Energy 167 (2019) 181e188

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Advanced methodology for feasibility studies on building-mounted

wind turbines installation in urban environment: Applying CFD
analysis
Ernesto Arteaga-Lo


pez a, Cesar Angeles-Camacho a, * ~ uelos-Ruedas b
, Francisco Ban
a
Universidad Nacional Auto
noma de M
exico, Avenida Universidad No. 3000 Coyoaca
n, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, Ciudad de M
exico, Mexico
b ~ uelos-Ruedas, Universidad Auto
Francisco Ban
rez #147 Centro, Histo

noma de Zacatecas, Jardín Jua
rico, C.P. 98000, Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In recent years, the world has been experiencing a technological revolution that is transforming the
Received 13 April 2018 energy sector around the world, and Mexico is no exception. Among these technologies, small wind
Received in revised form turbines (SWTs) appear to be promising. This paper presents a methodology according to the specific
4 October 2018
Task 27 of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in order to improve the wind resource assessment in the
Accepted 30 October 2018
urban environment by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Many problems that would help boost
the use of this technology are still not addressed including wind resource assessment in the urban
environment. Among these important issues are the energy yield estimation of SWTs in the urban zones,
Keywords:
Small wind turbines (SWTs)
as well as the effects on the electricity supplied by the turbines in the distribution system. The objective
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is to present an easy-to-follow methodology, which permits the application of diverse CFD methods and
Wind energy software to assess the installation of SWTs in urban zones. This feasibility study on estimating the wind
Building-mounted wind turbines (BUWTs) resource through CFD allows the opportunity to supply local electricity to buildings or public lighting
systems. This methodology is based on the insertion of SWTs, in the urban environment; the SWTs are
selected based on a market study of these technologies.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In recent years, wind generation has been growing around the
world in significant steps, similar to energy consumption; the
methods and technology used in large-scale wind turbines have
demonstrated the feasibility of using the wind resource even in
urban areas [1]. There are many types and configurations of large-
scale wind turbines; the main aim of all of them is to maximize the
wind power available. SWTs have been developed with the same
objective, but for use in small facilities for supplying electricity for
lighting and power in residential and commercial buildings. In
urban areas or remote zones, the installation of small-scale wind
turbines presents an excellent opportunity for exploiting the wind
resource to supply electricity locally.
* Corresponding author. Universidad Nacional Auto
noma de Me
xico, Avenida
Universidad No. 3000 Coyoaca
n, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, Ciudad de Me
xico,
Mexico.
E-mail addresses: earteagal@iingen.unam.mx (E. Arteaga-Lo
pez), angelescc68@


hotmail.com (C. Angeles-Camacho), fbanuelosrs@hotmail.com (F. Ban ~ uelos-
Ruedas).
With the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and soft-
ware techniques to model the project and study the wind flow,
predicting the feasibility of a wind project is possible by using small
wind turbines in urban zones. The use of these SWTs provides a
cost benefit for the wind power generated.
Computational fluid dynamics analysis is a widely used
computational tool, which helps in any branch of engineering,
including aerospace, aeronautics, automotive, sports, and me-
chanical engineering, etc. The use of CFD has been even extended
into the area of medicine. In the field of renewable energies, it is
used for and applied to pollution dispersion, air movement within
urban street canyons, and building-mounted wind turbines
(BUWTs) projects.
In this context, several studies have been performed related to
the impact of wind streams at the pedestrian level. These studies
include several CFD simulations to predict the behavior of the wind
over the building's facades related to the comfort of the pedestrians
[2]. Similar studies imply environmental evaluation and dispersion
of pollutants in the urban environment [3e5]. In addition, other
publications about CFD simulations are related to reducing the
aero-noise of a different configuration of small wind turbines as

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.10.191
0360-5442/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
182
pez et al. / Energy 167 (2019) 181e188
E. Arteaga-Lo
shown in Refs. [6,7].
Specifically, the industry of wind energy has benefited from the
use of CFD, which in recent years has been applied to wind resource
assessment in the urban environment. On where different ap-
proaches can be established in which CFD studies take place in the
wind energy industry. The first of them are studies related to the
aerodynamics profiles on wind airfoils and wind turbines, specif-
ically on the thrust coefficient, drag and lift forces that interact with
the performance of the NACA airfoils based on performed CFD
simulations [8].
Furthermore, in Ref. [9] a review of advanced CFD numerical
methods is presented with Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes
(RANS) and Large Eddy Simulations (LES) integrating a hybrid
RANS-LES method (HRLM). This hybrid method is applied to the
blade aerodynamics of wind turbines including the best practice
guidelines for its implementation in horizontal-axis (HAWTs) and
vertical-axis (VAWTs) wind turbines configurations. The proposed
methodology considers some of these guidelines for application in
RANS and LES numerical models. Another of these studies includes
fatigue loads on aerodynamic airfoils [10e13].
The second scope is the use of CFD specialized software like
Meteodyn WT and WAsP for wind projects in open lands at large-
scale wind turbines integration [14]. Recent publications have
shown that CFD is not only applied to wind projects in open lands
but also offshore. One of them reports a CFD analysis applied to
large wind turbines named float offshore wind turbines (FOWTs). In
this case, the wind turbine model 5 MW of the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the MARIN stock wind turbines
(MSWTs), from which the wind effects on these emplacements are
analyzed, concerning the power coefficient CP and thrust coeffi-
cient CT [15].
Further approaches present analyses of unconventional types of
wind turbines considering feasibility studies for the installations of
SWTs in the building environment including BIWTs, BAWTs and
BUWTs [16,17]. In Refs. [18e20] improvement techniques were
proposed to forecast the behavior of the wind resource in different
building configurations, specifically analyzing the World Trade
Center (WTC) of Bahrain. In Ref. [21] an aerodynamic study of a
BAWT building wind turbine configuration of a rated power of
110 kW with a variation of wind direction was developed.
One last scope regarding CFD studies and the most important to
the developed methodology concerns those studies in the urban
environment. These are shown in Ref. [22] which presents an
economic study of the implementation of a micro-wind generation
on HAWT based on three different regions in rural and urban
environments.
Regarding the widespread methods used in CFD described by
The
in Ref. [9], an advantage of the present methodology is that it
can be integrated with any numerical method or software. Since a
principle of main fluid study is air in an urban location, the flow is
considered as turbulent. In this sense, the present methodology
uses the Favre-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with SOLID-
WORKS Flow Simulation software in order to model turbulent
flows in the urban environment. A two-equation standard model
k
ε is included in the flow simulations because of its robustness
and simplicity as described in Ref. [13]. While more advanced tur-
bulence models could be employed, the k-epsilon model has suf-
ficient accuracy for the present task.
This methodology proposed is used for better understanding
small wind turbines behavior for microgeneration projects. Based
on the specific “Task 27” of the International Energy Agency, which
has the main objective of simplifying and improving the wind
resource assessment in the urban environment, the present pro-
posal focuses on these issues [23].
The present methodology proceeds in this sense: through a
practical wind resource assessment, which applies CFD analysis to
estimate the optimal installation of small wind turbines in a BUWT
configuration in an academic building. This methodology allows
application in any CFD software or numerical method to be
analyzed to improving the installation of small wind projects
including both urban and rural environments. It is important to
note that the CFD simulations of the methodology proposed and
presented in this document were widely validated and compared
using both SolidWorks® Flow Simulation and NX™ Flow Siemens
software. All CFD simulations were performed with the same initial
and boundary conditions, turbulence model k-ε and roughness
length.
1.1. The wind energy
Wind varies with the geographical locations, time of day, season,
as well as the height above the Earth's surface, weather, and
landforms. To optimize the wind turbine design, wind measuring
techniques are necessary, as well as the selection of the correct
wind farm site for understanding the wind characteristics that help
to improve power generation [24].
Wind speed is the essential characteristic of wind power gen-
eration that varies in both time and space and is determined by
factors such as geographic and weather conditions. By using sta-
tistical tools and methods, the wind speed can be forecasted. The
other important characteristic of the wind is the direction; data of
wind direction over a long period are necessary for the site selec-
tion and the layout of wind turbines within the wind farm. Wind
speed and direction are usually reported in cardinal directions or in
azimuth degrees in a graphic representation called wind rose, as
shown in Fig. 1.
In the engineering of wind energy, an important design
parameter is the determination of the vertical wind shear because
it directly helps in determining the energy yield of a wind turbine
on a tower of a certain height and also influences the lifetime of
wind turbines [25].
With the determination of the vertical wind profile, two
fundamental problems of interest for wind energy applications can
be assessed [26].
 The instantaneous variation in wind speeds as a function of
height.
 The seasonal variation in average wind speeds as a function of
height.
The general methods for estimating wind speeds at higher hub
heights from known wind speed at lower heights are the Hellmann
exponential law and the logarithmic wind profile law. The most
commonly used of these expressions is the Hellmann exponential
law that correlates the wind speed measurements at two different
heights and is expressed as follows:
 
v H
¼ expðaÞ (1)
v0 H0
in which v is the speed at height H, v0 is the speed at a height H0 ,
and a is the friction coefficient or Hellmann exponent, varying from
the ocean and open terrain, which takes the value from 0.10 for
oceans to 0.40 for cities with high buildings. Note that these values
change throughout the day. The wind shear exponent a is around
0.14 for a stable atmosphere.
Another method, known as the logarithmic wind profile law and
which is widely used in Europe, is the following:

pez et al. / Energy 167 (2019) 181e188
E. Arteaga-Lo
Fig. 1. Example of a wind rose and its respective frequency distribution [34].
 
v ln zH0
¼  
v0 ln H0
z0
where z0 is called the roughness coefficient length, is expressed in
meters, and depends on the land type, spacing, and height of the
roughness factor (water, grass, open sea, etc.). This length ranges
from 0.0001 for the open sea up to 1.6 for large cities with tall
buildings and skyscrapers [27].
The wind turbines obtain their power input from the wind by
converting the force into torque, acting on the rotor blades. The
amount of energy that can be extracted from a wind turbine de-
pends on the density of the air, the rotor area, and the wind speed.
Fig. 2 shows a relation between the output power and the rotor
area, whereas the total power is calculated by using:
Fig. 2. Power output increases with the rotor diameter and the rotor swept area [29].
183
1
Pwind ¼ rAv expð3ÞCp (3)
2
(2)
where Pwind is the active power expressed in watts, r is the air
density in Kg/m3, A is the rotor area in m2, v is the wind speed in m/
s, and Cp is the rotor efficiency [28].
Around the world, the use of wind energy is well accepted and
has grown each year incrementally; according to the Global Wind
Energy Council (GWEC), the total wind capacity reached
539,581 MW at the end of 2017. Mexico is on the way to increasing
wind generation as one of the countries in wind technology
development with a total installed wind capacity of 4005 MW [30].
On the other hand, the reduction of CO2 levels is fundamental for
continuing the energy transition and for reaching goals of 100%
renewable energy in the coming years in some countries.
Mexico aims to increase electricity generation from clean energy
sources to at least 35% of the total from all sources by 2024. In
addition, this contributes to the economic benefit in kWh that small
wind generators could have and help to reduce electrical costs.
2. Small wind generators in urban zones
2.1. Background of the small wind turbines
The technology of small wind turbines in the last decade has
been growing despite challenging market conditions. The emergent
technology of small wind turbines in countries like China, the
United Kingdom, and the United States, for both horizontal-axis
and vertical-axis wind turbines types, is becoming more
advanced; furthermore, the number of companies around the
world managing the growing market for both grid-connected and
stand-alone power applications is increasing. Currently, SWTs are
used for power telecommunication stations, for offshore oil plat-
forms, and for the energy supply of small communities [31].
Different organisms exist that state the size of SWTs. According
to the standard IEC 61400-2, design requirements for SWTs state
that small wind turbines are considered as those horizontal-axis
wind turbines (HAWTs) with a power rating of 50 kW or less.
Including an approximate rotor diameter of 15 m and a rotor swept
area smaller than 200 m2, as well as possible generator voltage
below 1000 V A.C. or 1500 V D.C. Concurrently, other organizations,
such as the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), define
small wind turbines as devices with a rated capacity of 100 kW or
184
E. Arteaga-Lo
less. On the other hand, the British Wind Energy Association
(BWEA) states that small wind turbines are those with a rated
power below 50 kW.
According to the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA),
small wind turbines are defined as those with a rated capacity
range of 6 We300 kW, and the association has reported that the
market for small wind turbines in the world has experienced steady
growth.
At the end of 2015, there were about 990,000 small wind tur-
bines installed, with China having 43% of the total, followed by the
United States with 25% and in third place the United Kingdom with
15% [32].
The WWEA expects that the total installed small wind capacity
will reach 1750 MW by 2020. By the end of 2011, around 330
manufacturers of such turbines had been identified in 40 countries,
and it is estimated that over 300 additional firms exist for supplying
parts, technology, consulting and sales services [32].
2.2. Configuration of small wind turbines in the urban environment
Improving building energy efficiency is viewed today as the
main solution in managing the energy demand, as well as carbon
emissions and their damage in the urban environment. Significant
efforts have been made to implement innovative energy conser-
vation technologies and formulate green building policies. In
particular, the current concept of a zero-energy building (ZEB) has
received increased interest during the past decade. The concept of a
ZEB was first mentioned in 2000 and became an innovating idea in
2006. In this context, the small wind turbines can be used in almost
any type of building structure.
Three types of configuration for installing small wind turbines in
buildings are defined below.
a. Building Mounted Wind Turbines (BUWTs) or top mounted
wind turbines are as the name suggests wind turbines physically
joined to the building structure. The building is used as a tower to
install the system in a desirable wind stream. Whatever the type of
building mounted wind turbine used, the structure must be able to
support the turbines concerning load and be within the noise and
vibration constraints. See Fig. 3, Buildings A, B.
b. Building Integrated Wind Turbines (BIWTs) are those
buildings or structures that are designed with wind energy in mind,
planned with the use of wind turbines in the blueprints or design of
Fig. 3. Configurations for installing small wind turbines in buildings [3,31].

pez et al. / Energy 167 (2019) 181e188
the building. Design and construction practices are taken into
consideration, such as the energy expenses and environmental is-
sues, to make a sustainable building. See Fig. 3, Buildings C, D, E, and
F.
c. Building Augmented Wind Turbines (BAWTs) can be defined
as those buildings where mounted wind turbines were integrated;
thus, the building is used to alter and augment the flow of the wind
into a turbine. See Fig. 3, Buildings D, E, and G. For new build ap-
plications, the building, could be specifically designed to augment
the flow through the turbines. The building itself has a minor
modification of the building shape in complex 3D modeling to in-
crease the wind stream.
In all cases, a proper design of the building shape and the
location of the wind turbines is necessary for maximizing the cost-
effective power output and for satisfying the limits imposed on
noise and vibrations [31]. This paper shows the case study proposal
of the installation of small wind turbines in an academic building,
considering the urban environment around the building structure.
3. Proposed CFD methodology applied to the development of
BUWT projects
The proposed methodology for the development of BUWT
projects for small-scale wind turbines in an urban environment
based on CFD analysis can be summarized in the following steps
shown in Fig. 4. This methodology showed a better approximation
and reduced the time and cost of the feasibility studies in the
development of wind projects.
First, it is necessary to delimit the project location and the
surrounding zone to establish the feasibility of the project. In this
context, it is important to develop a general view derived by the
CFD simulation to predict the flow patterns of the wind stream in
the urban complex. In order to assess the behavior that will include
the small wind turbines on the roof of the building of interest for all
CFD simulations.
After the site is selected, a standard wind resource assessment is
performed, by using statistical and historical field data and linear
methods to estimate the power output of SWTs [31]. The next stage
is the CFD-based assessment, which includes four steps: the
modeling site assessment, the modeling building-structure study,
the modeling SWT study, and the modeling structure-SWT study. In
these steps, a CFD model of the site, including the building and the
surrounding areas, is developed. A model of the building or struc-
ture suitable for CFD analysis is build-out. This analysis will allow
selecting the type of SWT to install. After choosing the SWT, it is
subject to performance studies by using CFD analysis. Finally, an
integrated model of the building and the SWTs suitable for CFD is
developed. The results of this final analysis using the integrated
model will define the viability of the project regarding technical
performance.
The last two steps of the proposed methodology are the eco-
nomic evaluation and the design of the final project; both of them
are beyond the scope of this work.
Fig. 4. Advanced proposed methodology for wind feasibility studies [33].

pez et al. / Energy 167 (2019) 181e188
E. Arteaga-Lo
4. Case study
A case study in the urban environment is presented to show its
effectiveness. The case suggested is a wind project in an academic
building. The project studied is located in the northeast of the state
of Mexico, in the suburbs of Mexico City, specifically on Building Q
of the Tecnolo
gico de Estudios Superiores de Ecatepec (TESE). This
building has the location coordinates of 19 300 46.2500 N
99 020 32.0500 W at 2232 m a.s.l. In the proposed methodology for
the feasibility study of small wind turbines in a BUWT project, a
series of CFD simulations were performed to predict the flow pat-
terns of the wind stream. Including the assessment of how the
small wind turbines on the roof of the building of interest will
behave. For all the CFD simulations performed in the present paper,
a wind speed of 7.27 m/s with a prevailing wind direction from
north to south was used [33].
It is important to correctly determine the parameters and initial
conditions of the variables that will be used during the CFD simu-
lations. These parameters are useful for having reliable results in
the CFD analysis: for example, the boundary conditions on the sides
of the building structure, the choice of the inlet and outlet
boundary conditions, as well as field variables such as velocity,
pressure, and temperature, etc. In this case, the average sea-level
atmospheric pressure of 101.325 kPa was selected. There was also
included a roughness length in the urban environment of 1.6 m.
The site and feasibility assessment is the first step required in
the proposed methodology. This preliminary study permits
observing the conditions of the urban environment selected. In the
case study, the place was selected because of the wind resource
assessment, the energy required for the building consumption, and
due to the equipment used in the computer laboratory. In addition,
another aspect to consider regarding this building is the landscape
of the site which is affected by the wind speed according to the
Griggs-Putnam scale [34].
4.1. Wind resource assessment
In this wind project, there are no wind resource measurements
available for the specific site. Thus, it was necessary to estimate the
wind resource with the help of the meteorological center of the
government of Mexico City.
The center has weather reports indicating the average wind
speeds by regional zones, which allowed a reasonably good
assessment of wind resource. The evaluation results present a wind
speed average of 5.84 m/s and an incidence angle of 3 clockwise
from the north cardinal point. The database takes into account a
six-year period from January 2012 to December 2017. In Fig. 5, the
wind rose diagram developed with WAsP is presented together
with its respective wind class frequency distribution, according to
Fig. 5. Wind rose diagram and Weibull wind frequency distribution at the proposed
site.
185
the wind resource assessment in the proposed site.
4.2. CFD site assessment
Once the wind resource was evaluated, and the feasibility
checked in the site of interest. The next step is to perform a series of
CFD simulations for the analysis of results. As mentioned previ-
ously, the software used for the CFD simulations is SOLIDWORKS
Flow Simulation. The first CFD simulations are performed to iden-
tify any possible obstructions, including trees, walls, or other sur-
rounding buildings.
After the model of the academic complex has been taken into
consideration, the computational fluid dynamics analysis will be
carried out. For this, the initial conditions that will allow the CFD
analysis are required, which will subsequently result in the selec-
tion of the building or structure with wind potential and that will
form part of the micrositing (mS).
Table 1 describes each one of the initial conditions selected,
which correspond to the CFD simulations performed, including the
development of both the CAD model of the site of interest as well as
the building of interest and the SWTs.
Based on the computational domain of the CFD simulations
implemented in the present methodology for the installation of the
SWT in the urban environment, the guidelines shown in Ref. [9]
were considered. In addition, the configuration for the computa-
tional domain in the simulations was implemented to ensure the
minimum interference that could exist in the boundaries. In order
to prevent that the aerodynamics forces do not interfere with the
model implemented in the present case study.
The configuration of the grid and the determination of the size
of the refinement of the mesh, states the precision with which the
CFD simulations will be performed. In other words, if a mesh with
less space between the grids exists, the higher the definition of the
post-processing of the CFD will be. This configuration should be
considered since the greater the refinement of the mesh signifies
the greater the computational time and cost [9].
For these CFD simulations, a global mesh structured is selected
with a six-level of refinement. Explicitly, with the largest number of
cells possible with rectangular parametric parameters, defining
each of the cells in the control volumes. To provide a solution to the
equations that govern the fluids. For this case study of the TESE
campus, it has a total of 176,260 cells that integrate the meshing of
which 9426 are in contact with the 3D model with the fluid.
Fig. 6 a) reveals the aerial view of the Tecnolo
gico de Estudios
Superiores de Ecatepec and the selected building. Fig. 6 b) depicts
the wind speed contour for the prevalent north to south wind di-
rection; it was obtained with the CFD simulations. Results show
how wind resource is distributed across the campus and the wake
interface between buildings. The buildings facing the north are the
best for wind harvest, including the selected Building Q.
Fig. 6 b) also shows the wake effect produced by the first line of
buildings and how it will reduce the possible wind harvest in the
second line of buildings facing the wind direction. In conclusion,
with these first CFD simulations, one can determine that Building Q
is feasible for wind power generation.
4.3. CFD modeling building study
The next CFD simulation is performed to identify the wind
stream contours in Building Q. The Building Q model used for CFD
was developed in CAD software. Fig. 7 a) shows the wind stream
contours for the isolated building model. The streamlines give a
general view of the behavior of the wind speed in 3D simulations.
Through them, we can observe the wind contours and the
streamlines from right to left (north to south), which describe the
186
pez et al. / Energy 167 (2019) 181e188
E. Arteaga-Lo

Table 1
Initial and boundary conditions for the development of CFD simulations of the case study.

Analysis Type Fluid Type Boundary Initial and Environment Conditions Mesh Configuration
Conditions

Flow type: Air with all its Roughness length: a) Thermodynamic parameters: Automatic meshing with
external physical properties 1,600,000 mm - Temperature 17.4  C ¼ 290.55 K. 176,260 control volume cells
- Atmospheric pressure: 77,908.04 Pa
Gravity force: Turbulent Flow b) Velocity parameters:
9.81 m/s2 Wind speed of air 7.27 m/s at 3 , which comprises 7.2600 m/s in the “x”
component and a speed of 0.3804 m/s for the “y” component
c) Turbulence parameters:
- Turbulence length: 19 m
- Turbulence intensity: 0.043%.
d) Humidity parameters:
- Average relative humidity of 52.73%.

gico de Estudios Superiores de Ecatepec: a) aerial view and b) CFD simulation result.
Fig. 6. Tecnolo

wind flow around the building. This simulation allows identifying
the aerodynamics of the building geometries at different physical
settings to obtain real wind streamlines and to observe the flow of
the wind. Results show a growing wake effect on the roof of the
building from the leeward (northern) facade to the rear of the
building.
The wake forms a turbulence bubble that indicates that the
location is not suitable for installing the SWT; therefore, in this
case, the height of the small wind turbines must be above the
turbulence to harness the full wind speed and increase the wind
power potential. Streamline analysis suggested a height of 21 m
a.g.l for the SWT installation. It can be observed that Building Q
represents a good site for the wind project placement because no
structure exists to interrupt the flow of the wind resource in this
zone. This information is then used to select the best place to install
the first SWT on the building of interest.
4.4. CFD modeling SWT study
Once the wind flow patterns and streamlines are obtained, it is
possible based on these conditions it is possible to select the proper
type of SWTs. In this case, a market study of HAWTs was performed
based on the availability of market conditions in Mexico, the energy
expenses of the building itself and the energy efficiency of the
SWTs. In this case, a Bergey Excel 10 kW model was selected. The
Bergey Excel wind turbine presents the best characteristics of the
wind class at the selected site based on the Small Wind Certification
Council [17], including a full 3D model of the wind turbines as
suggested in Ref. [9]. Fig. 7 b) shows the CFD simulation of the
Bergey Excel wind turbine model, depicting the isometric view of
the CFD streamlines. These results validate the turbine generation
characteristics for the wind resource of the site.
4.5. CFD modeling building and SWT
Once the model of the building and the small wind turbine have
been separately implemented and simulated, the last stage consists
of modeling and simulating the building-turbine assembly. This
stage is performed in several phases by integrating one turbine at a
time. For each turbine, CFD simulation results are obtained and
derived by the results; the next SWT is deployed in the next best
place obtained by the CFD analysis, and so on. This approach allows
the selection of the optimal location for integrating the SWT to the
building one by one.
Fig. 7c) and d) show the results for two turbine-building array
CFD simulations. In the first one, the wind turbine is placed on a
selected point on the roof of Building Q without using previous
results; in this case, a 13.5 m hub height was selected. CFD results
show that just below the hub height of the wind turbine a zone
with high turbulence exists. The turbulence influences the har-
nessing of the wind resource or even damages the small wind
turbine by the turbulent flow stream in this zone.
In the second case, by using the results for the proposed
methodology, a hub height was defined, yielding 21 m a.g.l. in order

pez et al. / Energy 167 (2019) 181e188
E. Arteaga-Lo 187

Fig. 7. CFD simulation results: a) building CFD wind stream contours, b) SWT stand-alone streamlines, c) turbine-building array at 13.5 m height streamlines, d) turbine-building
array at 21 m height streamlines.

final characteristics of the project for the case study are detailed in
Table 2.
It is important to note that the electrical power estimated with
the proposed methodology results is sufficiently suitable for
covering the yearly energy demand of 60,000 kWh of the academic
building proposed.

5. Conclusions

An efficient methodology for obtaining the best arrangement of

Fig. 8. CFD streamlines of five Bergey Excel 10 kW SWTs on the roof of Building Q.
to avoid the turbulence. Fig. 7 d) shows how the flow trajectories of
the wind stream can be harnessed by the SWT, considering an
optimal wind stream without turbulence and receiving the wind
resource at 7.27 m/s. Continuing with the methodology, the next
site on the roof for installing the second SWT was selected, and so
on.
Finally, an arrangement of five small wind turbines was ob-
tained with the proposed methodology, shown in Fig. 8 [33,35]. The
SWTs for the maximum harvest of wind in urban areas has been
presented. The methodology is built-out through a series of CFD
simulations for the two principal components of the projects of this
type: the building and the wind turbines. By employing it, both
identifying the aerodynamics of various building structure geom-
etries at different physical settings and obtaining a good estimation
of the wind resources to be sourced are possible.
The effectiveness of the methodology proposed in this paper is
implemented in a case study in the urban environment; where each
step is performed, and the results are discussed. The CFD results for
each stage are shown to be consistent and are easily followed until
getting the final building-SWT arrangement. As was mentioned
before, this methodology can be applied in any CFD software or
numerical method to be analyzed for the efficient installation of a
small wind project.

Table 2
Data output forecast for the SWTs project of five Bergey Excel wind turbine arrangement - Grid Intertie.

Inputs: Results:

Ave. Wind Speed: 5.815 m/s Hub Average Wind S.: 7.0 m/s
Weibull K: 2 Air Density Factor:
20.6%
Site Altitude: 2232 m Average Output Power: 11.96 kW
Wind Shear Exp.: 0.250 Daily Energy Output: 287.13 [kWh]
Tower Height: 21 m Annual Energy Output: 104,802 [kWh]
Turbulence Factor: 15.0% Percent Operating Time: 90.4%
188
pez et al. / Energy 167 (2019) 181e188
E. Arteaga-Lo
For the case study presented, the results show that the best
place for wind generation is the roof of the building, according to
the wind conditions; furthermore, the Excel 10 kW turbine is the
best option, and it is possible to install only five wind turbines. This
arrangement, however, is sufficient for supplying the electrical
needs of the building.
The proposed methodology can be implemented in similar
studies to facilitate the implementation of wind projects for po-
tential customers in both urban and rural areas.
Acknowledgements
E.A.L. gratefully acknowledges the support of CONACyT-Mexico
through doctoral grant 612090.
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