Numerical analysis of H-Darrieus vertical axis wind turbines with varying aspect ratios for exhaust energy extractions

Abstract

In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical study has been conducted by solving the unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations with shear stress transport (SST) k-omega turbulence model to investigate the power production efficiency of a three-bladed H-Darrieus vertical axis wind turbines (HDWT) using S-1046 airfoil under accelerated wind conditions of the cooling tower exhaust system. Aiming to extract the waste energy from the exhaust air, four HDWTs having different aspect ratios were tested by varying the turbine diameter; and the moment and power coefficient values were calculated at tip speed ratios (TSR) in the range of 1.5–3.5. The results showed that the HDWT with a smaller aspect ratio (AR) of 0.44 gives a better power coefficient of 0.294 at TSR 2.5 as compared to other testing conditions. Further, a detailed flow field analysis around the HDWT for different ARs and TSRs has been provided in this paper to discuss the turbine's performance. Finally, a comparative study with the free-stream flow condition showed that HDWT provides 58.5% lower performance than the flow in the exhaust system at lower AR, indicating a positive guided flow effect on the turbine performance under exhaust flow systems.