Analysis of vertical Axis Wind Turbines

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department

VAW Turbines are Atable and Rugged.....

 VAWT : Current Trends

• VAWT design have been always mistreated by literature and

market.
• The peculiarity of VAWT turbines to operate was the major
problem.
• VAWT can have a very important advantage in the actual market.
• Deeper analysis of energy production by VAWTs showed that,
they are best suited for certain conditions of wind, like turbulence,
gusts or fluctuations.
• The technology of the vertical axis can perform better than the
usual horizontal axis one.
 Types of Vertical Axis wind Turbines
• Darrieus • Savonius

• Cycloturbine
• Giromill
VAWT swept area
General Configuration of a Darrieus
typeVertical-Axis Wind Turbine
 Troposkein

• The troposkein is the curve an idealized

rope assumes when anchored at its ends and
spun around its long axis at a constant
angular velocity.
• This shape is similar to the shape assumed by
a skipping rope.
• The shape is independent of rotational speed
in the absence of gravity.
• The troposkein does not have a closed-form
representation; in the absence of gravity.
• However, the shape varies with respect to
rotational speed in the presence of gravity.
 The Shape Equation for Troposkein

• The form of a troposkein can be

approximated for a given gravitational
acceleration, rope density and angular
velocity by iterative approximation.
• This shape is also useful for decreasing
the stress experienced by the blades of
a Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine.
• The Darrieus wind turbine with a
troposkien shaped blades has
advantage of working under the effect
of high centrifugal forces without
failure.
 The Turbine Rotor Subsystem : VAWT

• Blades are shaped to approximate a troposkien

Requator 2

h 
r
1
1    
2
2
d   sin  
0 1   2 sin 2  R

d
z
 2 2
0 1   sin 
 1 
h 2
d
 1   2 sin 2 
0  2 
 1   2 sin 2  d 
l  2   0 
 2    1
2h 1     2 d 
  2 2 
 0 1   sin  
Stream Tube of VAWT
 Design Models for VAWT

• Several design models are developed for accurate analysis of

VAWT.
• The most complex model is vortex Model.
• The complex structure of the resulting vortex system applicable
to the Darrieus Turbine configuration, the computer time required
is excessive.
• The simplest model is a single stream tube Model.
• In SST model, the forces on the airfoil blades are computed,
using this uniform velocity across the turbine rotor upstream.
• SST model is elegant in its simplicity and predicts overall
performance rather well for lightly loaded blades.
 Single Stream Tube (SST) Model

V
V

Vw
 V

VR



R

 tan  
1  a sin 
1  a cos   R
Multiple Stream Tube Model
 Single Stream Tube (SST) Model

V
V

Vw

• VAWT blades project a cylinder that is

parallel to the stream tube.
• The blades cross the normal actuator disc

twice along their upwind and downwind path.

 azimuth angle

The axial induction factor: a   sin 

 Local Instantaneous Velocities

The relative velocity component (VR)

VR  Va sin  2  Va cos  R 2

2 2
VR  Va   Va R 
Normalized relative velocity   sin     cos   
V  V   V V 
 Kinetics Vs Kinematics of VWAT

VR
Normalized relative velocity  1  asin  2  1  acos  R 2
V

angle of attack tan  

Va sin 
tan  
1  a sin 
Va cos   R 1  a cos  R
Normal Force Coefficient
Cn  C L cos   C D sin 
Tangential Force Coefficient
Ct  C L sin   C D cos 
 Local Instantaneous Torque per Blade

The local instantaneous Tangential force (dFti) on one single

airfoil at certain θ is
1
dFti  VR cC L sin   C D cos  dh
2

2
The local instantaneous Torque (di) on one single airfoil at certain θ
is
1
d i  VR2 cC L sin   C D cos  Rdh
2
A single blade passes each stream tube twice per revolution in
the upstream and downsteam.
 Time Averaged Local Torque

The time averaged local torque generated by “B” blades and

twice per revolution can be expressed as
N
 i
d a   d i  B  2
i 1 
1
d i  VR cC L sin   C D cos  Rdh
2

2
The time averaged total torque generated by “B” blades and twice
per revolution can be expressed as

H

a   B


 VR2 cC L sin   C D cos  R dh 
h 0
 Failure of SST Model

• SST Mode is incapable of handling wind velocity variations

across the rotor.
• These variations become increasingly large at higher blade
solidities and blade tip speeds.
• However, SST can incorporate wind shear effects.
1
d i  VR2 cC L sin   C D cos  Rdh
2
N
 i
d a   d i  B  2 VR  Va sin  2  Va cos  R 2
i 1 360
H
a   d
h 0
a
 Simple & Sophisticated Model

• A somewhat more sophisticated model than the single stream tube

model is one in which a series of stream tubes are assumed to pass
through the rotor.
• The same basic principles which were applied to each of the
multiple stream tubes.
• The multiple stream tube model gives rise to a velocity
distribution through the rotor which is a function of the two spatial
coordinates perpendicular to the stream wise direction.
• The multiple stream tube model does predict overall performance
very well.
• This model yields a more realistic distribution of blade forces, and
can easily be modified to include wind shear effects.
 Simplified Geometry of stream tubes in the plane of
rotation
• The swept area is
discretized into a mesh by
dividing the straight blades
into segments and
separating the incident wind
into independent stream
tubes.
• Figure illustrates the
independent straight stream
tubes for a choice of 16
azimuthal positions
 The Double Multiple Stream tube Analysis
• The Double Multiple Stream tube (DMST) Method recognizes
the difference between the upwind and downwind passes of each
blade by dividing each stream tube into an upwind half and a
downwind half .
• The turbine’s interaction with the wind in the upwind and
downwind passes of the blades is accounted separately.
• The assumption is made that the wake from the upwind pass is
fully expanded and the ultimate wake velocity has been reached
before the interaction with the blades in the downwind pass.
• The downwind blades therefore see a reduced ‘free-stream’
velocity.
• This approach more accurately represents the variation in flow
through the VAW turbine.