Numerical study of the performance of tornado-type wind energy systems

Abstract

The tornado-type wind energy system was proposed to utilize the pressure drop created by an intens vortex in a tower. The tower serves as a low pressure exhaust for the turbine. The author carried out a numerical solution of the tower flow, using the two-equation (kappa-epsilon) turbulence model, for the small size system tested by Yen, with a 0.127-m- (5-in.-) diam tower standing in a uniform wind flow. A comparison of the results with the measured pressure values verified the model. In the present work the same numerical model is used for a system with a tower that is completely embedded in an atmospheric boundary layer. The results show, for a tower in a boundary layer of the one-seventh power-law profile, about a 28% reduction of the values of power coefficient from those for a tower in a uniform stream. Calculations for the performance of a system with different tower heights and the same tower and turbine diameters show a sharp decrease of power for H/D less than or equal to 0.5. Analysis of the tangential velocity shows that the vortex should be maintained up to heights /ZETA//D less than or equal to 0.9 to avoid the decrease in powermore » extraction. Numerical predictions are made for systems with tower diameters between 0.5 and 8 m (1.64 and 26.24 ft) using the same system geometry and approach flow conditions. The results show that the scale effect is negligible for systems of 4-m tower diameter or larger.« less