Direct Finite Element Simulation of the turbulent flow past a vertical axis wind turbine

Van-Dang Nguyen, Johan Jansson, Anders Goude and Johan Hoffman

Renewable Energy, 2019, vol. 135, issue C, 238-247

Abstract: There is today a significant interest in harvesting renewable energy, specifically wind energy, in offshore and urban environments. Vertical axis wind turbines get increasing attention since they are able to capture the wind from any direction. They are relatively easy to install and to transport, cheaper to build and maintain, and quite safe for humans and birds. Detailed computer simulations of the fluid dynamics of wind turbines provide an enhanced understanding of the technology and may guide design improvements. In this paper, we simulate the turbulent flow past a vertical axis wind turbine for a range of rotation angles in parked and rotating conditions. We propose the method of Direct Finite Element Simulation in a rotating ALE framework, abbreviated as DFS-ALE. The simulation results are validated against experimental data in the form of force measurements. It is found that the simulation results are stable with respect to mesh refinement and that the general shape of the variation of force measurements over the rotation angles is captured with good agreement.

Keywords: Turbulent simulation; VAWT; DFS-ALE; FEniCS-HPC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148118314174
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:135:y:2019:i:c:p:238-247

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.11.098

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().