Study on the Pitch Angle Effect on the Power Coefficient and Blade Fatigue Load of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Wenxing Hao (), Abdulshakur Abdi, Guobiao Wang and Fuzhong Wu
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Wenxing Hao: Key Laboratory of Mechanism Theory and Equipment Design of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
Abdulshakur Abdi: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China
Guobiao Wang: Key Laboratory of Mechanism Theory and Equipment Design of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
Fuzhong Wu: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 21, 1-18

Abstract: For vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs), the increase of the incoming wind speed higher than the rated value will make the tip speed ratio (TSR) lower and lower, resulting in the blade fatigue load becoming more and more severe and the power coefficient weakening gradually. This paper explores whether varying the pitch with the TSR decrease is necessary for improving the power coefficient and reducing the fatigue load. Specifically, the pitch angle effect on the power coefficient and fatigue load of a VAWT at different TSRs was studied by the computational fluid dynamics method. The results show that the optimal pitch angle in terms of the power coefficient varies with the TSR, which means that varying the pitch with the TSR decrease can improve the power coefficient. Meanwhile, the principle to guide the pitch variation is to avoid flow separation in the downwind zone and minimize the angles of attack (AoAs) in the upwind zone. At the lowest TSR of 1.7 in the present work, varying the pitch from the optimal one in terms of the power coefficient reduced the blade normal force amplitude significantly, which is mainly attributed to avoiding the vortex–blade encounter and minimizing the AoAs in the downwind zone. The vortex–blade encounter at the lowest TSR is an important phenomenon related to the variation of the blade torque and blade normal force and will weaken and disappear with the pitch angle increase.

Keywords: vertical axis wind turbine; pitch angle; power coefficient; blade fatigue load; vortex–blade encounter; computational fluid dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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