Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40722-020-00176-6

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Parameter design and optimization for camber of vertical axis offshore

wind turbine using CFD
Lin Pan1,2,3,4 · Zhaoyang Shi1 · Haodong Xiao1

Received: 30 April 2020 / Accepted: 24 September 2020

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Abstract
This paper explores the camber as a variable to parameterize the airfoil of a 3-blade H-shaped vertical axis offshore wind
turbine (VAOWT). The influence of airfoil camber ( f ) on the aerodynamics of H-type VAOWT is investigated. Selecting
v = 4, 8, 12 m/s as the design conditions, and using NACA0015 airfoil ( f = 0%) as the prototype to perform the parametric
design of the airfoil. A total of 6 blades with the camber of f = [0%, 5%] are designed. A 2D-computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) simulation model is established with ANSYS software. Taking the power coefficient (Cp ), the high-performance tip
speed ratio range (Δλ), and the power(P) of the offshore wind turbine as research objects, the aerodynamic law of VAOWT
and the changes in torque, pressure, velocity of the airfoil surface under different azimuth angles are studied. The research
results find that the camber has a great influence on the aerodynamic performance of vertical axis wind turbines. Airfoil with
smaller camber ( f ∈ [0%, 2%]) has a better aerodynamic performance.

Keywords Vertical axis offshore wind turbine (VAOWT) · Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) · Power Coefficient ·
Aerodynamic simulation · Aerodynamic performance

1 Introduction
Wind resources on the earth are very abundant, and wind
power is a hot topic now. According to the installation posi-
tion of the main shaft relative to the ground, wind turbines can
be divided into horizontal axis wind turbines(HAWT) and
vertical axis wind turbines(VAWT). With the development
of science and technology, vertical axis wind turbines have
gradually been recognized and valued for their small size,
B Lin Pan
linpandr@163.com
Zhaoyang Shi
2432355983@qq.com
Haodong Xiao
xiaohaodong20@163.com
1 School of Logistics Engineering, Wuhan University of
Technology, Wuhan 430063, China
2 Zhongshan Institute of Advanced Engineering Technology of
WUT, Zhongshan 528437, China
3 State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai
Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, China
4 National Engineering Research Center for Water Transport
Safety (WTS Center), Wuhan 430063, China
high wind energy utilization rate, low starting wind speed,
and basically no noise. Compared with HAWT, VAWT is less
sensitive to changes in wind direction and does not require
a yaw system (Lamei and Hayatdavoodi 2020; Pinto et al.
2020). The repair and maintenance of the vertical axis wind
turbine can be completed on the ground without climbing to
the top of the tower, which also greatly reduces the repair and
maintenance costs of the vertical axis wind turbine. There-
fore, the vertical axis wind turbine is more cost-effective than
the horizontal axis wind turbine. Due to the constant rota-
tion of the vertical axis wind turbine, the vertical axis wind
turbine only bears constant inertial force and gravity dur-
ing normal operation, and the horizontal axis wind turbine
mainly bears periodic alternating loads during normal oper-
ation. The service life of the blades of the vertical axis wind
turbine is longer. In recent years, the microgrid system has
been gradually improved, and the miniaturization of vertical
axis fans is an important part of the microgrid system. So
people pay more and more attention to VAWT. There are two
types of vertical axis wind turbines: Darrieus and Savonius.
Savonius has better self-starting capability and lower power
coefficient. Darrieus type has poor self-starting capability but
has low manufacturing cost and simple device. It can have a
higher tip speed ratio and higher power coefficient (Talukdar

123

et al. 2018). The H-type offshore wind turbine used in this
paper is Darrieus offshore wind turbine. The vertical axis
offshore wind turbine (VAOWT) is simple to install and can
meet the needs of enterprises and daily household electricity.
Other countries such as Japan at sea, because of their suffi-
cient wind resources, have gradually deployed VAOWTs at
sea. Figure 1 shows the application of VAOWTs in offshore
and nearshore ports (DEIGN 2019).
In recent years, many scholars have studied vertical axis
offshore wind turbines, including the effects of the num-
ber of airfoil blades, compactness, and airfoil shape on the
aerodynamic performance of vertical axis wind turbines.
Hameed et al. (2015) analyzed the performance of a compos-
ite VAWT blade. Liu et al. (2017) evaluated the movement of
the 5 MW floating VAWT through numerical simulation and
model testing. Battisti et al. (2018) studied the aerodynamic
performance of vertical axis wind turbines by comparing
experimental data with simulation results. Rocchio et al.
(2018) researches vertical axis wind turbines based on Blade-
element Theory. Goude and Rossander (2017) studied the
forces on the blades of vertical axis wind turbines in the
stopped state. Ostos et al. (2019) and Zheng et al. (2018)
optimized the blades of Savonius wind turbines to improve
the performance of the offshore wind turbine. Ferroudji et al.
(2017) combines Darrieus and Savonius to design a new ver-
tical axis wind turbine. Kumar et al. (2010) simulates the air
environment on Mars and designs a vertical axis wind tur-
bine suitable for the Mars environment. Eboibi et al. (2016)
studied the aerodynamic performance of vertical axis wind
turbines at low Reynolds numbers. Mohamed et al. (2015)
and Shih et al. (1995) studied the performance of wind tur-
bines under different turbulence models, and involved the
basic governing equations of CFD. Liu et al. (2019) added
Gurney flaps to the airfoil trailing edge and found that Gur-
ney flaps can improve the aerodynamic performance of wind
turbines. Abdalrahman et al. (2017) uses a neural network
algorithm to control the pitch angle of the vertical axis wind
turbine and optimizes the control of the vertical axis wind
turbine. Dessoky et al. (2019a) studied the effect of goggle
technology on H-type vertical axis wind turbines. Shaheed
et al. (2019) used the Realizable k − ε model to compare
experimental results with simulation data and found that the
Realizable k − ε model has a good effect on fluid computing.
Lositaño and Danao (2019) and Ian Carlo studied the effect
of the leading edge of the airfoil nodule on the performance
of the wind turbine and found that the leading edge of the
nodule would reduce the performance of the wind turbine.
Rezaeiha et al. (2017) studied the effect of the central axis
on the vertical axis wind turbine and found that the central
axis had little effect on the vertical axis wind turbine. Piperas
(2010) derived the formula for the first layer of grid height
in the calculation model. In addition, some scholars have
also studied the camble of the airfoil. Chen and Kuo (2013)
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Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
studied NACA0012, NACA2412 and NACA4412 blades and
found that camber and pitch angle have an effect on wind
turbines. Mohamed (2012) studied 20 different airfoils of
different series and concluded that the aerodynamic perfor-
mance of symmetrical airfoils is better. Bausas and Danao
(2015) studies aerodynamic performance of airfoil with cam-
ber at non-constant wind speeds. Beri et al. (2011) analyzed
NACA2415 airfoil and found that camber has an effect on
self-starting ability.
However, none of the above studies carried out the para-
metric design for the same airfoil according to the camber.
They did not study the influence of camber on the aerody-
namic performance of vertical axis offshore wind turbines,
and did not specifically analyze the reasons for the results. In
response to the above-mentioned problems, this work uses
NACA0015 airfoil as a prototype, and uses the camber as
a variable to parameterize the airfoil. By designing f =
0% (NACA0015), 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5% airfoils, two-
dimensional fluid dynamics simulation is performed using
ANSYS software. It studies coefficient of wind power (Cp ),
high-performance blade tip speed ratio range (Δλ), offshore
wind turbine power (P), and changes in torque, pressure, and
speed variations on the airfoil surface. This work analyzes
these phenomena in detail.
The structure of the article is as follows. Section 1 intro-
duces the background of offshore wind turbines and related
research done by some scholars. Section 2 studies the aerody-
namic theory and numerical simulation methods. Section 3
explores the design parameters and meshing of the offshore
wind turbine. Section 4 is the dynamic simulation of offshore
wind turbines and the analysis of the results. Section 5 sum-
marizes the conclusions and deficiencies in this article, and
looks forward to future research.
2 Description of aerodynamic theory and
mathematical model
2.1 Offshore wind turbine operation principle
The blade tip speed ratio λ is a very important parameter for
describing the characteristics of offshore wind turbines. The
ratio of the linear velocity of the offshore wind turbine blade
tip to the wind speed (1) is called the blade tip speed ratio
(Carlin et al. 2003):
ωr
λ= (1)
Ud
Equations (2), (3) and (4) are the relationship between
speed and angle:
 
W = Wt 2 + Wn 2 = (Ud cos θ + V )2 + (Ud sin θ )2
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

Fig. 1 Application of vertical

axis offshore wind turbine
(DEIGN 2019)

1
D= ρclCd W 2 (6)
2

where ρ is the air density, c is the airfoil chord length, L is the

blade length, W is the relative speed, Cl is the lift coefficient,
and Cd is the drag coefficient.
The components of F acting in the tangential and normal
directions of the blade are expressed in equations (7) and (8),
respectively:

1
Fn = L cos ϕ + D sin ϕ = ρcl(Cl cos ϕ + Cd sin ϕ)W 2
2
(7)
1
Fc = L sin ϕ − D cos ϕ = ρcl(Cl sin ϕ − Cd cos ϕ)W 2
Fig. 2 Description of forces on a single blade element during offshore 2
wind turbine operation (8)

 During operation, the tangential component Fc of F pro-

= Ud (cos θ + λ)2 + sin2 θ (2) vides torque to the wind wheel, and the obtained torque T is
Wn Ud sin θ sin θ described in Eq. (9):
tan ϕ = = = (3)
Wt Ud cos θ + V cos θ + λ
sin θ T = Fcr =
1
ρcl(Cl sin ϕ − Cd cos ϕ)W 2 r
ϕ = arctan (4) (9)
cos θ + λ 2

Figure 2 shows the force of a single blade element during
operation. F represents the total force of the fluid acting on
the blade element. The component of F on the relative speed
W is resistance D, and the component perpendicular to W is
lift L.
The calculation formulas of the lift and drag acting on
the blades of the vertical axis offshore wind turbine can be
expressed as Eqs. (5) and (6):
1 ent, so the camber must affect the aerodynamic performance
L= ρclCl W 2
2
When the offshore wind turbine is at different azimuth
angles, lift and resistance work together to provide torque
to the offshore wind turbine. When positive torque is pro-
vided, the offshore wind turbine is driven to rotate, and when
negative torque is generated, the offshore wind turbine is
prevented from rotating. This article uses a lift-type offshore
wind turbine, which mainly drives the offshore wind turbine
to work by the lift acting on the blades. Due to the different
camber of the airfoil, the force of different airfoils is differ-
(5) of the offshore wind turbine.

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 Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

trol body. Its calculation formula is (11):

⎧
⎪
⎪ ∂(ρu) ∂u 2 ∂uv ∂uw
⎪
⎪ + + +
⎪
⎪ ∂t ∂ x ∂ y ∂z
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ∂(− p + τx x ) ∂τx y ∂τx z
⎪
⎪ = + + + Fx
⎪
⎪ ∂ ∂ ∂z
⎪
⎪ x y
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ∂(ρv) ∂uv ∂v 2 ∂vw
⎪
⎨ + + +
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z
(11)
⎪
⎪ ∂τx y ∂(− p + τ yy ) ∂τ yz
⎪
⎪ = + + + Fy
⎪
⎪ ∂ x ∂y ∂z
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ∂(ρw) ∂uw ∂vw ∂w 2
⎪
⎪ + + +
⎪
⎪ ∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ∂τ ∂τ ∂(− p + τzz )
⎪
⎩ = x z + yz + + Fz
∂x ∂y ∂z

where p is the surface pressure of the control body, F is

Fig. 3 Solution process of CFD numerical simulation
2.2 Basic governing equations in CFD
This paper uses fluent software to carry out numerical simu-
lation of the offshore wind turbine model. According to the
basic governing equations in fluid mechanics, the aerody-
namic simulation of the vertical axis offshore wind turbine is
performed. Figure 3 is the solution process of CFD numerical
simulation.
To obtain the aerodynamic characteristics of the lift, drag,
torque and power of the VAOWT, we have solved this series
of equations in detail. These basic governing equations sat-
isfy the continuity equation, momentum equation and energy
equation of the three physical laws of conservation of mass,
conservation of momentum and conservation of energy (Shih
et al. 1994).
The continuous equation describes the law of mass con-
servation in fluid mechanics. The mass flow out of the control
body is equal to the reduction rate of the mass in the body
over time. Its calculation formula is (10):
∂ρ ∂(ρu) ∂(ρv) ∂(ρw)
+ + + =0 (10)
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z
where ρ is the fluid density, t is the time, and u, v and w are
the velocity components in the three directions of x, y and z,
respectively.
The momentum equation describes the law of conserva-
tion of momentum: the rate of change of the control body’s
momentum over time is equal to the force acting on the con-
the volume force acting on the control body, and τ is the
component of the surface stress acting in the three directions
of the control body in each direction. Write the above formula
in vector form (12):
∂ρv
+ ∇ · (ρV × V ) = −∇ · p + ∇ · τ + F (12)
∂t
where ∇ is the Hamilton operator, V is the velocity vector,
(12) is also called the Navier–Stokes equation, and the left
terms of the equation are the momentum flow of the control
body in the steady state and the momentum increase rate in
the unsteady state, etc. The terms on the right side of the
formula are pressure, physical strength, and viscosity.
The energy equation describes the law of conservation of
energy. According to the first law of thermodynamics, the
increase in the internal energy of the control body is equal to
the sum of the thermal energy transmitted from the external
environment to the control body and the work performed by
the external environment on the control body. Its calculation
formula is (13):
 
d V2
ρ e+ = ρ F · V + ∇ · (k∇T ) (13)
dt 2
where e is the internal energy per unit mass and k is the
thermal conductivity of turbulence.
3 Offshore wind turbine design parameters
and meshing
3.1 Parametric design of offshore wind turbines and
airfoils
The parameters of the H-type vertical axis offshore wind
turbine used in this paper are shown in Table 1. In this table,

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Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

Table 1 Parameters of VAOWT

Parameter Value

Blade profile NACA0015

Camber f [0%, 5%]
Blade height L(m) 1
Rotor diameter D(m) 1.6
Chord length c(m) 0.15
Setting angle β(◦ ) 0
Number of blades N 3
Wind speed v (m/s) 4, 8, 12
Re 2 × 106

L is the height of the wind wheel, D is the rotation diameter,

c is the blade chord length, β is the installation angle, N
is the number of blades, v is the wind speed, and Re is the
Reynolds number.
The airfoil used in this paper is the NACA0015 airfoil.
Based on this, the airfoil is parametrically modified so that
their relative camber is 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5%. Equa-
tions are used to represent the geometric characteristics of
the airfoil. Equation (14) represents the coordinates of the
upper airfoil yu (x):
yu = yu (x) (14)
Equation (15) represents the coordinates of the lower air-
foil yl (x):
Fig. 4 Appearance of different camber airfoils on VAOWT
Based on the definition of camber, this paper takes
the NACA0015 airfoil as a prototype, and modifies the
coordinates of the upper and lower airfoils of the airfoil,
respectively, to change the camber of the airfoil.
The modified upper airfoil coordinates ỹu is shown in (20):
ỹu = yu + c f (20)
The modified lower airfoil coordinates ỹl is shown in (21):
ỹl = yl + c f (21)

yl = yl (x) (15) According to different cambers, six types of airfoils are

designed, and the geometric shapes of the airfoils with dif-
The thickness of the airfoil δ is the difference between the ferent cambers are shown in Fig. 4.
coordinates of the upper and lower airfoils, as shown in (16):
3.2 Offshore wind turbine geometric model
δ = yu − yl (16)
The geometric model of the vertical axis offshore wind tur-
The relative thickness Δ of the airfoil is the ratio of the bine studied in this study is shown in Fig. 5.
maximum thickness to the chord length c, as shown in (17): The main structure of the offshore wind turbine includes
hubs, blades, rotating shafts, flanges, generators, towers, etc.
δmax |yu − yl |max
Δ= = (17) Vertical-axis offshore wind turbines mainly use the lift gen-
c c erated on the blades to drive the offshore wind turbine to
yc is the centerline coordinate of the airfoil, as shown in rotate, and the components are rotated through the rotating
(18): shaft and flanges. The torque is transmitted to a generator,
which converts wind energy into electrical energy. The off-
1 shore wind turbine obtains torque through the blades, and the
yc = (yu + yl ) (18)
2 components such as the hub and the flange have almost no
effect. This article mainly studies the aerodynamic laws of
The camber f of the airfoil is the ratio of the maximum
the vertical axis offshore wind turbine without the need to
of the airfoil midline coordinates to the blade chord length
consider every component on the offshore wind turbine.
c, as shown in (19):
In addition, during the CFD simulation of the vertical axis
|yu + yl |max offshore wind turbine, the calculation domains of the off-
f = (19) shore wind turbine need to be meshed first. If the rotating
2c

123

Fig. 5 Geometric model of offshore wind turbine
shaft, flange, generator and other components are consid-
ered, the complexity of the calculation domain will be greatly
increased. Many irregular computing grids will also be gen-
erated at the part-to-part connection. The grid quality is very
poor, which will take up unnecessary hardware resources of
the computer and affect the calculation results and calcula-
tion speed. Therefore, in the process of numerical simulation
of the aerodynamic performance of the VAOWT, the sup-
porting rod, the connecting flange, and the rotating shaft and
other components that have less influence on the performance
of the offshore wind turbine are removed. The model before
simplification is shown in Fig. 6 and includes components
such as hubs, blades, rotating shafts, and flanges. The sim-
plified model is shown in Fig. 7, which includes only three
blades to obtain torque to drive the VAOWT to rotate. The
simplification of the calculation model can reduce the calcu-
lation cost and improve the calculation efficiency.
3.3 Meshing
The three-dimensional model requires a large amount of cal-
culation. Compared with the three-dimensional model, the
results of the two-dimensional model have little effect, so
2D-CFD imulation is used. The movement of the offshore
wind turbine in the three-dimensional space is consistent
with the movement in the two-dimensional plane. The two-
dimensional offshore wind turbine model is meshed in the
ICEM software in ANSYS software. The VAOWT model
is mainly composed of two parts: static domain and rotat-
ing domain. Figure 8 is the static domain of the calculation
model. The entrance is located 8 m upstream of the center
of the rotation domain and the exit is 16 m at the center of
123
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
the rotation domain. Figure 9 shows the rotation domain of
the model. The diameter of the rotation domain is 2.4 m.
The rotation domain includes a rotation subdomain with
three blades. The rotation domain rotates counterclockwise.
To better divide the mesh, the rotation domain contains the
blades. In the domain part, the diameter of the blade subdo-
mains is 0.2 m, and each blade subdomain contains a blade,
and the blade subdomains are separated by 120◦ . In theory,
for external flows, the computational domain should be infi-
nite, so that the boundary part of the computational domain
will not interfere with the research. For specific problems,
we cannot take infinite space, so we chose the size of the
static domain in the article. The wind wheel mainly moves in
the rotation domain. The rotation domain should be slightly
larger than the diameter of the wind wheel. The interface
between the two areas is adopted. The size of the calcula-
tion domain selected in this paper adopts Ferreira’s method
(Simão Ferreira et al. 2007), so setting the calculation domain
can not only fully develop the airflow passing through the fan,
but also reduce the influence of the wall effect on calculation.
In this paper, the size of the calculation domain is selected
from Lositaño’s paper (Lositaño and Danao 2019), and it is
modified.
The structured grid is used to mesh the offshore wind tur-
bine model. During the transient analysis of the flow field
near the offshore wind turbine, the offshore wind turbine
is constantly rotating. Therefore, in the process of solving
the aerodynamic performance of the VAOWT, the flow field
is divided into two parts: the stationary domain and the
rotary domain. The blades rotate with the rotary domain.
The data exchange between the stationary domain and the
rotary domain is realized through the interface boundary con-
ditions provided by Fluent software. The aerodynamic force
obtained by the offshore wind turbine is mainly achieved
through the blade as a carrier. Therefore, high-quality com-
putational grids need to be generated around the blades.
To facilitate grid encryption near the blades and generate
high-quality computing grids, the rotation domain contains
three-blade subdomains containing blades. The blade rotates
in the rotation domain, so the radius of the rotation domain
should be greater than the distance from the blade to the cen-
ter. The static domain simulates the working environment of
the wind turbine. Its size should be larger than the rotating
domain. Considering the difficulty of calculation, its size can-
not be too large. The interface between the rotation domain
and the blade subdomains is also connected by the interface
boundary conditions. The grid is encrypted. The surface of
the blade is provided with a boundary layer grid to improve
the calculation accuracy during CFD simulation. The height
of the first layer grid is determined by (22), which is expressed
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

Fig. 6 The model before

simplification on VAOWT

Fig. 7 Simplified offshore wind

turbine model

Fig. 8 Dimension parameters of the static domain

123

Fig. 9 Size parameters of the rotation domain
as (Piperas 2010):
√ 13
Δy = L y ∗ 80Re− 14 (22)
where L is the characteristic size, y∗ is the dimensionless
wall distance, and Re is the Reynolds number. The solution
of the aerodynamic forces acting on the blades is accompa-
nied by the separation and re-adhesion of the blade surface
vortices. The enhanced wall function does not depend on the
wall surface rule. It is very suitable to handle complex shear
flow. Y + is a dimensionless parameter of the reaction bound-
ary layer grid in Fluent. It is mainly related to the height of
the first layer of the grid and can be obtained directly in the
Fluent software after the solution. This study chooses to use
the enhanced wall function method to deal with the blade
boundary layer grid. When choosing an enhanced wall func-
tion, the first layer of the wall on the wall must have a Y + of
less than 5 and close to 1. This paper uses the equations (22)
to approximate the height of the first grid. The Y + distribu-
tion on the blade is shown in Fig. 10. It can be seen that the
maximum value of Y + around the blade is around 2.25, and
the Y + of the blade is around 1.
Figure 11 shows the grid of the rotation domain. The rota-
tion domain is the area where the wind wheel rotates. The
required grid quality is relatively high. Figure 12 is a grid
around a single blade. The energy obtained by the offshore
wind turbine is mainly obtained by the blade. Therefore, this
part requires a high-quality grid. The grid around the blade
is encrypted. 45,030 grids are generated around each blade.
The number of grids in the entire computational domain is
292,212. The mesh quality is above 0.91. Figure 13 shows the
grid of the leading edge of the blade, and Fig. 14 shows the
grid around the trailing edge of the blade. The mesh quality
is very good and can be used for calculation.
The division of the calculation domain grid has a greater
impact on the accuracy of the calculation results. If the cal-
culation domain grid is too coarse, the small turbulence
characteristics cannot be fully captured, which affects the
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Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
accuracy of the calculation results. The accuracy of the cal-
culation results consumes a lot of unnecessary hardware
resources and time cost. Therefore, it is necessary to find
a suitable grid for calculation and divide as few grids as pos-
sible without affecting the accuracy of the results to reduce
unnecessary waste of hardware resources and time cost. In
this paper, the grid growth rate is 1.05, the difference in the
number of grids generated by different grid growth rates is
not large, and the impact on the results is also small.
3.4 Parameter setting
Furthermore, we import the mesh into the Fluent software
under ANSYS for numerical calculations. The flow is set at
the beginning of the entrance as the initial condition, and set
the boundary conditions as follows:
(i) Inlet boundary: The leftmost edge of the stationary
domain is set to the uniform incoming flow boundary.
v = 4, 8, 12 m/s, and the wind direction is along the
positive direction of the X axis;
(ii) Pressure outlet boundary: The far-right side of the sta-
tionary domain is the pressure outlet boundary, and the
pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure;
(iii) Symmetric boundary: the upper and lower sides of the
static domain are set to symmetry;
(iv) Wall boundary: The surface of the blade is set as wall
boundary, which rotates synchronously with the rotation
domain;
(v) Interface boundary: Set the interface boundary at the
junction of the stationary domain and the rotation
domain, and at the junction of the blade subdomain and
the rotation domain.
The convection term uses Second-Order Upwind. When
second-order accuracy is required, a multidimensional linear
reconstruction method is used to calculate the value at the sur-
face of the element. In this method, the second-order accuracy
value of the element surface is achieved by the Taylor expan-
sion of the element center solution at the element center.
Diffusion term is a center split format, and the time discretiza-
tion scheme is Coupled Implicit. Coupling Implicit can be
used to solve the energy and momentum equations, and the
convergence solution can be obtained relatively quickly. The
pressure-velocity coupling uses SIMPLE. SIMPLE uses the
mutual correction relationship between pressure and speed
to force mass conservation and obtain pressure fields.
The movement mode of the rotation domain and the blade
subdomain is moving mesh, and the angular velocity changes
with the change of wind speed and blade tip speed ratio
λ. Among them, the blade tip speed ratio ranges is within
[1.25, 5], and is calculated every 0.25 units. The 16 points
are calculated separately. It takes about 3 h to calculate the
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

Fig. 10 The description of Y +

around the blade

Fig. 11 Rotation domain grid of

VAOWT

Fig. 12 Grid around the blade

of VAOWT

123

Fig. 13 Blade leading edge grid
of VAOWT
Fig. 14 Blade trailing edge grid
of VAOWT
performance of a blade in one case. It needs to calculate 6
kinds of camber blades at 3 wind speeds and 16 blade tip
speed ratios, which takes about 864 h in total.
The Realizable k − ε model used in this study is a model
based on the Reynolds average equations (RANS). Based on
the Reynolds assumption, the velocity and pressure of tur-
bulence are decomposed into average and pulse quantities,
which can reduce space and time. Discrete resolution, thereby
reducing the amount of calculation. The Realizable k − ε
model is a modification of the Standard k − ε model, which
can improve the performance of the model, and can be used
to predict medium-intensity swirl, even can better simulate
circular jets. It is limited by the vortex viscosity homogene-
ity assumption. Except for the strong swirling process, this
model can be used for other flows. In current calculations, a
turbulence model cannot accurately describe all turbulence
motions or obtain solutions with sufficient accuracy. The
Realizable k − ε model adds a formula to introduce param-
eters related to rotation and curvature when calculating the
turbulent viscosity, so the Realizable k − ε model can bet-
ter deal with problems such as vortex, rotation and strong
123
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
streamline bending. The SST model uses a mixing function
takes into account the influence of the internal shear stress
of the turbulence and modifies the turbulence viscosity for-
mula so that the SST k − ω model has higher calculations in
simulating free shear flows such as wakes, mixed flows, and
plate turbulence (Bangga et al. 2017; Dessoky et al. 2019b;
Guerri et al. 2007). Precision and credibility. Wenbin Ju used
the Realizable k − ε model and the SST k − ω model to
simulate the research objects and compared them with the
experimental results (Xin et al. 2017). He found that the cal-
culation results using the SST k − ω model are generally
higher than the experimental test values, while the calcu-
lation results using the Realizable k − ε model. It is more
consistent with the experimental test results. Therefore, the
simulation results of Realizable k − ε turbulence model are
more reliable and accurate. Some scholars have also proved
that using the Realizable k − ε model has high solution accu-
racy and reliability for the simulation of the flow field of
rotating machinery involving complex shear flow (Shih et al.
1995; Li et al. 2012).
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

Fig. 15 Wind wheel torque

coefficient of VAOWT

The pressure-speed coupling solutions are used the method.

When using Fluent software to perform transient calculations
on VAOWT, set the wind wheel to rotate once every 1◦ , that
is, setting the wind wheel to rotate 360 times in one revo-
lution. When the deviation of the torque coefficient between
two adjacent rotation cycles is less than 1%, the calculation is
considered to have converged. Taking the wind speed of 8 m/s
and the blade tip speed ratio of 2.5 as an experiment exam-
ple, as shown in Fig. 15, the empirical calculation shows that
the deviation of the torque coefficient between the 9th within
[2.01 s, 2.26 s] and 10th rotation cycles within [2.26s, 2.51s]
of the wind wheel is less than 1%. The calculation of this
paper has converged.

3.5 Verification of grid independence and time-step

independence Fig. 16 Torque coefficient of wind wheel under different grids

The division of the calculation domain grid has a greater

impact on the accuracy of the calculation results. If the cal-
culation domain grid is too coarse, the small turbulence
characteristics cannot be fully captured, which affects the
accuracy of the calculation results. If the calculation domain
grid is too small, it consumes a lot of unnecessary hardware
resources and time costs, so it is necessary to find a suitable
grid for calculation (Oberkampf and Trucano 2002). In the
case of wind speed of 8m/s and blade tip speed ratio of 3, we
divided three grids with different roughness and calculated
the torque coefficient of the fan respectively. The total grid
numbers were 224,262, 292,212 and 432,942 respectively.
It is found that the calculation results of the coarse grid and
the other two grids are quite different, and the calculation
results of the medium grid and the fine grid are basically the
same. When choosing a coarse mesh, the mesh accuracy is
not enough and the result is slightly larger. When selecting
a good grid, although the grid accuracy meets the require-
ments, the calculation time required is longer. It is about 1.5
times the calculation time of the medium grid. The medium
grid not only meets the calculation accuracy requirements but
also does not cause unnecessary waste of hardware resources
and time costs, which meets our calculation requirements.
Therefore, the mesh used in the simulation is a medium mesh.
Figure 16 shows the verification of grid independence.
The choice of the time step is an important factor that
affects the accuracy and efficiency of CFD transient numeri-
cal simulation analysis. Setting a small time step can increase
the convergence speed within a unit time step and ensure the
accuracy of the calculation result, but it often increases the
calculation time. Although a large time step will reduce the

123

Fig. 17 Torque coefficient of a wind wheel with different time steps
number of time steps and thus shorten the time used for sim-
ulation, it will affect the accuracy of the simulation, so it is
very important to choose an appropriate time step. To study
the influence of the time step on the simulation results, the
time step is set to the time used for each rotation angle of 0.5◦ ,
1◦ , 2◦ , and 3◦ . And we compare the experimental results. As
shown in Fig. 17, we find that when the rotation angle is 2◦
and 3◦ , the torque coefficient is smaller than others, because
the azimuth information is not accurately captured. So the
calculation result is not accurate enough. And the calculation
results when the time steps of the rotation angle are 0.5◦ and
1◦ are close. In one cycle, the number of time steps required
to calculate 0.5◦ requires 720 steps, while the number of time
steps required for 1◦ only requires 360 steps, which reduces
the calculation time by half. Therefore, in this paper, the time
step is calculated as the time when the wind wheel rotates 1◦ .
4 Aerodynamic simulation and results
analysis
4.1 Parameter solving
The torque coefficient Cm of the wind wheel can reflect the
change of the torque T during the operation of the wind
wheel, as shown in Eq. (23):
1 8m/s as an example, the NACA0015 ( f = 0%) has the highest
T = Cmρ As r v 2 (23)
2
where As is the sweep area, r is the radius of the wind wheel,
and v is the wind speed.
Fluent can be used to solve the instantaneous torque coef-
ficients Cm 1 , Cm 2 and Cm 3 of each blade and the sum of the
three blade torque coefficients Cm at each time step. One of
123
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
the aerodynamic properties of the VAOWT is reflected by
the Cp − λ curve and the P − n curve. Empirical calculation,
the calculation has converged at the 10th cycle. According
to the instantaneous torque coefficient value obtained in the
10th cycle, the average torque coefficient of the wind wheel
is obtained, so that the average wind energy utilization coeffi-
cient Cp and average power P of the wind wheel are obtained.
The power coefficient is given by Eq. (24):
P TrΩ
Cp = = = λCm (24)
0.5ρ As v 3 0.5ρ As r v 2 v
here ρ is taken the default value of 1.225 kg/m3 provided by
Fluent.
4.2 Calculation results and analysis
Based on the offshore port wind farm and the actual environ-
ment, wind speeds of 4 m/s, 8 m/s, and 12 m/s are selected.
The offshore wind turbine running with a camber of [0%, 5%]
is calculated under the condition that the blade tip speed ratio
is [1.25, 5]. The aerodynamic performance of the vertical axis
offshore wind turbine during operation is analyzed with the
change of the airfoil camber.
4.2.1 Wind energy utilization rate Cp and power P
The wind energy utilization rate Cp and power P can well
reflect the performance of the offshore wind turbine.
According to the equations, the obtained torque coefficient
of the blade tip speed ratio of [1.25, 5] is calculated to obtain
the corresponding power coefficient, and the curve of Cp at
the wind speed of 4 m/s, 8 m/s, and 12 m/s is obtained by
curve fitting. Figure 18 is a Cp − λ curve with a camber of
[0%,4%] when the wind speed is 4 m/s, Figure 19 is a Cp − λ
curve when the wind speed is 8 m/s, and Figure 20 is a Cp −λ
curve when the wind speed is 12 m/s. After calculation, the
airfoil with a camber of 5% and a higher camber has a low
utilization rate of wind energy, which is of little significance.
Figure 21 is a Cp − λ curve of f = 5% at v = 8 m/s. In the
following analysis, no airfoil with f > 5% is analyzed.
It can be seen from Figs. 18, 19 and 20 that under different
wind speeds, the camber has a great effect on the aerodynamic
performance of VAOWT, and similar conclusions have been
reached. Taking the Cp − λ curve when the wind speed is
wind energy utilization rate in the range of low tip speed ratio
of (λ < 2.5). As airfoil curvature increases, wind energy
utilization decreases. In the range of medium tip speed ratio
of (2.5, 3.25) and a high tip speed ratio of (3.25, 5), the wind
energy utilization ratio of f = [0%, 2%] is higher and close,
Cpmax can reach more than 40%, and it can reach 35% and
43% at v = 4 m/s and v = 12 m/s. Especially in the range
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
Fig. 18 The camber effect on the aerodynamic performance of VAOWT
with wind speed v = 4 m/s
Fig. 19 The camber effect on the aerodynamic performance of VAOWT
with wind speed v = 8 m/s
of high blade tip speed ratio, the wind energy utilization rate
almost coincides, the wind energy utilization rate of the three
airfoils has its own level, the Cp of the 3% and 4% airfoils
decreases with the increase of the curvature.
When v = 8 m/s, f = [0%, 2%] of the airfoil’s operable
tip speed ratio range is [1.25, 5] in the calculated range, and
3% of the airfoil’s operable tip speed ratio range is [1.25,
4.762], the airfoil with a camber of 4% can operate at a tip
speed ratio range of [1.25, 4.5], and the airfoil with a cam-
ber of [0%, 2%] can operate at a wider range, 3% and 4%
airfoil blade tip speed ratios have a smaller range. At v =
4 m/s and v = 12 m/s, the airfoil with f = [0%, 2%] also
has a large range of operable tip speed ratios. Therefore, the
aerodynamic performance of f = [0%, 2%] airfoil is better.
To better study the aerodynamic performance of different
camber aerofoils, the highest wind energy utilization rate is
Fig. 20 The camber effect on the aerodynamic performance of VAOWT
with wind speed v = 12 m/s
Fig. 21 The description on Cp − λ curve of f = 5% with wind speed
v = 8 m/s
Cpmax , the blade tip speed ratio when Cpmax is obtained is
λopt , and the blade tip speed ratio range above 0.85Cpmax is
the efficient wind energy operation area Δλ. Analysis of the
calculation results, Table 2 is obtained.
It can be seen in the table that the Cpmax of the airfoil with
f = [0%,4%] is 0.42876, 0.42717, 0.41145, 0.28538, and
0.22141, respectively. The Cpmax decreases as the airfoil cur-
vature increases, the Cpmax of f = [0%, 2%] is high and very
close, the Cpmax of f = [2%, 4%] is low, λopt increases with
the increase of the curvature within the range of f = [0%,
3%], and gradually decreases after f > 3%. Airfoils with dif-
ferent cambers have their corresponding most efficient blade
tip speed ratio ranges, and you can choose a suitable air-
foil according to different blade tip speed ratios. The Δλ
decreases with the increase of the camber. The Δλ of the
airfoil with f = [0%, 3%] is [1.184, 1.306], and the range of
123
 Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy

Table 2 Calculation results

Values Parameters
C pmax λ opt λ 0.85Cpmax Δλ
f
0% 0.42876 2.417 (1.869,3.175) 1.306
1% 0.42717 2.443 (1.908,3.195) 1.287
2% 0.41145 2.493 (2.004,3.191) 1.187
3% 0.28538 2.803 (2.269,3.453) 1.184
4% 0.22141 2.753 (2.314,3.275) 0.961

Fig. 23 The description of P − n curve at v = 4 m/s

Fig. 22 The description on Cp − λ curve at v = 4, 8, 12 m/s, with the

blade tip speed ratio λ = 2.5

high-efficiency wind energy operation area is large. In sum-

mary, the airfoil performance with f = [0%, 2%] is still the
best.
Figure 22 shows the difference in the Cp of the NACA0015
airfoil when the wind speed is 4, 8, 12 m/s, and the blade
tip speed ratio is selected λ = 2.5. It can be seen that Cp
increases with the increase of wind speed, but does not affect
Fig. 24 The description of P − n curve at v = 8 m/s
the value of λopt .

1 2 1 increases with the increase of camber, and the speed range

P= mv = ρsv 3
2 2
According to Eq. (25), the P −n curves of v = 4, 8, 12 m/s
are shown in Figs. 23, 24 and 25. Where the speed of the
ω λv
wind wheel n = 2π = 2πr . As shown in Fig. 23, when λ =
[1.25, 5], the speed range of v = 4 m/s is [59.6831, 238.7324],
and the power P is below 26 w; As shown in Fig. 24, the speed
range of v = 8 m/s is [119.3662, 477.4638], the power P
is below 225 w; As shown in Fig. 25, the speed range of
v = 12 m/s is [179.0493, 716.1972], and the power P is
below 800 w. It can be seen in the figure that the P − n curve
and the Cp − λ curve have the same change trend. Under
the same wind speed condition, the airfoil with f = [0%,
2%] has higher power and the airfoil with f >2% has lower
power. When f = [0%, 3%], the speed n when Pmax appears
(25) Δn that can generate higher power also decreases with the
increase of camber. At higher speeds, the airfoil of f = [0%,
2%] produces almost the same power. It can also be seen from
Eq. (24) that under the same wind speed condition, the power
P only has a linear relationship with the power coefficient Cp .
Comparing Figs. 23, 24 and 25, it can be found that the wind
speed has a great influence on the power of the vertical axis
offshore wind turbine. The power increases greatly with the
increase of wind speed. From Eq. (25), it can be concluded
that P and v 3 are proportional.
Figure 26 is a graph showing the variation of the torque
coefficient with the azimuth angle based on the calculation
results. The relationship between the torque obtained by the
vertical axis offshore wind turbine and the torque coefficient
is given by Eq. (23).

123
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
Fig. 25 The description of P − n curve at v = 12 m/s
Fig. 26 Variation of torque coefficient with azimuth
The torque is proportional to the torque coefficient, which
reflects the change in torque obtained by the offshore wind
turbine. The black line is the torque coefficient of the entire
wind wheel at each azimuth. The lines of red, blue and green
show the change of the torque coefficient of each blade with
the azimuth. The torque of the three blades drives the wind
wheel to rotate. And the purple line is the average power
coefficient of the entire wind wheel.
Figure 27 shows the variation of the torque coefficient
of a single blade of the wind wheel with the azimuth when
the wind speed is 8 m/s and the tip speed ratio is 2.5. It is
found that the azimuth is between 0◦ and 180◦ . The torque
coefficient decreases with the increase of the camber of the
blade. The part with a torque coefficient greater than 0 pro-
Fig. 27 The description of Cm − Angle curve on each blade at f =
[0%, 2%]
vides a positive torque for the vertical axis offshore wind
turbine, the part with a torque coefficient less than 0 provides
a negative torque, the azimuth interval that provides positive
torque decreases as the camber increases. When the azimuth
is between 180◦ and 360◦ , the torque coefficient increases as
the camber increases, and the interval for providing positive
torque also increases. The increase in camber can relatively
increase the power coefficient of the airfoil in the downwind
area. However, the torque provided by (0◦ , 180◦ ) is greater
than that provided by (180◦ , 360◦ ). Combining the torque
provided by the two parts results in a better aerodynamic
performance of the airfoil with f = [0%, 2%].
4.3 Comparative analysis of pressure and velocity
distribution
During the operation, the pressure around the blade affects
the aerodynamic performance of the vertical axis offshore
wind turbine. The velocity distribution around the blade can
reflect the change law of the fluid. Studying the pressure and
velocity distribution around the blade is beneficial to better
study the vertical under different curvature conditions. The
operating mechanism of a shaft offshore wind turbine. The
blade running in the range of azimuth (0◦ , 180◦ ) is called the
headwind area, and the azimuth (180◦ , 360◦ ) is called the
downwind area. Under ideal conditions, when the blade is
operating in an upwind region, the inner surface is subjected
to negative pressure (called the suction surface) and the outer
surface is subjected to positive pressure, which is called the
pressure surface. The offshore wind turbine will rotate under
the pressure difference across the blades. When the blade
rotates in the downwind area, the inner surface and the outer
surface are subjected to opposite pressure, the inner surface is
a pressure surface, and the outer surface is a suction surface.
123

Fig. 28 Comparison of changes in pressure with azimuth(a)
A 0% airfoil represents a low camber airfoil, and a 4%
airfoil represents a high camber airfoil. Figures 28 and 29
show the pressure change of a single blade with a camber
of 0% and 4% at a wind speed of 8m/s and a tip speed ratio
of 2.5, compared every 40◦ . It can be seen from the figure
that the pressure difference around the blades of two different
curvatures in a cycle is very large. From the azimuth angle is
between 0◦ and 160◦ , the positive pressure of the two airfoils
decreases first and then increases, and the negative pressure
also decreases first and then increases. However, the pres-
sure changes of the two airfoils are different, and the camber
is 4% of the airfoil has a more obvious pressure vortex at
the leading edge and the middle of the airfoil between the
azimuth angle of (80◦ , 160◦ ). In addition, the pressure dif-
ference between the pressure surface and the suction surface
is not much different. A 0% airfoil has a large difference in
pressure difference between the pressure surface and the suc-
tion surface at (80◦ , 160◦ ), which can provide higher torque
and better aerodynamic performance. Between (200◦ , 360◦ ),
both the positive and negative pressures of the airfoil sur-
123
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
Fig. 29 Comparison of changes in pressure with azimuth(b)
face decrease first, then increase and then decrease. Between
240◦ and 360◦ , a 4% camber airfoil has a pressure vortex
at the leading edge. And the airfoil with a camber of 4%
has a larger pressure difference between the pressure surface
and the suction surface of an airfoil with a camber of 0%,
which can increase higher torque. Therefore, the airfoil with
camber at (240◦ , 360◦ ) has better aerodynamic performance.
Synthesizing the entire cycle, the airfoil with lower camber
can provide higher torque, so the aerodynamic performance
is better (Fig. 29).
Figures 30 and 31 shows the speed change of a single blade
with a curvature of 0% and 4% in a cycle when the wind speed
is 8 m/s and the tip speed ratio is 2.5. It can be seen from the
figure that when the blades are rotated to an azimuth angle
of 0◦ , the wind speed around the outer surface and the inner
surface of both blades is low. When the blade turns to an
azimuth angle of 40◦ , the wind speed at the leading edge of
the inner surface of the blade with a camber of 0% becomes
higher, while the wind speed at the surface of the blade with
a camber of 4% does not change much. When the blade is
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
Fig. 30 Comparison of velocity with azimuth (a)
rotated to an azimuth angle of 80◦ to 160◦ the wind speed
on the outer surface of the two blades is not much different,
and they are gradually increasing, and the wind speed on the
leading edge of the inner surface of the blade with a curvature
of 4% also gradually increases. When the blade turns to an
azimuth angle of 200◦ to 240◦ , the wind speed at the leading
edge of the inner surface of the blade with a camber of 4%
starts to decrease. After this, there is not much difference
in wind speed between the two blade surfaces. We found
that under different cambers, the vorticity and flow around
the blade differ greatly, and this will affect the performance
of VAWT. Figures 32 and 33 shows the vorticity and flow
around the blade when the azimuth angle is 120◦ and 200◦ ,
and the camber is 0◦ and 4◦ . On the left is a blade with 0◦ ,
and on the right is a blade with 4◦ . So the performance of the
airfoil with a camber of 4% is relatively poor.
Fig. 31 Comparison of velocity with azimuth (b)
5 Conclusion
Aiming at the actual environment of offshore port wind farms
and residential areas, this paper uses the NACA0015 airfoil
as a prototype, and uses the camber as a reference variable to
design an airfoil with f = [0%, 5%]. This paper studies the
influence of different camber airfoils on the aerodynamic per-
formance of vertical axis offshore wind turbines and explains
the reasons for this phenomenon.
This study finds that the camber has a great influence
on the aerodynamic performance of vertical axis offshore
wind turbines. Increasing the camber can relatively improve
the aerodynamic performance of the offshore wind turbine
in the downwind area. Different blade tip speed ratios have
their own optimal camber airfoil. In summary, the airfoil per-
formance of f = [0%, 2%] airfoil is better, and the airfoil
performance of f > 2% airfoil is poor. Wind energy utiliza-
tion rate Cp and power P decrease as the camber increases.
Airfoils with f = [0%, 2%] have higher Cp and P. When
f = [0%, 3%], the blade tip speed ratio λopt at the time
of obtaining the highest utilization of wind energy becomes
123

Fig. 32 When the azimuth is 160◦ , the vorticity and flow around the blade with curvature of 0◦ and 4◦
Fig. 33 When the azimuth is 200◦ , the vorticity and flow around the blade with curvature of 0◦ and 4◦
larger as the camber increases, and when f > 3%, λopt
decreases as the camber increases. Airfoils with different
cambers have different high-efficiency blade tip speed ratio
intervals. The high-efficiency wind energy operation area Δλ
decreases as the camber increases, and f = [0%, 2%] airfoils
have higher efficient wind energy operation areas. Higher
wind speed will increase the values of wind energy utiliza-
tion rate Cp and power P but will not change the value of
λopt . The airfoil with smaller camber has better aerodynamic
performance. The camber will affect the torque obtained by
the wind wheel in the downwind and upwind areas, as well
as the pressure field and velocity field of the airfoil surface at
different azimuths. The pressure difference of the cambered
wind wheel becomes smaller in the headwind area, and the
obtained torque decreases as the camber increases, and the
pressure difference in the downwind area becomes larger.
The obtained torque is larger than that in the downwind area,
and the airfoil with camber has obvious stall phenomenon at
123
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
some azimuth angles. Taking all factors into consideration,
the airfoil with f = [0%, 2%] is the most ideal choice for
H-type vertical axis offshore wind turbines.
Overall, this work mainly studies the influence of airfoil
camber on the aerodynamic performance of vertical axis off-
shore wind turbines. There are still some shortcomings. In
future research, based on the conclusions drawn in this arti-
cle, the airfoil will be improved for the specific environment
of offshore ports and home living areas to improve the per-
formance of vertical axis offshore wind turbines.
Author contributions All authors listed have made a substantial, direct
and intellectual contribution to the work.
Funding This work was supported by the Foundation of Zhongshan
Institute of Advanced Engineering Technology of WUT (Grant No.
WUT202001), the Open Project Program of State Key Laboratory
of Ocean Engineering (No. 1812), and the Open Project Program of
National Engineering Research Center for Water Transport Safety (No.
A2019006).
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
Data Availability Statement The raw data supporting the conclusions
of this manuscript will be made available by the authors, without undue
reservation, to any qualified researcher.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
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