TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of the number of blades and solidity on the performance of a vertical axis wind turbine
AU - Delafin, PL
AU - Nishino, T
AU - Wang, L
AU - Kolios, A
PY - 2016/10/3
Y1 - 2016/10/3
N2 - Two, three and four bladed ø-shape Vertical Axis Wind Turbines are simulated using a free-wake vortex model. Two versions of the three and four bladed turbines are considered, one having the same chord length as the two-bladed turbine and the other having the same solidity as the two-bladed turbine. Results of the two-bladed turbine are validated against published experimental data of power coefficient and instantaneous torque. The effect of solidity on the power coefficient is presented and the instantaneous torque, thrust and lateral force of the two-, three- and four-bladed turbines are compared for the same solidity. It is found that increasing the number of blades from two to three significantly reduces the torque, thrust and lateral force ripples. Adding a fourth blade further reduces the ripples except for the torque at low tip speed ratio. This work aims to help choosing the number of blades during the design phase of a vertical axis wind turbine.
AB - Two, three and four bladed ø-shape Vertical Axis Wind Turbines are simulated using a free-wake vortex model. Two versions of the three and four bladed turbines are considered, one having the same chord length as the two-bladed turbine and the other having the same solidity as the two-bladed turbine. Results of the two-bladed turbine are validated against published experimental data of power coefficient and instantaneous torque. The effect of solidity on the power coefficient is presented and the instantaneous torque, thrust and lateral force of the two-, three- and four-bladed turbines are compared for the same solidity. It is found that increasing the number of blades from two to three significantly reduces the torque, thrust and lateral force ripples. Adding a fourth blade further reduces the ripples except for the torque at low tip speed ratio. This work aims to help choosing the number of blades during the design phase of a vertical axis wind turbine.
KW - vertical axis wind turbines
KW - solidity
KW - performance
KW - free-wake vortex model
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84995414690&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1742-6596
U2 - 10.1088/1742-6596/753/2/022033
DO - 10.1088/1742-6596/753/2/022033
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84995414690
VL - 753
JO - Journal of Physics: Conference Series
JF - Journal of Physics: Conference Series
SN - 1742-6588
M1 - 022033
ER -