Numerical simulation of steady and unsteady current velocity of a vertical axis marine turbine

Author(s):  
I Amin ◽  
Q Xiao
Author(s):  
Jinwook Kim ◽  
Dohyung Lee ◽  
Junhee Han ◽  
Sangwoo Kim

The Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) has advantages over Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) that it allows less chance to be degraded independent of wind direction and turbine can be operated even at the low wind speed. The objective of this study is to analyze aerodynamics of the VAWT airfoil and investigate the ideal shape of airfoil, more specifically cambers. The analysis of aerodynamic characteristics with various cambers 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 airfoil rotation and multiple airfoil rotation cases. Through this study more effective airfoil shape is suggested based vortex-airfoil interaction studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 215-221
Author(s):  
Anna Kuwana ◽  
Xue Yan Bai ◽  
Dan Yao ◽  
Haruo Kobayashi

There are many types of wind turbine. Large propeller-type wind turbines are used mainly for large wind farms and offshore wind power generation. Small vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are often used in distributed energy systems. In previous studies on wind turbines, the basic characteristics such as torque coefficient have often been obtained during rotation, with the turbine rotating at a constant speed. Such studies are necessary for the proper design of wind turbines. However, it is also necessary to conduct research under conditions in which the wind direction and wind speed change over time. Numerical simulation of the starting characteristics is carried out in this study. Based on the flow field around the wind turbine, the force required to rotate the turbine is calculated. The force used to stop the turbine is modeled based on friction in relation to the bearing. Equations for the motion of the turbine are solved by their use as external force. Wind turbine operation from the stationary state to the start of rotation is simulated. Five parameters, namely, blade length, wind turbine radius, overlap, gap, and blade thickness, are changed and the optimum shape is obtained. The simulation results tend to qualitatively agree with the experimental results for steadily rotating wind turbines in terms of two aspects: (1) the optimal shape has an 20% overlap of the turbine radius, and (2) the larger the gap, the lower the efficiency.


Author(s):  
Tomoki Ikoma ◽  
Hiroaki Eto ◽  
Koichi Masuda ◽  
Atsuhiro Oguchi

Sea areas around the Japanese Islands which is feasible for tidal current generation are not a lot because sea sites where tidal current velocity is above 2.0 m/s are a few. We can find such sea sites at a west side of the Kyushu Island especially. However, we would earn electrical energy to be generated if it is able to generate electricity long time using around 1.0 m/s in current velocity. A vertical axis turbine should be better than horizontal axis types because VATs can take relatively higher torque. It is very useful that we can set and control a marine turbine to be higher performance in various current velocity. The present study introduce variable pitch-control system to a vertical axis turbine for tidal current generation. The pitch-control system adapts a cycloidal mechanism so that to vary pitch angle of turbine blades is conducted mechanically. The study developed a vertical axis marine turbine with cycloidal pitch-controlled three blades which was based on previous studies and experimental data. The diameter of the turbine is 1.0 m, length of a blade is 1.3 m. The turbine was set on a floating structure in order to carry out towing tests at a sea. We obtained several kinds of data from the towing tests, which were turbine torque, the number of rotation of the turbine, output power from an electrical generator and acceleration of the floating structure. As a result, the turbine made 50 W power from the generator. Although the PTO was not so large, the pitch-control was effective very much. Some issues were found at the same time. We need to consider and develop more useful gears, assemble methods to be feasible of variable pitch system.


Author(s):  
Nan Yan ◽  
Tyamo Okosun ◽  
Sanjit K. Basak ◽  
Dong Fu ◽  
John Moreland ◽  
...  

Virtual Reality (VR) is a rising technology that creates a computer-generated immersive environment to provide users a realistic experience, through which people who are not analysis experts become able to see numerical simulation results in a context that they can easily understand. VR supports a safe and productive working environment in which users can perceive worlds, which otherwise could be too complex, too dangerous, or impossible or impractical to explore directly, or even not yet in existence. In recent years, VR has been employed to an increasing number of scientific research areas across different disciplines, such as numerical simulation of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) discussed in present study. Wind flow around wind turbines is a complex problem to simulate and understand. Predicting the interaction between wind and turbine blades is complicated by issues such as rotating motion, mechanical resistance from the breaking system, as well as inter-blade and inter-turbine wake effects. The present research uses CFD numerical simulation to predict the motion and wind flow around two types of turbines: 1) a small scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) and 2) a small scale Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT). Results from these simulations have been used to generate virtual reality (VR) visualizations and brought into an immersive environment to attempt to better understand the phenomena involved.


2016 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
pp. 418-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Marsh ◽  
Dev Ranmuthugala ◽  
Irene Penesis ◽  
Giles Thomas

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document