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Numerical Investigations of the Effects of the Rotating Shaft and Optimization of Urban Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Author

Listed:
  • Lidong Zhang

    (Energy and Power Engineering, Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin 132012, China)

  • Kaiqi Zhu

    (Energy and Power Engineering, Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin 132012, China)

  • Junwei Zhong

    (Department of Fluid Machinery and Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China)

  • Ling Zhang

    (Energy and Power Engineering, Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin 132012, China)

  • Tieliu Jiang

    (Energy and Power Engineering, Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin 132012, China)

  • Shaohua Li

    (Energy and Power Engineering, Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin 132012, China)

  • Zhongbin Zhang

    (Energy and Power Engineering, Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin 132012, China)

Abstract

The central shaft is an important and indispensable part of a small scale urban vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs). Normally, it is often operated at the same angular velocity as the wind turbine. The shedding vortices released by the rotating shaft have a negative effect on the blades passing the wake of the wind shaft. The objective of this study is to explore the influence of the wake of rotating shaft on the performance of the VAWT under different operational and physical parameters. The results show that when the ratio of the shaft diameter to the wind turbine diameter (α) is 9%, the power loss of the wind turbine in one revolution increases from 0% to 25% relative to that of no-shaft wind turbine (this is a numerical experiment for which the shaft of the VAWT is removed in order to study the interactions between the shaft and blade). When the downstream blades pass through the wake of the shaft, the pressure gradient of the suction side and pressure side is changed, and an adverse effect is also exerted on the lift generation in the blades. In addition, α = 5% is a critical value for the rotating shaft wind turbine (the lift-drag ratio trend of the shaft changes differently). In order to figure out the impacts of four factors; namely, tip speed ratios (TSRs), α, turbulence intensity (TI), and the relative surface roughness value ( k s / d s ) on the performance of a VAWT system, the Taguchi method is employed in this study. The influence strength order of these factors is featured by TSRs > k s / d s > α > TI. Furthermore, within the range we have analyzed in this study, the optimal power coefficient ( C p ) occurred under the condition of TSR = 4, α = 5%, k s / d s = 1 × 10 −2 , and TI = 8%.

Suggested Citation

  • Lidong Zhang & Kaiqi Zhu & Junwei Zhong & Ling Zhang & Tieliu Jiang & Shaohua Li & Zhongbin Zhang, 2018. "Numerical Investigations of the Effects of the Rotating Shaft and Optimization of Urban Vertical Axis Wind Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-25, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:7:p:1870-:d:158574
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Fang Feng & Guoqiang Tong & Yunfei Ma & Yan Li, 2021. "Numerical Simulation and Wind Tunnel Investigation on Static Characteristics of VAWT Rotor Starter with Lift-Drag Combined Structure," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-24, September.
    2. Krzysztof Rogowski & Martin Otto Laver Hansen & Galih Bangga, 2020. "Performance Analysis of a H-Darrieus Wind Turbine for a Series of 4-Digit NACA Airfoils," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-28, June.
    3. Krzysztof Rogowski, 2019. "CFD Computation of the H-Darrieus Wind Turbine—The Impact of the Rotating Shaft on the Rotor Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-17, June.

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