Numerical simulations on the wake effect of H-type vertical axis wind turbines

The wake of a wind turbine has substantial influence on the aerodynamic performance of downstream wind turbine. Unsteady numerical simulations are performed in this paper to investigate the wake structure of a three-bladed H-type VAWT (vertical axis wind turbine) and the influence on the aerodynamic performance of downstream wind turbine. A simplified two-dimensional model is used considering the blades are straight. Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved using FlowVision software, which uses dynamic grid method to handle the blade rotation. The SST turbulence model is used for turbulence modeling. The distance between two wind turbines is from 5D to 17D with 2D intervals, where D denotes the wind turbine diameter. The wind speed is 5.07 m/s, corresponding to a tip speed ratio of 2.15. The power coefficients of two wind turbines are compared in detail. The discussions focus on the periodic variations of the aerodynamic performance and flow variables of two turbines with two typical distances, i.e., 7D and 15D, respectively. The simulation results show that the velocity recovery distance needed for a VAWT is usually larger than 15D. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.