Abstract
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) are omnidirectional turbomachines commonly used in rural areas for small-to-medium-scale power generation. The complex flow observed in the wake region of VAWTs is affected by a number of factors, such as rotor blades design. A damaged rotor significantly alters the flow field in the wake region of the VAWT, degrading its power generation capability. Published literature on damaged wind turbine blades is severely limited to torque signal analysis and basic flow field description in the wake region. In this study, detailed numerical investigations have been carried out to establish and quantify the relationship between damaged rotor and the wake dynamics of a VAWT. Time-based Computational Fluid Dynamics analyses have been performed on two VAWT models, one undamaged and the other with a missing rotor blade. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition has been used to extract the energy content and temporal coefficients of the various flow patterns associated with the wake region. The results indicate that the first pressure-based flow mode contains 99% of the energy and provides a functional basis for accurate reconstruction of the wake. It is envisaged that this study will aid the development of novel machine learning algorithms for rotor damage detection in wind farms.
Highlights
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) are omnidirectional turbomachines commonly used in rural areas for small-to-medium-scale power generation
After running the precursor Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations, we carried out Large Eddy SimulaAfter running the precursor RANS simulations, we carried out Large Eddy Simulations (LES) on the healthy and damaged VAWT models, and tions (LES) on the healthy and damaged VAWT models, and the the results are presented
Numerical investigations have been carried out in order to analyse the effects of damaged rotors on the wake dynamics associated with Savonius VAWTs
Summary
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) are omnidirectional turbomachines commonly used in rural areas for small-to-medium-scale power generation. The complex flow observed in the wake region of VAWTs is affected by a number of factors, such as rotor blades design. A damaged rotor significantly alters the flow field in the wake region of the VAWT, degrading its power generation capability. As with any other turbomachine, the momentum transfer component of a VAWT is its rotor, comprising of several rotor blades These rotor blades are conventionally designed using the Blade. The aerodynamic design of rotor blades results in a welldefined performance spectrum for that particular VAWT type (Savonius, Darrieus, etc.). Damage to a VAWT’s rotor blades alters the corresponding flow field When this altered flow field interacts with the damaged blades, the resulting power generated by the blades can be significantly different to a healthy (nondamaged) VAWT
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