Computational Investigation Of Ducted Dual Rotor Wind Turbine

Abstract

Due to the continuous increase of energy demand in our life and global concern related to fossil fuel limitation, it is necessary to find alternative and smart solutions that can optimize the outcome from clean, reliable and sustainable sources of energy. Over last decays, all researches in wind energy have focused on the optimization of traditional wind turbines. However, several configurations of wind turbines were adopted aiming to maximize the output power from the wind. Dual Rotor Wind Turbine (DRWT) was highlighted as a system that can present higher energy extraction from the incoming air flow of the wind. In this study, it is proposed to utilize DRWT system in a ducted system “lens” to enable its applications at low wind speed regions. The aerodynamics of the combined configuration and relevant performance has been investigated using CFD modelling to solve 3-D model, turbulent, steady and incompressible flow. Mesh independent study was done to guarantee the reliability of the results and to validate the single wind turbine model. Detailed investigations and power curves are illustrated for different configurations and compared to the Single Rotor Wind Turbine (SRWT). The proposed configuration for ducted dual rotor wind turbine demonstrates higher performance over all other configurations for the same incoming airflow. DRWT found to operate at lower Tip Speed Ratio (TSR) than the SRWT. Ducted dual rotor represents a new system that has superior performance in the low wind speed region and this good performance is extended at higher wind speed.