Int. J. Mech. Eng. Autom.

International Journal of
Volume 2, Number 5, 2015, pp. 199-210 Mechanical Engineering
Received: March 29, 2015; Published: May 25, 2015 and Automation

Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind

Turbine System in Urban Circumstance

Junhee Han1, Taehyun Jo1, Bonchan Koo1 and Dohyung Lee2

1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea
2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Ansan 426-791, Korea
Corresponding author: Dohyung Lee (dohyung@hanyang.ac.kr)

Abstract: This study presents a 2D computational investigation on the unsteady phenomenon associated with single and multiple
blades at urban circumstance. The VAWT (vertical axis wind turbine) has advantages over HAWT (horizontal axis wind turbine) that
it allows less chance to be degraded independent of wind direction and turbine can be operated even at the low wind speed. However,
VAWT in urban area generally has weak and turbulent wind conditions due to the presence of high-rise building. Therefore, VAWT
operation under both stalled and unstalled conditions with various effective angles of attack are also in the presence of dynamic stall
which are particularly significant impact on load and power the operation at low tip-speed ratio. The objective of this study is to
analyze aerodynamics of the VAWT blade and investigate the ideal shape of blade. The analysis of aerodynamic characteristics with
various blades has been performed using numerical simulation with CFD software. As the numerical simulation discloses local
physical features around wind turbine, aerodynamic performance such as lift, drag and torque are computed for single blade rotation
and multiple blade rotation cases. Through this study, an accurate aerodynamic physic is defined, furthermore, effective blade shape
is suggested based vortex-blade interaction studies.

Keywords: Vertical axis wind turbine, Darrieus, vortex interaction, camber, TSR (tip speed ratio).

1. Introduction
The most economical resource of renewable energy,
i.e., wind energy, has been highlighted not only as a
driving force of the next-generation industry but for
the strategic importance in terms of environmental
countermeasure and energy security reinforcement.
Major reasons for wind energy growth lie in price
competitiveness to other clean energy resources and
its effect on the environment benefits. However, urban
area has lower average wind resources compared to
ocean and high mountain. Moreover, designing
VAWT (vertical axis wind turbine) has technical
difficulties in the areas of high noise, vibration and
low power efficiency. Therefore, significant technical
improvement is needed in terms of aerodynamic
efficiency and structural stability.
VAWT has been operated mostly by two mechanisms:
Darrieus type rotated by its lift force, and Savornius
type by its drag force. The advantages of VAWTs are
that it has no degradation regardless of wind direction
and low cut-in speed which are key factors in the
usage of a small-sized generator. Darrieus type wind
turbine has basically two configurations which are
Tropskien type with a curved wing and straight type
with a vertical wing. Curved wing type blade allows
less blade tension that is beneficial in the system
design. In contrast, straight type blade causes a large
centrifugal load bending moment.
Aerodynamic analysis of vertical axis wind turbine
system is very basic and the most important research
area. Because aerodynamic of the Darrieus wind
turbine is rather complex. The reason of complex is
VAWT is operating under both stalled and unstalled
conditions with various effective angles of attack.
200 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance
Simao Ferreira [1] investigated physics and
appropriate turbulence modeling of rotating blade in
VAWT through the PIV (particle image velocimetry)
experimental system and numerical method.
Moreover, Ferreira investigated accurately
modeling the separated shed wake resulting from
dynamic stall through appling DES turbulence model.
Wang [2] and Tedidiah [3] studied dynamic stall in
low Reynolds number flow; Fujisawa [4] studied flow
field around a Darrieus wind turbine blade in dynamic
stall by flow visualization and PIV measurement in
stationary and rotating frames of reference. Through
PIV experimental measurement, Fujisawa described
the successive shedding of two pairs of stall vortices
from the blade moving upstream in various tip-speed
ratios. Yamada [5] evaluated performance of various
design parameters such as blade camber and thickness.
Similar with above study, Deshpande [6] analysis
aerodynamic characteristic using symmetric blade and
unsymmetric blade with various solidity. However, in
the previous research, only the final output is
explained due to change of geometry [7-11]. These
studies does not offer enough data for understanding
aerodynamic characteristic of VAWT and
optimization process. Instead, a more rigorous
fluid-dynamics analysis should be employed for
understanding aerodynamic of VAWT [12]. The paper
is organized as follows : Numberical method and
blade configuration is explained in Section 2; The
analysis of location and magnitude of the vortex
induced by rotating single blade and the vortex
interaction with rotating multiple blade is also
investigated in Section 3; The results provide an idea
of the optimized shape of the blade camber based on
the torque occurred on the VAWT in Section 4.
2. Numerical Method and Approach
2.1 Numerical Method
Two-dimensional incompressible CFD simulations
are conducted to comprehend qualitatively the camber
effect in vertical wind turbine systems. Navier-Stokes
equations are used for simulation as expressed in the
followings:
U x + vy = 0 (1)
1
U t + Px = -(u 2 ) x - (uv) y + (uxx + u yy ) (2)
Re
1
Vt + Py = -(uv) x - (v 2 ) y + (vxx + v yy ) (3)
Re
where u, v represents the velocity component each
direction and p denotes the pressure.
DNS (direct numerical simulation), DES (detached
eddy simulation), and LES (large eddy simulation) has
been developed those are able to capture the smallest
eddy movement in viscos sub-layer However, the
purpose of this study is determine that how each of
design parameter effect to entire system of VAWT
through a significant amount of the simulation.
Therefore, considering Computing time, SST (shear
stress transport) turbulence model is adopted. An
immediate benefit of the SST turbulence model is that
it more accurately predicts the spreading rate of both
planar and round jets [13]. It is also likely to provide
superior performance for flows involving rotation,
boundary layers under strong adverse pressure
gradients, separation, and recirculation.
The TSR (tip speed ratio) is the ratio between the
rotational speed of a blade at the tip and the velocity
of the wind, defined in Eq. (4) as
R
= (4)
U
in which R is the radius of the rotation, is the
angular velocity of the turbine and U is the free
stream velocity.
2.2 Analysis for the Camber Effect
Darrieus VAWT is operated mainly by lift force
rather than drag force. Lift over drag ratio is strongly
affected by its blade camber [14, 15]. In this study,
five models (NACA0015, NACA2415, NACA4415,
NACA6415, and NACA8415) are chosen to be
numerically analyzed.
Particularly, the relation between the camber and
the power needs to be quantitatively analyzed. Fig. 1
explained geometry of blade.
 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance
Fig. 2 shows the schematic of wind turbine system.
Free stream flows from left to right and the system is
rotating clockwise. As the blade rotate causes
increment of angle of attack, the smallest lift force is
computed at the lowest angle of attack, 0 and the
biggest lift force is computed at 45. After the critical
angle of attack, the lift force will be gradually reduced
until 135. However, lift force is main source of
turbine rotation, and lift is strongly dependent on the
NACA0015
NACA2415
NACA4415
NACA6415
NACA8415
Fig. 1 Geometry of blade with various cambers.
Fig. 2 Simulation model of VAWT (vertical axis wind
turbine).
201
angle of attack at each location. Thereby, TSR is very
important in determining the angle of attack and
resulting power generation performance.
Fig. 3 shows the computational domain and
boundary condition [16]. The blade zone is rotated by
moving mesh function. Hole of geometry divided into
two parts, such as sub grid1 which is dynamic mesh
zone and sub-grid 2 what is fixed mesh zone. The
height of the first row of cells in sub-grid 1 is set as a
distance to the wall of 10-3 of chord length and this
corresponds Y+ <2 for the purpose of accurately
resolving the viscos layer. 1mm grids are generated at
zone interface and 700,000 grid points are generate
with 1.05 grow rates.
There are 450,000 grid points in the computational
domain which are unstructured grids. Making the
uniform free stream velocity boundary condition at the
inlet accurate enough and allowing a full development
of the wake. Opening condition is set at outlet
boundary condition for as much as possible to match
the natural states [17]. Fig. 4 explained grid generation
in moving zone and boundary of blade, respectively.
The upper surface of the blade is set facing the hub
of the wind turbine system. The computation is
executed under the assumption of total 3 blade and 5
blade.
2.3 Vortex Interaction
The aerodynamic performance of Darrieus VAWT
such as torque, lift force and drag force is studied for
appropriate design of the wind turbine system. The
aerodynamic performance is significantly influenced
by vortex shedding from the leading edge and trailing
edge of the rotating blade. Vortex interaction takes
place as the shedded vortex hits the other following
blades in multiple blades system. In this study, the
influence of vortex is analyzed by the rotation of a
blade or multiple blades system. Three kinds of
two-dimensional blade system models are suggested
to be tested. It has been known that the blade camber
strongly affects the vortex formation, its shedding, and
202 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance
Fig. 3 Computational Domain and boundary condition of VAWT.
Fig. 4 Mesh structure in blade zone.
its interaction with the following blades.
The first wind turbine model is given as the single
blade rotates around a remote rotation axis which is
similar to flying blade attached to a rotating string.
The geometric configuration of the simulation model
is as follows: the chord length is 220 mm; the rotation
radius is 690 mm and blade angular velocity () is
195 rpm. The free-stream speed is set as 10 m/s.
Thereby, the TSR is set as 6. In the study, the
aerodynamic performances are numerically computed
in terms of local flow features such as vortex, and
global characteristics such as torque. Although the
simulation is carried out by unsteady condition, the
periodic characteristics such as lift and drag ratios are
stabilized after 30 rotations. The numerical results of
lift force coefficient (Cl), drag force coefficient (Cd),
torque, and power coefficients are obtained in this
research.
Secondly, multiple blades wind turbine system (3
and 5 blade system) is modeled. In this study, the
aerodynamic performance is computed with a strong
focus on vortex interaction between the blades. As
described earlier, the shedded vortex gives the distort
in aerodynamic quantities like pressure on the surface
of following blades. The vortex intensities and
interaction are observed to depend on the camber
magnitude. In addition, the vortex effect on the global
performance of the whole wind turbine system is
attempted to analyze. The geometry and flow
conditions are given the same as in the first model.
3. Computational Result and Analysis
3.1 Vortex Formation and Interaction
The single blade rotation causes increment of angle
of attack and thereby the separation starts to take place
at a certain point. Leading edge vortex begins to
develop when the angle of attack is increased at 45.
Fig. 5 shows vortex occurred at 90. At the trailing
edge, the flow is separated and shear region is formed,
but vortex is not yet developed. The complete vortex
formation is achieved at the angle of 135. However,
the magnitude of the camber determines the strength
of the vortex.
The NACA 0015 case allows maximum 170%, The
NACA 4415 case allows 290% and The NACA8415
case allows 350% strength of vortex intensity in
vortex core. While the strength of the vortex is
dependent on the camber, the size of vortex is
independent of the camber.
 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance 203

Fig. 5 Vortex intensity of three single blades: (a) NACA0015, (b) NACA4415, (c) NACA8415.

Fig. 6 and Table 1 explain the performance Table 1 Aerodynamic performance by single blade.

evaluation of single blade system. As the camber of Mean torque Max torque Min torque Standard

blade increases, max torque also increases. The reason (Nm) (Nm) (Nm) deviation

of above physics is explained in Fig. 5. An area of NACA0015 1.091 17.919 -11.876 6.787

pressure coefficient (Cp) curve indicates lift force at NACA2415 1.019 18.719 -11.076 7.024

blade location at 90 azimuth angle. As increasing the NACA4415 0.361 22.272 -15.385 8.868

camber, the area of Cp curve is increased as well at NACA6415 0.094 24.764 -15.050 9.731

90. NACA8415 -0.036 27.255 -15.019 10.595

204 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance
Fig. 6 Torque variation of single blade.
However, after 180 azimuth angle, torque is
sharply decreased and fluctuated with low frequency.
On the other hands, blade vortex interaction of the
wakes with the downstream passage of the blade has
different phenomenon in multiple blades system.
First of all, the location of vortex interaction is
different. Leading edge vortex and previous blades
trailing edge vortex is interacted at upper side of blade.
Naturally, low pressure region has developed at upper
side of blade. This low pressure core is located on
straight line of effective angle of attack direction.
Which means this low pressure core can help to
generate torque in 3 blade system. However, vortex
interaction that is coupled by 3 blade is located on
bottom of blade in 5 blade system.
Fig. 7 indicates that the vortex from following
blades overlaps with the vortex from preceding blades.
As a results, this vortex interaction lead to positive
effect on 3 blade system. Therefore, torque is
recovered at 100 azimuth angle where is minimum
torque generated in W/O vortex interaction. On the
other hands, Vortex interaction is negative effect in 5
blade case. Huge turbulence area is take position
upper side of moving zone. Therefore, mean torque is
largely lower than W/O vortex interaction case.
Secondly, the area of turbulence region is different.
More large turbulence region takes position in upper
side of rotating area in 5 blade system than 3 blade
system. As an above explanation, appropriate
turbulence region leads to wake superpose around
blade and generate vortex interaction. However, blade
in overwhelmed turbulence area can not generate
torque. Therefore, mean torque is largely lower than
W/O vortex interaction case in 5 blade system. Figs. 8
and 9 show mean torque compare W/vortex
interaction with W/O vortex interaction.
3.2 Power Changes According to the Number of Blade
The power variation along the camber change in
case of single-blade is shown in Fig. 6. Numerical
analysis proves that the maximum peak value of the
torque arise from the symmetric blade (NACA0015) is
about 18 Nm which is less than those of the
asymmetric blade (NACA4415, NACA8415), i.e., 22
N-m and 27 N-m. This is the evidence of that higher
L/D leads to better power efficiency at Darrieus
VAWT.
3 blade and 5 blade power is explained in Figs. 10
and 11 respectively. Also detail information of each
power is written in Tables 2 and 3.
Fig. 12 shows the pressure distribution at 45,
corresponding to the highest power output. At 45,
most favorable angle of attack is set and bigger lift
force is made.
The Darrieus wind turbine system is operated by lift
force. Therefore, the torque peak point can be
observed at the angle. The contour indicates that
higher camber causes greater pressure on lower surface
 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance 205

Fig. 7 Vortex intensity of multi blades system.

Fig. 8 Torque variation of 3 blade vortex interaction and W/O vortex interaction.

Fig. 9 Torque variation of 5 blade vortex interaction and W/O vortex interaction.

which could predict greater power output. In the
meantime, Fig. 13 shows the pressure distribution at
135, the lowest power output. There is little
dependence on the magnitude of the camber. Leading
edge vortex that is shedded after angle of attack, 90
and trailing edge vortex are superposed at 135.
Because of the strong vortex, the lift force is affected
from the vortex interaction and vortex interaction
causes lower system efficiency.
As shown in single blade system, the torque has
sharply decreased from 60 to 135. It is mainly due to
the leading edge vortex formation. In other words, the
206 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance

Fig. 10 Torque variation of 3 blade.

Fig. 11 Torque variation of 5 blade.

Table 2 Aerodynamic performance by 3 blade. Bigger torque can be obtained in the symmetric
List NACA0015 NACA4415 NACA8415 blade case (NACA 0015) rather than asymmetric
Mean torque 6.78 Nm 4.84 Nm 3.99 Nm blade case (NACA 4415, NACA8415) in both 3 blade
Standard deviation 14.34 26.75 28.14 and 5 blade. Less camber produces positive torque,
which means overall more power and therefore the
Table 3 Aerodynamic performance by 5 blade.
wind turbine system should rotates more faster (high
List NACA0015 NACA4415 NACA8415
rpm setting is needed). However, more stable periodic
Mean torque 3.4 Nm 0.98 Nm -1.38 Nm
pattern in torque is allowed in bigger camber, which is
Standard deviation 2.52 3.74 5.37
favorable to stable operation and less fatigue of the
vortex formation had negative effect on the power turbine system. The deviation from perfect periodic
efficiency. The torque of VAWT with multiple blade pattern can be understood as the vortex interacts with
system with various camber length is shown in Figs. 8 the blade in a different fashion at different phase. In
and 9. Unlike the single blade rotation, the torque short, the vortex interaction behaves as nonlinear
curve show more periodic pattern. It is because 3 and pattern in torque computation.
5 blade are adopted and thereby the frequency is 5 While 45 is the rotation angle for peak torque value
times higher than in single blade case. in single blade rotation, in multiple blades system, 45
 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance 207

Fig. 12 Pressure distribution at 45 of single blade system: (a) NACA0015, (b) NACA4415, (c) NACA8415.

Fig. 13 Pressure distribution at 135 of single blade system: (a) NACA0015, (b) NACA4415, (c) NACA8415.

is not any more peak point of torque. In addition,
contrast to the single blade case finding that bigger
camber yields bigger torque, the multiple blades
system show opposite pattern. All these phenomena
related to camber, can be explained as nonlinear
interaction between vortex and following blades. This
vortex interaction is shown in Fig. 14. The extent and
strength of the vortex are strong enough to degrade the
power, which allows significant deviation from the
single blade case.
208 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance

Fig. 15 shows the pressure distribution and vortex
intensity at 45, lowest power output by multi blades
system. Bigger pressure effects on the turbine system
and bigger lift force occurs at the bottom of cambered
blade than symmetric.
Therefore, bigger torque is generated by cambered
blade. But, the power is degenerated on account of the
vortex intensity. Fig. 16 shows the vortex intensity at
45. The vortex is stronger according to the height of
camber.

Fig. 14 Vortex intensity at 120 of 3 blade system: (a) NACA0015, (b) NACA4415, (c) NACA8415.

Fig. 15 Pressure distrubution at 45 of 5 blade system: (a) NACA0015, (b) NACA4415, (c) NACA8415.
 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance
Fig. 16 Vortex intensity at 45 of 5 blade system: (a) NACA0015, (b) NACA4415, (c) NACA8415.
4. Conclusions
In this study, five cases of blade models and three
types of blade number are applied in Darrieus type
wind turbine. Some new aerodynamic features are
observed as follows:
(1) The results of the spinning single blade indicate
that small camber produces weak vortex. Bigger
camber increase lift force in the front rotation (less
than 90), however, after 90 rotation, the lift rather
decays more compared to less camber.
(2) In the result of single blade rotation system, the
higher camber provides greater power output. The
larger L/D ratio leads to bigger power in Darrieus
wind turbine. The vortex induced from single blade
rotation does not affect the power output since the
vortex moves out without any interaction.
(3) In multiple blades system, the induced vortex
influences the aerodynamic performances such as
torque and power in a different fashion to single blade
case. In this system, a vortex shedded from prior blade
is superposed with another vortex on the following
blades, leading to the formation of stronger vortex.
However, bigger camber yields stronger vortex
209
strength however, as the increased maximum torque,
standard deviation is also increased therefore, total
mean torque is decreased. Conclusively the total the
power is decreased. In contrast, smaller camber allows
the steady periodic pattern in torque and bigger power
can be obtained.
(4) As increasing the number of blade, the strength
of secondary vortex that is generated at 330 is getting
weaker cause of slip stream from the previous blade.
Therefore, amplitude of Mean Torque is getting
decreased.
(5) Vortex interaction effects are taken different
position in various numbers of blades. Appropriate
vortex area and vortex interaction have positive effect
to generate torque. However, as increase number of
blades, vortex area and interaction is getting increased.
This vortex interaction influences on the degrading
system output. Accordingly, the most important
variation is vortex interaction in multiple blades wind
turbine system. However, more study needs to be
done for more accurate analysis of wind turbine
system with special interest in TSR and periodic
vortex formation pattern.
210 Aerodynamic Study of Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System in Urban Circumstance
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the New &
Renewable Energy of the KETEP (Korea Institute of
Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning) grant
funded by the Korea Government Ministry of
Knowledge Economy (Grant No. 20133010031751).
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