can create a moderate tangential
force in reverse direction.
A simple model developed by Betz (1926) [26] can be utilized to
estimate the electric power generation from an ideal wind turbine,
various forces such as lift, drag and axial thrust forces and the effect of
rotor blade operation on local wind field. This Betz model works on the
principle of conservation of linear momentum theory which originated
100 years back to investigate the performance of ship propellers. In the
Betz model [26], no rotation flow is added to the wind. Betz theory can
be extrapolated up to a state where the rotating turbine blade produces
angular momentum which is directly related to the rotor torque.
Schmitz model
For considering the rotational flow in the wind (which was not
considered in Betz model [26]), Schmitz [26,27] introduced a small,
detailed and advanced model for fluid flow behaviour in the rotor
plane. Conservation of angular momentum theory and theory of aero-
dynamic principles have been used to develop this theoretical model. In
the case of a rotating wind turbine rotor, the flow behind the rotor
rotates in the opposite direction to the rotor as mentioned in Fig. 3, in
reaction to the torque exerted by the flow on the rotor. The generation
of rotational kinetic energy in the wake results in less energy extraction
by the rotor than would be expected without wake rotation. In general,
the extra kinetic energy in the wind turbine wake is higher if the gen-
erated torque is higher. So that it can be concluded that slow running
wind turbines (with a low rotational speed and a high torque)
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1.6
Speed ratio, ( )

Speed raio, relative chord length

1.4 Relative chord length, (c/R)
1.2 Solidity ratio, ( )

and solidity ratio

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Relative blade radius (r/R)

Fig. 6. Variation of tip speed ratio (λr), relative chord length (c/R) and solidity
ratio (σ) with different blade segment radius (r).

Fig. 3. Downstream rotation of the wake. 70 Angle of relative wind to rotor plane, (°)
Blade pitch angle, (°)
60

50

Angle, °
40

30

20

10

0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

Relative blade radius (r/R)

Fig. 7. Variation of φ and β with different blade segment radius (dr).

0.07 Power produced, W (dP) 0.006

Lift force, N (dFL)
0.06 0.005
Power Produced (dP), W

Lift force (dFL), N

0.05
0.004
0.04
0.003
0.03
0.002
0.02

0.01 0.001

0.00 0.000
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Relative chord length (r/R)

Fig. 8. Variation of power, lift force (dFL) and power generation (dP) with
different blade segment radius (r/R).

Fig. 4. Visual representation of the wind velocity (V), tangential blade velocity
(u) and relative velocity (w) (a) upstream, (b, c, d and e) in the plane of rotor
and (f and g) downstream.
Fig. 5. SUT Turbine blade.
experience more wake rotational losses than high speed wind turbines
with low torque.
As per the Schmitz model, three sections are considered in the fluid
flow as mentioned in Fig. 3. At the upstream section-1, the wind enters
with a velocity v1 (wind upstream velocity mentioned in Fig. 2) but the
turbine blade experiences with a relative wind velocity w, at section-2
(rotor plane) and the same relative wind striking on a turbine blade
includes two velocity components as mentioned in Fig. 2, namely, the
tangential component of the blade (u), which results because of the
rotation of the blade in the rotor plane and the axial component of wind
(v = [(1 − A)V1]) which acts normal to the plane of rotation. In the
downstream of the blade (section-3), the wind velocity is further re-
duced to v3 (which is equal to (1 − 2A)V1). The rotational flow (wake)
acts continuously in the downstream section of the blade which causes

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1.4 Speed ratio, () to add some tangential velocity to the blade.

The tangential blade velocity (u) in terms of the turbine angular
Speed raio, relative chord length

Relative chord length, (c/R)

1.2
Solidity ratio, ( )
velocity ‘ω’ and the distance ‘r’ from the turbine hub is expressed in Eq.
1.0 (1) as
and solidity ratio

=r (1)
0.8
Turbine efficiency in most cases is defined in terms of tip speed ratio
0.6
(λ), i.e. the ratio of the velocity of the blade tip (u) and the upstream
0.4
velocity of wind (V1).
Rω
0.2 λ=
V1 (2)
0.0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 where, ‘R’ is blade radius and ‘ω’ is angular velocity.
Relative blade radius (r/R)
The power initiated by turbine blade is,
P = Tω (3)
Fig. 9. Variation of tip speed ratio (λ), relative chord length (c/R) and solidity
ratio (σ) with different blade segment radius (r). where, ‘T’ is torque in the rotor shaft.
Upstream wind velocity (v1) is represented in Fig. 4(a), whereas
70 Fig. 4(b to e) represents the wind velocities in the rotor plane and
Fig. 4(f and g) represent the downstream wind and blade velocities.
60 Swirl (or) wake flow does not exist in the upstream section of the
blade (Fig. 4a), so that there is no change in all upstream wind velocity
50
(v1), relative wind velocity (w1) and blade velocity (u). The wind strikes
Angle, °

40 the blade with an angle of ‘φ1’.

But in the plane of rotation of blade (Fig. 4b to e), the blade ex-
30 Angle of relative wind to rotor plane, (°) periences some rotational or wake flow. Conservation of angular mo-
20 Blade pitch angle (°)
mentum theory holds that the generation of the torque or twisting
moment in the rotor shaft is possible only with the aid of swirl induc-
10 tion in the slipstream of the downstream flow of the rotor plane. The-
oretically the axial velocity (v) is represented as the variation in the
0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
tangential velocity of the blade (u) in rotor plane which is exactly half
Relative blade radius (r/R)
of the total change in the rotor plane due to angular rotation of flow.
Therefore, the blade velocity (u) can be written as
Fig. 10. Variation of φ and β with different blade segment radius (r/R) at
higher velocity of air 10 m/s. 1
u = rω + ⎛ Δu⎞
⎝2 ⎠ (4)
2.0 Power produced, W (dP) 0.18 The supplementary tangential velocity of the blade (Δu/2 term
1.8 Lift force, N (dFL) 0.16 shown in Fig. 4c), is experienced because of wake rotation which can
1.6 0.14 also be expressed in terms of tangential interference factor (A′).
Power Produced (dP), W

1.4
Lift force (dFL), N

0.12 u = rω (1 + a') (5)

1.2 0.10
1.0 Rotational velocity of the wake in the upstream of the turbine is
0.8
0.08 equal to zero or negligible, whereas downstream of the rotor plane has
0.6
0.06 a rotational velocity (wake) value (Δw) that opposes the turbine motion
0.4 0.04 (shown in Fig. 4g). Hence in Fig. 4(d and, e), the mean rotational ve-
0.02
locity imparted to the flow over the blade because of wake rotation is
0.2
equal to Δw/2. In Fig. 4(f and g), v3 is downstream velocity, w3 is re-
0.0 0.00
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 lative wind velocity in downstream of the blade and Δu is the change in
Relative chord length (r/R) tangential velocity of the blade.
The angle between the relative wind velocity and rotor plane (φ) is
Fig. 11. Variation of power and lift force (dFL) with different blade segment
influenced by axial and tangential interference factors and is shown in
radius (r).
Fig. 4(b). As per Fig. 4(a) and (b), it is noticed that a small increment in
tangential velocity due to wake rotation of flow diminishes in axial
wind velocity because of axial interference factor (A) which results in
reduction of relative wind angle (φ). So that the reduction in relative

Table 1
Comparison of design parameters with existing literature.

Parameters Literature

Singh and Ahmed [28] Ahmed and Patel [29] Ahmadi-Baloutaki [30] Thumthae [31] Present results

Relative wind angle (°) 20°–28° – 27° 20° 26.4°

Blade pitch angle (°) 17°–20° – 27° 20° 18.4°
Power (W) – 0.6 – – 0.06–1.75
Solidity ratio (%) 8.27% – – – 6%
Free stream velocity (m/s) 3–6 2.8 8 4–9 2–10

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wind velocity is w and also the reduced wind velocity in rotor plane is v (r) from the axis of blade rotation. Optimum chord length (c) of the
as shown in Fig. 4(g). With the aid of geometrical relationship from blade can be achieved by equating Eqs. (15) and (16), so that
Fig. 4(d), the variation in relative wind velocity (Δw) in the down-
1 16πr ⎞ 1 R
stream rotor plane is characterised by means of initial relative wind c = ⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎜ sin ⎧ tan −1 ⎛ ⎞ ⎫
⎟

velocity (w1) and change in relative wind velocity angle (φ) and is ⎝ B⎠ ⎝ CL ⎠ ⎨ ⎩3 ⎝ λr⎠ ⎬⎭ (17)
specified by Eq. (6). Solidity (σ) is generally expressed as the percentage of perimeter
Δw = 2w1sin (φ1−φ) (6) (or) circumference of the turbine blade that has material rather than air
and it is calculated as:
Lift force (dFL) acts on a section of the blade element that has a cn
width of dr and radius (r) from axis of rotation and it is defined as the σ=
2πr (18)
product of variation in relative wind velocity (Δw) and mass flow rate of
air (dm) using Eq. (7). According to Eqs. (14) and (16), the blade is designed and fabri-
cated in order to produce optimum power output. The main objective of
dFL = Δwdm (7)
the blade pitch angle is to ensure (or) govern the direction of relative
Amount of mass flow rate (dm) of wind passing through a small wind which strikes the blade at a trusted angle of attack. The purpose of
achieving optimum blade chord length (c) is to enhance the dFL along
blade element is;
its segment radius.
dm = 2πrρdrv (8)
In order to evaluate the performance characteristics of wind turbine
With the objective of power generation (dP) by the dFL which acts for pilot scale SUT, the diameter of the chimney is selected as 0.6 m.
on a sectional segment of blade, the torque developed is primarily The radius of the turbine (R) is fixed at 0.285 m (15 mm clearance
calculated by the angular rotation of rotor blade. Eq. (8) defines the between inner surface of the chimney and blade tip radius), number of
amount of torque produced (dT) in terms of tangential lift force that blades
acts on the blade and segment radius of blade. blade isare 3, and
drawn theisangle
and shownof in
attack (α) is 8°. This proposed turbine
Fig. 5.

dT = dFLsin (φ)r (9)

Results and discussion
Power generated by blade element (dP) is
dP = dTω (10) The tip speed ratio (λr), relative chord length (c/R), solidity ratio
(σ), power (dP), lift force (dFL), relative wind angles (φ) and blade pitch
Substitute Eqs. (6)–(9) in Eq. (10), the power produced by the angle (β) for various blade segments
velocities (Case I: 2 m/s and Case II:of10rotor
m/sblade under different
are presented air
here) are
section of blade element is
dP = r 2ωρ2πdrw12sin [2(φ1−φ)]sin2 (φ1) evaluated and presented in this section.
(11)
The angle between the relative wind velocity and plane of rotor CASE I: Velocity of AIR is 2 m/s
rotation (φ) is to be optimised to get maximum power output from the
blade. Differentiate Eq. (11) with respect to andφequate it to zero, λr, c/R and σ of the blade are evaluated at an air velocity of 2 m/s
d (dP) = for
andeach section ofin
the blade
6. Inusing
Case Eqs. (2), (17)low
andat(18)
firstrespectively
( dφ )
0 . Then, maximum relative wind angle (φMAX) is
⎛2 ⎞
are presented Fig. 1, λ is very segment of

φmax = φ1 the blade and is gradually increased due to increase in radius of the
⎝3⎠ (12)
blade. Higher λ is achieved at the tip of the blade. In Fig. 6, c/R is
Using the geometric relations found in Fig. 4 (a), the maximum minimum at first segment of the blade and maximum is achieved at fifth
power generation occurs at relative wind angle and it is represented as: segment of the blade because the chord length of the blade is directly
related to sine function (from Eq. (17)). Then c/R is gradually decreased
2 v1 2 R
φmax = ⎛ ⎞ tan −1 ⎛ ⎞ = ⎛ ⎞ tan −1 ⎛ ⎞ up to the tip of the blade. σ of the blade is maximum at root section and
⎝3⎠ ⎝ ωr ⎠ ⎝ 3 ⎠ ⎝ λr ⎠ (13) minimum at the tip of the turbine blade as solid material is more than
In order to find out the most beneficial relative wind angle with air at the root of the blade.
respect to plane of rotation, the angle of attack (α) should be subtracted c/R distributions of turbine blade are calculated and optimised for
from φ. Then the maximum blade pitch angle (β) can be achieved, extracting maximum amount of energy from the wind. Higher λ is
which is given by the equation below: possible at the tip of the blades but c/R is lower near the tip of blades
(Fig. 6) which leads to narrow blade profiles. This leads to minimum
2 R material usage and lower production costs. Similarly, it is observed that
β = ⎛ ⎞tan −1 ⎛ ⎞−α
⎝3 ⎠ ⎝ λr ⎠ (14)
at higher λ, the solidity ratio (σ) is less. If the number of rotor blades is
Substitute Eqs. (6) and (9) in Eq. (7), then the lift force (dFL) is more (greater than four) the weight of the rotor system increases fol-
expanded in terms of φ. lowed by decreasing speed of shaft. But in this case, σ is more at the root
of the blade because of limited surface of the blade is in contact with the
dFL = Δwdm = [2w1sin (φ1−φ)]2ρπrdrv (15) wind. To get higher power generation by wind turbine, the blade should
From the aerodynamic airfoil theory, dFL acts on a blade element have low σ.
and can be calculated as Fig. 7 shows the blade pitch angle (β) and relative wind angle with
respect to rotor plane (φ) with respect to relative blade radius (r/R). It
1
dFL = ρw2 (bc)drCL
(16) was clear that β is greater than 30° near the blade root section because
2
maximum wind velocity occurs at the axis of the turbine (nearer to
where, CL = coefficient of lift, CD = coefficient of drag, ρ = density of blade root section). Similarly φ also maximum at the root of blade and
air (kg/m3), n = number of blades and c = chord length (m). For this decreases linearly along r/R for the same reason explained above. β and
work NACA23012 is selected due to the ease of manufacture because of φ decrease with increased radius (in Fig. 7) because of slow rotation of
its flat high pressure side. Airfoil data for NACA23012, CL and CD are rotor shaft and sufficient time is available for wind to reach and strike
considered as 1 and 0.0077 respectively [26]. the tip of the blade.
Chord length (c) mainly depends on the radius of the blade element The lift force (dFL) and power output (dP) for each elemental blade

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R. BALIJEPALLI et AL.
sections are evaluated and are shown in Fig. 8. It is noticed from Fig. 5
that the maximum dFL (0.00543 N) is achieved at the seventh segment
of the blade and the corresponding power generation at this condition is
0.047 W. But the maximum power generation occurs at the tip of the
blade and is 0.06 W. Therefore, it is proved that for efficient blade
design and for higher power generation, greater amount of dFL should
act on the blade. It is also noticed that the power output is maximum at
the tip of the blade (Fig. 8). Therefore, the blade angles β and φ values
are optimized and they are 18.4° and 26.4° respectively (Fig. 7), for
getting maximum power output of the blade and at an air flow velocity
of 2 m/s.
CASE II: Velocity of AIR is 10 m/s
The λ, c/R and σ of the turbine blade are estimated at a higher
possible wind velocity condition in SUT plant (10 m/s) for each seg-
ment of the blade using Eqs. (2), (16) and (17) respectively and are
presented in Fig. 9. In Case II, λ is low at the root of the blade and it is
maximum at the tip of the blade as noticed in Case I. The lowest λ
(0.03) is noticed at higher wind velocities than lower (case I). In Fig. 9,
c/R is minimum at first segment of the blade and it increased with the
increase of blade radius. The σ of the blade is maximum at root section
and minimum at tip of the turbine blade as near the root of the blade,
solid material is higher than the air.
A higher wind velocity is considered (10 m/s) and the blade angles,
β and φ are evaluated for each sectional segment of blade and the re-
sults are shown in Fig. 10. Variation of β and φ between two successive
blade elements is not much compared to lower wind velocity of 2 m/s
(from Figs. 7 and 10) because of higher rotational speed of rotor shaft
and also because sufficient time is not available for wind to reach and
strike the tip of the blade. Therefore, for higher air flow velocity (10 m/
s), β and φ values are optimized as 42.9° and 50.9° respectively for
getting maximum power output from the blade.
Fig. 11 shows dFL at higher air flow velocity of 10 m/s. Here, dFL
variation is not significant as it varies from 0.02 to 0.16 N but it in-
creased to 0.16 N in this condition when compared to lower wind ve-
locity condition (velocity 2 m/s). The maximum dFL is 0.4082 N and it
is achieved at the tip of the blade and the corresponding power gen-
eration at this condition is 1.75 W. Power generation is directly pro-
portional to upstream wind velocity. Higher wind velocities (10 m/s)
are recommended for maximum harnessing of energy from wind.
In this section, the estimated values are compared with existing
literature data of small scale SUT plants. Table 1 provides information
about reduced scale models of wind turbines of SUT plant. All the de-
sign parameters estimated in this present model are similar to the va-
lues from existing literature.
Conclusions
The direct method of approach (conservation of angular momentum
theory) was applied for small scale wind turbine blade design for solar
updraft tower (SUT) in order to evaluate the lift and drag forces that act
on blade element and optimise the blade pitch angle and relative wind
angle. Under different wind velocity conditions, the design and per-
formance parameters such as tip speed ratio (λ), relative chord length
(c/R), solidity ratio (σ), power (P), lift force (dFL), relative wind angle
(φ) and blade pitch angle (β) were evaluated and presented. At lower
wind velocities (2 m/s), β, φ and dFL were optimised as 18.4°, 26.4° and
0.0052 N respectively, for achieving maximum power output of 0.06 W.
At higher wind velocities (10 m/s), maximum dFL (0.168 N) was
achieved at the tip of the blade and the corresponding power generation
was 1.75 W. So that at this section of the blade, the optimized angles
were β = 42.9° and φ = 50.94°. Optimum relative chord length (c/R)
was achieved at the middle of the turbine blade for lower wind velo-
cities and it was close to the tip of the blade at higher wind velocities.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by (i)
Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science
and Technology (DST), New Delhi – 110070, India, Grant No. File
Number: EEQ/2016/000111 and (ii) Center of Excellence (CoE) under
TEQIP – II, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, India,
Ref. No: TEQIP/CoE/2016.
The Authors wish to acknowledge the support received by way of
proof reading from Dr. M.R. Vishwanathan, Assistant Professor of
English, Humanities and Social Science Department, NIT Warangal,
India.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2018.10.001.
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