Numerical Simulation Of Helical Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Helical vertical axis wind turbine is widely applied in top building and the valley between buildings as one kinds of small size wind turbine,the aerodynamic analysis about it shows great meaning for the optimization design and power prediction.The aerodynamic of helical blade vertical axis wind turbine have been studied by the means of finite volume method based on conformal mesh in Fluent.It includes the evaluation of the relationship of tip speed ratio,tip vortex and second flow with power output.The effects of operation Reynolds number and pitch angle of blades on the performance of wind turbine are also evaluated in this paper.Based on IBM theory,the executable IBM program based on compressible LES equations is obtained,and it is tested by flowing around Eppler387 to check its accuracy.Applying the IBM program into the simulation of helical blade vertical axis wind turbine and straight blade vertical axis wind turbine.By comparing the results between conformal mesh method and IBM method,IBM method reveals several advantages like highly signal transitivity and less time demand in mesh setup.The differences between straight blades wind turbine and vertical axis wind turbine have also been analyzed in detail.