Energy 142 (2018) 531e545

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Energy
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Aerodynamic performance enhancements of H-rotor Darrieus wind

turbine
I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed*
Renewable Energy Laboratory, Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering - Mattaria, Helwan University, Cairo, 11718, Egypt

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

Article history: Vertical axis wind turbines like Darrieus turbines are very interesting type of wind turbines at domestic
Received 20 August 2017 zones which have low wind speed, but this type has a low performance compared quantitatively to
Received in revised form horizontal axis wind turbines. Further research work is needed to increase its performance to match the
2 October 2017
higher demand of the power generation in small-scale applications. The main target of the current work
Accepted 9 October 2017
is to increase the output power coefficient Cp of a straight-bladed Darrieus wind turbine (H-rotor). The
Available online 10 October 2017
aerodynamic performance assessment will be carried out for 24 new airfoils (symmetric and non-
symmetric) as the sectional profiles of the Darrieus turbine blade in order to improve the generated
Keywords:
Darrieus turbine
power. The present two-dimensional simulation concentrates on eight series of new airfoil shapes.
H-rotor Furthermore, the effect of using a wind-energy collecting structure called “wind-lens” which consists of a
Airfoil shape diffuser and flanges with Darrieus turbine is computationally examined. The current results indicated to
Wind-lens some new shapes suitable for H-rotor Darrieus turbine with considerable performance improvement. It
CFD was demonstrated that the symmetric S1046-type is the best performing airfoil for typical tip-speed
ratio ranging from 2 to 7. The three-bladed Darrieus turbine with S1046 as a sectional profile intro-
duced a maximum power coefficient Cp,max equal to 0.3463. In this study, the performance of three wind-
lens configurations with different diffuser types is investigated (i.e., flat-panel, curved-surface, and
cycloidal-surface). Regarding power augmentation, the results affirmed that adopting diffuser with a
cycloidal-surface is more effective than both flat-panel and curved-surface diffusers. The results indi-
cated that the three-bladed Darrieus turbine (consists of S1046 airfoils) equipped with a cycloidal-
surface diffuser introduced a maximum power coefficient Cp,max and equals to 1.3662 and elucidated
power augmentation by a factor of about 3.9 as compared to an open Darrieus turbine (conventional
design).
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction been conducted to make an orderly as systematic classification of

In the past, steam engines played a huge role in the field of
energy conversion technology, followed by the appearance of other
technologies for converting fossil fuels to useful energy (mechan-
ical energy). Wind energy becomes an important source of elec-
tricity worldwide as wind power plants are installed with high
capacities all over the world. The wind energy contains a kinetic
energy, Therefore, many devices has been invented to convert this
kinetic energy which contained in the wind flow into mechanical
energy (useful work) and then to electricity. Several attempts have
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: moh75202@yahoo.de, mhmohamed@uqu.edu.sa
(M.H. Mohamed).
wind turbines, but it brings little reward as the number of signifi-
cant designs is drastically limited by their practical usefulness.
Wind turbines can be classified according to their aerodynamic
function and then, to their install and constructional turbine
design. The aerodynamic function of the rotor is characterized by
the fact of whether the wind turbine captures its power mainly
from the aerodynamic drag of the air stream acting on rotor, or
whether it is able to harness the aerodynamic lift created by the
flow over streamlined bodies. Accordingly and therefore, there are
so-called “drag-type” and “lift-type” and both of them are vertical
axis wind turbine. Sometimes, the aerodynamic parameter “tip-
speed ratio” is used to characterize wind turbines and in this case
they categorized into “low-speed machines” and “high-speed ma-
chines”. These characteristics, however, are of little significance
compared to modern wind turbines. Except for the American wind

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.10.036
0360-5442/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
532 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545

turbines, almost all other wind turbine designs are high-speed

machines. The most obvious characteristic that is the position of
the axis of rotation of the wind turbine, maybe it can be horizontal
or vertical axis. So that, it is important to distinguish between wind
turbines which have a vertical axis and rotates around this axis, and
the other type with a horizontal axis of rotation.
In the beginning and at twentieth century, vertical-axis rotors
had been built and installed as pure drag-type rotors which was
called “Savonius rotor”. Savonius turbines, which can be found as
ventilator on rail road carriages or delivery vans, and the cup
anemometer used to measure wind velocity, are well-known as
wind rotors which rotate vertically around the turbine axis. It was
recently that engineers developed and improved the vertical-axis
turbines to be effectively utilizing aerodynamic lift. This turbine
is invited in 1925 by the French engineer Darrieus, and it has been
considered as a interesting concept for wind energy conversion. In
“Darrieus turbine”, the blades are constructed and rotate in the
style of a surface line on a geometric solid of revolution, a tro-
poskien, with a vertical axis of rotation. This makes the rotor blade
shape is complex and very difficult to manufacture and installation.
Similar to the horizontal axis wind turbine, Darrieus turbine are
preferably installed and built with three or even two blades parallel
to the turbine axis. The main features of vertical axis wind turbine
(VAWT) are that their essentially simple design comprises the
possibility of housing mechanical, gearbox and generator and
electrical components at ground level, and that there is no yaw
system because it faces the wind from any direction. On the other
hand, there are a lot of disadvantages of this type such as low tip
speed ratio range, inability to self-start and less ability to control
the output power or turbine speed by blade pitching as in the
horizontal axis wind turbines. A modification of the Darrieus tur-
bine which is the so-called “H-rotor” is introduced after that to the
simplicity of the manufacturing. Straight blades are built instead of
curved blade, and these blades are installed and connected to the Fig. 1. H-rotor Darrieus wind turbine.
rotating axis by struts as shown in Fig. 1. Many attempts were
introduced in particular in the Germany, US and in UK to develop
and optimize this type to commercial maturity. Musgrove (British but it has some disadvantage such as low performance if it has been
engineer) proposed a straight blades as H-rotors with changeable compared with horizontal axis turbines. Moreover, VAWTs has al-
rotor geometry in order to control the power and turbine speed. ways bad self-starting capability, and this is a major and main
However, the cost of this concept is still high if it compared with the drawback in this wind turbine type.
horizontal-axis rotors. A German manufacturer [1] developed the Straight-bladed Darrieus wind turbines which are a very suit-
H-rotors Darrieus turbine, it has some characteristics such as sim- able alternate derived from the conventional design have even
ple structure and generator integrated directly into the rotor more engaging features as simple construction and manufacturing.
without any need to the gearbox. In the H-rotor design the straight and vertical blades have been
Altogether, it can be said that vertical axis wind turbines utilized instead of curved blades and it is directly installed and
(VAWTs) and among these primarily the Darrieus turbine, may still connected to the rotor shaft by horizontal struts, these struts are
have a potential for development which has been not gained yet. maybe on the blade middle or on the blade ends (as shown in
Either the basic advantages of this design can prevail over its dis- Fig. 1). One of the essential features of the H-rotor Darrieus wind
advantages or it will become a serious rival to the horizontal axis turbine is an ability to face wind from any direction. In addition it is
wind turbines (HAWTs) cannot be foreseen for the long-term. very easy to build due to simple design and manufacturing, easy to
Anyway, this will still require more efforts and more time to install and maintain, this leads to extremely lower costs compared
develop such designs. to other types. Dynamic stall and separation of the flow around the
blades leads to the quantitative simulations of this turbine aero-
2. State of art and previous work gaps dynamic is still difficult and complicated. As a consequence and
even if many considerable papers already were appeared on this
An interesting activities and research works recently in some design, as discussed later, a thorough optimization of this config-
countries are introduced in the field of renewable energy to pass uration has not been obtained yet.
the energy problem in some countries. All the interesting in the The main disadvantage of the Darrieus turbine is its low per-
developing and the researches in the last two decades were formance as all VAWTs, in particular at rural and domestic zones
concentrating on the horizontal axis wind turbine to redesign and which have low tip speed ratio. Therefore, many authors have
improve the performance of this type. However, there is no valu- already tried to identify the most convenient principles of opera-
able interest for the turbines such vertical axis wind turbines which tion and to improve the performance characteristics of Darrieus
work under the conditions of low wind speed or in the urban zones. turbines, both through experiments and computational methods.
Darrieus turbine is one type of Vertical axis wind turbines Takahashi et al. [2] performed both computational and experi-
(VAWTs) which is particularly interesting for a low speed condition, mental works to increase the output power of a straight wing
 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545
vertical axis wind turbine (SWVAWT) by adopting different airfoils
and wind-energy collection structure. The results demonstrated a
power augmentation by a factor of more than 2 can be achieved for
the SWVAWT with a wind-lens. Mukinovic at al. [3] studied the
aerodynamics performance (power output and efficiency) of Ver-
tical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) under the unsteady conditions
using Double Multiple Stream Tube model which is a model for
optimization and redesign of such wind turbines. Additionally, the
unsteady flow around H-type rotor is investigated numerically in
two and three dimensions using Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) techniques. Kumar et al. [4] suggested a suitable design of a
Darrieus-type straight-bladed vertical-axis wind turbine based on
both CFD and BEM approaches for the purpose of generating power
from wind on Mars. The CARDAAV code, based on the “Double-
Multiple Streamtube” model, has been used to obtain the perfor-
mance and improve and maybe optimize the main parameters of
this design.
Castelli et al. [5] presented a CFD model to assess the aero-
dynamic performance of a straight blade vertical axis Darrieus
wind turbine under different conditions. In that work, a full two-
dimensional campaign of simulation is proposed for a NACA 0021
three-bladed rotor. Sabaeifard et al. [6] presented both experi-
mental and computational investigation to evaluate the aero-
dynamic performance of a small-scale Darrieus type straight blade
vertical axis wind turbines. Some design parameter like number of
blades, airfoil sectional profile and solidity are investigated in this
work. The results showed that the best design has an optimal po-
wer coefficient equals 0.32 and 0.36 at tip-speed ratio of 3.5 for the
laboratory measurements and Computational Fluid Dynamic
calculation, respectively. Mohamed [7] improved the aerodynamic
performance of Darrieus turbine (H-rotor) by using 20 several air-
foils (non-symmetric and symmetric) in order to maximize output
power and output torque coefficients. The results concluded that
S1046 airfoil is the most suitable sectional profile for Darrieus-rotor
as compared to the other profiles considered in this work.
El-Baz et al. [8,9] examined the aerodynamic performance of H-
rotor Darrieus and Savonius wind turbines with different designs
using CFD techniques to enhance the turbines performance. The
authors suggested a design of higher performance than that ob-
tained from conventional airfoil blades by 15%. Mohamed [10]
introduced some techniques to improve the problem of the self-
starting ability which is the major drawback of H-rotor Darriues
turbine. Mohamed [11,12] studied the aerodynamic noise and
introduced some techniques to reduce this generated noise.
Experimental and numerical methodologies were used to study the
hybrid system and its ability to self-staring. An interesting
improvement has been obtained and noted in the self-starting
capability of the turbine by using this hybrid system. Kanyako
and Janajreh [13] studied numerically a two-dimensional perfor-
mance of a straight three blades Darrieus turbine using four
commonly used airfoils to get the torque and power output per-
formance details. DU-06-W-200, NACA 0015, NACA 0018 and S1046
airfoils are investigated in this work and the results indicated that
NACA 0015 is the best performing airfoil for tip speed ratio range
from 1 to 4.
Trivellato and Castelli [14] showed that the Courant-Friedrichs-
Lewy (CFL) criterion has a great importance to assess correctly the
power generation from VAWT. The authors indicated that the
angular marching time step has dramatic effects on the solution
accuracy. The results proved that angular marching steps of 1
do
not warrant accurate solution especially for small tip-speed ratios
and sensitive spatial discretization schemes. Mohamed et al. [15]
investigated the aerodynamic performance of H-rotor Darrieus
wind turbine with different airfoil shapes (25 airfoils) using CFD
approach. The authors concluded new airfoil shapes for this turbine
533
that increases its efficiency by 10% as compared to regular airfoil
shapes. Blade pitch angle also was included within this study and
the results indicated that zero pitch angle is the optimal
configuration.
Bianchini et al. [16] illustrated that in small Darrieus rotors, in
which the chord-to-radius ratios are generally high not to limit the
blade Reynolds number, the performance of turbine has been
proposed to be additionally effective by “flow curvature effects”. The
focus is given to the effect that is generated due to the curved flow
and streamlines facing the blades which generally defined as “vir-
tual incidence”. Unsteady CFD simulation was applied to define the
incidence angle of three airfoils in a Darrieus turbine motion.
Watanabe et al. [17] conducted experimentally a campaign of wind
tunnel experiments to test the effect of applying a wind accelera-
tion device to vertical axis wind turbines. Many optimum param-
eters affecting the turbine performance were examined. For instant,
wind-lens configuration, flange width, semi-open angle, diffuser
length, usage of inlet, and wind-lens location. NACA0012,
NACA0018, NACA0024, and NACA0030 which has a different
thickness are examined and the results suggested that NACA0024 is
the most suitable type in case of using a wind-lens.
All the discussed publications have tried to improve the aero-
dynamic performance of Darrieus turbines. The majority of the
theoretical and experimental works listed in the previous section
only focus on using standard symmetric NACA 00XX airfoils.
Nevertheless, there is no proof that NACA airfoils are the optimum
sectional profiles for (H-rotor) Darrieus turbine. In the past studies,
suitable airfoils for VAWTs are investigated like studies performed
by Seki [1] and Ishimatu et al. [2]. However, it is still ambiguous
about best airfoils for this type of lift wind turbines. Consequently,
one of the main purposes of this paper is to suggest the best per-
forming airfoil shape suitable for (H-rotor) Darrieus turbine.
It is known that wind power production is proportional to the
cubed wind speed; this means that the wind velocity is the main
player in this type of power generation. Therefore, a large
improvement in output power can be obtained by even a slight
increase in the approaching wind speed. Based on this principle,
Ohya et al. [18e20] developed a unique wind power system that
consists of a diffuser shroud equipped with a broad-ring flange
attached at the exit periphery and a wind turbine located inside it.
This wind acceleration device is called a “wind-lens” and used to
augment the output power by collecting and accelerating the wind
approaching a wind turbine. Many wind-lens styles are applied to
horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) to generate higher output
power [18e21]. The output power of a HAWT equipped with a
wind-lens is augmented by a factor of 5 as compared to conven-
tional HAWTs [22]. Therefore, similar technology is thought to be
effective for vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) too and it is the
second target of this work. In this manuscript, two main effects are
examined, namely, airfoil shape (in the first part) and wind-lens
type effect. In the second part of this paper, the authors studied
the effect of the installation of wind-lens with Darrieus turbine
(consists of best airfoil which is obtained from the first step) and
assessed the improvements of this new design.
In the recent decades, many researches have highlighted the
usage of different optimization techniques in the attempt to reach
the optimal design of wind turbines. It is clear that manufacturers
often struggle to minimize the cost of energy generating by wind
turbines to help them in the competition with the commonly used
fossil fuels. Therefore, it is more suitable to consider the design of
wind turbines as an optimization problem of more than one
objective. Consequently, it has been argued that using multi-
objective optimization is the most convenient solution to such
engineering problems when several targets are exist. Many authors
have proposed different optimization algorithms and resolution
534 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545

strategies such as improved multi-objective extremal optimization
(MOEO) algorithm [23] and improved multi-objective population-
based EO algorithm with polynomial mutation (IMOPEO-PLM) [24].
Wang et al. [25] introduced a new multi-objective optimization
algorithm differ from the conventional algorithm in order to
enhance and improve the performance of a 5 MW wind turbine.
Fischer et al. [26] developed an optimization tool for a horizontal
axis wind turbine to investigate three design points based on multi-
objective optimization of thrust, annual energy production and
blade mass to find a blade design which is likely to possess a low
cost of energy.
3. Operation principles
The wind flow passes over the turbine blades which consist of
airfoil cross-section profile to generate the useful torque and power.
As in case of any airfoil, a relative velocity W is generated due to a
vector variation between the absolute wind velocity, Va and the
peripheral blade speed, u as presented in Fig. 3. The speed ratio l is
a ratio between the tip blade speed uR and the freestream wind
velocity U∞, and this ratio is defined as:
l ¼ uR=U∞
A relation between the angle of attack a, the azimuth angle q,
and the tip speed ratio l was defined from the velocity triangle
analysis (as in Fig. 3), this relation is as follow:


sin q
a ¼ tan1
l þ cos q
The relative flow velocity w can be obtained as (Fig. 3),
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
w¼ Vc þ Vn
forces are variable and depending on the incidence a of the fluid
flow. By resolving these drag and lift forces, the normal force FN and
the tangential force FT are obtained as analyzed in Fig. 2. The
responsible force of the torque as well as the power outputs from
the Darrieus turbine is the tangential force FT .
The values of angle of attack a with the variation in azimuth
angle q can be determined from Eq. (2). The variation in angle of
attack a (incidence angle) during one revolution of Darrieus blade
at different tip-speed ratios l is represented in Fig. 3. It can be
observed that the angle of attack range variation becomes lower as
the tip speed ratio l raises; this can be appreciated in the simulation
of the angle of attack a variation of a blade in a whole revolution.
However, rotor solidity is the main parameter to define the
geometry of the vertical axis wind turbine, it can be calculated as:
Nc
s¼ (4)
2R
As shown in the previous equation, the solidity is a function of
the number of blades N, the chord length c of the blades, and the
radius R of the rotor.
The performance of a Darrieus wind turbine is function in
(1)
(2)
(3)

where Vc represents the chordal velocity component and Vn rep-

resents the normal velocity component.
According to the aerodynamics of the wind flow over the blade
airfoils, a drag force FD in the direction of the free-stream and a lift Fig. 3. Variation of azimuth angle q with angle of attack a for one revolution at various
force, FL normal to the free-stream have been generated. These tip speed ratiosl.

Fig. 2. Flow velocities and force diagram of Darrieus turbine airfoil.

 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545
several parameters such as, a wind of velocity, U∞ , the output
mechanical power, P, the mechanical torque, T on the turbine axis
and the projected area of the rotor A (¼2RH). By combination of
these parameters, we can obtain and write the equation of the
torque and power coefficients as follows:
T simulations which have executed in present work. In the CFD
Cm ¼ 1 (5)
2 rARU∞
3 sequence, Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations
P velocity coupling. Discretization is executed using the Finite-
Cp ¼ 1 (6)
2 rAU∞
3
where Cp and Cm are the power coefficient and torque coefficient,
respectively.
4. Methodology and model validation
In this section, a computational modeling strategy is introduced
for the purpose of numerical assessment of the aerodynamic
behavior of a three-bladed (H-rotor) Darrieus wind turbine with
different airfoils. As a consequence, in the first part of this work, the
present work concentrates on eight series of symmetric and non-
symmetric airfoil shapes (24 airfoils) (NACA 00XX-series, NACA
63-XXX-series, S-series, SG60XX series, FX-series, DU-series, LS-
series and RIS∅-A1-XX series) as shown in Fig. 4. This deeply
leads to obtain the best possible performance of a Darrieus turbine.
A detailed numerical analysis is introduced for a Darrieus wind
turbine operating at several angular velocities under a constant
wind speed of 9 m/s. The essential geometrical characteristics of
the tested turbine have been summarized in Table 1. Furthermore,
in the second part of the paper, the aerodynamic performance of a
Darrieus turbine with wind-lens is numerically assessed and
compared to that the of open Darrieus turbine (conventional
design). In this study, three wind-lens configurations with various
diffuser types are examined at different values of tip-speed ratio l.
Namely, they are the flat-panel, curved-surface and cycloidal-
surface diffuser types as shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5, D is the dis-
tance between the two sides of the wind-lens at the throat, L is the
diffuser length, Lt is the inlet and diffuser lengths, h is the flange
width, W is the height of the diffuser, s is the clearance, 4 is the
semi-open angle of the diffuser and g is the semi-open angle of the
inlet.
In case of flat-panel type diffuser, it is a must to preserve the
semi-open angle 4 of the diffuser as large as possible in order to
reach the maximum torque power and coefficients. Since the flat-
panel type diffuser suffers from flow separation when increasing
its semi-open angle 4. Therefore, the diffuser is changed to another
one with curved surface to overcome the problem of flow separa-
tion. It is believed that flow separation can be omitted in case of the
continuous expansion of the diffuser semi-open angle 4.
The design of a wind-lens with a diffuser which has curved
surface type is based on the configuration of a wind-lens with a flat-
panel-type diffuser for which the semi-open angle 4 ¼ 20
and
diffuser length L ¼ 0.55D. Shortening the width of the flanges from
h ¼ 0.5D to h ¼ 0.25D makes it possible for the broader expansion of
the diffuser exhaust. The dimensions of D and W are kept the same
as in case of the flat-panel-type diffuser. Another variant of the
curved-surface-type diffuser is the cycloidal-surface-type diffuser
is included within the present study.
The cycloidal-surface-type diffuser differs from the curved-
surface type diffuser in that the first has a continuous expansion
of both inlet semi-open angle g and diffuser semi-open angle 4.
Also, the wind-lens with a cycloidal-surface-type diffuser has a
slight larger inlet and diffuser lengths Lt than the other diffusers.
535
The optimum values of parameters of various configurations of a
wind-lens with different diffuser types are summarized in Table 2.
A very important duty is to check the full numerical model with
great care. Consequently, the adopted methodology in the present
work must be validated against published experimental data. The
commercial software ANSYS-Fluent is used for all analysis and
(URANS) are resolved using the SIMPLE algorithm for pressure-
Volume method with second order upwind scheme for all vari-
ables. The continuity equation for unsteady, incompressible flow
can be calculated in tensorial form as:
vui vui
þ ¼0 (7)
vt vxi
and the momentum equations can be written as:
" !#
vui vu 1 vp v vui vuj 2 vui
þ ui i ¼   n þ  dij
vt vxj r vxi vxj vxj vxi 3 vxi
! (8)
v


þ  ui uj
vxj
By using the sliding mesh model (SMM), the two-dimensional
unsteady flow is simulated to consider the physics of rotor rota-
tion effects. A double check on convergence is accomplished, the
first convergence criterion is depending on the torque coefficient
Cm . As a global convergence criterion, each simulation ends when
the difference between the values of the torque coefficient Cm
shows a deviation of less than 1% compared with equivalent values
of the previous periods. After the fulfillment of the last criterion of
convergence, a further check is performed on the residuals that
ought to be less than 105 for each physical time step. Each simu-
lation showed that it may require from 4 up to 15 cycles to reach the
quasi-steady state. The initiate of the correct flow solution is carried
out in the first cycle, while the flow characteristics, especially the
power coefficient Cp and the torque coefficient Cm are calculated by
averaging the results during the last two cycles. After the time step
independence study in range between 0.01 and 0.0001, it is found
that less than 0.001 the output power coefficient is constant
therefore, 0.001 is retained in the next simulation. The current
investigation with maximum sub-iterations of 200 to initiate the
solution convergence at each time step is used. The calculations
performed on 8 processors, 3.40 GHz clock frequency PC, requires a
total CPU time of about 25 min for one cycle.
An unstructured grid is chosen for the whole flow domain with
good quality for Darrieus turbine with and without wind-lens. The
grid on both sides of the grid interface has approximately the same
element size to obtain faster convergence. For open Darrieus tur-
bine, a grid independence test is carried out for only one geomet-
rical configuration with NACA 0021 airfoil at l ¼ 3.3 as in the
experiment conducted by Castelli et al. [5]. Several different two-
dimensional, unstructured grids of increasing density and quality,
composed of different grid size ranging from 55,300 up to 202,000
elements are scanned. This test shows that more than 153,200 el-
ements lead to a relative variation of the output quantity below
1.0467% as shown in Fig. 6. The moderate grid with 153,200 ele-
ments is retained for all further results related to open Darrieus
turbine due to the computing time. However, the grid size is sub-
stantially increased to 227,467 elements in case of employing a
wind-lens with a Darrieus rotor.
A square flow domain with suitable dimensions is adopted
while the ratio between the square flow domain length and the
536 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545

Fig. 4. Tested airfoil shapes.

 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545
Table 1
Darrieus turbine specifications.
Parameter Dimension
Blade profile NACA 00XX-series, NACA 63-XXX-series, S-series, SG 60XX-series, FX-series, DU-series, LS-series, RIS∅-A1-XX-series
Number of blades N 3
Blade chord length c 0.0345 m
Spoke-blade connection 25% of c
Rotor radius R 0.515 m
Rotor height H 1 m (two-dimensional simulation)
Rotor solidity s 0.1
Tip-speed ratio l 2e8
Wind speed U∞ 9 m/s
rotor radius is 50 as shown in Fig. 7. An unstructured grid consists of
triangular elements is adopted for both fixed and rotating flow
domains as drawn in Fig. 8. The unstructured grids are substantially
increased in the vicinity of wall boundaries, in order to get a
normalized wall distance yþ > 30. Keeping yþ > 30 makes the
usage of wall functions is a must. This is achieved by employing 15
boundary layers with a growth rate of 1.2 on all wall surfaces (i.e.,
turbine shaft and its blades) for open Darrieus turbine and in
addition to the diffuser surface in case of Darrieus turbine with
wind-lens. Constant inlet velocity is used the simulation and it
equals 9 m/s and retained constant in all simulations. Symmetry
boundary conditions are imposed on both boundary streamlines
(i.e., normal derivatives of dependent variables are zero) as
appeared in Fig. 7. The interface boundary condition is used on the
circumference of the rotating zone to keep the continuity in the
flow field. A non-slip moving wall with speed equal to zero is used
for the hub and the blades surfaces while a non-slip stationary wall
BC is imposed for the diffuser surface for wind-lens turbine. All the
details of the flow domain dimensions and CFD boundary condi-
tions retained in this work are summarized in Table 3.
As a second step in the CFD validation after performing the grid
independence test, numerical turbulence model must be validated.
The models and simulations validation comparison is acquired
between the power coefficient Cp curves of the present model re-
sults and experimental for an open H-rotor Darrieus wind turbine
by Castelli et al. [5] and other CFD results [5,7,15,27] as represented
in Fig. 9. These results are found to be in a good and acceptable
agreement with the experimental work measurements conducted
by Castelli et al. [5] and the present CFD for the calculated power
coefficient Cp quantitatively and qualitatively. However, there is a
large difference in values of Cp between the present CFD results
using the realizable k  ε turbulence model with the aid of standard
wall functions and that obtained by other publications [5,7,15,27].
Therefore, this work presents a clear and accurate computational
modeling strategy to help in understanding the flow phenomena
occurred around straight-bladed Darriues rotor.
The examination of the effects of using a wind acceleration
device ”wind-lens” with Darrieus wind turbines in wind tunnel
experiments are considered unique. There are scarce research
works reported in the literature about this research topic within the
past years. This makes our mission difficult to validate the CFD
results obtained from our computational model against trusted
experimental measurements for straight-bladed VAWT with wind-
lens. In previous work, Takahashi et al. [2] performed experiments
in wind tunnels on output performance of a VAWT with two
straight blades using the symmetric airfoil NACA 0024 with rotor
radius, R ¼ 0.35 m. They designed a flat-panel (venturi shape)
wind-lens and applied it to the H-rotor Darrieus turbine. The
approaching wind speed, U∞ is kept to be 6 m/s during the ex-
periments and the Reynolds number, Re, is about 6.2  104 based on
the airfoil chord, c ¼ 0.15 m. The throat width D is 0.8 m and the
537
wind-lens has a diffuser length L ¼ 1.14 D, diffuser semi-open angle
4 ¼ 20
and brim (flange) width h ¼ 0.5 D. Fig. 10 shows the
comparison of the power coefficient curves Cp between the CFD
results obtained from the present model and wind tunnel expe-
riement conducted by Takahashi et al. [2]. In addition, Fig. 10 in-
troduces the power coefficient curves Cp of a Darrieus turbine with
a wind-lens compared to those of Darrieus turbine only. Both re-
sults reveal a qualitative agreement in the power coefficient Cp
variations with the tip-speed ratio l. This gives an indication that
the present computational model can properly predict the aero-
dynamic performance of a Darrieus coupled with a wind-lens
structure.
The realizable k  ε turbulence model which had been intro-
duced and developed by Shih et al. [28] is utilized in the current
work. The realizable k  ε turbulence model is introducing and
depending on a new transport equation for the turbulent dissipa-
tion rate which improves the characteristics of the model. In
addition, The mean flow and turbulence properties are the main
parameters in the value a critical coefficient of the model, Cmu , this
coefficient was constant in the standard k  ε model. This criterion
improves and allows the model to reimburse additional flow and
mathematical constraints on the normal stresses, consistent with
the physics of turbulence. The realizable k  ε turbulence model
provides an excellent performance for flows which include rota-
tion, separation, recirculation and flow under high level of adverse
pressure gradients. This model also introduced major refinements
better than the standard k  ε model where the flow characteristics
include vortices, extreme streamline curvature, and rotation. In
addition, Initial investigation concluded that the realizable model
introduces the optimal performance of all the k  ε model types for
different validations of complex flow and separated flows features.
The word “realizable” denotes that the model accepts some
mathematical and flow constraints on the normal stresses, and
harmonious with the turbulent flow physics. By using vt ¼ mt =r we
can obtain the result gives a negative for the normal stressu2 , which
is a positive value “non-realizable”. To obtain the realizability, it
should introduce Cm changeable by sensitizing it to the turbulence
and the mean flow. The transport equations for k and ε in the
realizable k  ε model is defined in the next equation:
" #

v v   v mt vk
ðrkÞ þ rkuj ¼ mþ þ Gk þ Gb  rε  YM
vt vxi vxi sk vxj
þ Sk
(9)
and
538
Flat-panel-type diffuser
Curved-surface-type diffuser
Cycloidal-surface-type diffuser
Fig. 5. Wind-lens configurations for Darrieus turbine.
I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545
"  #
v v   v m vε ε2
ðrεÞ þ rεuj ¼ mþ t þ rC1 St  rC2 pffiffiffiffiffi
vt vxj vxj sε vxj k þ vε
ε
þ C1ε C3ε Gb þ St
k
(10)
where


h
C1 ¼ max 0:43; (11)
hþ5
and
k
h¼S (12)
ε
where,
Gk : the generation of turbulence kinetic energy,
Gb : the generation of turbulence kinetic energy.
YM : the fluctuating diffusion in compressible turbulence to the
overall dissipation rate, calculated as discussed in C2 and C1ε are
constants.
sk and sε : the turbulent Prandtl numbers for k and ε,
respectively.
Sk and Sε : user-defined source terms.
5. Results and discussions
There are several factors affecting the aerodynamic performance
of the VAWTs, such as lift to drag ratio which is a function of airfoil
shape, solidity, tip-speed ratio, and wind speed. From the previous
work, it is thought that the effect of airfoil shape is the most
important parameter as it has a great effect on the maximum tur-
bine efficiency. This section firstly discusses the results which ob-
tained from a suitable evaluation of an airfoil shape to improve and
maximize the turbine performance. Then, in the second part of this
section a new and novel method is introduced and investigated to
enhance the turbine performance by using the wind-lens system.
The power coefficient Cp and the torque coefficient Cm have been
acquired according to Eqs. (5) and (6), respectively. These equations
are used to assess the performance of a three-bladed H-rotor Dar-
rieus in both wind-lens system and turbine with different sym-
metric and non-symmetric sectional profiles.
5.1. Airfoil shape effect
As previously explained, symmetric and non-symmetric airfoils
are considered. Therefore, URANS CFD simulations are carried out
to investigate the performance of (H-rotor) Darrieus turbine with
eight different series of the profiles (NACA 00XX-series, NACA 63-
XXX series, S-series, SG60XX-series, FX-series, DU-series, LS-se-
ries and RIS∅-A1-XX series). The current work contemplates three-
bladed (H-rotor) Darrieus turbine and an exemplary range of
operation: a tip-speed ratio l changing between 2 and 7 as shown
in Figs. 11e14.
Fig. 11 shows the characteristics performance of the rotor; tor-
que and power coefficients according to variables of airfoil blade
sections. This figure includes the results of two series of NACA
standard sectional profiles; the first series is the four-digit NACA
00XX for the symmetric sectional profiles (i.e. NACA 0015, NACA
0018 and NACA 0021) and the second series is the six-digit NACA
63-XXX for the non-symmetric sectional profiles (such as NACA 63-
 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545 539

Table 2
Wind-lens specifications.

Wind-lens Flat-panel-type diffuser Curved-surface-type diffuser Cycloidal-surface-type diffuser

Throat width D 1.18 m 1.18 m 1.18 m

Diffuser length L 0.55D 0.55D e
Inlet length þ diffuser length Lt 0.9D 0.9D 1.06D
Flange width h 0.5D 0.25D 0.25D
Diffuser height W 1.79D 1.79D 1.79D
Clearance s 75 mm 75 mm 75 mm
Diffuser semi-open angle 4 20
e e
Inlet semi-open angle g 10
e e

coefficient is 0.3463 at l ¼ 4 corresponding to the S-1046 in the S-

Fig. 6. Variation of power coefficient Cp with grid size at l ¼ 3.3 for open Darrieus
turbine.
418, NACA 63-415 and NACA 63-421). It can be seen that VAWTs
consisted of symmetric airfoils have a relatively higher aero-
dynamic performance than ones with non-symmetric airfoils. A
maximum power coefficient Cp;max ¼ 0.3243 is obtained corre-
sponding to NACA 0015 airfoil at l ¼ 4 as shown in Fig. 10. However,
regarding the non-symmetric airfoils, NACA 63-418 has a
maximum power coefficient of 0.3206 at l ¼ 4.
The results in Fig. 12 are for the S-series (S809, S1046, S1210 and
S1223) and SG60XX-series (SG6043, SG6042 and AF300). The re-
sults in Fig. 12 has indicated that the maximum and optimal power
series, furthermore, the SG60XX-series has an optimal power co-
efficient which equals 0.1693 at l ¼ 4 corresponding to a new airfoil
AF300.
As shown in Fig. 13, the FX-series (FX 63-137, FX L-142 K and FX L
V-152) has a maximum power coefficient equal to 0.3385 at l ¼ 4
corresponding to FX L-142 K airfoil. Similarly, Fig. 13 proves that the
non-symmetric airfoil LS (1)-0417 has a higher power coefficient Cp
than LS (1)-0413 at l ¼ 4 corresponding to LS (1)-0417. The airfoil LS
(1)-0417 has a maximum power coefficient in the series and it
equals to 0.321.
Another two series (DU-series and RISø-series) have been
investigated from the aerodynamic performance point of view of H-
rotor Darrieus wind turbine as shown in Fig. 14. For the DU-series
(DU 06-W-200, DU 96-W-180 and DU 97-W-300), the results
indicated that the DU 06-W-200 is the optimal airfoil in the DU-
series with a maximum power coefficient of 0.3377 at l ¼ 4. On
the other hand, the RISø-A1-XX series (RISø-A1-18, RIS∅-A1-21 and
RISø-A1-24) has a maximum power coefficient equal to 0.3324 at
l ¼ 4 corresponding to RIS∅-A1-24.
Table 4 introduces the maximum and ultimate power coefficient
Cp;max for all the airfoils which has been studied in this current
work. A Darrieus turbine (H-rotor) with S1046 airfoil shows the
highest power coefficient. It can be seen from Table 4 that this
airfoil leads to a higher power coefficient by þ0.0135 for S-1046
compared to the standard airfoil NACA 0015 which is the best airfoil
in NACA regular series. This means a relative maximum increase in

Rotating zone
Stationary zone

Rotating zone

Fig. 7. Flow domain for open Darrieus turbine.

540 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545

Turbine blades

Turbine shaft

Rotating zone
Stationary zone

Fig. 8. Unstructured grid for open Darrieus turbine.

Table 3
Grid and boundary conditions.

Parameter Description

Flow domain Square (50R 50R)

Interface/Type Sliding/Conformal
Grid/Type Unstructured/Tri
Elements 153,200 for open Darrieus turbine
227,476 for Darrieus turbine with wind-lens
Fluid Air
Turbulence model k-3 realizable
Inlet Velocity inlet
Outlet Pressure outlet
Shaft No-slip moving wall (u¼0 rad/s)
Blades No-slip moving wall (u¼0 rad/s)
diffuser No-slip stationary wall
Side Symmetry
Residuals RMS criteria 1  105

Fig. 10. Validation of present computational model, compared to experimental data for
Darrieus turbine with and without wind-lens [2].

instantaneous torque coefficients (Cm ¼Cp /l), along the azimuth

angle q of the Darrieus turbine (H-rotor) with NACA0015, NACA 63-
418, S-1046, AF300, FX-L-142 K, LS(1)-0417, DU06-W-200 and RISø-
A1-24 (the best airfoils in each series) are compared (see Fig. 15).
Three different values of tip-speed ratios (l¼ 2, l ¼ 4 and l ¼ 6) are
studied at constant solidity s equals 0.1 for the last blade cycle for
all cases. For the optimum tip speed ratio l ¼ 4, the Darrieus turbine
(H-rotor) with S1046 generates the largest torque (Cm ¼ 0.120567 at
q ¼ 324
) and the one with AF300 generates the smallest torque
(Cm ¼ 0.0143799 at q ¼ 60
). This explains why the Darrieus turbine
with S1046 the symmetric airfoil show the highest power coeffi-
cient among the airfoils investigated in this work.

Fig. 9. Validation of present computational model, compared to experimental data for

open Darrieus turbine [5] and other computational results for a Darrieus rotor 5.2. Wind-lens type effect
[5,7,12,19].

The concept of using wind-accelerating structure “wind-lens”

the power coefficient around 4.31% by using S1046 the new blade and its effect on the power coefficient Cp of the Darrieus turbine (H-
profile for Darrieus turbine (H-rotor). To make clear the reason why rotor) is investigated. This section compares the power outputs of
there is the difference in power coefficients among airfoils, the an open three-bladed Darrieus turbine (conventional design)
against a three-bladed Darrieus turbine with a wind-lens when
 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545 541

NACA 00XX-series NACA 63-XXX-series

Fig. 11. Power coefficient Cp of H-rotor Darrieus rotor using NACA 00XX-series and NACA 63-XXX-series airfoils.

S-series SG60XX-series

Fig. 12. Power coefficient Cp of H-rotor Darrieus rotor using S-series and SG60XX-series airfoils.

FX-series LS-series

Fig. 13. Power coefficient Cp of H-rotor Darrieus rotor using FX-series and LS-series airfoils.

DU-series RIS -A1-XX series

Fig. 14. Power coefficient Cp of H-rotor Darrieus wind turbine with DU-series and RISø-A1-XX-series airfoils.
542 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545

Table 4
Maximum power coefficient Cp;max for each airfoil shape. (The best three airfoils are highlighted by red color).

NACA 0015 NACA 63-418 S1046 AF300

FX L-142 K LS(1)-0417 DU 06-W-200 RIS -A1-24

Fig. 15. Instantaneous torque coefficient Cm of the best airfoil shapes in each series at l ¼ 2, 4, and 6.

changing the configuration of the wind-lens. It should be noted that

the symmetric airfoil S1046 which showed the highest power co-
efficient Cp is used in this investigation as the sectional profile of
the turbine blades in case of Darrieus turbine with and without
wind-lens. A wind-lens with three different diffuser types (i.e. flat-
panel, curved-surface and cycloidal-surface) are studied and
applied to the open Darrieus turbine.
Fig. 16 introduces the power coefficient of a Darrieus turbine
with a wind-lens compared to the conventional Darrieus turbine
against tip speed ratio l. The Darrieus turbines with a cycloidal and
curved-surface-type diffuser demonstrated higher power output
than turbines with a flat-panel-type diffuser (venturi shape) over
the entire range of tip-speed ratios l. The maximum power coef-
ficient of the wind-lens with a cycloidal-surface-type diffuser
shows 4 times as large as that of the conventional Darrieus turbine.
While the wind-lens with a curved-surface-type diffuser demon-
strated power augmentation by a factor of about 3.8 compared with
an open Darrieus turbine. Furthermore, the power augmentation of
Fig. 16. Comparison of power coefficient Cp curve between an open Darrieus turbine
the wind-lens with a flat-panel diffuser improves the performance and a Darrieus turbine with different wind-lens configurations.
by factor of 3.3 times that of conventional turbine. According to the
above results for the Darrieus turbines (H-rotor) and wind-lenses Table 5 presents the maximum power coefficient Cp;max and power
considered Darrieus turbines shrouded within a cycloidal- augmentation factor for different wind-lens configurations inves-
surface-type diffuser demonstrate has higher power output and tigated covered in this work. It is clear that the performance of H-
improves the output power through an operating wider range. rotor Darrieus turbine with wind-lens is superior to the
 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545 543

Table 5 performance of open turbine.

Maximum power coefficient Cp;max and power augmentation factor for wind-lens In order to make clear the effect of the wind-lens, the instan-
configurations.
taneous flow characteristics (Fig. 17) and the instantaneous torque
Wind-lens Cp;max [] Power augmentation factor [] coefficients (Fig. 18) are compared between a conventional Darrieus
Flat-panel-type diffuser 1.1286 3.3 turbine and a Darrieus turbine with a wind-lens. Fig. 16 illustrates
Curved-surface-type diffuser 1.2870 3.8 the flow characteristics inside different wind-lens configurations at
Cycloidal-surface-type diffuser 1.3662 3.9 tip-speed ration l ¼ 6. This phenomenon is attributed to the stream

Open Darrieus turbine Wind-lens with flat- Wind-lens with curved- Wind-lens with cycloidal-
panel-type diffuser surface-type diffuser surface-type diffuser

(a)

Open Darrieus turbine Wind-lens with flat- Wind-lens with curved- Wind-lens with cycloidal-
panel-type diffuser surface-type diffuser surface-type diffuser

(b)

Open Darrieus turbine Wind-lens with flat- Wind-lens with curved- Wind-lens with cycloidal-
panel-type diffuser surface-type diffuser surface-type diffuser
(c)
Fig. 17. Comparison of instantaneous flow characteristics between an open Darrieus turbine and a Darrieus turbine with different wind-lens configurations at l ¼ 6. (a) Static
pressure contours, (b) Velocity contours, and (c) streamlines.
544 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545
Open Darrieus turbine Wind-lens with flat-
panel-type diffuser
Fig. 18. Comparison of the Instantaneous torque coefficient Cm between an open Darrieus turbine and a Darrieus turbine with different wind-lens configurations at l ¼ 2, 4, and 6.
flow inside the brimmed diffuser being strongly related to the
surrounding flow conditions.
Fig. 17 a depicts that the flow exiting the wind-lens returns to
similar approximately values of atmospheric pressure. Hence, the
flow must accelerate at the wind-lens inlet as shown in Fig. 17 b. As
a result, the diffuser decrease the static pressure behind the Dar-
rieus turbine rotor, so that enhance the velocity value across the
rotor, in such away improving the power generated. Fig. 17 c de-
scribes that the wind-lens collects and accelerates the wind toward
the rotor of the wind turbine and the largest wind accelerated re-
gion is remarked in case of the wind-lens with cycloidal-surface-
type diffuser. As an interpretation of the results obtained and dis-
cussed above, the wind-lens makes the flow run out of the brim-
med diffuser as smooth as possible to get benefit from the pressure
drop caused by creating a vortex downstream the diffuser flange.
The size and location of the vortex downstream the flange has an
apparent effect on the power generated from the wind turbine. But,
as the vortex is far as possible from the diffuser flange, the flange
will fade its effect. The instantaneous values torque coefficient of
the Darrieus turbine with different wind-lens configurations along
the azimuth angle q of the Darrieus turbine are plotted in Fig. 18. It
is indicated that when the wind-lens is applied, larger torque is
generated for all tip-speed ratios. For the optimum tip speed ratio
l ¼ 6, the Darrieus turbine with a wind-lens generates the largest
torque (Cm ¼ 0.290862 at q ¼ 330
) however, the open Darrieus
turbine generates the smallest torque (Cm ¼ 0.0216171 at q ¼ 24
).
6. Conclusions
Darrieus turbine the lift-type vertical axis wind turbines
(VAWTs) has the merit of working at low wind speed, but is has the
demerit of low aerodynamic performance when compared with the
ones with horizontal-axis. The present work aimed to enhance the
aerodynamic performance of the Darrieus turbine (H-rotor)
through finding out the best blade airfoil and the most efficient
configuration of a wind-lens. A wind-lens is incorporated in a
straight-bladed Darrieus turbine and its effect on power augmen-
tation using computational methods is examined. Several wind-
lens configurations are applied to HAWTs and it is thought that
similar technology is also effective for H-rotor Darrieus turbine. It is
thought that the comprehensive performance of a Darrieus wind
turbine can be more enhanced by using optimization techniques.
Accordingly, the following conclusions are taken:
 Eight series of new airfoils that suitable for H-rotor Darrieus
turbine are studied for higher aerodynamic performance. It is
found that NACA0015, NACA 63-418, S-1046, AF300, FX-L-142 K,
Wind-lens with curved- Wind-lens with cycloidal-
surface-type diffuser surface-type diffuser
LS (1)-0417, DU06-W-200 and RISø-A1-24 are the most suitable
airfoils in each series for H-rotor Darrieus turbine. It is
concluded that symmetric airfoils are better than non-
symmetric ones.
 Darrieus turbine (H-rotor) with S1046 the symmetric airfoil
showed the highest output performance (Cp;max ¼ 0.3463) for
the entire range of tip-speed ratio l. A relative maximum in-
crease in the power coefficient of around 4.31% is reached by
using S1046 as a new blade profile for the Darrieus turbine.
 The optimum shape of three wind-lens configuration is intro-
duced. The diffuser length L, flange height h and the semi-open
angle 4 are varied for the three configurations.
 For all configurations, it is found that the wind-lens elaborates
as good as possible when installed with Darrieus turbine in the
streamwise direction. The presence of inlet enhanced the power
augmentation over a wider range of tip speed ratios.
 For the flat-panel-type diffuser (venturi shape), 0.5D is the
recommended value for both diffuser length L and flange height
h is and the semi-open angle 4 is set to be 20
. The flat-panel
diffuser design in the Wind-lens produced power augmenta-
tion by a factor of 3.3 compared with conventional design Dar-
rieus wind turbine.
 The present investigation proved that a wind-lens with a venturi
shape, cycloidal or curved diffusers, and shorter flanges
(h ¼ 0.25D) is more effective in generating a higher power
augmentation than wind-lens with flat-panel design.
 The wind-lens with a cycloidal and curved-surface type dif-
fusers demonstrated power augmentation by a factor of about
3.9 and 3.8, respectively as compared to the open Darrieus
turbine.
 The flow around the H-rotor Darrieus turbine is studied and
visualized utilizing CFD techniques. It is illustrated that the
whole flow passing the Darrieus turbine is concentrated and
accelerated by flanged diffuser similarly to HAWT.
 Darrieus turbine (H-rotor) possibly demonstrate power
augmentation by a factor of 3e4 due to the presence of the
flange of wind-lens that generates a low-pressure region in the
exit vicinity of the diffuser by vortex formation and draws more
mass flow to the turbine rotor inside the diffuser shroud.
 A substantial improvement can be achieved through applying
multi-objective optimization techniques to find out the optimal
airfoil shape and the most efficient wind-lens configuration. For
instance, it is very useful to examine both noise emissions
(minimizing) and power generation in terms of power coeffi-
cient Cp (maximizing) as two-objective functions in the future
work.
 I. Hashem, M.H. Mohamed / Energy 142 (2018) 531e545 545

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