Effect of Blade Angle on Aerodynamic Performance of Archimedes Spiral Wind Turbine

Abstract

Energy harvesting from wind in urban areas is an important solution to meet energy needs and environmental care. This study describes the effect of blade angle on the aerodynamic performance of small-scale Archimedes spiral-wind-turbine blades by computational simulation, which is experimentally validated. Archimedes wind turbine is classified as one of the HAWTs. The computational approach was used to predict the aerodynamic performance of the scaled-down rotor blades. Blade angle is defined by the angle between the rotational axis and the tip of the blade, which varied from 50° to 65° with an interval of 5°. The computational study was carried out using the ANSYS CFX 19 software for a steady incompressible flow. The performance parameters of the wind turbine, which are power and torque coefficients were explored for different blade angles. This was carried out for wind speed from 5 to 12 m/s with an interval of 1 m/s. In order to validate the results of the computational simulation, an experimental study was carried out using a scaled-down 3D-printed models. The experimental study concentrated on the effect of blade angle on the rotating speed for the different turbine models. Obviously, the results highlight that the maximum power coefficient has an inverse relation to the blade angle.